R21 vs Perth Glory | Sat 14 Mar | 11:30pm | SS5

I don't get this idea of resting players for the final's push. If someone is carrying a niggle and having a week off would greatly enhance the chance of them getting through the season in one piece then fine but, other than that, they just had a decent game break.

We are already in the finals push. There's only 7 games left and 4 of those are 6 pointers against Perth, Sydney and Victory. We're also already going to be seriously depleted during the international window.

It's not like we play 2 games a week, our remaining games are nicely spread out - more or less a week apart.

I think / hope this resting talk is just Ernie playing mind games with Perth or us.

He wont be resting them for no reason. Hes already said several players have niggles. Also, taking into account the upcoming internationals..

How is Kwaben  Appiah's injury coming along?  

I reset the leg, but i'm still dealing with the massive head trauma and trying to re-attach the hand

Oh god don't bring GG onto this relatively normal forum.

Actually, it's about ethics in opinions on Ernie Merrick. :P

Burns & Rodriguez both out. Ouch. Not so confident about this one anymore...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/67239414/wellington-phoenixs-nathan-burns-alex-rodriguez-out-for-aleague-clash

So probably Lia for Rodriguez, and Griffiths for Burns, but with due respect to both players, that's two significant downgrades. Definitely don't want to lose McGlinchey or we'll be relying almost solely on Roly to create something. Boxall and Siggy also battling. We'll be scraping to fill the bench by the sounds.

Fenton - Siggy/Boxall - Dura - Manny

Lia - Riera - Roly

Krishna - Wee Mac - Griffiths

That isn't too bad tbh, much less worried than I would have been last season.

Definitely not a tragedy, but the bench looks scary thin (and actually very similar to last years bench come to think of it): Rufer/Doyle/Stevens/Hicks

Your head explodes on a fortnightly basis ya grumpy bugger ;)

A-Rod out is a bigger loss than Burns for me. Wasn't expecting that one. Think he's player that really makes our midfield tick and links Riera + Bonevacia; guess Lia will come in and Roly will push forward.

"Burns, second in the golden boot race with 12 goals this season, has a hip complaint whole Rodriguez has a hamstring niggle."

I'm pleased that A-Rod is at one with himself now. I wonder what the missing piece was.

If I was voting for Player of the Season at this point it'd be A-Rod, think we'll miss him more than Burns. Love the depth we have in the squad this season though.

We're doomed!  It's Vinnie Lia's 150th game, and we all know what happens when a player celebrates a personal milestone.

double post.

Have we ever won a milestone game for any player? I can't remember it if we have.

With two of arguably our best players out,  I'm gloomy.

"Put the house on Perth..."

Griffiths striker I guess and Wee Mac and Roy out wide.

Well, now we get to see the fabled Plan B.

Plan B was Griffiths..I think its Plan C now.  Stevens may get a  look in.

I thought Plan B was shifting the whole town 5 miles up the road?

Louis Fenton, Tom Doyle, Alex Rufer, Joel Stevens

We won't win anything with kids.

Lia is not very fast anymore which is probably why he fares better as a late sub. However, he is a great asset to counter the physical pressure.from Perth, as is Boxall (who is much faster of course).

Our early game against Perth over in WA when they just overran us on the wings with sheer speed of their youngsters was a bit of a lesson - but Boxall, Fenton and Krishna are not slow either, and I have no fear of a drubbing this time. It will be a close game.

Riera Roly anchoring the MF with Hicks and WeeMac further forward, fullbacks pressing and Griffiths up front with Krishna?

Then a later switch to push Roly further forward and bring Lia on?

Wouldn't mind seeing that team tbh

Big loss to have Burnsy and A-Rod out,  but I think we still have a strong team.  Bench is a bit light but how many times have young players come on for the opposition and scored against us.  Perth are due a loss and our boys should be full of confidence.  The more I see of Joel the more Im glad we signed him,  and by all accounts Stevens has been playing well

f- it!

I predict we are going to win this game by 2 goals, with one coming to Hicks, Stevens or Lia. So there! 

oooh - get you.Cheeky monkey

I'm fairly gloomy about the chances of us going to Perth and winning anyway. Good thing is that I can only be pleasantly surprised and delighted if we do.

We've also seen 'Plan B' plenty of times - last week against Adelaide, in fact, when Lia came on and Roly pushed into #10 with Griffiths on for Krishna.

This.  We're fudged with an 11:30 PM kick-off in perth anyway.  Play the B team and refresh everyone for the rest of the push.