R18 vs Perth Glory | Sun 7th Feb | 5:00pm | RoF

The words of my friend Tony.  

"Oh why the negativity? I thought the players responded to Merrick's call for a better performance. They were by the end of the game unlucky not to draw. Saying that Perth offered little going forward and I was hugely surprised by the scant and poor service Keogh received as he was clearly more than a handful for Fox. But in all fairness apart from one glaring error when Fox let him get clean away he handled Keogh quite well. I think the young man has a future at this level. So all in all not too bad a performance considering the resources the Nix have. Perhaps if they can step it up another notch for the next game - and they will probably have to as it is Melbourne City - then you could say some progress was being made. But on a concerning note Merrick really doeas need to work on set pieces. Poor defending from a free kick coughed up the goal in a period where Perth never threatended and the Nix did. And our attacking corners are woeful. Some of the deliveries barely made the box they were so bad. I remember fallon saying to me that set pieces were worth 12 points a season. If you have a poor side they might even be more valuable than that. Imagine if the Nix had defended resolutely (10 men behind the ball) and then knicked a goal from an attacking corner to win 1 - 0? How valuable would those 3 points be? I do think the coaching is lacking. You can also see why they don't score many goals - they never take any risks going forward, preferring to always play narrow and never stretching the opposition. They really need more movement from the attackers and to use the full width of the pitch. until they are prepared to take a few more risks when in possession you just cannot see them creating too many genuine chances."

Probably because the zone was pretty much empty at the time,i did hear things wernt much better at the Backbencher not sure how true that is.

Sorry DF even the coach has apologized for the performance,yes apart from the positives of Fox i just dont get the rose glass view that some seem to have.

Interesting. At the end of the game yesterday , Jr asked me why no-one's having a go at Merrick. " Dad , if that had happened under Herbert then everyone would be wanting him sacked".

I had no answer. I'm not saying that Ernie is the issue, just that he does appear to have a bit of a charmed life at the moment.

Fox should be Siggy's permanent replacement if we get a licence.

Really? Muscat and Dura on their form of a couple of years ago maybe but now? Muscat has suffered a bit from being dicked around positionally , 2 years ago he was arguably the best defensive CM in the league , not now. Dura's form has slipped a bit. And yes , I'll agree re Krishna  but not the others. Maybe Fox with a bit more experience , very promising.

Like you im not blaming Ernie i just find it interesting that you can be sure if it was Ricky was in charge there would be plenty screaming for his head.

for the 3rd time out of 6 matches at westpac my season seat(stand) was onsold by ticketek to someone with a paper ticket, they keep telling me it cannot happen but it has in 50% of the games. i feel they should be giving me some cash from the resale of the seat i have paid for this season.

Ernie had us rollicking last season though, playing the best football the club has ever played, being the form team in the competition and generally kicking ass. I think that alone gives him a bit more of a grace period. 4th place was a good result, even if our form did tail away. 

The other factor is that Ernie's position can't realistically be called into question at the moment because of the doubt over the club's future. If we sacked him, who would we get to come in for a few months when there's no guarantee they'll have a job next year? What would sacking Ernie at this point achieve? 

Now, that's not to say he's blameless. I think there's tactical issues we've had for at least a year which he doesn't seem to want to address, and license or no licence our recruitment has been poor. But with the situation we are in and with how well he did last year, plus his record at the Victory, I think we have to just trust in him for the rest of the season at least.

I've said this in another thread I think, but if we get the licence then Ernie has next season to prove he deserves to keep the job, otherwise I think we seriously look at giving Ramon a go if he wants it.

Merrick is the relief to Herbert, who in terms of professional football in our city had the first shot at crafting our identity.

I also think there could be a case, for some, of unease with a local NZ coach in charge, and for some people it may be easier to trust a foreign coach perhaps with the thought that they "know the game".

It was a complete disaster! There were no doughnuts!

This needs to be fixed.

I could see Dura and Muscat in a Graham Arnold team, at the very last they are great cover for a season.

Despondent, because I thought the team played at least as well as Perth.

Positives: Manny did a good job in the centre. No Riera, no Vinnie, just Manny.
Fenton actually ran the line well, great cross deserved much better.
Doyle was good again.
Roly played better than usual of late with three or four superb passes through their defence.

