Wellington Phoenix Men

R20 vs Sydney | Sat 23rd Feb | 7.35pm | SS4

284 replies · 29,729 views
about 7 years ago

Someone tell me why Williams didn't shoot there


VUW AFC - Victoria University Football for life

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about 7 years ago

Son of a Don wrote:

We so deserve to draw this

No we don't. This is the worst we've played all season.



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about 7 years ago

Have to say, Roy has been half a yard off today. Had a couple of really good chances and was just too slow or indecisive. Was full of running but not his usual self. Really liked Burgess and The Sheriff off the bench but I think all in all Cacace MoM for me.
Despite playing badly, a real wasted opportunity in Campbelltown

We haven't played that bad, particularly second half.

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about 7 years ago

Yep but we got outplayed and made some schoolkids mistakes all game


VUW AFC - Victoria University Football for life

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about 7 years ago

No one wants to shoot today

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about 7 years ago

whose thought was it to play in campbelltown.  if you're going to sell games why wouldnt you just play in auckland again.  5000 crowd.  thats nothing. rediculous decision

SMFC till I die!
Only one team in melbourne!
F*** Victory and Heart
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about 7 years ago

Yep but we got outplayed and made some schoolkids mistakes all game

Don't think we got outplayed at all. They scored a pen from a stupid individual mistake. Otherwise it was just one of those games where the ball doesn't fall at the feet of our players, happens sometimes.

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about 7 years ago

Everytime we lose Leggy and NUFC say it is our worst game of the season... pinch of salt.

Carcace was excellent - really a leading light tonight.

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about 7 years ago

The difference in that game was one team had a midfielder who was turning the ball over in front of their back three and the other team didn't. 

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about 7 years ago

I think that Sydney were far more effective at attacking the player with the ball and that close attention really paid off for them.

Actually, getting outplayed quite a bit these days

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about 7 years ago

whose thought was it to play in campbelltown.  if you're going to sell games why wouldnt you just play in auckland again.  5000 crowd.  thats nothing. rediculous decision

The game was probably underwritten and profitable whereas one in Auckland wouldn't have been.

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about 7 years ago

djtim3000 wrote:

Yep but we got outplayed and made some schoolkids mistakes all game

Don't think we got outplayed at all. They scored a pen from a stupid individual mistake. Otherwise it was just one of those games where the ball doesn't fall at the feet of our players, happens sometimes.

Really? Apart from the last 15 they dominated us, had all the best chances and repeatedly took advantage of our inability to keep possession. Our error rate was through the roof.

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about 7 years ago

MetalLegNZ wrote:

Everytime we lose Leggy and NUFC say it is our worst game of the season... pinch of salt.

Carcace was excellent - really a leading light tonight.

Carcace was excellent, but as a team we were not.

If you are old and wise you were probably young and stupid

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about 7 years ago

They choked our midfield well and Louis struggled to link with the front runners

Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet

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about 7 years ago

Didn't get out played, had chances, but just lost too much possession in the middle. Singh was really disappointing - Rufer and Mandi lost a lot of ball as well - but Carcace was great again. Like Burgess's chances of starting next time, and it's time to start Sheridan.   

Sydney always put the squeeze on our midfield, won heaps of second ball, and obviously deserved to win.  

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about 7 years ago · edited about 7 years ago · History

Outpost wrote:

djtim3000 wrote:

Yep but we got outplayed and made some schoolkids mistakes all game

Don't think we got outplayed at all. They scored a pen from a stupid individual mistake. Otherwise it was just one of those games where the ball doesn't fall at the feet of our players, happens sometimes.

Really? Apart from the last 15 they dominated us, had all the best chances and repeatedly took advantage of our inability to keep possession. Our error rate was through the roof.

Yes really. We had more possession, played more passes, had a higher pass completion rate, and had only two less shots but the same number of shots on target. Lacked a bit of mongrel in the midfield, Sydney made almost twice as many tackles with a much higher duel winning %. Same issue the last time we played them IIRC.

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about 7 years ago

Last 6 games, won 1 drew 2 lost 3 scored 3 conceded 7...the goals have dried up and we are struggling again.

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about 7 years ago

Considering it was an away game vs one of the top teams not so bad... oh wait.

I don't feel mad at our players over this loss , but I'm annoyed at the owners and I reckon the players will be too. If the game was in NZ its likely we would of got a point or better. I'm glad the crowd was shark.

Also, Cacace is class. I also still rate Sheridian despite not scoring yet so I hope he gets more chances.

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about 7 years ago

Leggy wrote:

MetalLegNZ wrote:

Everytime we lose Leggy and NUFC say it is our worst game of the season... pinch of salt.

