I still like Stein but placing him in the first 11 is problematic. His work rate is great and he usually has a good pass but I don't think we will see our best 11 in our ideal formation until he isn't in it. Unfortunately I don't see him as much of an impact player...
I haven't worked our best formation/11. I think it may involve one striker and that one striker may not be Stein. I also like the sound of two 10s
All I do is make the stuff I would've liked
Reference things I wanna watch, reference girls I wanna bite
Now I'm firefly like a burning kite
And yousa fake fuck like a fleshlight
Fenton got hung out to dry in the first 20 (which is all I watched before work) - he was completely isolated one on one which is crazy when you have three sitting midfielders one of them has to cover and help him out. Back 4 looked so square as well. Nevertheless he also looked worryingly easy to knock off the ball. Really bad defending for the first goal as well, if there's one guy you always track it's Archie
Normo's coming home
A valid point that the commentators mentioned is that our schedule has been a nighmare. 2 home games on the road, players out because of the AWs. The only way it could have been worse was a trip to Perth thrown in. In that respects, I do feel for Ernie because no other team has had to go through this and he can see for himself how much love the FFA do no have for the Phoenix.
Yeah, it is really shit the FFA make us play our home games in Napier and Christchurch
Grumpy old bastard alert
Whats your guys thoughts on brockie and ifill up front??
Grumpy old bastard alert
Whats your guys thoughts on brockie and ifill up front??
"Yellow Fever are fantastic – I have to say that"
Fenton got hung out to dry in the first 20 (which is all I watched before work) - he was completely isolated one on one which is crazy when you have three sitting midfielders one of them has to cover and help him out. Back 4 looked so square as well. Nevertheless he also looked worryingly easy to knock off the ball. Really bad defending for the first goal as well, if there's one guy you always track it's Archie
I thought he got caught out of position too much in the first half because he was too far forward helping attack.
Fenton got hung out to dry in the first 20 (which is all I watched before work) - he was completely isolated one on one which is crazy when you have three sitting midfielders one of them has to cover and help him out. Back 4 looked so square as well. Nevertheless he also looked worryingly easy to knock off the ball. Really bad defending for the first goal as well, if there's one guy you always track it's Archie
I thought he got caught out of position too much in the first half because he was too far forward helping attack.
Normo's coming home
Fenton got hung out to dry in the first 20 (which is all I watched before work) - he was completely isolated one on one which is crazy when you have three sitting midfielders one of them has to cover and help him out. Back 4 looked so square as well. Nevertheless he also looked worryingly easy to knock off the ball. Really bad defending for the first goal as well, if there's one guy you always track it's Archie
I thought he got caught out of position too much in the first half because he was too far forward helping attack.
Grumpy old bastard alert
Whats your guys thoughts on brockie and ifill up front??
stein for me is too slow. looks like he runs at one speed! need someone with abit more agile
How often is it though that full back gets caught "too far forward" purely as a result of the ball being given away by someone else cheaply?
Fenton got hung out to dry in the first 20 (which is all I watched before work) - he was completely isolated one on one which is crazy when you have three sitting midfielders one of them has to cover and help him out. Back 4 looked so square as well. Nevertheless he also looked worryingly easy to knock off the ball. Really bad defending for the first goal as well, if there's one guy you always track it's Archie
I thought he got caught out of position too much in the first half because he was too far forward helping attack.
The defensive midfielders are there to cover that though
Grumpy old bastard alert
A valid point that the commentators mentioned is that our schedule has been a nighmare. 2 home games on the road, players out because of the AWs. The only way it could have been worse was a trip to Perth thrown in. In that respects, I do feel for Ernie because no other team has had to go through this and he can see for himself how much love the FFA do no have for the Phoenix.
Yeah, it is really shit the FFA make us play our home games in Napier and Christchurch
Fenton got hung out to dry in the first 20 (which is all I watched before work) - he was completely isolated one on one which is crazy when you have three sitting midfielders one of them has to cover and help him out. Back 4 looked so square as well. Nevertheless he also looked worryingly easy to knock off the ball. Really bad defending for the first goal as well, if there's one guy you always track it's Archie
I thought he got caught out of position too much in the first half because he was too far forward helping attack.
The defensive midfielders are there to cover that though
Normo's coming home
Part of the reason we are playing home and away games is that the RoF is being re grassed
Part of the reason we are playing home and away games is that the RoF is being re grassed
Normo's coming home
Brockie hard working all 90 minutes, good taken goal and unlucky 92 minutes miss. Midfield need to be more creative.
