R4 vs Brisbane Roar | Sat 28th Oct | 7:35pm | RoF

Smith might be promising but he's not an A League keeper at the moment. Call me old -fashioned but a keeper's job is not to be good with his feet. It is to organise the defence, instil confidence in the defence, make saves and stand in the right position. His inexperience shows and every team will be exploiting his weaknesses. The way he set up the wall and how he positioned himself for the 2nd goal was very poor. And you can see the defence does not have confidence in him either. He's certainly not the only one to blame for the loss but he has a lot to learn and I'm not sure the A League is the place to do it

I will be keen to hear from Darije whether he told them to do that or not. But I honestly think it's a club culture of not feeling that winning is vital, of accepting that we can't foot it with the big boys. Of, dare I say it, squatting on the licence. I think Darije's doing his best to change that but I doubt whether he can, now.

Never a good sign where post match the captain says they thought they had it in the bag.

Probably even the nix players were surprised that we were 3:0 up after 21mins...which really messed up their game plan...they didn't seem to know what to do after that but hoping for the game to end soon...they spent too much time making silly fouls and complaining to the ref.

I'll explain.

First you stop playing football

Then you forget how to attack

Then you try to shut up shop

Then you forget how to defend

Classic.

Haha next weeks 1st training should take place at a sheltered workshop where they can learn to make a bag properly 'cos that one was full of holes!

But has Italiano/Sail shown anything better?  If there was someone else shown to be better waiting in the wings i'd be all for it, I just don;t see it.

Thanks.  That clears it up.  I guess i've watched the Phoenix enough that I should have been able to puzzle it out myself!

Seems like the team ignored Darjes instructions in the second half, he didn't want them to fall deep but to keep possession and keep the press.

https://www.pscp.tv/WgtnPhoenixFC/1OwxWMBVmDZGQ?t=...

Fox, Doyle and Mullen. 

None would be guaranteed starters. Smith made some good saves. I don't blame him.  Not his fault we couldn't stop a cross with a minute to go and didn't mark up on the strikers. Think about the first two we scored. Good goals, but Theo was nowhere 

I've just got home from a toweling at local cricket and a few consoling beers at the sponsor.

Whilst I was dissappointed to see a draw, and hear that we blew a 3-0 goal lead after a blistering start, I'm still feeling OK. As said, I don't have that raw emotion of watching us let ourselves down and squander what should've been a comprehensive win but we're scoring goals, and didn't lose the game.

It might feel like a loss to those who watched it but to me it doesn't.

The good vibe so far this season continues.

So what you're saying is, all I need to do to feel better about being a Phoenix fan is not watch? :P

I'm now fed, have had a couple more beers, and am beginning to work my way through this game day thread from the beginning. Maybe I'll feel as flat as the rest of you when I reach the end.

(I have had a sneak peak at Krishna's strike though, wow).

Let's have a whole lotta that this season!

And this!

And that!

Bugger this.

OK , now I'm depressed.

Roy Krishna was an absolute stand out tonight, top performance and involved in all 3 of the goals.

As good as our first two goals were the Roar keeper was at fault for both.

Roy's goal was superb but first rule is cover the near post. If he had he would have been able to tip it away. 

As for our keeper. No way was he at fault at all. I think he has the right mix to become a very good player.

If you cannot defend a 3 goal lead you don't deserve to win.

Gillet was the best on the park for Brisbane ,you could have bet your house on him giving a penalty ,he has history with Brisbane and penalties ,fouls given to Brisbane at 1 end of the ground never given at the other, Roys clear tackle from the back in the 2nd half an example.As for the young keeper its not his fault its the clubs for not investing in a replacement for Moss the kid is not even a pro footballer.    

So Theo's at fault for conceding a goal at the near post but Smith isn't?

Tonight's result is a bitter pill to swallow. We started so well with those three goals. As others had said, it's like we were completely shocked to be up 3-0 and we didn't know what to do after that.

Smith has the potential to be a great keeper but he struggled to muster the defence and make his presence felt in the box. We were fortunate that the referee disallowed the Matt McKay goal 'cause I honestly don't think McKay did much wrong. 

Still. we can't blame Keegan or even the ref for this loss. The midfield and defenders just stopped running and pressing up which gave the old foegys from Brisbane more room and more confidence to push forward. 

I'm worried what this loss means for the rest of the season, as I can see us losing confidence pretty quickly if we don't start getting some wins on the board at home.

I'm going to go ahead and blame the ref a bit. I didn't think that was a pen. At half time 3 Roar players raced over to chat to the ref, and they kept lying down on the job and talking all the time. Disappointed to see us lose our cool and there was a bit of retaliation in there. But if the ref doesn't like Paracki (and I thought his yellow on Kalfallah was just a good tackle. Got the ball, wasn't off the ground or studs up.) we'll have some trouble. 

I noticed at one point we were sitting about 20 metres back in our own half. Madness. Hard to shut out the game without possession and without our first or second or even third choice back line.

First time I've really noticed Bonevacia missing.  Without him on the field it looked like Roy got the hell kicked out of him instead.

That's the second time in a row that we have let a lead against the Roar. Beat Newcastle next week please.

Thought Abbas was poor - bad positioning on defence and too slow to release the ball on attack, and I thought it was strange that with two genuine CBs in the reserves in Fox and Lowry we still played Doyle in the middle. Would have preferred Doyle on the left and a genuine CB in there. It's frustrating that we haven't yet been able to put out a full strength side. I hope Rossi is better soon - we've conceded a goal every 135 minutes when he's been on the pitch this season and one every 32 minutes when he hasn't been there.

Also I still have doubts about Smith's decision making/communication, there was a bit in the first half where he started to come for a through ball then stopped and our defender half stopped thinking Smith was coming and a Roar player nearly nicked it. That stuff comes with age and experience, but is the first team the place to be getting that experience? It makes defenders double guess themselves too, especially when they are a makeshift backline anyway.

Not having a go, but how do you know this?

Chopah's avatar is your clue.

Ah it is too. Didn't see that on my phone

So there you go. The team ignored Darije in the second half. The reason Merrick resigned is that the team were ignoring him. There is a culture issue at the Phoenix that senior/longstanding players think they know better than the coach or just can't be bothered. (why not both)

Not directly about the game, but thought I'd share this. 

We were at Bethel Woods post game and some players were walking down the stairs to leave. Smith, carrying his football bag, followed behind and we give a small cheer. He stops, looks confused, realises it's for him, then comes over. He introduces himself personally to everyone standing in the group, and thanks us for the support and say it means a lot. After a brief chat, he continues on the way and does it for another 2 or 3 groups on the way out. Reckon that's a bloody great effort for an 18 yo kid.

PS....he wasn't to blame for any of the three goals. 

Its nearly a whole new starting line up now. I struggle to think of what long standing players that were playing last night that might have also ignored Ernie.

7 yellow cards, 19 fouls each side, that why it was a shark game. Second half was unwatchable shark from both sides plus the referee.

The ref in the second half was appalling. I know this is the A-league and they always have been bad, but for me that was a real turning point in the game.

Also, that was a disappointing crowd. 7k on a fine evening?