R17 vs Melbourne City | Sat 14th Feb | 5:00pm | Bellevue Gardens Hotel

YF sounded very loud on TV.

So: Boyd is the anti-Lia, his absence is the new scapegoat? Or is he the new Kosta and Ernie's dumb or evil for "letting him go"? Are we sure Ernie has the choice?

We haven't won since Brockie left, so that's my scapegoat.

Odd Tard City finished with 11 players today.

Just arrived home from OE and was excited about seeing the latest version of Ernies Nix live for the first time..Thoughts

1, Froze my arse off....it was colder in Wellington than when I left France last week.....isn't it high summer at the moment?

2, New temporary stadium is mint.....so good being close up to the players. Extra good not having the fun nazi's from Westpac there....friendly guys at the gate,  loved the festival feel of the ground....food stalls, haybales etc Need more Portoloo's and coffee places

3, Curtain raiser was great...Boyd got 4....could have done with him in the main game as Krishna was having an off day. Not sure what the politics are but it would be sad if Boyd is leaving.....why put in that effort of developing a kid then he goes when you might get a good return out of them. We develop kids like Costa, Rojas and Boyd and they bugger off

4, Watching the Nix is like watching Arsenal.....they play real pretty football sometimes and then try to walk the ball into the net.....shooting more often might help to win games

5, City outmuscled us....they smashed Krishna and Burns early and then continually fouled us...especially when we looked dangerous.

6, A-league refs are shark.....they are so inconsistent....you could see the players loosing their cool when so much was being let go.

7, Ernie needs a plan B. 1 point out of 9 is disappointing and not the way to shore up a top four slot. Have we been figured out? or have the bottom sides upped their games over the break

8, The queue for the only womens toilet under the old stand was 50 metres long....what do they do in there that takes so long? LOL

Six portaloo at the South Eastern corner just ain't enough!

Thought Boxall was outstanding today. Could have got us the winner too

Common sense. Every team in the league should foul us in the final third as we never ever score or look dangerous from a set piece, corners included. Must be the longest run of any team in the league for non threatening behavior from a stationary ball

I though it was quiet for the most part, and had to really standup and open my lungs in the second half to get things going. It did seem to help and the team seemed to respond. More people need to open their mouths to get the benefit of a stadium like that.

And how MC had 11 on the pitch at the end I shall never know

Burns was poor? I thought he was outstanding overall

As a RB Box all does everything about 30-40% too slow

You gotta look at the bigger picture bro. We're not just producing players for Wellington, but for NZ. What we've done with Costa and Marco has been highly beneficial to the AWs. And if we kept both Costa and Marco, one could argue that we may never have had room for Boyd. The more players we develop then ship out to further develop their careers the better. In the long run it's going to be massive for NZF 

Of the Phoenix today who were doing things too slow, Boxall was probably about 10/11.

Too many touches wanted when it really counts - first time passes open teams up and we hardly did any.

Burns should have been fed earlier several times.

More points dropped that we really shouldnt have let go. Wish someone would just take a bloody shot. Dont get all the calls for Boyd,yep he has shown some promise but come on apart from scoring those 2 he really hasnt shown form that demands a place.Also wernt 3 of those 4 today penalties.

Dont think we are far off, some of those chances today the guys would have buried before the break but they just arnt at the moment.

Looks like that momentum the guys had going has well and truly left it.

? I've never wanted to 'unthis' any post more than this one. Defensively boxall is far better than fenton. His positioning, power, in the air, passing out if the back, you name it, hes better than fenton.

Attacking wise he doesn't have the mind set. But you could argue that he gets himself into better scoring positions (even if this is due to his height) and all this from our third choice CB.

I feel fenton regularly takes the wrong option or gets caught out. You cant say the same for boxall

3 words... Where was Boyd?

emailed the club today asking for an explanation

Boyd is not the new messiah but he seemed like a logical replacement off the bench for Krishna who was having an off day...except Boyd was not even on the bench. Krishna was absolutely cleaned out early in a heavy tackle.....he appeared to be suffering the effects for the rest of the game.

I just saw Ernies post match press conference. Lamenting the physical approach of City....22 fouls vs 6. Six yellows including all the back four. He thinks sides are just going out to foul us off the park as its the best way to stop our quick guys. Shades of the WSW game last week. Can't argue with what he said

If they are the ones from the basin- I was disappointed in those...but I was comparing them to Korean street food and I think it was snowing the first time I had them and they seemed epic at that point!!

