R19 vs Sydney FC | Thur 9th Feb | 9:50pm | SS2

Bonevacia gets little help in midfield. Bonevacia looks comfortable on ball. His partners shark themselves everytime they get it.

who are our good players Babarouses, Watson, Ridenton, McGlinchy, Loery,Krishna, Smeltz Finkler, Fenton long list of underperformers

I'm a big fan of Doyle, despite his shortcomings. He is one of the few players who really looks like he gives a damn, and will run and run till the death. He's still young, still learning, and if the Nix manage to stick around beyond the next few years I'm sure he will turn into a real leader.

Have to face the  fact that we are just not good enough.

I think it's pretty clear that everyone's been facing that fact for a long time now, Leggy!

Really playing devils advocate and trying to understand the coaches rationale

Also Ridenton isn't a right back. 

Was not pleased with this game, to many uneeded blatant fouls, not enough football. If we play like that, finals don't look likely. We have two players suspended and I'll be at next game, so we'll see how things turn out. What's pisses me of is I was harassed by a bunch of our own bloody fans, because  in the final 6 minutes I said that I don't think we're winning this. They then tried to put the blame on me me for "not believing" and being a "fake Nix supporter". As you can tell I'm rather pissed of at the moment and it was nothing but plain childish on their part. I hope to be in the fever and see a win for the Phoenix.

Also the commentators on the match kept saying Ridenton, Rydenton. I'm pretty sure it's said Rih Denton. Have I just been saying wrong cause I don't think so...

No offence, but that's not the worst of our worries..

Was at the game - always good seeing the team in the flesh. I'm not sold on finkler, didnt seem to do much. I though rodriguez looked like the most energetic and wangting player in the team. happy for him to score his first goal. 

not sure the formation is working - but I dont have the solution either... 

Ik, just a little curious

That's nothing. Pretty much think this whole forum doubted we'd win from the get go. You lasted 84 minutes longer than the majority. Hats off to you sir.

Haha cheers mate, try to stay hopeful as long as I can

If Sydney is the team to gauge OUR team against - take a look.

Edit:  Feel sorry for cleaner of the Fox sport coms booth, Tomato sauce and spuuuuuf every where!

Ok, let's see if I have got this right. Other than expecting a loss at the home of a team who had won 13 and drawn 5 of their games prior to our game. 

Game plan A: Pass the ball to Durante

Game plan B: When hot on the attack down the wings pass the ball back to Durante

Game plan C: When hot on attack down the middle pass the ball back to Durante

Game plan D: When Durante has the ball, regardless of where he might be on the pitch, and no one is available directly then pass the ball back to Moss to hoof 100% possession into a 80/20 chance of the opposition getting it. Our strikers all of 5'6" up against the 6'6" defenders other clubs have.

Game plan E: When in possession and you cant see Durante, try and beat 10 players on your own until you see him and then pass the ball back to Durante.

As our Captain and leader on the pitch, he is also our Central Defender. I like the guy but this is and has been a concern for too many seasons. I honestly think that whilst in the process of attacking that we would keep moving the ball forward, pass the ball forward to one of our players or at least keep the ball in midfield with our players. 

Ooops almost forgot, 

Game plan F: When hot on attack, instead of taking a shot, play the ball one one side of the field to the other and back again until you can get a chance to pass the ball back to Durante.

Sorry guys for this cynical post but it had to be said along with us gifting possession away with passes straight to opposition players. At least try and make them count by going near own players please.

We played pretty good the first 10 minutes in the second half, I had hope. Then two shambles passes from A-Rod and Durante and we are out.

I liked the honest assessment by Mossy after the game. "Bad game last week, worst first half this game. Team is in a hole"

its interesting the difference between the team that is struggling and the one that is currently top of the pile... That said i was under the impression, maybe wrongly that the Nix were going out to attack sydney last night and apart from a few minutes either half did exactly the opposite.

Some of the passing was so wayward and the control of the ball poor it was like watching schoolboys playing. Finkler and Kosta again, poor, some amateurish defending, midfield being cut open at leisure, poor finishing.....a lot work needs doing

As a side note, does Andy Harper get more knobish with each passing year? I'm sure slater was miles worst when the A league first started but Harper is just awful to listen to now. Doesn't help that his beloved Sydney FC are finally living up to his hype after all these years.