Carcace was excellent - really a leading light tonight.

Carcace was excellent, but as a team we were not.

Agreed. Team performance was diabolical.



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about 7 years ago

think we've been figured out. Sit deep and put pressure on out midfield and we will turn it over

Normo's coming home

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about 7 years ago · edited about 7 years ago · History

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

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about 7 years ago

4th is season has been seriously over hyped. We've only won seven out of twenty matches

Normo's coming home

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about 7 years ago

mjp2 wrote:

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

Yeah the pitch seemed really sticky (sand based?), I only saw 2nd half so not sure if they were blaming pitch in the first 45 mins. Coupled with the wind didn't help to make it a quality game.

In hindsight unless McArthur SW Sydney paid out a very big cheque for this 'home' game, with such a small crowd today - coupled with last week's big EP turnout - should have just played back to back in Auckland. 

Even a crowd of 10,000 today at Mt Smart would have been better. If come regular season end, and Nix are a point off 4th, or worst scenario a point off 6th (ie 7th) - could look at today as a Oz 'home' game that cost Nix a home playoff money spinner, or even a playoff spot altogether.

But in Welnix's defence, it's hard to forecast these things (especially the big EP crowd), months in advance.

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about 7 years ago

Burgess should play more, looks decent when he came on should start him soon to give Singh a rest.

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about 7 years ago

james dean wrote:

4th is season has been seriously over hyped. We've only won seven out of twenty matches

Agree with you JD think many have got way to carried away. Yes there have times we have played well but cant do it consistantly and it seems we cant do it for a whole game at times. Loving our development this season but not enjoying the over the top praise.

Dont care how they spin you wont convince me taking a team away from home for 7 weeks helps at all.


GET YOUR SHIRTS OFF FOR THE BOYS

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about 7 years ago

Wow. 5115? Why wasn't this game played in NZ? Hamilton, Napier, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Whangarei, Dunedin, Christchurch or Nelson? Lower Hutt?

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about 7 years ago

We are a 6th placed team, mediocre. We got  indeed carried away with some positive performance but we draw to many and wasted one or two wins. Will be interesting to see if see team can getback into another and get into a winning streak.

Hope we never play a home game in another country. I know the reasons, yadda yadda yadda, just a stupid idea.

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about 7 years ago

5000 is very poor

Think we would have beaten that in any provincial city in NZ


Auckland will rise once more

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about 7 years ago

Atleast this should put that stupid idea to bed for the foreseeable future.

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about 7 years ago

mjp2 wrote:

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

I always thought this young Nix team would do it tough in the second half of the season. They have come a long long way from previous seasons but they still are a work in progress. For me this squad was always going to be too skinny. Rudan tried to recruit some experianced players like Nicholl who could pad out the squad but unfortunately it did not really work out. He has basically got his first 11 and they have carried the load for the whole time.

The youngsters have been great but some of them are now doing it tough. Singh has been physically targeted and his influence has dropped off. It takes a lot of games for young players to adjust to the weekly grind of pro football.. Some like Cacace thrive immediately.....others struggle to keep up.

The season is at a turning point IMO. Rudan needs to work his magic to get these guys up for the final push. Maybe he needs to look at a plan B...... starting Sherridan...give the opposition something else to think about. It would be hugely disappointing to miss the finals. They are sill in control of their destiny. but will need to pick up some three pointers.

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about 7 years ago

austin11 wrote:

mjp2 wrote:

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

I always thought this young Nix team would do it tough in the second half of the season. They have come a long long way from previous seasons but they still are a work in progress. For me this squad was always going to be too skinny. Rudan tried to recruit some experianced players like Nicholl who could pad out the squad but unfortunately it did not really work out. He has basically got his first 11 and they have carried the load for the whole time.

The youngsters have been great but some of them are now doing it tough. Singh has been physically targeted and his influence has dropped off. It takes a lot of games for young players to adjust to the weekly grind of pro football.. Some like Cacace thrive immediately.....others struggle to keep up.

The season is at a turning point IMO. Rudan needs to work his magic to get these guys up for the final push. Maybe he needs to look at a plan B...... starting Sherridan...give the opposition something else to think about. It would be hugely disappointing to miss the finals. They are sill in control of their destiny. but will need to pick up some three pointers.

Agreed 100%.  

Rudan is a an excellent young coach and we were able to ambush almost all other teams (not all) because they did not know what to expect from us.  Now they do, so the cat is out of the bag. Hence we could not beat Victory last week,  and this is why we struggled against Newcastle a couple of weeks ago.  Rudan's class will be tested in the upcoming game against Newcastle.  If we are unable to beat them fairly and squarely it will show that he still has a lot to learn, while Ernie (forever the king of Plan A) managed to improve.  