Negatives: Yeh shark defending for their goal. Even with Siggy we have conceded from that sort of excellent delivery, between our line and the keeper.
Why do they keep saying "young" Stevens on the commentary? He is as old as our centre back and our new import striker. I hope they don't keep referring to them all as young. That's like saying they would be surprised if the young players contribute anything useful.

Our team is over all not physically big enough. We need a couple more players with physical presence to compete with the big teams. There are a few of them, Perth being one.

True! That was very disappointing for my little one, did they had ice cream?

Was told that it was as you heard.  Hmm...

Remember Ricki was given an almost open cheque book from Terry and Ernie is working under  stricter regime that may have given hi  some money but I would imagine it is strictly monitored and under control.

Sure Ricki had to scramble for players in year one, any players but he chose a fair few that he already knew and then there was the 3 Brazilians.

Ricki also had to go through the Terry drama. Although to be fair, although there were knockers (and always will be), the fan base didn't truly turn against Ricki until his last season, when it became obvious that he was no longer the right man for the job.

While Ernie is not blameless in our difficulties right now, I think the consensus is that his teams, with right players, can be very competitive in this league. This season has been difficult for many reasons, and Conan is probably right, he needs one more year (if we get it) to move us back into right direction and the top 6. If he can't, that'll probably be it for him.

It's good to have the debate. If you say that with the right players he'll go well, I'll ask what happened at the tail end of last year. Last 6 played - 1 win, 1 draw, 4 loss 

This the lineup that played the final match v Mel C:

Glen Moss (GK)

Manny Muscat

Michael Boxall

Ben Sigmund (VC)

Andrew Durante (C)

Vince Lia ↓78

Roly Bonevacia

Michael McGlinchey ↓58

Albert Riera

Louis Fenton ↓78

Nathan Burns

Substitutes:

Lewis Italiano (GK)

Alejandro Gorrin ↑78

Jason Hicks

Kenny Cunningham ↑78

Roy Krishna ↑58

A similar team played all those matches at the end of the season. I think most would agree that this group of players would probably be the best available at Merrick's disposal while he's been at the club.

Yep of that starting lineup 5 of those would've been a huge help to have on the field on Sunday: Lia, Siggy, Boxall, Burns and Riera.

Why did Boxall leave?  Offered better contract elsewhere or unwanted by the club?

got offered some sweet Rand

Because he has a crystal ball and can see into the future...

The Glory faithful were awesome. Truly awesome. 

At the Backbencher before the game, at BethelWoods afterwards, on the walk to The Ave and at The Ave I have never had such a good time with a group of traveling fans. Some good bonds were formed, and I look forward to them hosting me next time I go to Perth.

Contact the club (and Ticketek) and complain officially.

It was their first win in ELEVEN YEARS on their nominated Tour of Duty away match.

One of the guys' son has got married, and divorced, since they last won on their tour of duty - and that game was their last game in the old NSL! A lot of them have the pins for ALL of the Tour of Duty trips since then - you certainly can't begrudge them seeing their team win on the road after all of that effort.

Shame we haven't been able to successfully choose/organize one game a season and do a similar thing.

Promises, promises... Better live up to it boyo. 

NB If I was Ernie I'd be telling WeeMac to stay right out of the box.

if someone wants to try organise it for next year, be our guests.

have done this all 3 times., maybe i am just standing in the wrong seat and have not realised after standing there for at least 3 years.

With Herbert we didn't have the big bad FFA to blame and we hadn't been top of the table a brief mayfly life ago...

We're irritated, but Poppovic has had a bad season or two- and look at them- back on top.

I make next to no posts on here these days, but to think you need to have power to suggest anything or try organise anything is a joke. I've seen how the fever has grown in the last few years to include a much larger group in organising things. I would love to be able to organise something like this or something fever related but work and pro studies don't leave much time. I suggest people move on from the whole them vs us mentality (and I use to semi partake in that bs)

Pfft studies are overrated 

Honestly, if we get a license then I promise to organise a tour of duty for one of our away games next season.

My Balls, My Word!

1) Get passport renewed

2) Figure out saving scheme that wont leave me short.

3) Convince wife it is good for her, the kids and me.