R4 vs Melbourne Victory | Mon 31 Oct | 9:50pm | SS2

Let's look on the bright side, it can't get much worse

I think it actually can get worse, a whole lot worse. Maybe not in terms of a 6-1 score line every week but I think there are many more losses coming our way and a whole lot of hurt.

Our squad depth is paper thin. If we have an injury upfront, we are bringing Hamish Watson into the fold. Look what an injury to Rossi meant last night. As for depth at full back that is laughable.

Here we are today hoping/thinking that Doyle and A-Rod's return is going to improve us markedly. That shows how weak we really are.

Our depth is horrible and this is a very poor squad that will be found out on many more occasions this year.

Sounds like the boy scouts.

next game. when I'm more awake. 

Think we are going to go well and truly spank a team soon. 

I think the under-performance of Roly, A-Rod, WeeMac and Finkler I think can be on Ernie as well, as these are now 4 players who don't know where their position is and what their job is. One of the 3 should be benched, and IMO it should be between Fink and WeeMac. Lia? I'm confused there and no mistake. 

Our team doesn't make sense at the moment and I'm hoping that it will soon. At the moment our presumed goal scorers are: Roy, WeeMac, Watson and Roly. Perhaps Fink from a set piece- though WeeMac and Roly do this enough it's looking like a bad investment there so far...

I think the other undiscussed problem with the team is simply not enough recognised goal scorers. Kosta was passing to Berisha for a lot of the preceding seasons. Spot the difference?

anyone else think that Moss should be under pressure too?

Not many teams in the A-League have great depth, our depth should be Okay as we were forced to blood quite a few yongsters last year and so have a few A-League games in the squad.

Jets are playing well and scoring..two real strikers.  Another loss coming up.

Ummm the Jest are struggling with injuries and are missing their first choice keeper for the season...

Quoted for posterity.

Quoted for posterity.

I believe this was attributed to the Chief Steward on the Titanic when the purser said the suppliers boxed their orders wrong and so the pantry ran out of lobster on the second day of the maiden voyage.

I'm expecting some real fireworks during this game. Think I will go watch them.

Heard that in the commentary too. What a rubbish rule. Free kicks are supposed to give an advantage to the team receiving them, not aid the defence.

Needs more Flair / Flare !! I wonder if the management will put on a display as part of the half time entertainment which we haven't had this season? Could be that they were saving their money for this saturday night!

Pretty good summary of a shocking refereeing performance here.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/85955488/mark-reason-the-mad-hatter-and-the-phoenix

He is actually quite even-handed, admitting straight up that Phoenix played poorly, but he pinpoints key moments that Milliner made a questionable call (I thought the studs up two-footed challenge/jump in the first half was disgusting).

Yup, it was a good piece.

I read the comments and god I hat it when people say "You know the ref is bias against you so you need to play to the refs, play above it".

That's such BS, expceting refs to be impartial isnt an outrageous request.  Same hting happens when the Warriors get several awful calls against them and lose by 1, people say its the Warriors fault for not being better than the other team AND the ref.

One of Reason's better ones.  The refereeing was particularly bad as he was well placed on the fouls especially.  I thought the second one was a pen though

If Reason wrote a good piece it would be a first.

The interesting thing with Sigmund, there is a story in his book about learning what is defending about and getting the first time well coached. Jerome Boateng was telling a similar story, the first time he got real 'how to defend' coaching was under Guardiola. Before he was all natural and instinct defender, pretty good, but no he is one of the best defenders in the world.

Have you seen the state of modern defending?

I would say Boateng is easily one of the world's best. At the WC, especially the final, and the recent Euros he has been amongst the best defenders. Also has been one of Bayern's best players in the past few years, recently been named German footballer of the year. Surpassed Hummels.

AND the most important, he is the highest rated defender in FIFA 17.

I agree he's among the best defenders in the world - it's just that IMO the overall standard for defenders today is much worse than it was in recent generations. The modern emphasis on ball-playing seems to have come at the expense of defensive positioning, decision-making, and not making unforced errors.

Re: Boateng specifically, off the top of my head I can think of a couple of examples of what I'm talking about. That handball at the Euros vs Italy (I think) where he just put his hands over his head to appeal for a foul or something but instead conceded a penalty. Another example, when he got put on his arse by Messi in the CL semi final. admittedly it was Messi dribbling at him but he got his body position horribly wrong by committing to a tackle in the box way to early. Yes, Messi is Messi but a top class defender shouldn't get done that easily. 

How many goals for Messi's AGR V GER Boateng? Zilch, Nil, Zero! Maybe some Barca v Munich.

1:53 into this video you can see a golden chance for an Argentina goal because Boateng gets stuck in no man's land not tracking a runner or covering the angle for the pass. Only poor finishing stopped it being a goal. 

Yes you can find video of Boateng looking funny and bad defending moves. You may find tons of video of Messi (other top players) looking really shark, off the top of my head, I remember his free kick in the last minutes of the same game, worse than every Finkler free kick we saw this season, Messi is still the better player.

Anyway, like I said, I don't deny that he's one of the top defenders in the world. You can't be a starter for Germany and Bayern without being there. What does make me shake my head is the fact that the quality of defending at the moment is such that a player whose positioning and decision-making look dodgy on a semi-regular basis can be among the best CBs in the world. The guys who were the best defenders in the world 10, 15 or 20 years ago were much better at the actual defending bits of being a defender

I guess today defenders need the skill to open games. Everyone is midfielder, the best guys 20 years ago would probably would not make any A-League squad today, game is changing.

So guys like Costacurta, Desailly, or Stam in their prime wouldn't push Fox out of the Nix squad? That's ridiculous. 

Yes the game has evolved and defenders are expected to contribute more with the ball but I don't think that's an excuse for defensive standards slipping today. Guys like  Tiago Silva and Chiellini manage to defend consistently well and still provide enough in possession to fit into good modern sides. Another example would be Puyol who was an absolute beast defensively but also fit into the Barca and Spain sides that defined the technical, passing aspects of the modern game.

I'm with CT on that.  Guys of that calibre were good (at that time) because they adapted to the game around them.  If they were in their prime today they would adapt to the conditions of today. Sure it may take them a while, but they would be highly competitive. 

There are limits of course. Dutch or Italian football of early seventies was notoriously slow, so teams like Poland or (then) Czechoslovakia were able to outplay the top teams with good passing skills, and high speed. Slow players of then would take a bit of time to adjust to the predominantly fast-paced game played today; but they would adapt if they were any good, even if they were caught out by the odd fast opponent in a single game.

Where can i see this fast paced game you talk of,hasnt been sighted being played by the home team at the ROF so im guessing you must see it on the box.

and yet all our speedsters are pulling up with hammies...