Norwich City supporter since 1992, New Zealand supporter since 2010 but without Rory Fallon's winning goal against Bahrain, I won't know about New Zealand Football.
Again, I think this game was completely lost in midfield - the balance still doesn't quite look right and that's affecting the rest of the team.
I think the really disappointing thing from a defensive point of view is that even with three guys central we really struggled to put pressure on the ball.
If you look at the stats each of Lia, Muscat and Riera were about the same. Attempted about 50 passes and 80-85% accuracy - which is ok. But in the end none of them is at all creative, it's all pretty basic possession so burden of making play in the final third falls entirely on Hernandez. It's a bit predictable and a bit like last season unless we can improve the midfield then we're going to find it difficult to break teams down (but for a different reason)
I think after 4 games as well one thing has struck me and that's a bit of a lack of mobility across the team. There aren't any really good athletes (say Ifill in his pomp in 08/09). Hopefully Cunningham will be that player - we really do need him to start making an impact if we're going to do anything.
Normo's coming home
I blame l;ia - his effecton everyone in the midfield is to drag them down......I'm only partially serious on this but god the three DM's were terrible, at key moments they were caught out of position, gave the ball away. However the first two goals came from defensive errors. The first one Dura should have got across but I'm pretty sure Siggy was not tracking back, second was just a weak header back to the keeper.....could have been two all.
Queenslander 3x a year.
Fenton got hung out to dry in the first 20 (which is all I watched before work) - he was completely isolated one on one which is crazy when you have three sitting midfielders one of them has to cover and help him out. Back 4 looked so square as well. Nevertheless he also looked worryingly easy to knock off the ball. Really bad defending for the first goal as well, if there's one guy you always track it's Archie
I thought he got caught out of position too much in the first half because he was too far forward helping attack.
The defensive midfielders are there to cover that though
I think it's simple. You want Fenton to get forward and support the attack (the point of playing him there), you have three central midfielders playing defensively not pushing forward. The player closest to the ball pushes out to help defend out wide, that still leaves two players centrally. If you're not doing that the guy out wide is going to get roasted.
Grumpy old bastard alert
I'd just like to point out how eerily similar the game last night was to the first game we played in Melbourne last season.
Who says that history doesn't repeat itself?
I'd like to see Bertos in the midfield next week. Not as a wide Man Leo but a short passing ball player Leo.
Let's face it, he no longer has the pace to play out wide, but he does possess a good pass (but ordinary cross) he is still mobile but not super speedy. I see parallels to Giggs. He came on and had some nice interplay in the midfield and with Hicks, we started to look like a midfield. I think you can afford to leave 2 DMs where they are as absolutely screeners and ball winners and all you ask Leo to do is be the link between those two and Hernandez. He is mobile and will chase the ball still but he has better on the ball skills than the 3 DMs that started so we can get get something out of the midfield. As JD said, nothing creatively (which is kinda what you expect for 3 DMs) and Carlos has to do it by himself. Hicks would probably do the same job but I would prefer experience right now. Leo has learned some defensive skills from being at RB and I thought last year when Greenie moved him into the midfield, he played that exact role and we looked much better (as did he) for his move there. I guess he could almost be the box to box guy but less grunt.
(Oh and I'd like to say so far Riera has not proved me wrong as being an A League DM. Not as bad as I thought but not worth an import slot)
Grumpy old bastard alert
I'd just like to point out how eerily similar the game last night was to the first game we played in Melbourne last season.
Who says that history doesn't repeat itself?
Grumpy old bastard alert
I'd just like to point out how eerily similar the game last night was to the first game we played in Melbourne last season.
Who says that history doesn't repeat itself?
Founder
Cant agree re Bertos JV simply for the fact we have so many midfielders now. Manufacturing Leo into something he is not will take another year. We have Rufer Ridenton Hicks to name but three who have been brought into club to fill that type of role
So has anyone pushed the panic button yet? I think the angst button is half-way down.
In better news last night I played Heart vs Nix on FIFA 13 (player career mode) and beat the Jam Tards 0-3 away (could have been AAMI Park, could have been Napier).
Ernie - sign this Junior82 guy. He scored the opening goal and provided an assist.
"Phoenix till they lose"
Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion.
Genuine opinion: FTFFA
Cant agree re Bertos JV simply for the fact we have so many midfielders now. Manufacturing Leo into something he is not will take another year. We have Rufer Ridenton Hicks to name but three who have been brought into club to fill that type of role
Grumpy old bastard alert
So has anyone pushed the panic button yet? I think the angst button is half-way down.