Actually, getting outplayed quite a bit these days

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about 7 years ago

Brown Bear wrote:

Wow. 5115? Why wasn't this game played in NZ? Hamilton, Napier, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Whangarei, Dunedin, Christchurch or Nelson? Lower Hutt?

Super Rugby season has  started and all you could see on the news last night was the Crusaders game here in CHCh . While I would like to have a game in Christchurch it would not have worked out last night.

Actually, getting outplayed quite a bit these days

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about 7 years ago

I guess the one positive thing to come out of this Campbelltown experiment is that the crowd size supports the Club's regular contention that the A-League has problems, but the Nix ain't one of them.

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about 7 years ago

Mainland FC wrote:

austin11 wrote:

mjp2 wrote:

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

I always thought this young Nix team would do it tough in the second half of the season. They have come a long long way from previous seasons but they still are a work in progress. For me this squad was always going to be too skinny. Rudan tried to recruit some experianced players like Nicholl who could pad out the squad but unfortunately it did not really work out. He has basically got his first 11 and they have carried the load for the whole time.

The youngsters have been great but some of them are now doing it tough. Singh has been physically targeted and his influence has dropped off. It takes a lot of games for young players to adjust to the weekly grind of pro football.. Some like Cacace thrive immediately.....others struggle to keep up.

The season is at a turning point IMO. Rudan needs to work his magic to get these guys up for the final push. Maybe he needs to look at a plan B...... starting Sherridan...give the opposition something else to think about. It would be hugely disappointing to miss the finals. They are sill in control of their destiny. but will need to pick up some three pointers.

Agreed 100%.  

Rudan is a an excellent young coach and we were able to ambush almost all other teams (not all) because they did not know what to expect from us.  Now they do, so the cat is out of the bag. Hence we could not beat Victory last week,  and this is why we struggled against Newcastle a couple of weeks ago.  Rudan's class will be tested in the upcoming game against Newcastle.  If we are unable to beat them fairly and squarely it will show that he still has a lot to learn, while Ernie (forever the king of Plan A) managed to improve.  

Ernie was hardly the King Of The A Plan when he coached us. He hired some very average  players and results went from bad to worse.

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about 7 years ago

Mainland FC wrote:

austin11 wrote:

mjp2 wrote:

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

I always thought this young Nix team would do it tough in the second half of the season. They have come a long long way from previous seasons but they still are a work in progress. For me this squad was always going to be too skinny. Rudan tried to recruit some experianced players like Nicholl who could pad out the squad but unfortunately it did not really work out. He has basically got his first 11 and they have carried the load for the whole time.

The youngsters have been great but some of them are now doing it tough. Singh has been physically targeted and his influence has dropped off. It takes a lot of games for young players to adjust to the weekly grind of pro football.. Some like Cacace thrive immediately.....others struggle to keep up.

The season is at a turning point IMO. Rudan needs to work his magic to get these guys up for the final push. Maybe he needs to look at a plan B...... starting Sherridan...give the opposition something else to think about. It would be hugely disappointing to miss the finals. They are sill in control of their destiny. but will need to pick up some three pointers.

Agreed 100%.  

Rudan is a an excellent young coach and we were able to ambush almost all other teams (not all) because they did not know what to expect from us.  Now they do, so the cat is out of the bag. Hence we could not beat Victory last week,  and this is why we struggled against Newcastle a couple of weeks ago.  Rudan's class will be tested in the upcoming game against Newcastle.  If we are unable to beat them fairly and squarely it will show that he still has a lot to learn, while Ernie (forever the king of Plan A) managed to improve.  

Yeah, agree, perhaps not quite 100% though. For me, Rufer continues to shine, but Singh is certainly struggling to grab games by the scruff of the neck now (fair enough too - he's 19/20, yeah?). 

Without Taylor, particularly when he has to withdraw on game day, I think we really struggle to play the back 3 system effectively. It's not an easy one to master. Though, until he got cruelly injured, I thought Fox had one of his best games for the club. 

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about 7 years ago

JC wrote:

Mainland FC wrote:

austin11 wrote:

mjp2 wrote:

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

I always thought this young Nix team would do it tough in the second half of the season. They have come a long long way from previous seasons but they still are a work in progress. For me this squad was always going to be too skinny. Rudan tried to recruit some experianced players like Nicholl who could pad out the squad but unfortunately it did not really work out. He has basically got his first 11 and they have carried the load for the whole time.

The youngsters have been great but some of them are now doing it tough. Singh has been physically targeted and his influence has dropped off. It takes a lot of games for young players to adjust to the weekly grind of pro football.. Some like Cacace thrive immediately.....others struggle to keep up.

