R24 vs Jets Saturday 22nd 7:30pm SS4

We need to stop offing contracts to players who aren't showing the goods then - Lia is obvious. We now have Hernandez, Muscat, Riera, Krishna and Cunningham as our import players, all stuck here for next season - No room to make changes now :/ - My mistake, Muscat is off contract. 

Our Defence and Midfield tonight... what the hell - We've had problems with crosses all season, but to concede 5 times to crosses is just amateurish. Lia has no role in this team - I ask what does he bring? Same with Brockie  - Last season he scored a ton of goals but his tactical awareness is unbelievable. I say we put Fenton back where he belongs next season, up top. 

Boyd and Fenton up front - Said it last season, got laughed at. This season, would make perfect sense. And they're going to improve unlike some players... Both Under 21

Team needs a revamp, only Durante, Kenny and Timms worth anything today.

back from the game -can honestly say the only highlight was the kids playing in front of us at half time - i reckon they'd have have put 2-3 past us if they'd stayed on for the 2nd half...

If we'd won every game this season we'd be top. It was never going to happen though.

I am really disappointed. I felt we had a whole lot more potential this season. Like most teams, i feel it will remain that.... potential... There is not much between 3rd to 9th for example. this will be a season of what could of been. I feel if we had a better time with injuries we could of expected more from this team. But considering the current state of where we have had to go, and the team that we have had to jig together , i cannot feel anything else expect considering this  an expected result. We rely on the team to provide more than the sum of its parts (a la ccm) , but this has not been the case due to constant changes due to injury or suspension. Ernie has had to help implement new players to our style or play so I would expect more from him after a full pre season and the player he has bought, It is a difficult time for the club and I can only commend all who stick through this point, as I would expect we will be ready for next season from game 1, as opposed to game 10. 

This would seem the end of our season, but I would bet starting from a blank slate next year we would give most teams cause for concern. (beer affected judgement) . We need to return our home games to the fortress it once ways, and look to continue Ernies result on the road.

The thing that I find amazing  is that in the A League picking for this game, 16 out of 16 picked us to win.

It could be a nervous grin.

When do the so called big names with experience stand up and take responsibility? There have been two other 5 goal results before today, but it appears the kids are going to get shafted, great example to set!

Brockie was probably thinking about his night out after the game, he seems to like those.

Boxall - stick to right back

Lia - another 2 years of ineffectiveness ahead. Cannot wait.

Muscat - has really had a bad season in my view. No longer sure what his best position is.

I'd get shot of Lia, Muscat and Brockie at least. Alas we know one of those 3 ain't going anywhere soon...

Hey guys, long time lurker etc, etc,

I've folllowed the nix since inception and I have some real worries about the nix at present. 

First the idea is that if we score enough goals we'll win games. This is a big assumption as this means that we need to score 5+ goals to win a game in certain circumstances, which is ridiculous.

The second idea is that there seems to be little variability in our set up. Even though we have lost a number of key players, no team deserves to concede five goals as many times as we have. 

Ernie's ability to perseve with a strategy that has been shown to work with a certain type of playing group (I.e the brilliant team, we had halfway through the season) and then to continue this strategy with a group of talented but different players seems to reek with a strategic incompatibility. Without Rieraour defense has looked isolated at the best of times, but we still persist at playing a style that leaves the defense open through the middle of the park.

What I believe is the problem at the moment is not the players dedication as a whole, but their organisation and positioning.

We are so lucky to have no relegation series at the moment. But in all honesty, what saving grace is this? 

This post is very negative, And I appreciate that. Please argue against me. But I want to raise the question,  given a differen situation, how would results like this be taken? 

If one gets pasted 3 times by ridiculous margins, how much can you put down to luck? And when does accountability begin?

This game reminded me of watching Arsenal a few years ago-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4CXY6TVBMc

Even the half-time entertainment looked like the RoF's offerings

The players were heading straight back to Sydney, not going out on the booze. They were absolutely gutted.

Still around Jeff.

Having a hard time putting last night's loss in perspective, honestly. We've had a horror run of injuries, sure, and the team bears little resemblance to the team from late December, but...there was just so much from last night that was unbelievably poor, regardless of anything else that might be going on.

Stein is just off. Brockie added absolutely nothing (unless you like his smile). Muscat has been bad lately. Lia is Lia. Kenny works his ass off but his actual impact can be a bit suspect (and, to be frank, if things go real poorly to end the year, i could see him decking someone. Not a happy camper). Young guys have a bright future, but just not ready for their current roles yet. And, i'm trying not to even think about the Carlos situation.

