R24 vs Jets Saturday 22nd 7:30pm SS4

The odd thing about the injuries we have had this year is the freakish nature of so many of them.

Fenton: Originally dislocated shoulder loosing out in a "wrestling match" against AW 11 in Rotorua, then re-injured it by falling over with no one near him.

Ifill: Ruptured Achilles with no one within 5m of him

Sherminator - Fell in a hole

Caira- Elbowed in the face

What we forget is a lot of the players have spent 4 or more years of having hoofball ingrained into their mentality. Merrick has had to undo all of that. To a large extent he has and I always thought that this season would be a transitional one. I hoped for a more entertaining style and also hoped we'd do well. We have to some extent done that. I am really looking forward to next season. Everyone is a season better and we all know there are a couple of weak spots to be dealt with. Fingers crossed.

And as I keep banging on about it. We still have a professional team to support so I am still happy.

Yeah its not like that have been nobbled in a tackle or anything.

I also have this uneasy feeling that our injury run in not finished yet.

I think you touch on an interesting point LG

After 10 games, everyone (well most) had a right old whinge about another transitional year. Then we go on a run whereby we see what this team can do. Now everyone is kinda ok with it being a year of transition because injuries derailed what could have been.

Its like 'well I can't accept this outcome, but I can if there are mitigating factors'. I don't get that.

I think Ernie has been smart in saying no one goes out on loan. I suspect that with his year with the team, he will know exactly what he wants to do preseason and what he can and cannot get out of the players (kinda like Matt Elliott and the Warriors???) so I think those last couple of spots will be used on the holes he can evidently see after having had the side for 1 season.

I think one of the key tasks to this offseason for him is figuring out Jeremy Brockie. The guy can score goals as we have seen but how does he do it in Ernie Merricks system. You can't live having your second striker getting 2 goals for a season (Boyd)

I witnessed us lose in a demoralising fashion on Saturday. Today I am visiting my grandmothers...

For me thats all the perspective I need!

Ernie's "getting away lightly" because he inherited a team which were wooden spooners, horrible to watch and were a shambles. Once the players had got used to the style of play he wants us to play, which takes time, we started putting performances together which showed that we could be a very competitive team this season. Sadly, as the season has progressed, injuries have eaten away at our squad to such an extent that we can't put a competitive team on the park. Ernie is 'getting away lightly' because he has shown that, with a full squad to choose from, he can deliver decent football which will get results. That's the big difference from the last couple of seasons.

Merrick's shown he can do the job, if he has the players, now it's up to Gareth and his chums to get the cheque book open so that we don't have to fill the team with youngsters who shouldn't be there (yet).

Bit confused, isnt Ernie the one signing the players who havent performed under Ricki and now himself to new contracts. 

I'm confused. Who has underperformed under Ricki and Ernie?

Half time and some Newy supporters pop over for a spot of flag waving

Lia had an OK burst in the middle but was not really good enough at the start or recently. The midfield of Lia, Ridenton and Cunningham just doesn't work.

Riera freed Lia up to play a role he is better equipped for.

Our inability to replace Riera has destroyed our season.

What you are essentially saying is that we should not resign Lia cause he can't do the Riera roll. We just signed Krishna to a 2 year deal and he can't do the Riera role either.... Do you see kinda what I am getting at there?

He played a lot there under Ricki at DM and similarly, our midfield was not flash either. Hence one can assume that playing in a DM role = Lia not playing well. Thus, is Lia a DM, or a midfielder trying to play DM? It would be the same if you tried to play Chris Killen in the AWs DM ro................................................ hmmmmmm

The problem is, in the minds of a the 'public' Lia is viewed as a defensive midfielder when he is not.  His best role is linking Carlos and Riera. When those 3 were doing that, Lia was playing very well and our midfield was playing very well. I guess that becomes an argument of causation and correlation but that's a separate argument entirely.

I hope that's clear. Not bagging Lia's contribution this season or saying he's a DM, just that we need another DM and there's potentially less money and squad space for that now.

I do think we did sign too many attacking mids. But like I said they are locked in and Lia wasn't. I know it's completely hypothetical but I still think we could have looked for a player who could cover DM and play that link role too. I've never seen Eager play so can't comment on him but Tim Payne looks like he could do both for instance. Not saying we could get him but I just don't know if, given our obvious problems in DM, re-signing a mid who can't play there when we are already stuck with a handful of others who also can't play there was a wise idea.

