R5 vs Newcastle Jets | Sat 4th Nov | 9:50pm | SS1

Did anyone realised that Smith's pants said no 20?

There's something up with the team that looked unsettled, that was a gigantic step back from the previous games. Could be how reliant we were on Paracki being the boss, Team Shuffle (no Ridenton, Galloway) or Newcastle done their homework, but generally we played sharke. 

It seems the big name players that have the potential to pull us out ie Finkler, Vidosic, McGinchey had done sweet FA tonight which also didn't help our no.9 Kaludjerovich. I know Paracki had a bad game for once and a few moments but he was working his ass off even towards the end when he had 3 players on him. The wingbacks couldn't handle the pace and effectively contribute to alleviate pressure from our mids or central defence especially Abbas.

We made them look good but we made ourselves look really shark at the same time.

That's harsh. He is not the main reason we lost three nil tonight.  One of the main reasons was that we do not, in general, cope well with physical pressure.  Ernie knows this, and has players to apply such pressure. This, and their excellent passing and tackling, seem to work against other teams too, as the Jets are unbeaten so far this season.

#sarc

Our best today?

Nobody really, but possibly McGlinchey at a pinch.

They attacked wide with over lapping fullbacks and whipped the ball in from behind our defense. Ernie ball. We couldn't hold possession and string together an attack. The guy who hasn't played was out of synch and Galloway >>> Mullen. How about we play Keegan Smith at number 10? Passes well, is two footed, composed on the ball, has a good range of passing...

How were we so good in the first half against Brisbane, and against Sydney and Melbourne and so poor today?

Krishna the only attacking outlet and the team was unbalanced. Didn't get our early goal. 

5 games in. Winless. Yet to be able to put a full strength side out and it won't happen next week either.

Being a Nix fan is brutal.

Wow. That was awful to watch. Couldn't hold possession, couldn't complete a pass and left so much vacant space in the midfield. I wonder how much the 2nd half jitters from last week has dented our confidence?

Apart from McGlinchey, Krishna and Palacki, our big ticket players in Kaludjerovich, Vidosic and Finkler  went AWOL. No one came blame the ' kid' Keegan Smith this week, not even the haters. He did extremely well behind a defence and midfield that couldn't get or hold onto the ball.

Is there something up in the team? Finkler looks like he couldn't care less. Dario and Kaludjerovich got subbed quite early in the game. 

Why do we keep trying to play it out from the back? Krishna has awesome pace and looks most dangerous when he's put in a one on one situation under the long long-ball. Surely we could mix it up a bit? It's like Ange Postecogolou (God Bless his soul) has got his hands on the Nix as well as the Socceroos. Going to be a long year for me if the 'Roos miss WCQ and the Nix are sitting on the bottom of the A-League ladder.

Next week there's Perth, without our All Whites. If only Finkler was eligible to play for New Zealand! :)

Just watched the highlights. What a drumming

I hope we win

I still think that Doyle should be our first choice LB and if Rossi/Dura can't play CB and Mullen is at RB because Galloway is out then Fox or Lowry should be there. Seems ludicrous to have two young backup CBs who have shown promise and then put our best LB there instead

a gauntlet to Finkler, but the net result is a backward step for us. 

a gauntlet to Finkler, but the net result is a backward step for us. 

How strange was it to see Ernie in the press conference talking about us as "them" but also taking about Roy and Kosta?

Far too many passengers in the team - Vidosic, McGlinchey, Finkler the 3 main culprits.

Paracki had a bad game but he’s about the only one in the midfield with any energy. Defence is also a shambles at the moment.

Another season and we are not looking great. 2 points from 15 and I can’t see us winning next week with a depleted team.

There will not be a big crowd there next Sunday.

7:00 o'clock kick off on a Sunday = No Juniors. NCEA exams the next day equal no college students

I think they got it changed to 4:30pm?

so hard to keep my mates interested and wanting to come to home games with me when the results are pretty grim week after week

I still don't see what Finkler or Watson offers us. They need to go.

You forgot Roy. For me he was one of the worst players on the pitch. His passing,first touch and shooting were abysmal.

I have never seen him play as poorly. 

Probably concentrating more on his hairstyle.

Yeah he was poor last night but I let him off the hook as he’s usually the one that looks dangerous.

Parkhouse was sharkhouse, don't agree on the Roy as he was the only one on the team that looked remotely dangerous and that was with everyone around him playing piss poor. Next week we will likely be without Durante, McGlinchey and Doyle. I just hope Ridenton plays next week ie (not wasted either AW or Phoenix bench). I wonder who out of the young brigade will get promoted to the bench or even start given how shark Finkler was.

Rufer could do ok in Finkler's role, but maybe Finkler will be a lot better for the run and the rocket. He'd better be.

A big football crowd in town? Half price Nix tickets? 

Why not? Seems like the perfect way to get over a hangover from an All Whites game.

You're predicting four clean sheets in a row? What about our defence's performance this season has shown the potential of that happening?

There was no leadership for starters and the team seemed to be using last seasons game plan. Who is responsible for that?

Yep

Ernie' s sides love a gift. Paracki delivered one. They become rabid from there.

Our players in possession looked to lack options. Was Ridenton's absence a contributer to that? I didn't see the first four games.

Team will need to demonstrate some resolve now.

No fudgeing way! I can actually go now!

Next week 38,000 on Saturday...3,800 on Sunday #metrics!

I am not an expert but I think this loss was a midfield failure. Putting McGlinchey in a deeper role might have made sense on paper but somehow Finkler did not get the memo about his job on the park last night. This deprived us of properly functioning left hand side and that is where Jets' successful raids came from. Bringing Parkhouse on for Finkler was a way to fix this but the horse has bolted by then. Both Vidosic and Kaljuderovic were starved of supply and Roy did not get much joy either despite his running, because the orders were to play out of the back (we were losing possession in midfield).

I maintain that we seem to take excellent players from somewhere else and then reduce them to pedestrians. This was visible under Ernie and did not seem very different now, over the last three halves of football. The problem seems to be mind-, not body- related.

At the same time, I think people underestimate how well Jets played last night (if not all night then at least they dominated long passages of play).  Ernie seems to have finally got a team that responds to his style of coaching, and they are clearly a likely top four team this season on present form. 

Just bouncing off of this, playing possession football, I feel you need to have a big mouth or a leader in the midfield somewhere. WeeMac seems like a naturally quiet player, Paracki is hard working but I imagine there's a bit of a language barrier. Finkler seems mostly static and isn't exactly loud on the field either. 

Sometimes it seems like Durante is just yelling in to thin air. The players aren't really communicating, or listening either. Prime example is Smith trying to set up his wall last week vs Brisbane, and he almost had to burst a blood vessel to get the wall to shuffle a few feet to the left last night.