R13 vs CCM | NYE | 9:00pm | SS1

Chopah  the result speaks for itself,  I would put money on Ellerslie to beat this mob at the moment

Think our confidence is shot right now. You get the feeling we could play all day and still not score enough goals to win games. Dura alluded to that post game. We don't have the same depth as other clubs, and that's where it is at. Our key players look burnt out as the burden on them increases with all the injuries and suspensions piling up.

We're so shlt it's unbelievable. 

Tonya that's crap every club goes through those problems but happy New Year

I wana kill the ref..but Hapipy New Year's everyone! 

Hard to play with heart when the governing body doesn't want you....

wish I was still playing, would have punched the cu#t in the face after that headbutt! completely changed the game for me?

Each to your own thoughts. I thought that head  butt was a shocker! The way that prick came off the field when subbed off. As if he was on cloud 9 and no worries in the world. Fudge that If that team plays at the cake tin I'll give that prick what he deserves!

Manny has a proven history of raising his arms and it is a part of his game that should have been gotten rid of years ago. It has cost us points in the past and gotten him  sent off before. That is one point. The headbutt could be seen as retaliation and automatically a red for that alone. Headbutting an automatic red alone. This referee has been crap from day one and 9 yellow cards suggest he lost complete control of himself and the game..

Sadly the last two Nix games have given ammunition to the FFA as to whether or not we are good enough for their league. Really, the fans have been doing their friggen best to get crowds and get behind the team and take a proactive stance in the electronic media and the teams performances have been crap. They are not what is going to encourage crowds to turn up.

The only good thing about Roly's suspension is that at least for one week he wont spend 90 minutes getting the shark kicked out of him and getting absolutely no protection from the referees whom seem quite happy to see him getting kicked.

The refeeing standards in this league have not improved one iota since its inception. The teams have moved forward the the pathetic at best standards of match officials is becoming more and more of a distraction from actually watching a flowing exciting game. Will the FFA do anything about that? No fudgeing way! And as a result they are contributing to the A Leagues demise as a public spectacle.

Steve, you are quite right with many of the points you raise. Blinkers need to be removed and some honest realities need to be fronted up to. By the club, by the players and by us fans. We are all not as good as we should be.

Rant over.

to be fair to the players its pretty damn hard to perform your best when week after week, game after game, season after season you don't get the rub of the green. I dont believe that there is a FFA conspiracy here to nail the Phoenix through patently biased refereeing; however having watched every home game live and all games recorded since day 1 I am convinced that there is some subconscious favouring of the Aussie teams. But that aside, the quality of officiating in this league is about as bad as it gets.

A poor performance but apart from Adelaide win and maybe Victory it is par for the course ...something is rotten in the state of Denmark.  Metrics will go all wobbly now.

Looked dead on feet with none of the early season or last season running.  Roly looks over it now.

5 yellow count will knock us badly now not to mention injuries.

1/1/2016..yah.

Also the hard decisions going against us from New Zealand referees so that they dont appear biased in our favour. Sadly, we get naf all decisions in our favour from them

Yeah probably right. Thinking about it, we're playing just like that Nix side prior to the Burns arrival. Lots of possession but running out of ideas round the opp penalty area, and very easy to defend against. So a quality striker in the window is probably the only way out of this, so opp sides have something else to worry about. Right now it's simply shut down Roly and Mcglinchy,

How many of us would give 100% at work not knowing whether or not we actually had jobs in a few weeks time?

I'm not saying that excuses the poor performance of late. But, when a) the governing body of the league you play in doesn't want you ; b) your best player is kicked all over the park week after week and refs allow it to happen; c) some of the reffing in this league is so laughably bad that it is a bit hard to argue against a get-Wellington bias in the referees ; I'm sure there are other factors involved that make it a bit hard for players to be 100% motivated. Yes , they're professional but some/most may not have jobs in a few weeks time.

Last night ; I think most people here think that it wasn't a penalty except Griffith - Jones ( and that knob Rose who said it was at half time so it must have been). Game winner? no. Game changer? Yes. Durante should have been made to retake that awful free kick of his as well..Game changer? Absolutely.

Muscat does raise his arm , yes. Yellow? Probably. What O'Donovan did was an act of criminal thuggery , pure and simple. Red ? No. Game changer? Yes.Don't forget , it wasn't just Griffith - Knob who "missed it" , 2 lino's did as well. So when you have players being assaulted and the wankers getting away with it , are we so sure that we wouldn't "go what's the bloody point?"

Yes , we were crap . But it's hard enough playing against 11 , rather than the 12 they had to last night. I for one know we were awful , so does Junior. No, it's not Griffith- Dickhead's fault that Rodriguez's passing accuracy was woeful( and he wasn't the only one). But some critical decisions went against us last night that would have affected the flow of the game if not the result. The ref was either remarkably poor or blatantly biased. I wouldn't have blamed Ernie  if he just called the players in after O'Donovan got away with his gutless assault. 

Not disagreeing but unless there's certainty about the club's future , who in their right mind would come? 

that headbutt was balls . i hope the MRP will review it

Would someone sober please enlighten me if the MRP (in A-League, not EPL) can review an incident if it has been ostensibly been "dealt with" by the referee already during the game?

Not sure that there is anything to be positive about in any of the recent results.Just dont get why some expect people to bury our heads in the sand and pretend things are okay.Dont get why some seem so scared to be critical of whats gone down recently,This cheerleading BS is ridiculous. Seems like the only ones who arnt doing their bit in the #savethenix campaign are those everyone is trying to save and frankly its becoming a FKN bore.

