R15 vs CCM | Sat 14 Jan | 7:35pm | RoF | with added Wee Nix and 12 Pubs

that won't work either

Agree with this. 

Not sure why there is so much negativity (though I guess its the usual suspects), CCM have been playing well lately and they never looked like scoring against us. The most postitive is that the Nix are creating plenty of chances, keep playing like the first half and we'll beat teams above us. The subs unbalanced the side for sure, I'm sure the coaches will look to fix this up, they've shown they are not afraid to make changes.

Objective achieved in my opinion.

Won the match and didnt concede!

I never enjoy from about the 84th minute onwards when we're leading by a goal. I find it even worse than when we're level.

It'd be all agreed that Roy walks back into the side.

Kosta, being poor tonight, and in general, might be interesting against his former club on Tuesday.

Time now to enjoy looking at the ladder and hoping Sydney do us a favour, again.

We took two newbies to the game, including a not reluctant but definitely rugby fan.  Both had a great time.  The first half we played some great football and didn't finish three or so chances we should have/need to.  And the second half I think the heavy pressing and the subs told a bit.  Weemac was fantastic and some of the heat went out with his sub.

Was a good game to watch mostly, but the second half definately fell away.

GreenBucks doing a good job I think. 

Defense has been pretty good lately, particularly at home. 2 goals conceded in 5 home games

Yes, you're probably right and whilst a draw wouldn't be disastrous on Tuesday I'd still be disapppinted if we didn't win. Any successful season needs to see some wins against the hotshots.

Tuesday might be our best chance. At home, with a fully-fit squad, a hard-fought win under our belt and a Victory side who wouldn't be keen to fly to Wellington for a game so early in the week.

Roy, Roly and Kosta might all be angry too, and with points to prove for various reasons, and how long is Smeltz gonna go without finding the back of the net? He hasn't been called Shane Smeltz all these years for nothing.

Better tonight but the ruthlessness in front of goal still isn't there. We could've, and should've, scored about 5!

3 points is what matters but if we have any hope of beating Victory, we need to take our chances. Was a bit disappointed we didn't create many chances for Smeltz, but I had a bet on him...

CCM are utterly woeful, though I guess conditions didn't help.

Kosta was most disappointing I think. Can't pass, can't cross, can't shoot and can't beat a player. Unsure what's up with him.

Happy about the result and how we played, good progress. I thought the atmosphere at the Westpac was great, I had a lovely evening. McGlinchey was great, Roly and A-Rod very good. Tratt is header monster, hope he scores soon, deserves it. Tuesday will be much harder, still have a chance to win if we convert more chances.

The odd one for me was the changes. We were spanking them down the left,so when Wee Mac came off he was replaced by Watson??? Watson looked lost so wandered in the middle. Then we had Watson and Smeltz in the middle falling over each other.

They then bought on Parkhouse for Smeltz once our shape was turned into a pear

Why not replace Wee Mac with Parkhouse then Watson for Smeltz? 

We got there in the end anyway

Watson was pretty dissapointing.  Noticeably made the wrong runs a few times, tried to bull his way through gaps that weren't, and was spoiling for a scrap. 

We missed Krishna, but still got the result.

Let's get lucky and take apart Melbourne on Tuesday.

I reckon there was about 4,500 at the game and yet..........

Great goal from Wee Mac and a nice acknowledge to and from Smeltzy when we asked him what the score was at half time.

Didn't think A-Rod was that good. It was an opportunity for him to show what he was made of. 

He was adequate but not great.

Vinnie back in heart beat. 

... Kosta? You guys thought Kosta sucked? Seriously? All right, he continually tried to run through players rather than taking the early ball, but he looked pretty good at the park apart from that.

No-one sucked tonight IMHO. Wee Mac was amazing and Roly was pretty tough - looked to me like the first time we had a midfield all season. We started to look flat after those two came off. Tratt also had a scorcher. But I will admit, massively frustrating we didn't win by 5 against that shower of sharke.

The CCM keeper Izzo was literally keeping them in it, especially right at the end. Appiah was a comedy show as usual. The ref was awful, giving away cheap free kicks (and a card against Doyle) for obvious dives.

Brilliant atmosphere in the zone, despite or maybe because of the typical Wellington January weather. Only spoilt by the kids yelling abuse at our players and Patrick. He is not the worst drummer in the league!!!

Also. Why did no-one tell me that Hāpi Daze beer existed?? OMG YUM.

Under the new coaches we appear to have abandoned Ernie's policy of  wing backs who played up field ahead of the ball and were caught out as we lost possession resulting in conceding of soft goals. We are playing  conventional full backs who over lap coming from behind the ball and we appear more confident under this style.

Did you and Kiwi Hatter kiss and make up?

I think our attack was missing the Balloons!

I've realised if all teams took their chances in every match, we'd have rugby type scores.

We created quite a few, one went in, we got the points what's not to love?

I'd heard advertisements on the radio 3 or 4 days before todays match about 50 free tickets.  I agree their social media and marketing needs a real kick up the backside. 

Would you have said the same thing If WeeMac had missed?

I'm happy we won but we won't beat anyone above us if some of these clear cut chances don't start going in.

I strenuously deny all accusations that we kissed, but he gave me a big bear hug and showed me a picture of his 5-foot-tall inflatable turd.