Also Finkler is a complete waste of money sadly. I'm sure he's a good bloke but he just hasn't delivered at all this season.

finkler has to go. Offer the money to Roly. He's still young. We need to rebuild.

Des' presser

http://www.foxsports.com.au/video/football/a-leagu...

He speaks exceptionally well. Composed, thoughtful, confident, knowledgeable.

Shame about his team though... 

Yes to both of these things.

Finkler perhaps the worst value for money signing we've ever made?

Pie Man - other than that mega awesome and only goal he scored for us.

Good shout. Wonder what money he was on.

Not enough to keep him out of Jail! ;)

Terry money

So there we have it.....1 point gained out of the last 12. And we have the next two games against top 4 sides. The player inspired bounce after Ernies departure has well and truely finished. Unless we get a miracle or two then we could be six+ points off the last qualifying spot in a fortnight.

At the appointment of Des and Chris I posted that the club lacked ambition. I still stand by that opinion. The A-League has risen to quite a sophisticated level now. The days of just handing over the reigns to inexperianced newbies and hoping for the best are long gone. The opportunity was lost for a coaching cleanout and now we are reaping the result.

There is no point going on about how Costa is crap, Finkler is crap, Roly is crap etc etc. As the commentators said during the Sydney game we have some very good players. THe problem is the coaching system is not working. THe players don't seem to know what is going on...you can see the frustration they have. You have to feel sorry for Des.....he has gone from trainer to head coach...its turning to custard and if you don't have the background of experiance it would be very difficult to know where to go.

Now we just have to sit it out and wait until next season.....6th is possible but highly unlikely IMO.....another disappointing Nix season is on the cards

Because he was throwing money at everyone and anyone. 

Remember that player Ricther who was at GCU? Terry apparently said something along the lines of "I don't care how much he costs, just get him". Good thing we didn't because he was mud. 

Gentlemen and ladies the coaching staff are out of their depth any other coach/management team would of drop Durante,Lia and Kosta weeks ago Durante is far to slow now and his only contribution these days is to have a moan at the ref.Get Doyle in the middle hes to slow to play LB he just can't recover quick enough when beaten.The midfield is hopeless and the attack is so hot poor at the moment,was McGlinchy on in the first half and Kosta he's stealing a wage.It may be better next week with Durante gone.

Yeah I don't agree, Durante has been fine apart from that one mistake the other week leading to the goal. Doyle has been great as a LB and Lia has been great in the DM role. Our mid field has been the place letting us down and don't think we got that right, was wrong to have both Roly and Finkler on at the same time and Finkler isn't performing. Kosta is about the only bit I agree with you on.

I think there are still quite a few that are delusional, blaming the ref,the pitch the heat or anything else except the real reason we are not performing.

Yes we do have a few good players but they seem to lack the football brains that most of the other teams have. Kosta and Finkler played well for Victory because they were in a team that had players that  understood the basics and played as a team. Both have been poor this season.

There are many more reasons, but just from last night. Dura had to come from a right back position to challenge Brosque who was in a central position.Dura has spent most of the season arguing  with the officials. This may seem to be unimportant, but all these little things add up.

Easy for me sitting in my lounge seeing all that is happening on the field but some of our guys seem to be in a world of their own. Even pre season when most predicted that we would be one of the top sides I knew we would not as we don't have enough good players. Our first touch is poor, our defending is weak. We don't have a strong mental attitude. The same players make the same mistakes week after week.

I thought that what training was for to improve ones understanding and skills. We need a massive change in management and players.

From the perspective of a fan at the game, the most disappointing thing was that the team didn't give me much to believe in or hope for - even acknowledging we were up against the league leaders. In a fairly quiet, unexcited stadium (apart from Sydney's 2nd goal which was a purler), I didn't hear much chat from our team either. I said to Junior GG as we walked out that it didn't look, sound or feel like the team is playing for each other, the coach(es), or "the jersey".

I feel like most people accept we haven't been good enough across the park. The criticisms of the refs aren't, in most cases I've seen, blaming them for the results. It certainly isn't unfair or unfounded criticism either. They have been woeful across the whole league.

Wow, missed the fact the Nix played last night (knew they were playing Sydney) but though it was on the weekend? 

Heard the result on RadioSport this morning...Glad I didn't know in the end - SAD!