Wow. Emo people. It seems that when we lose, we should slash and burn and the sky will fall on our heads. It's a game of football and the end of the world is not near

Ernie has a problem on his hands and this will be a real test of his managerialship. This has shades of 2 years ago when Riera got injured and the wheels fell off. We have some injuries and suspensions and the wheels are threatening to fall off. It's a bit rich for people to question other people's care factor/ work rate etc because that is something you can never measure or question about someone else. 

I don't think we can also sit here and go 'the ref did this and this and this' and this is his fault because that would be ignorant of massive issues in our side that are there most weeks irrespective of a good or bad ref. The luck is not our way, but conceding 6 goals in 2 games is not a refereeing issue. There is merit to Durantes comment around depth and we are finding that out. James Dean has mentioned this more than a few times and he is looking like a wise genius.

If you are not a fan of cheerleading (and that's fair) your responses sit at the diametrically opposite end of the scale and are equally dolloped in emotion.

Agree with most of this. But  2 of the goals conceded last night were a refereeing issue IMO.

Thanks for a measured post, JV.  I can only add that it is not just our squad depth, but the overall quality of the squad available to Ernie that was put under the spotlight over the last few games by pedestrian (at best) opposition.

We can talk for hours about being wronged by refereeing decisions but at the end of the day we were not good enough a week ago in Adelaide, and we were not good enough last night. End of story.

Oh yeah, and the week prior it was 3-0 against the second worst side. Take a couple of those off due to the ref and it's still 1-0

I like what you say about the players caring. The idea that we lost because the players don't care is absolute crap. The players care a lot more than anyone posting here about the result. Has no one here ever really tried hard at something and it just hasn't come off?

Well I can't.Although I do think we got killed by pace last night ( Ferrera , Austin; can't coach that). I'm not disagreeing with you. I've already stated above that we were poor last night and have been for a while. All I'm trying to say is that I think we are getting the rough end of refereeing decisions at the moment, some of which are affecting flow of games .2 goals that shouldn't have been given , a player not sent off who should have been. So we're at 1-1 against 10. Might that have made a difference? We'll never know; all conjecture. Not for a minute am I suggesting that we are losing because of refs , and I don't want to come across as if I'm suggesting that. We're losing because , for whatever reasons, we're not playing well enough and our depth is being sorely tested. 

We used to be a team that played people like Djite into form. Now we're playing entire crap teams into form.

Agree. The funny thing is (and this is why I think Ernie has a potential problem as opposed to a real one) is that had we beaten both CCM and Adelaide as the table suggests, we would be in 4th on 21 points and this forum would be a happy place. The reality is is that we have injuries and suspensions at the moment affecting that. I think a full strength team would have won both of them, which is why I believe our issue is depth. We lose a couple of players and we fall apart, akin to the Riera injury of 2 years ago. This is why Ernie is going to be tested cause now he needs to produce the results with a less than full team until those injuries and suspensions have passed.

I think he will regret the Sarpong signing if he is not already and the 'not a striker' comment is not really a bad joke anymore but more a recurring nightmare. He'll probably also consider his fullback options too and if I were Fenton, I might be inclined to be a wee bit worried going forward about his next contract unless he regains confidence and gets a grip on the FB role. Doyle too and it feels like his discipline both off and on the field seem like a cloud over him. Danaskos seems ok and Gulley needs work but seems more natural than Fenton.

It would not surprise me if the theme this week at training is discipline cause we have no Roly for the next one and Riera and A-Rod are still a card away from suspension...

Geez just caught the replay.

The headbutt was miles over the top, even if him and Muscat had a silly push and shove.

What was durantes yellow for? Questioning the ref doing nothing about a headbutt in football?

You are pretty dramatic you know that right?

I think it is good for Roly to have a little break. It is hard getting kicked every week

Statements that the players don't care are way out of line.  Even though we are struggling at the moment we are far from the rabble we have been in the past.

Yes there are some problems but saying the whole team is crap is a pointless exercise as 8 or so players in the team will play next week and the week after etc etc.

Can't just buy a new team!

I would like to see Ridenton start the next game at fullback, Riera in for A-Rod and Sarpong in for Roly, Powell to start instead of Appiah.  Happy with the rest.

Regarding Ballane's last entry. Actually, his last sentence seems about right. I sometimes wonder too. It must not be nice having the frigging licence issue hanging over their heads but the players are professionals and they should be able to pick up contracts elsewhere if they are any good. But football is not just a game of skill and fitness, it is also about the desire to win, to achieve the highest standards possible, about passion, to reach the top of your game. Lethargic efforts bring in negative vibes that rub off.

As fans we want to see our players give their "all for the cause" but in a positive constructive way. If we are going to go down, lets show some spirit and effort.

Of the 8 or so that are there next week, their confidence will be down so I don't expect a result against the Roar that's for sure.

Ridenton is one I can't figure out yet purely because he has not played in his preferred position from what I can tell. I don't think he is starting quality in the HAL though but at the moment, we are finding whom is and whom is not.

I just want to quantify here that if what you are saying is what you actually believe.

If the team doesn't have a license next year, the players should be trying even harder. Players like Ridenton, Fenton and Doyle would be hard pushed to get a pro contract if we folded. They need to play out of their skin.