R23 vs Newcastle Jets | Sat 17th March 7:35pm | QBE Stadium

Singh also looked completely knackered after about 50 mins and should have come off. Fantastic player that he is. 

My 2c

Kaludzerovic for Burns please - that's four poor games in a row for Burns. Talented player in his day but he's off form, lost his touch, his edge, not beating defenders like he used to. Could be permanent. Could be why he wasn't getting game time. Would love to be proven wrong, and some time as sub might help him.

And McGlinchey for Ridenton. MR had one of his better games last night. Good in the air, nice nutmeg second half and one great crossfield pass. But lost the ball too often, reacted too slowly to clear the ball that led to the goal - and marked space for most of the game. Seems to be hiding these days - no ball, no mistakes. Lacked spirit.

Singh - very promising player; skilful, good shot, good touch and vision. Had a poor game; one beautiful through ball but lots of errors too. Definitely worth persevering with.

Cacache - young, improving. 

Wonder what other talent is out there in the Handa league? 

No way Ljujic should have been subbed. 

Otherwise, lots of skill and spirit, and a good performance, esp without Durante.

Can't agree with the first two. 

Thought Burns showed real signs last night.  We need to persevere as if he improves by the step climb he made since last week he'll be better than Kaluderovic about Tuesday.

McGlinchey isn't here next season and at no stage this season has he looked better than Ridenton.  Lazy.  Has lost his spot and when he has had a chance has not shown anything like the application required by a professional player.

You could get out watch some HandyPrem.

Ridenton reminds me bit of Brown. Didnt really matter how he played he got shark all the time. Wasnt till he had retired most realized just what he brought to the team

I am not sure you and I watched the same game last night :-)

• Burns is improving (I agree that he is not the Burns of 2004, but we knew that when he arrived, and we give him some leeway).
• Ridenton played as well as he always does which, for a still developing young bloke, was pretty decent;
• Singh is even younger, but he read the game well as he constantly tried to play the ball forward to beat the offside trap set up by the Jets for Krishna and for Burns; this was a valuable contribution despite his miss at the goalmouth.

I agree with you that there was "otherwise lots of skill and spirit", and this was a highlight of the game for me despite the result. Possibly I just have lower expectations, but either way who would you play instead of Ridenton? McGlinchey is a much more forward player and can only play on the left side of the field. He will only get slower with time.   I would also argue his set pieces are by now not any better than those of Ridenton.

About the only crumb of consolation I can take from this disaster of a season is the development of the young Kiwis. Ridenton is going just fine, never mind those deluded critics who think that a 21 year old in his first season of consistent first team football is somehow supposed to be turning out sensational performances every week. He is going to get better and better, no doubt about it.

As for Singh and Cacace it's brilliant to see the potential these guys have. They are exciting prospects. Hard to believe Cacace is only 17. I thought he was outstanding last night.

I can see a real centre back partnership in fox and doyle for next season.

From here on every game is a dead rubber.

Pre-season! 

#avoidTheSpoon

We played suprisingly well. We strung passes together, played the ball well and made Newcastle look second rate at times. However it was beyond frustrating to see every shot miss. We have to do better on that in the future

Burns just needs a goal - can see it weighing on him now.  Funny how obviously Ernie's game plan go taken apart - wonder whether the same thing will happen now as for us in his best season where we faded badly once people figured us out

I reckon it will. Ernie's game plan is always simple, which usually allows the 'flair' players to shine - but he always has cracks in defence.

Actually, think Greenie has taken quite a few cues from him.

Also, I've always thought Doyle looked like a CB, not a FB. I think being a CB in a back 3 would suit him the most.

The best thing to come out of this season has been Fox, and now Cacace and Singh - who I thought were both quite impressive. 

I hope the one he scores is a cracker of a goal. Be great to see him reignite

Agree on Doyle.  Still not convinced by Fox - maybe he suffers by playing next to Dura?

Isn't it awesome to be talking positively about our players now that they have a proper platform to perform in?

I've always liked the idea of Doyle being a centre back and he was awesome there. His control and delivery from the back is first class.

Cacace - i'd posted that he needs to be away from CB and was happy to see him on the left on Saturday and boy is he awesome or what? On that performance, he is first team ready and should now own that position. He's got some grit and pace about him that's for sure.

Singh's playing in a difficult position and it's normal for kid in the engine room to fluctuate during the game. Yeah, he faded but he's class.

Ridenton - best game i've seen from him

A little disappointed in how easily Roy gave up at times but he is class and Burns was 4x better than he has been

Just a side note, didn't Durante look very much like a coach on the sideline there. hmmmmm

How are you not convinced by Fox? Our goal difference would have been over -40 if it weren't for him.

Imagine what our defence could have become if Rossi was half the player his CV and history said he was and the likes of Fox had a chance to play with that.

I see that on another social media platform he's still the worst player on the team...

Whats the news on Keegan Smith? Obviously I don't expect him near the first team yet,  but he  wasn't even on the bench for the Weenix. Is he injured? 

Crook apparently.

Reg never said he wasn’t :)

GGF :-)

You might be right. Only issue with that is that we will need to find a decent A-League quality left back and they are as rare as hen's teeth

Bang on. It would be easier for us to put a healed and recovered Mullen into CB next season than find a replacement for Doyle as left FB. 

Or we could, in a time honoured fashion, convert Fenton to yet another position that does not suit him :-)

Is it safe to come out of hiding now???

Go forth, young padawan, double post away.

Go forth, young padawan, double post away.

4,600 - impressive! Considering there was an under 17 tournament on which should have brought a fair few fans in. Plus the travelling faithful from Wellington whom were there as per normal. And then Domey praises Aucklander's for turning up? no mention of the rest of the fans whom made an effort. Something is seriously wrong with that picture. 

The club could come out with a book entitled "How to lose friends and alienate people". to me it just endorses that the Auckland Phoenix is a flop and would be if another team from Auckland entered the A League. Perhaps we should all be encouraging Christchurch to make a bid.

Football fans up there (At least 100,000 by some accounts) just do not give a shark.

Think its quite obvious what hes trying to say. Get off your high horse

Do we keep doing it until we beat the all time low record?

I’m surprised the crowd was that low. It seemed higher. I guess QBE is deceptive in that everyone is in the one stand. 

crowd size is meaningless in Auckland - it's all profit!!

Yeah, I thought the same thing about the Mt Smart game last year.

We are all skint down here after the quakes with still broken homes and our businesses only slowly recovering, and council so poor they have to raise the rates. However, we could get a commercial sponsorship by the Insurance Council and EQC plus maybe by Fletchers, since they've all sucked us dry in the process of "recovery:".

We could even give them naming rights for a promise of ongoing funding - how does "Southern Response" sound?

It amuses me how some can defend the undefendable. 4,600 is not 20k as mentioned by Domey as an expectation/hope. That everyone was contained into one area of the ground to make it look bigger is embarassing too. But I guess there will be a good defence for that too.