R12 vs Western United | Sat 28th Dec | 7.00pm | SS7

Re: Taylors handball, there is a clause in the new laws that allows for the case when a defender is falling and uses their hand to support the body.  It would've been an interesting test case if the ball had hit him fractions of a second earlier when his hand first hit the ground.

Devlin. Best on the pitch by 1000 million miles.

Absolutely. As has been discussed before, if we follow ajaxs model, we'll be doing very well. Personally, cacace aside, I hope we keep the rest of the squad together for another season. It'd be great to have that consistency for a change! Sorry for the OT post. 

An awesome total team display. Seems to be real belief on the field that we could do something special..

Now we need to prove we can beat teams below us. Rapt for Ufuk and also the owners who've been waiting so long for something real to build beyond January. .

So hopefully they can work through the re-negotations with key one year contract talent quickly - so nothing can get in the way of a genuine challenge for a home playoff - and it doesn't become a lost opportunity like the start of this year with Rudan. 

Sfould be 10 thousand for next home game because the word is spreading fast. Keep winning and who knows.- might start averaging 15.

That now makes two undefeated Decembers in a row! The Phoenix's last loss in December was losing 4-1 to Sydney FC on the 23rd all the way back in 2017.

Interestingly, this unbeaten run is following the exact same pattern as last year's unbeaten run: D W W W D D W (with a W and D to follow in last season's run). Even weirder is the 8th game in the streak last season was at Westpac against Central Coast, same as this year.

I think it's a learned habit from the seasons where we were continuously threatened with being dumped from the league if we didn't build crowds NOW NOW NOW

another great win for the lads. Can't believe how dirty the bitumens were- should've been down to ten men for that flying elbow (wtf VAR). Hopefully everyone is a bit more onto it with sorting contract extensions this year and we can put up a bit more of a fight when keeping players.

God if he did that then he is the absolute cod of cods. 

To think I defended him even after he left. 

Talking of being dumped, and probably the wrong thread, but... does our status as a part owner of the new, independent A-League mean we longer need the okay of the Asia federation to play, and stay, in the A-League? 

watching the full match replay on Sky, jeez Devlin is just a machine. Rufer isn’t coming back into the starting 11 anytime soon (if they are picking on form).

I'm pretty sure FIFA consistently said they had no issues with it.  Hell it was a FIFA requirement for us to be in the league for that minimum time wasn't it? 

Given the option for a federation to have a pro team when they otherwise wouldn't I'd be surprised if they ever turned their nose up tabthe idea. 

He should have had 1 red card and two yellow cards for at least 3 offences. Sadly he only got 1 yellow.

That's a great stat.

I am sure we do - but the key issue has always been whether the A-League wanted us in the first place.

Asian Federation would have issues if our participation caused an anomaly (for example if we kept on winning the league every season). Another potential (hypothetical) issue would be if NZ was part of the Asian Federation (not OFC) and competing for the World Cup spot with AUS, and eligible All Whites played for the Nix only. The the A-League would have a problem selling this idea to the AUS public as it would not be seen as right in AUS interests. As it is, we are aiding their player development efforts and in a way the same applies in reverse.

It is off topic in this thread so I will leave it at that.

We do have underlying Abandonment Issues. It was sweet to put the immediate cause of them to sword in Ballarat.

Any contract updates?

Wellington Phoenix contracts

Expiring after 2019-20: Luke DeVere, Callan Elliot, Gary Hooper, Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Liam McGing, Callum McCowatt, Tim Payne, Alex Rufer, Walter Scott, Jaushua Sotirio, Matti Steinmann, Steven Taylor

Expiring after 2020-21: David Ball, Liberato Cacace, Cameron Devlin, Louis Fenton, Stefan Marinovic, Oli Sail, Ben Waine

Expiring after 2021-21: Reno Piscopo

Cacace has attracted interest from European clubs while Piscopo has attracted interest from Asian clubs. Taylor still waiting for a deal from Phoenix.

Interesting i have seen no comment about Taylor not being sent off for deliberate handball in stopping a possible goal.No way can you say he was falling. Always thought that was automatic send off. Refs ?

Potentially DeVere and Marinovich could have stopped it. No DOGSO. No red.

Ulises Dávila should be in the second group there.

Devlin was again immense. He could be the find of th season.

Davila, Cacace, Payne and Ball were excellent.

Is Cacace going to go to serie a in January?

I thought that at the time, but yeah, I'd say Marinovic had it covered, so not a DOGSO. Which begged the question, why he even did it in the first place?!? 

regardless, I'd be fuming if it was against us.

Maybe Taylor simply has to be involved in any goal scoring opportunities regardless which end. 

We've got the best reserve reserve keeper in the league, we've got the best reserve reserve keeper in the league.

It was going so slow our striker probably could have run back and stopped it :)

It was slow, both the ball and Taylor's interception. It reminded me of that slo-mo scene in Zoolander when the boys are having fun with the petrol pump hoses. You knew how it would end but you could only watch it happen.

Any one got a clip or link of this?

Seem to recall seeing somewhere that Dome had heard what the security guards did and he was going to contact the Snakes to see what the story was.

Well hopefully this weekend we'll be shirts off at Sky having beaten CCM (Please).

I think Royz is trolling. I have seen no evidence that the order to the security guards to be dicks came from Rudan.

(And anyway the Travelling Fever ignored the security dicks and offed their shirts anyway.)

several on facebook reckon they were approached by security

Surely security won't take orders from a coach during a game?
Whether or not Rudes/WU discussed this eventuality with security before hand is a different story and from what we know of Rudan not outside the realm of possibilities

Overzealous security at Western United. Smells like Rudan

Sydney FC fans were asked to leave at Western United 

Or as someone pointed out- the general security attitude to soccer crouds

seeing this actually reminded me just how stacked we are at keeper. Sail's quality and we have two great young guys in Jones and Paulsen

I like Oli, he never let us down when he has played. A very handy deputy to have. He has a good attitude and a good person to talk to.