Though, it must be said, i think Boyd has looked really, really good lately. He's improved heaps under Ernie, and is my pick for the next Kiwi to jump to Europe in the near future. He'll have a real breakout year for the Nix next year, and then he's gone. Sometimes forget that he's still only 19.

Not much to be done, at this point, but get out and support the team that we're left with and try to gain a bit of momentum going into the off-season. 

well that was horrific wasn't it! The pitch was god awful - and clearly not suited to playing quick pass and run footy, Newcastle played what the knew and that was play long to heskey send it out wide and cross, our lads failed miserably to deal with it. Poor defensively, poor in the midfield excluding Kenny's effort and woeful up front bar boyd!

with half our squad injured and results like this haunting us we have very little chance of making the six. I hope we can pull some sort of result from the next three games but the lads have got to bounce back big time!

To clarify- I meant they were gutted about the game NOT about having to leave.

When does the match starr. Last night I only saw one side having a training run last night.

Not sure what is worse. The game. Or the 3 hour train trip departing at 8:30am that I'm on.

"Morgan views his ownership of the Phoenix as 'social work' not as a money-making enterprise." - NZ Herald 14/03/2014

We fell to pieces and a lot of that comes down to attitude, it seems once we conceed the second goal we give up.

I didn't expect much from this season so in general I am ok with where we are at and what we are working towards, but just the lack of commitment (seemingly) annoyed me.

Ridenton, you will be a good player, but just as Mossy screamed at you, harden the F up.

Delayed hangover has arrived!

#fevertour

I may well be going senile but i seem to recall many being happy with what they saw after the fist game last season.Here we are a season later and most were well happy after the first game this season.

Despite where we sit on the table many of you still seem okay with it.Because we have played some okay football and at least some of those young guys have had a shot.So FKN what i want to watch winning football and dont try and bullshit me thats not what most people want.You want crowds. that will help much more than some fancy pants football played by a shit load of kiwi youths who loose 5 zip every 2nd week.

I myskyed the game but have not watched it. Seems I have saved myself.

I tend to look at this differently: The over riding theme is this is a season ruined by injury and the first one the club has had like that.

1: This team has something about it, when fit. We played some good football when we were injury free and this forum was full of praise of that. Some people have lost sight of that a little/lot

2: We have had 3 hidings this year. Take those out and we are competitive in each and every game. Do those 3 hidings mean our entire season was shit? 3 games out of 27? Arsenal got spanked by 6, does that mean they are shit in the context of EPL (leaving puns aside)

3: We started the season with a bad clip but then hit our strides. The Riera injury was the flat tyre we tried to ride on through with. The others not so much a big deal but him being out exposed the same midfield issues we had last year. That shows a critical weakness in recruiting so I would expect we look for another DM as a back up. We do not have 1, only guys that can be shoe horned there as make shift DMs. It also shows the value of a good DM in this league. Everyone says Michael Eagar. Well then lets get him on a plane back for a trial.

4: Would we have expected Boxall and Ridenton to have had this much time at the start of the year? Their development has been tracked forward a little. I would not have expected Ridenton to see so many minutes this year (and I actually wish he had not having seen him play) so while not ideal this year, there are some players that will be better for this next year. This will help with that depth. Think about the minutes Boyd got last year that he probably should not have had. How has that helped him this year?

Ultimately how would this team be sitting if we had zero injuries or the same amount of injuries as last year? We would not be this low in the table and most would agree. That's probably the biggest disappointment. We got a glimpse of how THIS team can play when they are injury free so it racks up as a season as what might have been more than anything else.

I have no real issue with the players signed for next year sans the Krishna/Stein thing so if this team gets rolled out next year with maybe 1 or 2 upgrades, having seen this years team, I am happy we will be top 4. Sounds like shit? Think about the best side we could have put on the park this year if fully fit and we would roll half the league without even thinking about it cause half the league is that marginal in terms of being quality league challenging sides. Sydney? They are a model of how to build a flawed football team.

Well put JV. I'm sick of people bagging the team the moment we have an off day. Lets not forget that we were missing 10 players through injury or suspension in that game. I'm happy with how this season has gone. It's an improvement on last season and when we have fired we have looked as good as any team in the league. Two results stand out for me: the 5-0 at home to MV and the 3-1 away to WSW. Seriously, with a fully fit squad we were damn impressive. The goal now has to be to build depth in the squad.