We won the game. I don't think we can rave about dominating them but it was there for us and we took it. Phoenix teams of the past may have only gotten the draw in some of these 'could go this way, could go that way' games so that's a nice one to see.
There is an interesting mix in the midfield and someone else mentioned it. Bonevacia was touted as a defensive minded midfielder that can play at CB yet he seems to be getting forward and helping the attack. Rodriguez was touted as a box to box guy but seems to be sitting back a bit. I don't know if this is by design but like Chopah, I watched him too and he does a lot of stuff away from the ball that is effective. He has some poor touches early on but the second half was an improvement. I see a mirror image of Tim Brown to a degree. He will be the one labelled as the invisible man but its the things he does that you don't see. Kinda like Riera. He always happens to be in the right place at the right time to intercept an attack. That's not because he is lucky, but because he reads the game well when he is off the ball. If the Phoenix need a couple of guys that graft off the ball to let the likes of Burns and McGlinchey shine, I am ok with that because at the end of the day, you need guys that wont be superstars, always on the ball, doing this and that. You need guys that get in and just work too. As mentioned by someone else, the defense did not seem as 'leaky' this week. By that, I mean 'panic, last line clearance' but that could be revisionist memory on my part.
Brockie seems to be designated scapegoat this year. I don't think he was utter shit but I also think he did a little more this week. I guess he is one of those players with some people where there is no middle ground - he'll be outhouse or penthouse. He should have nailed that penalty and thats 0-2 in the last 2 we have seen (Mexico was the other) so I think its fair to remove penalty duties from him. I agree that Brockie needs to run some better lines and living on the last shoulder of the defender and running straight lines (and thats what he does) is probably why he does not have success like others because it is very basic and not too difficult to defend. I think HAL teams have seen enough of him to figure that out as well. A bit of variation would do wonders to his game cause then people have to second guess him and thats where he can use his pace again. Kinda like a fast bowler with a slower delivery. I don't think he is a natural striker and looks like he is missing some coaching around that from perhaps when he was younger where he was faster and better than others so coaches just unleashed him. I do ask myself if the Burns-Brockie swap might be better.
One thing I would like to see and this is more of a bug bear than 'it does not work' is McGlinchey and Burns to interchange more and perhaps include Brockie in that too. McGlinchey does not have a left foot and there wont be crosses coming in from that side. He always cuts to his right. For a team that does their homework, they'll just keep forcing him left and he will become ineffective. He is a smarter player than that but I just see that as being an easy mark. Perhaps if he popped up on the right and you saw Burns central and Brockie out left, of just a little more rotation I think. It then allows all those players to use all their own strengths. I guess I kinda think of Marco when he was at the tards, whom would be on one flank and then pop up on the other and it made it hard to mark because you never knew he was going to be next. I'm not saying open licence so they get in each others way, just maybe the option to have a little more flex in it. As we saw when the goal was scored, Burns was central and Brockie was outside him. It can work. I guess thats something to work on.
I originally thought we would be 3rd when I posted 2 weeks ago. At the moment, I don't think thats quite as sure as I thought it would be but I also see a team that is getting better. There is enough there to show that we will be an ok team. Its up to them whether they go above being in midtable or below. Looking at the other sides, WSW, jam tards and Roar wont be as menacing as some people thought. I think Sydney are still pretenders. Perth have surprised as have Adelaide and last night I thought the Jets were reasonable. We might find that the easy start we thought we were getting (Perth, Jets) wont be as easy as we thought.
"Phoenix till they lose"