Clisby and Melling are farks. Glad we weren't paying it back, but the red-mister in me would have been glad if we had. A goal would have been much better.

$4.50 for a spiral peeled potato on a stick?

There'd better be some taste bud explosion going on or some gratuitous nooky round the back for me to fork out that dosh next week.

All of this. HATE the Arsenal comparison, but you are the second person to have made it today.

just watched the replay! That ground looked amazing! What do we have to do to get a stadium like that any every major centre across NZ! 

Seriously well done the Nix for taking this option vs taking 3 games to different city's!

Watching Kosta play I wish that we would get some of this from our talented young players...

Fudge that spiral potato bullshark. The Greef Food Truck  halloumi burger sharks over anything else on offer today. Donuts and wieners included.

Yeah but I'm familiar with most ethnic stuff.  This spiral spud is quite intriguing.

Sort of like the curly chips at the old Hog's Breath.  Hopefully not as naff.

How should he show form demanding of a place when he doesn't even get a chance? He is banging them in for the WeeNix. We took Krishna out of that league for a good scoring rate and made him a starter.

But it's a potato on  a stick.

A potato.

On a stick!

How amazing is that?  A potato. On a stick.

I agree, the reserve team is there to show what you're made of, and if Boyd is showing good form there (which he is) then he deserves to be on the bench at least. And now that our forwards have all stopped scoring I don't think Earnie can no longer ignore Boyd.

I mean come on, he came off the bench against Adelaide (a tough place to play and usually a graveyard for us) and got us the win. What does he have to do to get a gig?

Earnie is relying on his method which has worked so far but now that we're stuttering it's time for new ideas. To simply sit there after a game and say that we're playing some good football and dominated possession and midfield doesn't cut it. Plan B is needed, teams have figured us out.

Said it before but will again cuz I'm so fascinated by it: Our corner kicks/free kicks are pathetic. Probably the worst team in the world in that department. We couldn't be more harmless really. 

Next week I want to see us taking some shots and variety up front

The Big Blue had two great headed goals. We just wouldn't have scored either of those goals.

Thought Boxall should've scored a header today, completely whiffed it. Krishna too.

Maybe you should stop coming to the games?

bwtcf is banned from all away games now.

Should chuck Boxall or the old Siggy in as one of our forwards then we'll see who has the balls to foul us.

Loved being so close to the action - some fine tuning to be done with facilities but a great temporary set-up. Much easier to get to than I thought it was going to be.

Game wise:

Roly's set pieces not perfect but shark loads better than anyone else's.

As much as I like Louis Boxall adds some mongrel. He is the only player we have who is a real threat in the air. We desperately need to sign someone who can attack set pieces for next season.

McGlinchy and Roly are great on the ball but neither of them are looking to get involved as much as they should be. Between them they should be dominating the midfield.

There's 2 Krishna's: A-league K and head down can't finish a sandwich K. 

After Newcastle next week we've got the top 3 teams. The league's closing up. Someone better find their scoring boots soon

Agree with most everything that's being said. We've been well and truly worked out over the break. But was significant how more threatening we were when the air threat was available thru Boxall. Can't work the Boyd thing out, but heaps we don't know there. 

My non-conformist opinion:

I don't like the seating arrangement.  Sure it's closer to the action (but I know about this anyway as a sideline parent), but the view is obscured when play is at the far end and not being well elevated means it is hard to actually work out the play from a distance.

Also seats are a bit more squashed up.

Yep good to have a full stadium with a large croud, but the open air makes the noise dissipate quickly.

Maybe will warm to it over the next few weeks but I'm not sold on the set up (would be more costly but seating with a steeper incline  preferred - if it was all like the goal ends might be better).

Thought the ground setup was great. Well thought out and those round me loved it. However the open-air sucks any atmosphere out of the place, and it felt flat as a pancake as the Nix were being clearly outmuscled. Better when we sailed home in last 20 mins though.

Just a pity we don't deliver the right result and lots of goals when we go to places like Palmy, Napier, Ak and now here - when there are so many new customers in the stands.  

I have to ask. Just what is 'ethnic stuff'?

Other stuff: The grass was cut to 25mm. (Source: The groundsman.)  To hear the guy behind us you'd have thought we were playing on some piece of savannah.

Dont think the atmosphere was helped with having YF stuck in that corner would maybe help if it could be spread out a bit more.

Also wasnt saying dont give Boyd a shot just dont think he will be the savior some of you think.Also  you cant really compare his scoring record with that of  Krishna.