The season is at a turning point IMO. Rudan needs to work his magic to get these guys up for the final push. Maybe he needs to look at a plan B...... starting Sherridan...give the opposition something else to think about. It would be hugely disappointing to miss the finals. They are sill in control of their destiny. but will need to pick up some three pointers.

Agreed 100%.  

Rudan is a an excellent young coach and we were able to ambush almost all other teams (not all) because they did not know what to expect from us.  Now they do, so the cat is out of the bag. Hence we could not beat Victory last week,  and this is why we struggled against Newcastle a couple of weeks ago.  Rudan's class will be tested in the upcoming game against Newcastle.  If we are unable to beat them fairly and squarely it will show that he still has a lot to learn, while Ernie (forever the king of Plan A) managed to improve.  

Yeah, agree, perhaps not quite 100% though. For me, Rufer continues to shine, but Singh is certainly struggling to grab games by the scruff of the neck now (fair enough too - he's 19/20, yeah?). 

Without Taylor, particularly when he has to withdraw on game day, I think we really struggle to play the back 3 system effectively. It's not an easy one to master. Though, until he got cruelly injured, I thought Fox had one of his best games for the club. 

Rufer is not exactly a youngster anymore, the problem his is very similar player to Mandi. They do the same thing, Mandi is just better in it. Singh is a very good unique player, he offers no else can. And if he has day off, we are missing something. He is young and gets a pass if he not performs, sadly he will be at another club when he is in his prime and can games ‘scruff off the neck’.

I don’t think we should play a different formation, the current team should play faster, with less touches and forward. The decision making is to slow. How many times they passed the ball to some random player just to get the ball to the right winger who was free all along. How many times they got squeezed to the sideline not able to get anywhere, instead turning and play through the middle. This is football 101. I watched first half of Melbourne game, they played two times faster and used 50% more of the field, you open up all kind of spaces for runs etc.

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about 7 years ago

Don't understand why Golec didn't even make the bench (ahead of Burns) - not fit? Or something else? Thought he looked good when he came on.

One more injury to a back and who goes on?

Lowry and Golec both look like more constructive players than Fox; Lowry was good in the air too.

Good to see Lowry get a decent run.

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about 7 years ago

Mainland FC wrote:

austin11 wrote:

mjp2 wrote:

Singh and Rufer fading a bit. Been a long season for the young starters? And they don't seem to have the nouse, muscle or mongrel when sides like Sydney just look to close down and make it hard to play. And it got to Mandi too. And Krishna. Sydney are the choker hold wrestlers of A League football. 

I wonder if we took a long time to read the pace of the pitch too. A lot of passes short. Playing at home on a pitch we know would have helped. 

Not an inspiring game. But still in the hunt. 

I always thought this young Nix team would do it tough in the second half of the season. They have come a long long way from previous seasons but they still are a work in progress. For me this squad was always going to be too skinny. Rudan tried to recruit some experianced players like Nicholl who could pad out the squad but unfortunately it did not really work out. He has basically got his first 11 and they have carried the load for the whole time.

The youngsters have been great but some of them are now doing it tough. Singh has been physically targeted and his influence has dropped off. It takes a lot of games for young players to adjust to the weekly grind of pro football.. Some like Cacace thrive immediately.....others struggle to keep up.

The season is at a turning point IMO. Rudan needs to work his magic to get these guys up for the final push. Maybe he needs to look at a plan B...... starting Sherridan...give the opposition something else to think about. It would be hugely disappointing to miss the finals. They are sill in control of their destiny. but will need to pick up some three pointers.

Agreed 100%.  

Rudan is a an excellent young coach and we were able to ambush almost all other teams (not all) because they did not know what to expect from us.  Now they do, so the cat is out of the bag. Hence we could not beat Victory last week,  and this is why we struggled against Newcastle a couple of weeks ago.  Rudan's class will be tested in the upcoming game against Newcastle.  If we are unable to beat them fairly and squarely it will show that he still has a lot to learn, while Ernie (forever the king of Plan A) managed to improve.  

Rudan is not the problem. We don't have enough quality players. 

If you are old and wise you were probably young and stupid

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about 7 years ago

Good post match presser by Rudan about playing in Campbelltown. Excactly my view, lack of confidence having a good season and a getting good crowd here in NZ. He is quite pissed and said that may this bites us later. Clearly a management mistake not believing. He also said there where alternatives. With all the hype last week this move suffocated it a bit. You don‘t know before, but this is the thing you working towards pre-season. Dump. Good on Rudan venting the obvious.

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