R14 v Perth Glory | Thurs 5th Jan | 11pm | SS3

I just dont think we can have gui and roly in the team, as players they are too similar and both slow down our play, while everyone else is trying to break fast. When weemac comes back, id put him in for Roly

on smeltz, im unsure he will have the desired impact. Hes 35 and couldnt get in the team at sydney, yes they are stacked, but still. I have very fond memories watching his little Mohawk buzz around the wespac, but those days are long gone and im not sure hes going to be the talisman we need. Id rather stick with Watson as he has potential to develop, whereas Smeltz doesn't. 

On our formation, im not sure we have the players to play our current formation effectively and win games. It worked with Ernie at Victory because he had the player. But we don't.  They either aren't mobile enough or positioned well enough or their personal stye of play hinders the formation. Being unable to adapt this was Ernies downfall and unless Greenbuck see this too, our season is over right now. 

Rather than a 4-3-3, I'd like to see us move to a 4-4-2. Keep our back 5 the same, a mid field of Parkhouse and Kosta (or anyone else who can play RM) on the flanks. A-Rod and Weemac in the middle - working hard, quick ball movement, keeping things moving. Up top, something like Krishna and Gui. 

Moss

Tratt, Dura, Rossi,Doyle

Kosta, A-Rod, Weemac, Parkhouse 

 Krishna, Gui, 

Bench:

Mambo

Roly/Lia

Watson/Logerson

Rufer/Ridenton

Lowry/Fenton

I think that gives us good balance. It is a big shift away from current thinking so i dont expect to see it. But I thought id share anyway. 

Smeltz has got to be straight in for me.

generally world football has broken away from the 4-4-2 formation for a couple of reasons - 1 because coaches in the modern era like to have more than three lines of depth - the idea is that it's too easy for the opposition to put a AM or deep lying striker into the gap between your midfield and your backline - and the obsession with coaches on "winning" the midfield battle.


I would guess that almost every team in the A-League this season has played with a central-midfield three in some shape or form - either a standard 6, 8 and 10 or two 6's and a 10 or other variations.


I still think the best formation for the Nix would be what Ernie had going when we had Burns which was a false 9 and two wide strikers who were looking to exploit the space in-behind our false 9 - effectively a 4-3-3.


Wee-Mac did that role for Ernie for a while and was ok at it - I think Gui would do a really good job at it personally as his touch and hold up play is better than Watson's - but he won't offer as much inbehind or in the press.


Kosta and Krisnha can play the wide forward role (Parkhouse as cover) which leaves three midfield spots between Roly, A-Rod, Lia and Weemac.

Agree the back 5 needs some time to settle in and work on shape - they are our 5 best players in those positions so they need some games together to develop as a unit.

I would agree with Chopah's version. Not sure about kwlap's option of playing Gui upfront with Krishna, and with Kosta in RM behind them. To do that Gui would need to anticipate and get ahead faster than either Roy or Kosta which would be problematic (unless I misunderstood this formation).

The more I think about it the more I think a 3-5-2 is the best formation for this squad - we can play a back 3 with Rossi and Tratt flanking Dura, Parkhouse and Kosta as wingbacks (neither is great defensively but with 3 CBs and a DM it shouldn't be a big deal) and then some combination of Lia/WeeMac/Roly/A-Rod/Gui in the middle and Krishna and Smeltz/Watson up front. 

A bit of a change for our team but it gets 3 midfielders in the middle, Parkhouse and Kosta both starting out wide,and Krishna playing in a front 2, which seems to suit him best

back three concerns me as you need to be pretty mobile with your back three and your holder - not sure that Lia, Durante and Rossi are mobile enough.

Also if your fullbacks are not smart enough and keep their winger back then you end up with a back 5 and gifting up space and therefore possession.


Also I don't think Krishna's best position is up front - I think he is best suited to playing an inside forward role.

Interested on you thoughts on Krishna - I think he needs to be right up top to utilise his pace and finishing, and needs a bigger guy to play off for crosses and longballs.

This in both cases. Players need to step up or be subbed by greeneggsnham -they say they know how to fix things. That's great to hear but the Adelaide game was very hard to watch very uninspiring. Now the dynamic duo have the gig they need to lead and make the tough decisions. Coyn

Rossi is mobile enough. I would like Fox to be used more often (even as a sub) to give him more time in that position, even if it means subbing Dura. The memory of that Jets' goal after Dura could not keep up with the striker is burned permanently in my retina.

Yes. When you look at Fox's contract - the club want him around and he is the future of the CBs position. Be interesting if he can get more game time. Might take an injury though?

I do rate Fox though but it's always hard for young CBs to get eased into first team football. It's not like other positions where you want fresh legs for the last 20 mins or so, so a young guy can have a crack. Most managers are reluctant to breakup their CB combo unless they really have to due to the massive downside if there's confusion about positioning or roles.

Re: Kosta, Roly etc, I will reiterate my theory of "Phoenix Syndrome" - where a quality player becomes sharkhouse when he plays for us, either because of club culture giving incentives for not trying too hard, or because of arrogance thinking they're too cool for this club, not sure which.

Except Roly was terrific in his first season and not too bad in his 2nd.

Yeah, that would fit into my theory - it took him a while to sink into the culture of mediocrity.