Grumpy old bastard alert
shame about the monkeying around in the first 20 minutes.
My 2c. Fenton: got pwned at right back. I actually think Leo was better but I'm hesitant for more chopping and changing. Still, I think Fenton should be a substitute winger running at tired people from 60mins on.
Hernandez: not a great game. Tried multiple defense-splitting passes and most of them were never on. Still, one of them was I suppose.
Iffy: earned a start, but then again, he's looking best running at tired defenders. Conflicted about this a bit.
Durante: ack. Everyone gets one brain-fade a season I guess.
Riera: looked really good.
Boxall: I'd start him over Fenton as RB at this point, and Leo over both of them.
Overall I think the MV pundits saying that they "let us back into the game" aren't giving us enough credit, we basically forced our way back in and I was gutted / encouraged at the same time, I can definitely see what Ernie's trying to do, and for most games so far, we've done exactly that for ~60 mins of the game, it's just those 20-30 mins where we concede 1-2 goals that are killing us.
Given the schedule it was always going to be a slow start, I can see us hovering around 7-9th until Xmas and then making a late run into 5-6th later in the season. Unfortunately I don't think that's going to inspire the fans to the point where Welnix start breaking even this season.
I'd just like to point out how eerily similar the game last night was to the first game we played in Melbourne last season.
Who says that history doesn't repeat itself?
2-3 v one of the top 4 sides, and easily could have been 2-1 in our favour without the offside goal and Dura's blooper. And the side is still finding it's best combos and FBs still developing in their roles. Not a great start to the season, but some pretty good signs of life. I don't entirely go with the theory we only got into it with Melbourne backing off. They did, but when we came back at them they tried to lift their game again and we kept playing through them.
My 2c. Fenton: got pwned at right back. I actually think Leo was better but I'm hesitant for more chopping and changing. Still, I think Fenton should be a substitute winger running at tired people from 60mins on.
Hernandez: not a great game. Tried multiple defense-splitting passes and most of them were never on. Still, one of them was I suppose.
Iffy: earned a start, but then again, he's looking best running at tired defenders. Conflicted about this a bit.
Durante: ack. Everyone gets one brain-fade a season I guess.
Riera: looked really good.
Boxall: I'd start him over Fenton as RB at this point, and Leo over both of them.
Overall I think the MV pundits saying that they "let us back into the game" aren't giving us enough credit, we basically forced our way back in and I was gutted / encouraged at the same time, I can definitely see what Ernie's trying to do, and for most games so far, we've done exactly that for ~60 mins of the game, it's just those 20-30 mins where we concede 1-2 goals that are killing us.
Given the schedule it was always going to be a slow start, I can see us hovering around 7-9th until Xmas and then making a late run into 5-6th later in the season. Unfortunately I don't think that's going to inspire the fans to the point where Welnix start breaking even this season.
Hahaha JV you shiuld know by now I am not one to ridicule sensible views. I get what you are saying about Leo. He looked ok ladt night ince the game had opened right up but to throw him into the fire against the likes of Burns and McGarry, that is where my doubt rests. Yes would be a big call to the hrow a Rufer in there but perhaps Hicks?. I would just like to see us getting a lot closer to settled side and formation just ahead of our 5th match which is around 20% into the season
Second half we flattered to deceive as Victory backed off. Stein and Brockie doesnt work. Needs Cunningham to get over what he has and get some pace into our play. Short passing is okay and Hernandez can thread good ball but it aint going to work thru just him.
Moss(Spoonley)
Bertos Siggy Durante Caira
Reira(Hicks) Manny
Cunningham(Ifill) Hernandez Fenton(Rufer)
Brockie(Stein)
A small town in Europe........looking to bounce straight back up....well that aint going to happen
Oh, and Brockie, MOM, great energy all game, at no point did he do his usual disappearing act. Very, very close to getting a point for us with that last cross from Ifill, who was also awesome.
IMO I think we played pretty good on the attack. The extra man in midfield really helped our mids confidently make short sharp passes.
However for all the midfield, they were pretty poor on defence. They needed to help cover the fullbacks as someone mentioned, but this didn't happen often.
I'm also not sure Stein + Brockie is going to work long term up top. But hard to judge again with a completely new shape.
For me the best team would be
Moss
Bertos Boxall Durante Caira
Reira Manny
Ifill Stein Hernandez
Brockie
Fenton to replace Ifill @ 60mins
Cunningham on for Stein @ 65
Siggy on for Boxall at 88mins to waste time when we're 5-0 up.