Shit this is becoming tedious, we were not good enough last season with the players we had and now we are not good enough with the same players we have resigned. 

In three games we have been horribly rogered, one game was a blip, two was unfortunate but three is getting silly. 

YES I do think Ernie has improved the team, the players, but in the end they will punch above their weight for only so long.

And yet midle third of season when we had full complement of players we were doing well with those same players. The number of serious season wnding injuries we have had, is this really a surprise?

There is a major dose of exasperation with supporting the Nix. 

I have watched the Nix since day dot and I just dont feel the current core crop of players will be able to deliver a Grand Final place.

Lia - Poor passing choices and turovers are far too high

Siggy - Makes up for lack of class with heart but is this enough

Durante - Does enough but want more, is he helping the new backs

Muscat - Not sure on his best position, reminds me of Jon Preston

Bertos - Who, where do you put him

Brockie - help him please, doesnt work hard enough when given the chance

Ifill - Love the guy but one to two seasons too long

Moss - Indestructable, Slight doubt on his commitment and to a certain extent his concentration for ninety

I also think that the 4-3-1-2 formation we've been playing is inflexible and often overly narrow on attack, while on defence it can leave our fullbacks overrun. If we signed another midfielder who was good at ball retention and defending then we could switch to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with Carlos in front of 2 DMs. After all that's how we started the season until Ernie realized he didn't have the players for it and put an extra man in midfield. The current approach was a reaction to a gap in our squad which still hasn't been addressed.

Yeh, sure JV, he is no DM, nor back-up DM.  But in the minds of "the public" as you say, well, they don't even know who Lia is.  

In the minds of those of us that have been seven year season members, watched almost every home game live and most away on TV, Lia is a very limited starting player and is clearly also limited in his versatility.  He is never every going to win a game for you and at best is going to have a reasonable game where he does some nice things. In your mind, whatever label you care to put on yourself, a very limited player is just fine as a starter, it seems.  But some of us are looking for a lot more from our season membership.  And if we want 10,000 turning up to watch the Nix then I suggest the extra 4-6,000+ we'd like to have turning up would want to see someone better than Lia also.

Yes, if we had the team that went on the winning run mid season, with Riera there and Lia played in front of him with Carlos, we have seen that can be a pretty useful midfield.  But being happy with that does nothing to provide cover for Riera and speaks nothing of further improving the starting side.  

Your options have to be: To get some-one better to start ahead of Riera, so Riera becomes a back-up with Lia still starting.  That does not appeal to me.  Or you sign a development back-up DM who is happy enough to sit on the bench (but who is better than the Manny or Lia options at DM).  That might be a challenge.  Or you create good cover for DM in the squad another way.  I favour one of two options:  Get a new midfielder who would be a better starter than Lia AND who would be a better back-up to Riera at DM.  OR I would go for a strong starting DM and push Riera into Lia's current more forward role.  I prefer the later option as I think Riera has already shown he could do either role.  We've seen him get forward quite a lot from DM and even had a decent shot or two from there.  

I would back Riera to do the only single limited job that Lia currently does and do it better - playing in front of a quality DM, alongside Carlos.  I would back Riera to get more assists and goals in that sort of position than Lia, any day, as well as break up opposition play better and make the passes and link play that some seem to jizz themselves over with Lia.  And it would fit a 4-2-3-1 style also.

As far as the Krishna thing goes:  You can't say Krishna's signing has anything to do with DM/CM.  We are short on striking capability.  Boyd as second striker has just two goals this season - as someone else has said.  Brockie is hit and miss and, I will add, has really only had one strong scoring season in his whole career.  We may not land Stein for next year either.  And we are short on pace up front, apart from Boyd and Kenny.  Krishna fits the bill and if Ernie says he is showing a lot in training, and given the improvement he's shown in the last two games, I'll back Ernie on that one.  

