R16 vs Roar 24 Jan 10:00pm

They live in it, train in it, play in it, are used to it.  We're not.

I still maintain that our fitness levels seem to be wanting.

i will say it bluntly, krishna was pure shit. Albert was again amazing, brockie was good. those subs were all pretty strange however.

Would like for Hicks to be a bit more consistent, and that will come, but otherwise thought he had a good outing. Announcers and commentators seem to love him, which might be a bit much, but he's a good player. Probably not yet a starter on the team when at full strength, but a squad player you invest in for a bit and see how he turns out.

Dissapointing, but could see it coming, we didn't impress second half. Bertos didn't look the man for that the position and that left foot shot at the end, well. Same with Boxall who stuffed up our best chance late on.

Yeah it was hot and hard work and we were tired, but we should have scored more than one over 90 mins, in which case we would have had a result.

Bertos getting slated by the SBS comments team (Clint Bolton & Craig Foster) in their post-game wrap...

I guess if people thought that Carlos and Kenny were shit, we got a look at what life was like without them. We had a good 25min period but they could have helped so we didn't have to scrape our barrel. We are better with them than without them.

On that performance, Leo will be gone next year but I would suspect if he was a choice to come onto the bench, Ernie might choose to opt for Rufer next time.

Riera put in a good performance for us and I have to raise my hand and say I got his signing wrong when I questioned it. Ernie got that one all right.

Hernandez, Cunningham, Ifill, Fenton - so we were missing 4!

That game could have gone either way - just not our night. Possibly we suffered in the conditions as well - its not like we're used to the ultra-hot and humid conditions - not really typical Wellington climate.

Well that was disappointing. What was up with our substitutions?! I know we are pretty bare bones at the moment but I couldn't make head or tail of what Ernie was up to with those.

Agree Krishna was disappointing.

I wonder if Ernie put Bertos on because he thought Rufer would get murdered - at least Leo is used to the physicality.

When the teams are a close as these two were then the one used to the conditions will gain the edge as the game goes longer. Why do you think Mexico play their home games at over 10,000 feet? Bolivia play at even higher altitude and apparently have a great record at home.

Was Caira the right sub for Hicks?  I wonder if this should have been the role for Leo if he had to come on at all.

Waffles played like a demon in the middle and Leo could not do it anywhere near that level.

We've had close games with Brisbane earlier this season that we were unlucky to lose at the last gasp - we locked down Berisha last time he played us.... We're only going to get better.

Krishna was dire, poor timing for his first real chance to impress I guess.
Surprisingly I think we missed Cunningham more than Carlos. I was not a fan of hicks.
Brockie disappeared again second half.

In our defense they were two absolutely stuning goals. Better than any of our 5 last week.

Remember, we were also missing Ridenton, who against WSW and he Victory was quality when coming on. 

Let's call it a tactical loss.

Think Ernie got the subs wrong big time tonight. Bertos for Boyd at half time changed us completely. Leo did absolutely nothing. Krishna did nothing as well, just gave away fouls, would've rather chucked Rufer in there.

Get Carlos and Kenny back in asap and keep Krishna and Leo on the training paddock.

That was very disappointing and we let them off the hook.

Roar were crap in the first half and we went in 1-0 up deservedly. Their confidence was shot. Yes they were a few players short but so were we. Their passing and commitment were poor and we should have punished them in the second half.

However, as has been mentioned the heat and humidity took its toll. Someone mentioned that we did not look fit- that is not the case. Earlier today it was mentioned that the temp would be 20-- has been min 24, in fact at 10 pm on Tuesday night I was coming back from training and it was 28. Anyone that has not played in these conditions has no idea.

The second half the Roar were almost back to normal but quite frankly we should have done better. Bertos was woeful and there were some strange subs. Compare our performance today( and the way were are playing) to any recent season and the difference is amazing.

As I have mentioned before it is a pleasure watching now, even some mates are taking an interest.

Boxy was right on the pod. Krishna is a flat track bully. He couldn't run past anyone. [/quote]

I am finding this a little confusing (in the same way I used to when people spoke about how good Greenie is for the club)

Damn I am glad we signed Albert Riera,what a fucking machine

Hate losing on a friday night - so long until the next match!

Whoops, thought it was Perth next week for some reason. Must have assumed we just were not playing Adelaide at all this season!

Re: the temperatures, I seem to recall us beating Newcastle comfortably in 36 degree heat a couple of years back.

To clarify: I was saying that both teams might have ended up with a higher score than they did.

um....ok.  I was more confused about the double Boxy - ie Vadar saying that Boxy was on the podcast cunting off Krishna had me thinking about Boxall, and you saying about Boxy nearly scoring had me thinking about el grap.