But anyway this already comes back to the issue of our squad balance - there's no obvious solution to how to get our best players on the pitch in their best positions. It has been obvious since we announced the Finkler signing and no change of coach can fix it. Finkler is really a major issue because he's like Carlos mk2 - you basically have to have him in the no10 role but his lack of defensive ability or mobility puts a lot pressure on the 2 holding mids in a 4-2-3-1. If you put him in a 4-3-1-2/4-1-2-1-2 we lack width and don't have a good enough DM to cover if the fullbacks advance to try to provide that width.and if you withdraw your wingers to cover the midfield more then Gui and our striker get isolated too easily. Which is why I suggested a 3-5-2 , although that has obvious issues of its own. Drop Gui and we can maybe have a more flexible system but that is a massive waste of a foreign spot and presumably a pretty decent salary.

This goes back to my earlier argument (and also made by others) that Dura is pretty much more senior than Greenie. I would agree that it would take either an injury or a massive stuffup on-field for Dura to be benched by BuckAcre. Time will tell if Greenie feels up to it, or if he is a nice guy in Ernie's mould. 

Of course the Jets' goal was not enough on its own reason to bench Dura, and Lowry or Fox might have done just as badly (who knows). But all I am asking is to give them some more exposure, alongside good CB (Rossi) in case Dura gets properly injured.  Finally, I would prefer to avoid a worst-case situation where both Rossi and Dura are absent (retired, injured, poached, suspended) and we have to field the little tested combo of Fox and Lowry at the same time.

Another reason to consider fielding Fox or Lowry now would be to give us more mobility against the likes of Perth, and also because Dura is an older guy and may merit more recovery time between closely spaced games with lengthy travel, like this week.

Agree, plus I thought Fox was a raving maniac last time he played for us.  Cards, aggro and a heap of impetuous poorly timed challenges - both overcommiting early and late.  And not the best positioning overall.  Have previously thought quite well of his play, and maybe just a case of trying too hard when getting the opportunity, but I thought his play that game was manic. 

Dura and Rossi are still a relatively new combo, so I don't think any coach is going to want to break them up just to give a young guy a run.  Certainly not while we are hanging on by our finger tips to the bottom middle of the table and never leading by a few goals.

Im not sure that bringing weemac back in to the starting lineup is going to make a huge difference, I may be missing his work but for mine he has been disappointing up till being injured. He is supposed to be a creative genius but I'm not convinced that he has provided any more than say Roly or Finkler. 

I'd like to see A Rod start instead of Lia - this gives us a quicker, more accurate passed as a DM which would free up Roly and Finkler to feed the wide players (Kosta and Roy) - Either Smeltz or Watson upfront with decent ball delivery should be able to score easier.

We've had 3999 goals in the history of the @ALeague . A chance for a slice of history when @PerthGloryFC meet @WgtnPhoenixFC tomorrow night.

— Murray Shaw (@MurrayShaw1) January 4, 2017

Settle petal

Perth will start at a blazing speed as usual, and we are not great at coming back from a goal or two down, so I would think withholding their early onslaught (25 minutes?) will be the key for us to get a respectable result. 

Not sure I would risk Smeltz early on. Hope the pace of the game will slow down in second half. He'd have more of a chance to make an impact for us then, IMHO. Also, I would not want to risk an early injury by getting him on the park from the start, or having the opposition kicking bits out of him.

Here's my unreliable memory of the typical Perth away game scenario: we generally start well, are competitive for the first 15 minutes before Perth gradually get the upper hand, bang one in just before half time due to sloppy defending, then as the game goes on and our body clocks go screwy they overrun us and win by three. Expect the worst, hope for the best!

Also Smeltz has the opportunity to pass Berisha and become the All-Time Leading Goalscorer in A League history (with a hattrick or better!)

There is home game against CCM coming up soon.

Spot on. Going all the way back to the Kingz in the NSL. It's a fixture we very rarely do well in.

Expecting my body clock to suffer during this game

Long Distance Derby Cup at Stake! (need a draw to keep it alive)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

What colour tie will appear tonight or will he go neutral and no tie 

Apparently the Nix haven't won a Thursday night game since 2012?

If we were worried about Greenacre being inspirational the Glory coach Lowe is quoted as saying "we will look to maybe kick on from here hopefully"

Wow you love to hear that before a game as a player/fan.

With the regular season only just half over it sounds like some coaches need a break.

Game Day, Fire Up!

3 points for the taking from the Perth Huffer and Puffers. . Even without Lia we should win this. Hopefully it's not to hot.

Thursday game results (excluding preseason). Seems we normally play those games against CCM.

Thurs Dec 31, 2009 against CCM - Win 2-0

Thurs Dec 27, 2012 against Heart - Win 3-0

Thurs Feb 7, 2013 against CCM - Loss 0-5

Thurs Dec 19, 2013 against CCM - Loss 0-1

Thurs Feb 27, 2014 against Adelaide - Loss 1-5

Thurs Nov 26, 2015 against Sydney - Draw 0-0

Thurs Dec 31, 2015 against CCM - Loss 1-3

http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/article/smeltz-cl...

New year, new NZF? Lolz jk

Hope to see Smeltzy starting tonight and subbing out for Watto. Hamish is good coming of the bench with 25 to go. Runs round like a raging bull.

A lot of talk about how lazy Finkler is on D... i think this is a little harsh, especially the Hernandez comparisons. Finkler could do more, but certainly does help with the press. If he dropped any further back we'd just congest the middle too much and have no quick release or chance for a counter.

I applaud the brave decision of FFA to schedule our CCM game for Saturday 14th Jan and not on a Thursday night.  

#metrics

2000th  - Oli Bozanic

3000th - Sasa Ognenovski

If anyone was wondering.

Lookin good

Perth WA, Australia

Thursday 7:00 AM

Cloudy