I am hoping like hell we have re-signed Lia on a much reduced contract.  If that freed up money plus Leo's salary, when we let him go, is enough together to get us a decent DM then I'll be happy.  Lia can then play guitar, be the good squad player and sit on the bench all season where he belongs.  Nice guy.  Going to help us win the championship/get into top four consistently.  No. imho

If Riera was there I think it would operate well enough with either Hicks or Ridenton there instead of Lia.  Or, possibly, with Stein asked to play alongside Carlos in that role, with Krishna/Boyd up front.  Compared to the mess we became without Riera, loosing Lia seems like a cakewalk.

Jeff, I think Boyd will return a lot more than 2 goals next season. I would be tempted to try him as the lone striker up front if we were going to play that system. I watch the off the ball work he does and dragging defenders out of position. I think he will do well. 

I also suggest that we move Fenton back into midfield and get Boxall to stay in the RB position.

Boxall- yes. Comes from the MLS and had been good for the AWs. Should be able to compete for a start at A-league level, so how somewhere. 

Ridenton- wasn't even expecting him to get signed, let alone play more than a few cameos.

First game I've watched this year and thought yep, we're a bad team.  Not that I've seen a bad game or a bad performance, we now look like one of the bottom 2 or 3 deservedly.  

Injuries have been a problem but we've coped really badly with those injuries as well which indicates there are too many players who are coming in that aren't good enough frankly.  When you do get injuries you find out a lot about your squad and I think we've been pretty exposed

The season is really in danger of finishing on a completely sour note.  We're hanging on to performance from a 10 game stretch but that's only part of the season and most teams will go on some sort of a run at some stage.  You can't just pretend that the other 14 games didn't happen, or that we were unlucky in all of those matches.  We're now the worst defensive side in the competition and that's just absolutely killing us.  

I endorse the criticisms of Welnix as well - sometimes it seems like we're only interested in putting together a side that will be bare minimum "competitive" and sneak into the 6 - I don't think they have a plan AT ALL to win, or even really think about winning the competition.  It's pretty unambitious stuff

We shouldn't have resigned Lia because he doesn't fulfil any role. Yes, he's a rubbish DM and everyone agrees on that. But to me, he's a liability at any place in this team. His passing game is average, at best, and his ball retention is not great either. He has the direction on the passes he plays, but alot of the time they are either over or under hit, putting team mates in possession. He also loses possession at bad times where we can't afford to, conceding a goal scoring opportunity on the break. Not to mention his lack of general fitness. Too often he's caught out behind the play on defence and it really gets on my nerves.

Hicks would be his youth replacement if Riera was starting at DM right? Hicks already has a goal this season, and he's a lot younger. Linking Carlos and Riera is not a good enough 'role'. He's not good enough to fill either of their shoes in case of injury (Proven this season) and his scoring record for a midfielder is absolutely trash. Brown back in the day was scoring 6 a season or so. Thats the sort of player we need.

For those who think Boyd isn't getting an enough of a return for this season, Watch his movement off the ball. It creates extra space for those like Huysegems to get shots away, and he's fitter than most on the park i reckon. I wish Merrick would stop subbing him for Beardy Brockie, who tactially hasn't got a clue what he is doing. The Team was all about him last season, and because of that he scored alot of goals - But what people don't say is how he scored a few penalties and benefited from a few Goalkeeping Howlers. We haven't had any of those this season.

Boyd > Brockie. Easy. 

On a side note, if Ifill recovers and gets NZ Residency (I don't know if he's eligible) then for me Merrick should rotate him and Hernandez. They both play their best from a central attacking position and both could do with a little less pressure to back up every game at their ages/fitness/injury concerns

Since when has Ifill been at his best 8n a central position? He has been tried a number of times in that role with limited success. He is a wide player who has success when he cuts infield.

I find it amusing that people are now starting to want a player like Brown in the midfield. His reputation seemingly rises the longer he stays away.

Then again, maybe he is playing and we just haven't noticed him yet...

It's 'social work' according to Gareth. He hasn't huge desire for success - not in football any rate.

Yep so the question then are we happy with Muscat being cover for Riera? Because we can not plan for the amount of injuries that we have had.

We have a few utility players, Muscat being a fullback and midfielder, Boxall being a full back and central defender, Huysegems being a striker and number 10.

They can't all be utility players, so is Lia good enough to just fulfill one position?

this is true - it's not like Riera was our marquee or anything