Disagree completely... A Rod shifts the ball so well in the middle of the park and controls the tempo nicely, watch the replay and after he passes he's often telling the player to slow it down or to quickly give it back because the space has opened up. Also, technically he's quite clever in beating his man to find room.

Lia was better tonight because he was able to concentrate on doing the donkey work and not trying to start play from the back. 

Yeah I agree A Rod did good last nite.  Its what happen with the creativity further up the field that still isn't working.  Victory(Rojas in particular) should tear us apart and handle our "attack" well.  The start line up worked okay I thought for a while but only really down the left.

Second worse?

A-Rod did a great job, he was busy, started play well and defended really well at times.

Lia was vastly better with A-Rod at his side

Roly had easily his best 60 minutes this season - at time he had CCM players looking foolish

Kosta has got to step up, he has continued to show very little of his form from Victory for us.

I was please too see wee mac at his attacking best - maybe the break has done him well.

Finkler did really show a lot when he came on, but benching him was the best call.

Happy with the 1-0 win and the positive way we played.

Considering the weather last night the boys put on a pretty good show. Great to have weemac back.

Vinnie & A-Rod were both playing

A few observations:

A-Rod's ability  to move the ball on quickly seemed to open things up more for the midfield, especially Roly.

Roly (especially in the first half) seemed to also shift the ball on faster than he has been. Could be down to CCM giving him more space than other teams, playing further forward (as others have noted)

The midfield play looked more fluent than usual. In the last few minutes, I think I worked out why. I was thinking to myself that it didn't feel like there were any major refereeing talking points for once. Apart from Watson near the end, there hadn't been much niggle. With that, came the realisation that for once, our midfield hadn't had the snot kicked out of it (and gone unpunished by the referee).

Kudos to CCM for actually coming to play football.

I agree he moves the ball very well. Though he does have a habit of occassionally forcing the pass too fast, either to a player that isn't in a position to recieve it (e.g. being mobbed by defenders), to a player that hasn't thought of making the run that ARod sees, or straight to the opposition. With playing time and experience he'll reduce these errors and be an ever better player.

That's a good point actually. For all CCM's lack of experience and quality across the park, they do actually try to play some nice football, which has to be commended.

without reading anyones in this threads comments and not watching the game but seen the highlights i have to say the finishing was terrible .

everything on our side with the stats as well but only manage to scrape a 1-0 win !!!!!!! 

We won but still not good enough

I thought A-Rod was great. 

So many times I remember us winning the ball near our box and then bing, bing, bing- 3 simple fast passes and we're away on attack again. I loved his simplicity, work rate and availability to receive the ball. 

Tratt died with the ball a few times as did Doyle and A-Rod made a couple of blunders, but overall I was thinking how well a Roly, A-Rod, Lia midfield was working. Of course against the weakest team in the competition...

Liked the spoiling for a scrap bit personally. Played one great pass which could have been a goal. Could have done better when through, but that's all the strikers. I still think he's a threat up front. Wouldn't mind seeing him and Smeltz or Krishna up front together. I think he's a bit wasted out wide. Should have just brought Parky on the wide position and then Watson when they sent Parky on later...

Great night, Fever were in full voice, the drum sounded good, a clean sheet and 3 points. If the Fever can turn up like we did last night on Tuesday, we could help push the lads over the line for a good result. See you all on Tuesday! 

Also both fullbacks are strong defenders or at least good enough, so that it gives the wide players confidence to try things and be backed up...

Go girl, seek happy nights to Hapi Daze!

Glad to see more converts to the church of A-Rod ;)

Here's some thoughts from me, in no particular order:

- it's hard to know what to make of that game because of the opposition and the conditions but 3 points is 3 points.

- the 4-2-3-1 shape works better than 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 for us at the moment I think. WeeMac looked good in that wide left role he used to play and the passer/tackler combo of A-Rod and Lia works well at the base of midfield. There were a few times when they both got caught up the pitch but our back 4 seemed pretty comfortable in those situations. Might be tougher against a better team though.

- Roly might be getting his groove back. Showed glimpses last night and seemed more passionate again. Had a rage out at the pitch after he missed that sitter in the first half.

- Not sure how you accommodate Roy and Gui into this formation. Gui for Roly I guess, but depends on whether you put Roy in a wide role and WeeMac centrally but I think WeeMac should stay where he is. Kosta could make way but I think he's our best straight out winger so should start for now. Agreed his form hasn't been the best but I also don't think it's as bad as some people do. Roy could come in for Smeltz but doesn't have the height or ability to play with his back to goal. Tough calls to make.

- the Victory game will be a good marker for where we are under Green Eggs and Ham. Definitely their toughest test.

- did anyone else notice Rossi and Moss having a little argument after Rossi sheilded a ball out in the first half? What was that about?

I think (and I'm glad about):

Roly and Gui are now playing for the same position as a number 10 play maker.

WeeMac is part of the group competing for wide play making/scoring roles (Kosta, Krishna), with Smeltz, Watson and Krishna filling the more central striking role.

Rossi has a few times seemed to suggest that Moss could be quicker off his line, which is a complaint I have about him as a keeper. Rossi is a beast and we should be doing all we can to keep him. However, clean sheet is a clean sheet.

No that was just his way of disguising baloons so he could get them past security.

A-Rod got a few times applause for his fake body motions to trick CCM players. I don't think he played particularly different yesterday, just the players around him stepped up to his speed and direct passing. Also notized how often Kosta an Smeltz discussed after failed attacks, hope they ckilck soon.