R23 vs Newcastle Jets | Sat 30th Mar | 7:35pm | Westpac Stadium

Beat the Jets on Saturday night and we basically confirm our top 6 spot, it would be an 11 point gap to 7th with 12 points left on the table.

Key bit there, I'll never count my chickens (sorry to bring them into this thread) until it is confirmed, even if you are basically correct.  Not necessarily a case of not having faith in the team, more that shark happens!

Looking forward to this one though, first game for me in a few months.  Caught a fair few games on TV but can't wait to get back to the Westpac.  Is Taylor going to be back for this one? Will be interesting to see if Sheridan get's a start for this one.  I would have thought so given Roy's absence.  Really hope that Welly turns up for this one. The team need all the support they can get to get a result and boy do they deserve it!

Blow for @NewcastleJetsFC Ronny Vargas has aggravated hamstring strain & won’t travel to play @WgtnPhoenixFC @ALeague @newcastleherald

— James Gardiner (@JamesGardiner42) March 25, 2019

Opening day of Cap Prem and Central league so get out in the afternoon and catch some football pre-match. 

Shame it clashes with the main night of Cuba Dupa.

I plan on enjoying it all! Pop out for the footy and then back to cuba dupa 

Yeah. El Grap and I are trying to work out if we can get to Cuba in time for Alien Weaponry.

Day likely to be:

13:00 - Wharf vs Stop Out (Petone Memorial)

15:00 - Either Petone vs Mar 3rds (Petone) or No Nix vs Now Nix (Wakefield)

19:35 - Phoenix

21:45 - Alien Weaponry

22:30 - The Nomad

23:00(ish) - Newtown Rocksteady.

00:30 Nap.

...or not

:-) 

Fudge. The. Jest!

With Krishna out, Sheridan is likely to start... could we finally see a debut goal? Please!

With an assist from Burns?

Sheridan and Burns starting? Stop it.

Burgess and Singh starting?

Has there been much advertising for this game? A win here effectively confirms finals football for us... need a big push from the club to get numbers to the match.

CubaDupa moved off the streets and now an indoor event. Venues being announced over next couple of days. Access to bands will probably be limited, at least moving between venues will be slower, more difficult

https://www.cubadupa.co.nz/info/news/cubadupa-repu...

Yeah. Been shaking fists on twitter about it - it seemed the right place.

Yeah. I don't have twitter so have been shouting at the clouds.

Wake up 4:50am Start work 5:30am. Finish work 2pm, home, change, grab the Grandkids, off to game. 10:30pm home, bed, waiting for next 4:50am alarm

Vargas for Krishna - not quite a fair swap, but it helps.

Key thing will be who starts for the Jets in mid.

Cmon Nixxxx

It will be fascinating to see how Rudan lines up our front line.

In a row between their defenders and in front of our midfield I guess

Tactical genius Coops.

All four central mids are performing well.

Rudan said he could change the formation this week, and seems like he wants to give Burgess a start.

Risky, but I'd like to see the two-bun attack, in a 4-4-2 like this...

Fenton   Taylor  Dura    Cacace

             Mandi/Rufer

 Rufer/Mandi     Burgess

               Singh

    Williams     Sheridan

Bench: Sail, Kopa, Golec, Stensness, and...Burns or Waine, I guess.

Dodgy at the back, but lots of goal scoring potential.

I'd like to see us play two 10's as this gives us a chance to see Burgess and Singh together with Williams up front by himself, I think it could just well work.. 

Doesn't work tactically, will leave us weak in the middle imo.  Interesting to see if Burgess keeps his place mind!

I'd be keen for Rudan trying that out (Burgess and Singh) as long as Williams is not swapped for Sheridan as the plan B. Swapping Singh for Sheridan might be a better plan B option.

Newcastle are not great defensively, I hope we play with Sheridan and Williams up top and continue to press high and look to be direct and quick on our counters.

Going to be very interesting to see how Sheridan changes the way we play; and whether that is for the better, or for the worse.

So many of our attacks seem to be balls over the top to Roy. Even when Sheridan has played well off the bench, his best play has usually been passing to Roy from wide positions.

Biggest win of the season here. Expect 4 first half goals no less. Get in here.....

Time to shine for Sheridan or Burgess or both 

Can't remember if I have shared with you folks my disdain for the Jest so I will do so now...

F

U

C

K

T

H

E

J

E

S

T

!

My sincerest apologies for not sharing this with you all sooner.

Referee: Matthew Conger
Assistant Referee 1: David Walsh
Assistant Referee 2: Mark Rule
Fourth Official: Ben Abraham
VAR: Nick Waldron

Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Filip KURTO (gk), 3.Justin GULLEY, 4.Mandi SOSA, 5.Ryan LOWRY, 7.Cillian SHERIDAN, 11.David WILLIAMS, 12.Antony GOLEC, 13.Liberato CACACE, 14.Alex RUFER, 15.Michal KOPZCYNSKI, 16.Louis FENTON, 17.Callan ELLIIOT, 18.Sarpreet SINGH, 19.Tom DOYLE, 20.Oliver SAIL (gk), 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 23.Max BURGESS, 27.Steven TAYLOR **two to be omitted**

Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Glen MOSS (gk), 4.Nigel BOOGAARD (c), 5.Ben KANTAROVSKI, 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 7.Dimi PETRATOS, 8.Jair, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 13.Ivan VUJICA, 14.Kaine SHEPPARD, 16.Nick COWBURN, 17.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 18.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 20.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 22.Lachlan JACKSON, 23.Matt RIDENTON, 24.Joe CHAMPNESS, 32.Angus THURGATE, 44.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY **two to be omitted**

Burns can't even make the squad when we're down a striker or is he injured? Also, Doyle is back, will be interesting if he or Golec ends up on the bench.

Sadly ineffective these last two seasons. So there's no 'proper' cover for Williams and Sheridan.

My guess is Gulley and Elliot drop out.

Bench: Burgess (covering forwards and mid), Kopa (mid),  Doyle and Lowry (back five).

This matchday squad is pretty skewed to defence.

Kopa starts... what has he done wrong to not deserve to?

I agree Taylor Durante Kopa in the back three.

Big question is who comes in for Krishna.

Burgess deserves another start

But Singh got 2 goals and 2 assists ? in his last game.

But Sheridan is the natural striker and obvious replacement for Krishna.

Kurto

Taylor Dura Kopa

Fenton              Libby

Rufer Mandi

Burgess

Sheridan Williams

or

Kurto

Taylor Dura Kopa

Fenton               Libby

Rufer Mandi

Burgess Singh

Williams

Nick Waldron

Shame they can't/won't train someone from Specsavers to do the job.