R2 vs Perth Glory | Sun 16 Oct | 9:00pm | SS2

This match thread couldn't have started any earlier. People across the globe are about to tune in to probably the greatest rivalry in all of football. Its the classic Purple vs Yellow, it's good vs evil, it's none other than the DISTANCE DERBY FIYAH UP! 

You'd definitely want to get Durante straight back in there.  Assume that Kosta is a straight swap for Watson, but after that it is a bit unclear.  Does McGlinchey play in the front three?  Gets a bit crowded as I am a firm believer the Bonevacia needs to be central as well - he never looks comfortable out wide.  I think Lowry should get a chance at left back given Parkhouse was nay good

"I don't think we got a hold of the midfield at all or kept possession in the first half. They were the better team, no doubt about it, in the first half.

"At halftime we put another defensive midfielder alongside Vince [Lia] and that settled things down there as Vince had another partner to work with against those two number 10s."

Also thought this was an interesting comment from Ernie - clearly he sees A-Rod as less defensively minded, balance definitely wasn't right in the first half there so maybe we need to think about Ridenton or Rufer in there as well.

I'll be up for this one .  can't wait

I think we'll see Rufer and Lia as the holding mids with A-Rod benched.

I think Rufer did very well when he came on, though as we were playing against 10 men it's perhaps a bit hard to tell.

A-Rod was extremely disappointing v City I thought. I still don't quite see where he fits in, and he's apparently played 50 games. Would be gone if at any other club aside from CCM/Jets.

Crazy talk. 

I've been an A-Rod detractor in the past but he had a satisfactory game. He actually made a few forward passes.

A-Rod was ok... but did any mid really stand out before City went down to 10... was he any worse than Roly, Gui or Lia... probably not.

Was really impressed with Rogerson, if Barbarouses isn't straight back into the XI I'd like to see Logan start over Watson, especially if Ernie is going to insist on playing wide forwards.

A-Rod on Saturday: most passes of any Nix player.  Best passing accuracy of any Nix player. Greater percentage of forwards passes than Roly or Finkler in the midfield. Behind only Rufer for long pass accuracy. Decent defensively too. 

I really don't know why Ernie doesn't play him at DM. Lia as the sole DM was never going to work, although Rufer was good alongside him when he came on. Granted A-Rod isn't the quickest or most mobile but he makes up for that with positioning and reading the game well. Also less important if you have 2 DMs instead of 1

I know I bang on about A-Rod's stats but I just find it strange that people can't see the work he does linking defense and attack and providing an outlet to pass to for teammates under pressure. He's not a crunching tackler or a playmaker and the combination of being slowish and having great positioning means he never really looks like he's busting a gut, which maybe makes people think he's not doing anything, whereas the stats show just how involved he is.

I think he's a similar type of player to Busquets and I guess there's a lot of people who can't see how vital Busquets is to that Barcelona side either

problem is that we are down three crunching tacklers. Having one in front of the back 4 would be good

I hope we win

As I have said, if you are right than Ernie should start him alongside or instead of Lia. For some reason it seems he doesn't feel A-Rod can do that role for him.

If only Rogerson ever looked up.

Since we signed Finkler it hasn't really been clear what our best midfield looks like both in terms of personnel and shape.

Is A-Rod not the "another defensive midfielder" in that Ernie quote?

That's the thing though isn't it.  We have 6 players of starting quality that need to fit into 5 positions.

If that's the case why does our midfield go missing so much?

18 year old on debut. Plenty of time to learn. Would still have been better than Watto if Logan had kept his eyes firmly shut the entire time he was on the pitch.

Rogerson was a better player before he started believing his own hype.  He has become blinkered and selfish in his play.  

If you could unlock the player that was there 18 months ago he'd have a massive future.

That is a fanciful comparison and it goes to the main criticism of A-Rod.  He just does not influence the game at all in an attacking sense.  Busquets plays as the deepest midfielder and at times drops in as a third centre back.  Then on attack the play builds through him.  Rodriguez plays further forward than that generally, or as one of two defensive players, yet while is passing is fairly accurate at times he has absolutely no attacking instincts and his passing is completely functional.  Plus as you say he is pretty slow.  Have you ever seen him play a one two, or lay on a chance for anyone?  I have barely seen him have a shot.  He has no goals or assists in 50 appearances but yet he isn't really a defensive player either, and he isn't an attacking player - so what is he?  Yes Finkler and Roly were quiet on the weekend but we have seen what they can do in an attacking sense in previous games.  We have never seen that with Rodriguez at all.

For me he has to be able to get in the team ahead of Lia as the most defensive midfielder otherwise he doesn't warrant a place in the starting line up.  And if you can't get in the team ahead of Lia then are you really an A-League quality import?

Completely agreed. You can go on about his passing stats all you want; but if it doesn't actually get us anywhere and 90% of those passes are backwards or sideways; it's hard to know how that benefits us as a team.

I've been hoping A-Rod would step up but he just hasn't. I don't think Ernie trusts him to be an attacking player, or a defensive player, so he's somewhere in between but not quite a box to box player either. It's strange.

I think we're going to have challenges as long as we try and fit Roly and Finkler (and McGlinchey) into the same spot.  

They are James Harden players, luxury players who can score but everyone else has to do work to cover for the fact that they aren't an influence on the game at all times.  If you are trying to play those two (or three) as well as Kosta and Krishna you are going to struggle to do much grafting as an overall team.

I'm not sure Fink and Lia can play in the same team either. They're both plodders.

Why not Roly as the deepest midfielder? He came here as a defensive option

I have no idea how.

Better option than Lia though? 

A-Rod last year (according to FoxSports Fantasy):

MP: 1597

2 assists

10 shot assists

0 Shots on target

53 Clearances, Blocks, Interceptions

196 Recoveries

Isais last year:

MP: 2360

4 goals

1 assist

11 shot assists

11 shots on target

109 CBI

447 Recoveries

I can't get Riera's stats. Obviously I'm comparing A-Rod to Isais here who is one of the best at what he does in the league. Also Isais did play more minutes and was in a championship winning team. However, they are both imports. I just think that is the type of return we want out of A-Rod. 

If A-Rod isn't going to score or get assists or defend then what is his role? If A-Rod isn't a defensive midfielder then you have to pick Rufer or Lia to do that role. So if you pick A-Rod and Lia then you only have four spots for Krishna, Barbarouses, Finkler, McGlinchey and Bonevacia. Bonevacia and Finkler seem to do the same job which compounds the problem. I don't know if most teams can pick a player who is just a distributor.

 Interesting comparison

If only Krishna looked up, Rogerson would have scored!

That's a bit silly really. Should play wherever the coach wants him.

I think Roly has all the makings of a really good box to box midfielder; I don't think he's quite the attacking midfielder he wants to be.

Agreed..dwells to much on the ball(perhaps given the pressure he is under when he gets it) and doesn't react quick enough with vision ahead.  Team needs to sort the midfield conundrum soon to avoid pressure in defence and stifling goal chances.

Krishna had every right to go for goal in that situation. Not sure why people bringing it up. It was good save.

We're gonna get an Aaron Smith style fudgeing in Perth!!!

Also, Can we move on from the A-Rod debate please? It is starting to head down the same path as the "Greenacre is too old, too slow and does not score enough goals" debate.