R14 vs Melbourne Victory | Sun 20 Jan | 7pm | SS3

Gillett does the Nix no favours by being impartial, because he isn't. Another one whom will be like a 12th player for the other team.

Green is a generally excellent ref, although a few disquieting clangers have crept into his officiating in recent times. In terms of the A League Gillett's OK, the odd weird moment but nothing like the same level of bizarre we are treated to by the likes of Ams, Kersey, etc on a weekly basis.

Interesting watching the Asian Cup. Boy, there are some honking referees there too.

Some on here spend far to much time moaning about the refs and blaming them for some of the things that happen to us. While i will agree at times we have had what we perceive to be the rough end of the call. It seems that this season there is a lot more moaning than there has been in the past and at times that has been bad.

Some really need to get rid of the persecution complex they have and enjoy the ride the team is taking us on.

I think it was vital for Rudan and Morrison needed to get into the FFA & refereeing panels heads that they wouldn't be taking any bollocks this year to be fair tho

Melbourne @WgtnPhoenixFC fans get along Sunday evening. Kick off 5pm at AAMI Park.

See the event for more details and link for tickets in the away bay.
https://t.co/r1cX9fecMM

— Clarke B (@ClarkeBoswell) January 17, 2019

Only 17 names there, and omitting two would only leave 15 for match day.

Suspect they either forgot to put Lowry in, or are only omitting one for this match. Or leaving room for someone?

Wouldn't be surprised to see a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-3 at some point in this game or later in the season. 

Sheridan, Krishna and Williams are all too good to leave out (and Sheridan should be useful defending corners too).

None is a lazy striker - all get back and help out in mid - so one fewer midfielder might be OK (3-4-3 - drop Rufer - Singh and Mandi central mid; Fenton and Cacace wide mid).

Singh seemed to enjoy playing a bit deeper vs the Mariners, and started to demand the ball and run the game.

Or - drop one of Cacace and Doyle and play a 4-3-3, with Singh in front of Mandi and Rufer, and the fullbacks a bit more defensively minded.

Some nice dilemmas for Rudan; even more if Essien arrives.

Nah in the laters ins and outs it has Lowry and Callan Elliott omitted

Can’t see Rudes switching from the 3-5-2 just yet, so, assuming he doesn’t, who partners Krishna? Sheridan or Williams? 

Gee it's been a while since we've had such good problems. 

Gotta be Williams. Tough on Sheridan but Williams justifies keeping his spot. I did like how we had Krishna Singh Williams and Sheridan on the field when searching for goals. Didn't look too out of position with Sheridan slotting in on the left. 

Wouldn't want to play like that for 90 minutes tho

Williams scored last time we played against MV too. However, if they continue to play Broxham at CB, I think it makes sense to start Sheridan. Imagine Sheridan v Brox in the air?

Brown and Roux are also not amazing in the air.

If Ansell is back, then I'd play Williams.

(though, to be fair, I remember Brox v Heskey one time and he did strangely well)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/11...

Bloody exciting to read that Williams is "training the house down" and that The Shepherd is ready to start.

What does training the house down actually mean - is he bobsledding teammates? Running through brick walls? Displaying his sweet breakdance moves?

'Beep, beep, beep, beep....'

Hoping for at least a draw. Expecting a close loss though. 

https://www.melbournevictory.com.au/news/round-14-...

Unavailable: Jai INGHAM (quad – TBC), Keisuke HONDA (Hamstring – 4 weeks), Nick ANSELL (Hamstring – TBC), Georg NIEDERMEIER (Calf – TBC)

This seems to indicate that Ansell is still out; so the safe assumption would be that Broxham is at CB again.

We need to start Sheridan imo.

Tbh I think that we should keep with Williams for the moment as he hasn’t put a foot wrong lately and is scoring, while Sheridan doesn’t seem to be too bad as a super sub. 

I like your thinking. Broxham has also played like 5 games in the last 2 weeks. 

I won't be disappointed either way but think it is better for team morale to not drop Williams while he is playing well and scoring.  Might as well make the most of his hot form given that he does have a history of being a pretty streaky player.

Off topic and probably already mentioned elsewhere but kudos to the club for publicly coming out in support of Hakeem al-Araibi, the Bahrainian footballer currently in Thai detention awaiting deportation back to Bahrain. Disgraceful business that.

