R5 vs Newcastle Jets | Sat 5 Nov | 7:35pm | RoF

thought the zone was pretty good last night, much better than other weeks. Well done you lot.

On field score helps with that.

Not a true fan? Just kidding ya

A-Rod was the Pinball Wizard the way the ball was zinging around

#canineclangers

One of the best aspects of his play was when he'd look up before making the pass, notice the area was congested, change the angle and pass to a more open area of the field. Never got caught in position either, great to watch (particularly his interplay with Finkler).

I've given up arguing with the people who don't rate A-Rod. We should call him the metronome because he really does improve the rhythm of the team. 

Also, Rossi is close to being one of the best defenders in the league. He just reads play so well and is so well positioned constantly. I guess you should expect that from an ex-Serie A player. He also did a great job of helping Fenton with his positioning at LB.

Overall a good result. Now to string some of them together!

Perhaps someone could clarify this for me:

Was A-Rod a like-for-like swap for Roly in the same position, or did A-Rod play last night more forward of Roly's position in the last few games?  I don't mean "on paper" position, as both are DM, but actually position played on the park. 

I thought Roly sat much deeper in previous weeks compared to A-Rod last night, but it could be to do with the Jets sitting back whereas there was no such luxury against Victory or Perth.

If you go back to the Sydney game (seeing as the sending off last week would have messed with positioning) you can see Roly was in roughly the same zone:

http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/matchcentre/Welli...

Plus A Rod is happy to play one touch passing to get out of tight places, whereas Roly likes to control the ball and try to beat people to get into space. Big difference.

If you want to see A-Rod pass the ball forward I suggest you just actually watch the game. These were his passes last night:

CloneMM wrote: A 'Jonestown-like scenario if we're losing at half-time'?

I'm not sure we had the crowd numbers for a massacre on that scale.

Absolutely, positively, moving forward, it was a pleasant feeling to get home last night and see that we'd won. The Jets aren't in great shape which made those three points even more important. 

More than 900, surely?

Just my luck to only catch the second half.

We played well in the first half Particularly. Arod suits the short pass game, and the combinations with him, Tratt and Finkler were very good. 

Was Finkler better because he knew more was expected of him with Roly out? The two together might not work.

I like the look of Tratt, his passing is good, he backs himself well, tighten the defensive lines just a bit more and I think at the end of the season we will be pleased to have signed him.

I wish Kosta had slightly better control, if his first touch was surer he could play higher than this. Lovely pass to Roy tho, who buried that chance.

If we play Fenton on the left, he needs to develop a left foot. His cut back is too predictable.

Great to get a win.

Krisha's on fire, your defence is terrified!  Love reading the match thread when we have won. 

So based on that A Rod didn't play forward, but played with width... Tratt made a lot of forward runs last night... who got the ball out to him?

I feel the same way about Lia.

Lots of relief to get a result, I'd only call it meeting the standard but hope to kick on from here.

I'm torn about the drum in the fever zone; after 10 years of the zone it's great to have something new, plus it certainly adds to the high energy parts of the chants, but on the flip side it doesn't need to be used for every chant and not even part of the whole chant. The problem with the drum is that it has no tone, and is so dominating, that it doesn't have the fluidity and organic of a clapped only chants. I found that eventually the constant use of the drum was making it less enjoyable to be in the zone, which is obviously not the objective, as well as interfering with the initial growth of the chants because it can't absorb variations due to its individual volume.

And before you all rip in with the usual 'fever can't take feedback' response I ever seem to get because everything's always so personal, I'm not saying we get rid of of it nor criticising whoever was actually playing it,  I just think the drum could be used better to enhance chants (such as Krishna's on fire as it was last night) and not be the go to for ever chant when it's not always needed and some variation is welcome.

End of (hopefully constructive) feedback.

Certainly a work it progress on how best to operate. I'm convinced it makes chants catch on quicker and stay longer.

For me personally, I definitely thought the drum worked for some of the chants - set a good slow starting pace for 'Welly-ooo', then sped up.  Not sure it was required for the 'Oh Wellington' chant though as I thought it was slowing down the chant a bit.

I'm sure we can all agree it worked wonders for Krishna's on fire

You have proved my point. The goal is at the top of the pitch. Its vastly backwards passing

Who will be left back with Doyle, Parkhouse injured and Fenton on international duty.

Lowry or Ridenton?... 

Ps, today was the first time I've looked at the A-League Ladder for 2016-17! It actually looks OK! We're right in it.

On the drum. For every person telling me to play quieter last night, there was someone telling me to play louder. Yes, it definitely works better with some chants than other.

I'm still learning how to do it best, it'll get better with practice :)

I think you need two drum sticks. It is great after 10 years we have one.

Would be easier if everyone had songsheets

We sit in aisle 24 and i thought the drum was excellent. It was getting well tribal by the end of the game.

can we see them? im not interested in seeing them for this argument, i just want to see how mossy's passing is developing. Maybe Ernie can turn him into a sweeper keeper. 

ARod plays that DM role so well, receive ball, look up, play, move. Its not flashy, it rarely rates mention from the commentators, but it gives those flashy players time and space when they do get the ball. and then of course bust arse to get back when the ball is turned over.

At this stage of the season I think our best VI can only contain two of Gui, Roly or McGlinchey. 

Won't your parents get a little angry with that?

And to be fair to A-Rod, he did a decent job in midfield. He did control the tempo quite well.

I think the whole Nix midfield performance in the second half needs to be looked at. Newcastle began to dominate for large stretches. 

It's good progress from the Nix and a vital win but not the finished article. A number of those corners and free-kicks from Newy were opportunities that would be taken by better teams.