R16 vs Wanderers | Sunday 8th Feb | 7:00pm | SS2

I would have though that you shoot if you think you can score, regardless of 10/30 metres.

Yes. But you chance of scoring are signifcantly greater (about 5 times) when you shot inside the box.

Complaints about us not shooting enough yesterday are interesting because Roly took long range pot shots at least 3 or 4 times, only one of which was even faintly dangerous, plus I remember Riera and someone else skying speculators into row Z. I thought at the time that it was an indication of how well WSW were dealing with us. 

Overall I have no complaints about our attack at all. Krishna went desperately close twice but both times Mullen just did enough to get in his way. On another day and with a bit more luck we would've come away with a point or even all three.

Wow someone just called radio sport and suggested that Ridenton and Hicks might do a better job then our current midfield :/

Lots of people ring Radio Sport instead of posting here.

What does Martin Devlin think?

Those talkback types with their lunatic opinions, thank God we don't have anything like that around here.

Also the stats analysis that we were winning cos we had shots from near the target. Let's face it they were desperate and determined and we didn't snaffle our openings. 

edit:ah right, those ones that 2nd best posted half a dozen comments ago.

Also on Hicks- didn't he come off the bench and score us a winner towards the end of last season? Maybe should be given a chance to push Lia for a spot? Was good enough last season to do plenty of time...

How to score from corners..like the last one.  Hope link works...

http://bit.ly/18Zc3GP

You made some good points Conan bar this one. I would be surprised if Wee Mac cleared the first man on more than 10% of his corners. He was utterly poor, and it's been a theme of a lot of our corners this year. I truly can't comprehend why you can see better corner deliveries in Cap 14 than you can from professional footballers.

Great goals from both sides but we specialize on goals from 5 yards. I wish we would have a go from the edge of tge 18 yard box from corners.

Re: the long shots thing. I don't think that we should take more long shots generally, because the way we have been attacking has been working really well throughout the season. However, yesterday we were struggling to create the space to shoot from close range and WSW were holding off us until we got near the box. I think as the 2nd half wore on especially it was becoming obvious we were finding it difficult to break them down. In fact, we made nearly 150 more passes than them but attempted 2 less shots. Shooting from longer range might not necessarily have led to more goals but it might have made the WSW defenders come out to press us further away from their goal, which might have opened some space up in the box. Basically I think we needed a plan B but we don't have the players to play a different style. 

Patrick wasn't happy. We did well to escape the ground without a punch being thrown to be honest.

Agree with much of that Steve-o except Krishna was realyl good. He was our main threst using his pace to get around their defence.

Also the boys were absolutely DRENCHED in sweat when they came over to the fans after the final whistle. Never seen them so completely exhausted.

Rarely do you miss an opportunity Juniour, but that is poor form.

SURELY that should've read: "The reaminaing 4% tend to exaggerate"?

Staggered.

So much this.

The WSW fans I met were, with TWO exceptions, bloody good eggs. They were friendly before the game, and mostly humble, and somewhat resigned that they were anchoring the table and hadn't won. The RBB were magnificent in trying conditions. They were in the face of the scorching sun, and despite the fact it had cooled down a little bit by kick off and there was some breeze, they must have been doing it tough.

The WSW fans in the Western Stand with us were a silent humourless lot, although some did chuckle and clap some of our chants. 

After the game most of them were stil friendly and enganging too.

Also, some perspective... we have not torn WSW apart all season. Both the previous games we won 1 - 0 and this one they were up 1 - 0 against us until very late. It didn't go our way this time just as it didn't go their way the previous two games. The game was similar to the first two games against them.

And we're in the top four.

We're gonna win again at the Hutt Wreck.

The pitch was not narrow, and the grass was not long. It was immaculate. Penrith Stadium was awesome.

It was one of the 97% posts?

Wouldn't it be equally long odds that Cunningham is back next year?

if rumours are to be believed.

Just seems a bit odd that Cunningham gets in the team and Boyd doesn't but apparently Boyd can't get a game because he won't be here next year.  It would surprise me if that is the only reason, but does seem a bit odd all round.

We weren't miles off against WSW but getting the goal allowed them to defend deep and they're pretty good at doing that.  Bit of a sloppy performance.  Thought the subs were quite strange but then it was hot so you don't know who was suffering.  Boxall came on and looked very slow and clumsy which wasn't ideal when we were playing against a compressed defence and needed to try and get round the back out wide.

Krishna's form is great and he's a real bright spot.  Overall we still look a good side, lost a close one but that's going to happen, we've probably had our fair share of luck to win some close ones.  I still think our biggest weakness is at fullback

Not sure we have this season.  Close games were vs WSW (1-0 wins) but I don't recollect them as being down to good luck.

I think we have been unlucky not to steal a couple of draws (vs Perth, Roar and ... long bow... Adelaide) and very unlucky not to get the win against CCM at Eden Park.

May the long arm of The Hutt be with us!

Its not so much a plan B as such but a variation of plan A to ensure teams don't park the bus. If we happen to get one, great (as much as the odds do not support it) but its the need to force them to defend from 30 out and not 18 out and remove the congestion.

If we are objective, Boyd is a good squad man whom can give you mins in our team but he is not a starter considering the form of Burns and Krishna. He would not get an import gig in other HAL sides so I am guessing they are leveraging their position vs a stint in Europe.

I don't see anything wrong with that, if that is the case.

Except Cunningham coming on when we are 1-0 against the bottom team in the table. This is hurting us this season. It seems bizarre and odd.

Listening to Merrick on the podcast seems to intimate that he doesn't think of him as one of the "best 15 players".

I guess if you compare them, Cunningham is not a striker where as Boyd is. I suspect in a foot race, Cunningham is quicker.

They each offer qualities I guess and its tough to say if one is definitively better than the other in terms of what you are specifically looking for them to do.

Maybe with his American heritage, He might end up in the MLS?.

Kenny's eyes are better.

Boyd's hair is flash.

I'm not as down on Cunningham as Hard News but Boyd has shown infinitley more in the brief times he's played. 

Has also scored 6 in the ASB.

Quite possibly been tapped up already IMO.

Kenny's eyes are like Marty Feldman

Incidentally, have we done well in any recent games when both Kenny and Boyd were on the park together?

They have different strengths and may provide useful backup when Krishna gets tired and our other wing is sluggish.

So that graph looks good BUT how many shots have we had?  Only TWO in this game, hard to mess stats up like if you don't shoot at all.