R18 vs Newcastle | Sun 22nd Feb | 5:00pm | Bellevue Gardens Hotel

I think that Durante needs to concentrate more on leading the team than speaking to the refs though. The refs must hate him, which probably doesn't help us!

28 fouls in 98 minutes and one advantage I recall.  No worries only a foul every 3min 23 secs.  

McG asleep.  Burns under contract with Hell Pizza.

Burnsy and Roy have been man handled two weeks running. Hard fouls are one thing but they are getting crunched bigtime. 

One off bad tackles always deserve what they get. However the last 3 games has seen the Nix fouled 70 times vs conceding only 30 themselves. How are you expected to play flowing attacking football if you're getting hacked down every 3 or 4 minutes?

Frustrating to drop more points against a bottom of the table team. We look so good at times and then its that final pass or wrong option thats killing us. We have also conceded a truck load of goals since the AC break. The attack looks like it is almost there...the defence looks shakey. With games now against some top sides we are in danger of getting squeezed down to fighting for sixth place.

Its really hard to figure out whats going wrong.....some players are out of form. Roly was brilliant pre AC....now he is all over the place. He gave away the first three balls he received and he keeps trying the million dollar flick on when a more conservative option would be better. Weemac is not getting involved enough in the right places. The defense looks slow and at times disorganised.

Its not all doom and gloom. A-Rod was outstanding....he has this amazing ability that when crouded and you think a back pass is on he will somehow pickout a player down field. Burns is still and excellent player...we just need to put him in on goal rather than him trying to beat defenders from static positions. Its weird how it Krishna is getting all the clear goal scoring chances...you would think that Burns would have tucked away some of the chances that Krishna is missing. Nice cameo from Hicks off the bench and well taken goal.

The reality is though, that the Jets are a very very poor team and we should have steamrolled them. This was not a season defining game but certainly we are in need of a big improvement in the next few games otherwise the season could slip away from us

Last point...I know we are getting clobbered and I know its frustrating for the players but it is a bad look to be gobbing off at the ref all the time..stop moaning and save your energy for playing the game

Also the stadium looked great on TV....the YF sounded loud as well, especially first half. But most importantly Piney on commentary was brilliant....really made the last 20 minutes exciting. Calls the game properly and does not go off on a tangent like Dewhurst. Get rid of that muppet De Jong and it would be perfect. Piney every week please Sky

Well it seems to be a bit of a game plan, and as much as it pisses us off it is a fairly useful ploy if it can be tempered and the fouls are spread by different players. In saying that, the refs in the A-League aren't exactly the brightest sparks, so I wouldn't be expecting a crackdown on needless fouls any time soon.

Yeah, this.

I don't know what people want from a ref but no one ever sends a player off because his team has committed too many fouls. Melbourne City and Newcastle both got different players to foul us. There were a lot of fouls but the referee also gave out lots of cards. It doesn't help us but bad discipline does cost teams in the long run.

Apart from the goals bit, we did steamroll them.  We did the same to City in the second half last week, we were all over WSW before that.

Blimmin frustrating.

Not happy with the refs for the last two weeks.  Both let go some clear yellows

Quite surprised from your comment. A head injury is exactly that. I've never taken a first aid course but I think you will find that they will not move a patient until professionals  make the call.

You are the one deluded.See the above post.

I get a bit frustrated when the game is stopped for cramp or something. A head injury though? Nah that needs to be taken way more seriously and that includes stopping the play. Some of the disregard for head injuries I have seen in local football is shocking.

Moment of the game for me was Siggy's rhino like charge down the middle that led to Krishna's goal.

Fudge you not-a-strikers, I'll do it myself.

Unlike Lia, he scores. 

He was already on his feet and could've taken 2 more steps off the pitch, the ref told him to sit down right on the line. Ridiculous stuff.

Erm No.

Last week at Hutt Wreck

This week it was "People in the Ground"

Missus won $40 on the draw, free money from TAB's YFREFUND promo.

http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/matchcentre/Welli...

This is a pretty fair account of the game I think.

Another game where on another day we could of had another player score another hatrick.

Our scoring boots have gone walk about unfortunately.

Great free kick from hicks. And exceptional cameo from the lad.

The total shots to shots on target ratio is concerning. That will have to improve for the Victory game because I can't see the team getting many chances.

The ref didnt make Burns miss again. There are persistant fouls, but we have the bulk of posession so of course we get fouled more. We have to mix up our attacks - we are too predictable; we try to work the middle, get blocked off, spread wide then Krishna or Burns tries to cross it to a man at the back post. Every time.

We  should have hammered them.

We need a real centre forward I think. McGlinchey is just doing nothing in that central position at the moment.

Dont quite agree but think we need another option off the bench. Weve got very similar players.

We always seem to concede cheap corners at set pieces and/or from crosses. Happened last year as well. I do think that perhaps its not too far away from being the right time to change a centre back. I thought Boxall and Rodriguez both had very good games. Boxall could easily replace Dura/Sigg at Cb given some time. Much stronger in the air and keeps his head down (Doesn't continuously complain to the referee)

Krishna needs to regain sharpness. Too often the first touch wouldn't be good enough and the move would stall. Still stand behind my thoughts that Boyd is the better footballer. 

Oh and to the guy who sat behind us today who kept going on about how sharke Rodriguez is and how Lia should have been brought on for him: You have no idea what you're talking about.

Is there a reason why Boyd isn't on the bench more? (besides playing for the Wee Nix). Probably too similar to Krishna and Burns but can cause a few problems. 

Will Appiah push Boyd down the order?

Despite scoring today Krishna missed another hatful

I just think a true centre forward to get on the end of these many crosses could be of use.

We are too predictable. We try and walk the ball into the net from 10 yards. Newcastle knew this and got numbers behind every time. They knew none of us were ever going to shoot from outside the box. Every other club has players that will have a crack (and score). If we mix it up between shooting from outside and walking it in, it will give our potential scorers more of a chance? I am very surprised that Ernie doesn't know how to play these sort of teams v skillful teams like the Victory. Play Newcastle and play ugly and get 3 points. Play Melbourne and play pretty. Have the ability to change your game otherwise you will be left on the sidewalk, which has happened in the last 3 games where we dominate possession wise and play the best football but still lose/draw.

Burns was far worse I thought

I think Boyd will feel he's got a real fight to get a place on the bench because I don't think Ernie would have both of them on the bench at the same time. I can see Boyd possibly moving (I know there's been some talk) on depending how much game time he gets from now until the end of the season. I'm sure he doesn't want to keep playing in the ASB Prem. On the flip side Appiah still hasn't scored in the A League so Boyd has more experience in that department. 

I've said it the last 8 games and I'll say it again...any smart team will foul us any chance they get if their coach is any good. It's a known fact that we are no danger from a corner or set piece (Hicks's shot aside which was glorious, but when did we last score from a free kick?). The defence can deal with it easy, problem solved. 

I put my hand up for saying WTF is Hick's doing on the ball before he shot. I apologise to him and his fantastic hair for any offense caused

The irony today is that we can't get near when we have an attacking free kick or corner, but two of our heads combined for the Jet's first goal. 

Burn's backheel......... I don't know where to start..... My tummy was rumbling in anger for the next ten minutes.

"when did we score from a free kick last?"

Durante's knob in ChCh and Leo's 30 yard screamer in the rain.

My exact words before the free kick were (and others can confirm this):

"This isn't going in. Why the fudge is Hicks taking it?"

Fair play to jock Sutherland who exclaimed 'Hicks will take this with the left and score' as soon as it was given