R25 vs Brisbane Roar | Fri 12th April | 9:50pm | SS4

Must win etc etc

Must win. Must stop the other team from scoring easy goals from set pieces. Must learn to keep the ball low when shooting for goal.

Bound to be changes after last weeks effort.

Stephen Taylor in for sure

Rufer sitting on 10 yellows can't afford to lose him on the right as well as Fenton before the City game

Burgess deserves to start. But for who, Singh or Rufer ?

I'd put Sheridan in for Williams for this game. If not then play Williams on the left - that's where he scores from. He was poor on the right side.

Who will replace Lowry at RWB. Elliot, Kopa ?? Could Doyle get a start he must be fit now and Cacace to RWB ?

I would hope we can cancel out Lowry as an option for right wing back this week. Hoping Gulley is back to full fitness, he was training with the team last week so you'd think he should be fine this week. If not, we have a problem

Really need to win here to have a good chance of staying 4th. Without the three points from this game, finishing 4th will be quite tricky to pull off.

Fudge the Jest!

Oh wait...As you were...

Sail?

nah don't think the big man would be that great at RWB!

Still not sure we can do 5 at the back with the cattle we have left. That said I don't think Rudan would have been so confident to make the changes without the card on Sunday.

Keep Williams on and Sheridan off bench please.  Worked well generally so far.

Disagree. I think 10 minutes off the bench has limited Sheridan a lot. He needs a few starts - in part to get his team mates used to his runs. He sees things others don’t. I think he and Singh could work well together but don’t think they’ve had much time on the park together.  Problem is William keeps popping up to score, so Rudan hasn’t benched him. Next problem is that Burgess has to start for his energy, but can’t see Rudan starting Burgess and Singh, though I’d be ok with either sitting deeper against Brisbane.  That way we could play Sheridan/Roy up top and Singh/Burgess at 8/10 with just the one anchor (especially as Taylor will be sitting behind). 

Dont really see why we would split a  striking partnership that has scored that many goals at this important time of the season just dosnt make sense to me.

Exactly. Plus this is professional football, not Cap 9 where you have to give everyone decent amount of minutes because they've paid their subs. You train 5 days a week, prove you're worth getting more time there, and don't pass up opportunities to score in games when you have them, because that's certainly not going to give you more playing time.

Clearly the answer to that according to some on this forum is to replace him with a striker who doesn't score.

or ask him to channel what he did against ADL for another week and forget about his poor performance against the Jets

I believe last week performance was a wake up call, confidence is back, mental toughness and other brain related stuff will be fixed in this week training camp. From now on we will see peak performances of all players, coachers and backroom staff. We win all regular season games and host a home final in front of a record crowd.

I am quietly confident about the result of this game simply because Brisbane are pants. A close win is the least I expect, barring some red cards or bad injuries. However, we cannot judge our finals chances by how we play against Brisbane. 

It is how we play against Adelaide, Citeh or Perth that will suggest how we go in the playoffs.  So far I have seen nothing to suggest we have any surprises up our sleeve to overcome the top 6 teams.

I'll have a healthy dose of your optimism :)

Anyone else surprised Rudan didn't react before half time? Also Louis and the defence had a long pre-season and early season slump together to work it out. Don't wana scapegoat Lowry. Makeshift defences, especially, especially at Hindmarsh, have haunted us for awhile. It's a pity Gulley wasn't ready. 

Glad I'm guna be able to watch it! Singh and Burgess quite different players- so far Singh has better shooting boots, but Max has got bottle. No more Williams on the right please!　Glad the Sheriff is on the board, but I don't care how we do it. 

Tim Brown rarely shot over. Lumping it in counts. Adelaide believed we were going to roll over the top of them in that second half. 

Come on Phoenix! Get your mates tickets and their parents and be there 

I'd like to see this line-up.  Give Burgess a run to see if he can get some goal confidence building into the playoffs and would like to see Elliot given a proper go but Gulley if fit should start.

Singh's work against Jets or Burgess 2nd half against Adelaide?

Feel like Singh is the incumbent and hasn't done too much wrong. 

Burgess has gotta be pushing Singh and Rufer.  Players in form and fighting for spots is bloody great news.  

Burgess and Singh are very different players, and Rudan will make the decision based on how he wants to achieve the aims (like, "early goals", and "scored by us").

I didn't know the Nix squad also play for the Hurricane's

Personally I think last week wasn't so bad; we had a makeshift defence and the one incumbent - Dura - had his worst game of the season by quite a length. We were always going to get done.

We would've drawn or won if anyone had their bloody shooting boots on.

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, 17.Callan ELLIOT, 18.Sarpreet SINGH, 20.Oliver SAIL (gk), 21. Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 23.Max BURGESS, 27.Steven TAYLOR, 32. Gianni STENSNESS **two to be omitted**

Ins: 3. Justin GULLEY (returns from injury) 17. Callan ELLIOT (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 16. Louis FENTON (foot injury - season)

We talked a bit about confidence. Maybe Sheridan should start this time? No other game but this one  left for this kind of experiment.

I like this 

Match day! How's everyone feeling today, confident? Really hope we get a result tonight

Theoretically with players returning to the starting line up and playing one of the worst teams of the season who are coming off the back of a 4-1 loss against someone who's fighting for the same position as us, I expect us to stomp them. But after our performance last game, I have a bit of doubt in my mind it's going to be that easy.

COYN!

We have a bad record against Adelaide at Coopers Stadium, and even TAB was predicting we would get wiped by the Reds. 

However, Adelaide and City are in a different class than Brisbane this season.  If we cannot win comfortably against Roar, we may as well shut up shop altogether, since we would then not be a credible finals material. 

While we may get another point (hopefully three) off City at home, I am not counting much on getting more than a point off Perth. We need those three points off Roar to stay in the race. 

Personally I think a lot hinges on how Gulley goes - if he gets on a roll, I think we could do something in the finals. If not, we have too big a weak link to be successful.

It's going to be tough for him as he's coming in pretty cold, and his confidence will be low after struggling with injuries.

Then again his confidence could be sky high, after getting past his injuries, getting another pro gig and making the starting 11.

I am 99.9% sure we will get either a Win, Draw or Loss tonight...

If the club folds before kick-off, I blame you! 

Wouldn't be suprised if the players tank after Rudes annoucnement 

Known or suspected for a while- good test of their skills and his. They're still playing great football. Lets hope!