R3 vs Jets Sunday 5pm McLean Park SS2

End of the day.

clean sheet. got a point. although we really would of targeted 3 points today, Defence wasn't too bad and Sigmund and Dura were solid.

Just seemed a bit flat up front but I reckon based on week ones (first half) and periods during last week, we arent in a bad state as some might say.

siggy  MoM for me

 I was guilty of thinking we would win comfortably as well, but this league is tight as fuck. There are no easy wins. We looked too complacent. 

Thought we got dominated for much of the game by a very poor Newcastle side. Bad signs. Ernie still hasn't found his preferred line up and we cannot rely on Ifill anymore. Hernandez needs someone to play off and he isn't getting it from Brockie or Stein. (only one of these 2 should be starting too - something I thought Ernie learned last week)

Newcastle targetted out problem positions - full-back. Thought that positionally Caira and Leo were absolutely horrid. 

Lia-Hicks-Riera-Manny has to be the least inspiring midfield line up of  all time.

I'd like to see one of our young attacking signings ; Rufer? ; get a run in place of Ifill / Cunningham - just to see what happens when a player is actually making runs in front of Carlos.

Wot's already been said; plus I think our FBs are so limited and/or so young in their roles that they are not getting forward and overlapping to help create some punch and options wide.

Ernie's got a lot of work to do, so plenty of rom to improve, but unless Cunningham comes right quick and Fenton comes back v strong we risk looking old and slow all season.  Surely Ifill is a super-sub only, for 20-30mins or so.  Hopefully today has helped him realise that and Ernie can play him as a sub without angst.

+ Agree with a few others that Newcastle played the better football, but I would say largely because they had the extra player in midfield and four old guys watching them.  Front third they were isolated enough for us to get away with the blob.

Disappointing.  Possibly concerning, but still enough to work on and this is the worst they've played for 90 mins this season.  Hopefully we get the better version of the 'Nix back again next week and improve from there.  'Cause that was hardly worth watching.

Also thought the ref didn't help.

In terms of quality on paper; this Newcastle side is the worst I've seen. We made them look good. 

Really don't think our squad is right yet; Ernie's still got some clearing out to do. Guys like Lia are two or three steps behind the play.

manny muscat passed and played far worse than lia today. He is the round three scapegoat for me, would be stien if he hadnt had done those headers, apart from that his passing was bad and he has 0 vision for a possible through ball.

I thought NJ shut us down really well in the first half, they marked tighly and pressurised us as we tried to bring the ball forward .

We just weren't good enough to deal with it. They often had 5 men hunting us down and pressing, so there must have been space behind them , but we don't have anyone good enough to pass it forward accurately enough. Passing to Lia just outside the D when he is getting chased down by two men isn't going to achieve anything. We desperately needed a decent wide option, a Rojas if you like. But even then we would have to be able to get the ball to him.

just abysmal, it was almost like he wasn't even there!

Might be a bit harsh. I happened to see the last game of the Jets and they were piss-poor last week. They pressed much higher today, their passes were accurate and they seemed to have, shock horror, more energy and zip in their step than the Nix. Yes, both teams had their chances, and a draw seemed fair in the end.

We clearly did not fire on all cylinders today. Should Ifill have started on the bench, and Hicks or Riera on the park?

Moss or Sigmund my MOM.

Lia wasn't great, but Manny had a shocker today. Just not good. He'll rebound from this one, i think, and at least he was great in the first two.

Bummed not to get 3 points, but things were never going to turn around quickly. Think that some folks were a bit too overconfident about the win basically being a given today. Newcastle was solid.

What a load of shit that was!
Melbourne Victory next week. Shit!

Not a lot of happy campers round here I tell you. Pretty messy at Whalers. Hope the team don't walk past. Feel sorry for Napier locals who turned up, and the under 19 kids. Their comments were really interesting, and few are likely to comeback unless we go on to be a serious contender. Ernie should be embarrassed about that performance.  We certainly wasted a weekend. First to admit I didn't see it coming after playing so well last week. They wouldn't want to play like that again, as seriously the club will fold. It was a junk display. Moss, Durante and Sigmund saved it.

This team will be OK, game 3 on the season, the turnaround wasn't going to happen quickly, and Ernie still has a bit of work to do getting the right 11 on the field.

As others have mentioned, main worry seems to be the center of the midfield. 

Spastics cost me 12k. Who are these retarded players. Cunningham or whatever his name is worse then totori. How can he hook Ifill. Well enjoy the spoon agsin

Embarrassing performance overall. 2nd time I've been to an away home game (ring of dirt the 1st) and 2nd time we haven't scored and played horribly.

Newcastle deserved to win. We were good for about 10 minutes in the entire game.

Another NZ town who will be unconvinced by football after such a terrible game. Thats what's really disappointing.

Vince Lia - please give up.

I think we have found our jinx.

I think we have found our jinx.

Yeah mate. I did, and am. After last week I was pumped. Don't think Ernie got it right today, but will have learnt a bit more about his players. Ifill is not starting eleven material. However hope it was just a total misread after Newcastle looked so poor last week. Jets were way beter than us today, while we were flat from minute one. Agree with some-one who just said Ernie doesn't know his real starting eleven yet. 60 long balls in the stats. Many would've been later in the game. How we got a point I'll never know.     

Agree with Whitby Boy - thought we just had to turn up today and we'd win. Sadly we didn't really turn up.

Disappointing as the zone was decent and it would have been mayhem if there had been a goal.

Yeah nice post there

Maybe I am the jinx but we are shit in all of these home away games. Siggy last minute in Chch even papered over an average game. Not one of these games around NZ has been good.

Not sure that was worth sitting through.

Team looks pretty bereft of ideas in the attacking third. Siggy/Durante and Moss were decent enough though.

I get the impression there might be a few more 0-0s this season.

Certainly wasn't worth the MANY $$$$$$s that this entire trip has cost. A real anti-climax.

So,

It was terrible. The first real disappointment of the season.

To give the Jets some credit, they played with more heart and desire. Our boys were always a step behind and outdone in midfield.

Lia was rubbish, and if this is a fit Paul Ifill then I think it's time to think about letting him go at the end of the season.

Let's face it we all love him but he's slow, takes ages to get a shot away and today also some poor decision making.

And don't expect another 9k crowd for the next Napier game if there should be one after this performance.

Maybe next year at least there should be no games outside Wellington. Give it a break. It does the team no good.

Every time we go to Dunedin, Christchurch or Auckland the game is poor and low scoring. And crowds literally half each time we go back... 

Let's keep it in Wellington next season and continue building up a younger squad.

Don't worry though, Brockie is out on the piss with the fans in Napier so all is fine.............

should have been taking the piss on the field against newcastle...

Indeed. I agree.