Pretty much how I view it. Sheridan is doing a great job coming off the bench and allows us to completely change the game. If and when Williams stops playing well and ceases scoring, then that's something we change. Don't want to disrupt his good form while we have it. Obviously I'm not the manager so Rudan may have other plans, but that would be my concern. Who's to say Williams,  gutted to be dropped would perform as well as Sheridan does off the bench? ?♂️

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Who's to say Williams,  gutted to be dropped would perform as well as Sheridan does off the bench? ?♂️

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Williams obviously has decent pace to run at tiring defenders, so that could be a bonus coming off the bench. (Although Sheridan pretty quick for a big lad). But yeah definitely Williams to start regardless imho.

We actually been lucky to take 6 points from last 2 games and here's hoping its just due to Mandi and Rufer missing, one part of me feels we may have been overachieving and teams now figuring us out so potentially risk falling away over next few weeks.

I think that's right. Equally, Rudan and Co also clearly figured out others during our run too. As some others have noted, it's why the next 4-5 games present as season defining. Are we one of the teams that can take our form to another new level?

Rudan will opt for whoever he thinks will get him the desired result... Sheridan for me, Boxham will give away countless fouls trying to compete or drop off the other CB and create space for Krishna to exploit.

Happy with either Williams or Sheridan starting. I'd lean towards Sheridan personally as I think he's better, and hopefully his first start can help us avoid a slow start as we have been at times lately. If Williams is on the bench, he's showed himself to be good at that role too.

Rudan also does tactical changes- we may see that.

Hope Burnsy can come back strong- think he's a slightly more creative player than Williams and knows Roy well.

Fark, how good is our squad when Burns is our current 4th choice forward. 

FTT

Damn it, I thought this game was on tonight! 

Was so looking forward to coming home after 13 odd hours, having a nap, then cracking open a few brews before watching the Nix destroy the tards in their own backyard. 

Ah well, better get some practice in for tomorrow night instead!

COYN!

For me, you need to change players based on the situation and team you are playing against. Rudan has spoken at length about this, so would be surprised if Sheridan did not start.

Guess I was more meaning what it could do to his confidence.  When Williams was coming off the bench, he'd not been playing regularly or well.  But I've no doubt that Rudan will have talked the team through whichever changes he's choosing to make.

Rudan clear on TV 3 news that more is expected and no one safe.

Thought I'd run some stats on Sheridan, Williams, and Krishna

The chart below shows Sheridan's stats in the Polish, Cypriot, and now A-leagues. Basically, he's expected to score ~0.38 goals per game, and make 0.14 assists. (Obviously have to make an assessment of how these leagues compare with A-league)

I've just got this season's data for Williams and Krishna. They both show that expected goals is a bit less than actual goals for both this season, which could indicate a bit of luck, or also that they're managing to score in positions that most other players couldn't. To me, looking at these, I'd think Sheridan should start.

Blue bar is expected goals. Orange is actual goals. Grey is assists.

Good stuff! Considering that Sheridan's been doing that in slightly more competitive leagues than both Williams and Krishna, I also reckon he should start, especially as Brox is now in the Vic's defense. Let Williams become an injection of pace for the next match and hope it works

So you would select a forward line, based on stats and bar graphs?

Very American.

Not sure i follow your reasoning Williams and Roy if im right have both scored more goals than expected according to your stats yet you call for Sheridan to start yet he is yet to score.Thought Sheridan had said he wasnt up to speed yet if thats the case why would you start with him.

If it aint broke dont fix it

Basically it will come down to whether the other players are now in tune with his runs, ie where does he like the ball, and what his fitness is like.

Only regular trainings with his fairly new team mates will disclose that, not stats.

Personally I would start Williams. I want to see Sheridan score a goal off the bench before he takes a starting spot off Williams, he's played well and has been scoring, what more can he do to keep his place?
That said I'm sure that Rudan will choose the team and tactics that he thinks will thwart the victory.
I still think that means Sheridan off the bench, either to hold up the ball and stall out the point/s or make be the game changer to steal the point/s or chase the game.
Can't wait to see the game to tomorrow!

bad choice of words on my part sorry, didn’t mean to say he should start based on those stats. Still think he would be great against the likes of Broxham in the backline, with Williams to run them ragged in the last 20-30 mins, but honestly i don’t care that much who starts - we’re lucky to have some of the best attacking quality at depth in our history