R6 vs CCM Thursday 9:30pm

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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Ernie is performing a minor f*king miracle at the mo'....

Can't help but recall that sense of nagging doubt back when the Phoenix announced this year's shooting coach was going to be Dan Carter ...

Went to bed wondering how in gods name did we loose that, woke up thinking exactly the same way. I think the almost apologetic look on Phil Moss' face at the end when he shook Ernie's hand probably summed it up.

trying to take something positive from it, apart from the obvious piss poor finishing, it was actually a pretty good performance in many respects. We bossed the game for large periods and obviously created enough very good chances to win the match 7 or eight times over. Defensively we were pretty good again (Siggys chest excluded), but that is the sort of thing that happens when we do not take chances offered. 

Reddy made about 10  or twelve saves at a guess and I think there was only two of them, the Penalty and the Brockie Freekick that were not hit straight at him. Whats the answer? Not really sure, my experience goal scoring is a confidence thing, a frame of mind. Hours and hours of practice often don't really help. Someone like Brockie and Stein need to just get a couple in the net with the end of there knob or anything. It will then see some confidence come back.

What do we do until that happens?  No options within the squad so despite all the calls for dropping Brockie and Stein, I am not really sure we have too many other options at the moment. Boyd has potential but it really is just potential at this stage. He has not shown a lot in a season and a half so far. Ifill will score goals but he always operates best from a wide position and has never really been sucessful when we have played him in a central role. So really perserverance with Stien and Brocks unless a good opportunity arises for a proven goal scorer in January.

Maybe a transfer from Wharfies Masters may be in order! 

Wonder what that nutter Pavolovich is up to?  (Said with tongue firmly in cheek emoticon)

I  wonder if Berisha has any Gypsy cousins who can play football?

clearly our guys are lacking confidence, but that is only going to improve if we continue to play well - which we are - and grab a win! It's all good to be creating chances but currently there is noone on the field that looks like scoring everytime he touches the ball (Brockie last year). Stein is clearly a confidence player and given his lack of confidence it's clear he shouldn't have taken the peno last night. Not sure who you'd give it too but neither of our strikers look likely - Hicks would have been my pick.

Siggy for mine needs to be dropped to the bench - besides his assist for the goal - he is looking lost within his current role. Two years ago he would have just wellied that ball out of play - but not now, he looked like he was trying to control the ball but I'm not sure why as he wa on his knees. Whenever he is on the ball he seems at a complete loss as what to do with it.

not solely to blame, but he did gain an assist for their goal - we should have won that 3-1..........and you have to agree the reason we lost was because of that goal, one silly error turned a 0-0 result into a loss. Who was at fault if it wasn't siggy? (for the goal)

My confidence is restored following a dark patch in the last two weeks. Man we knock the ball around well at times. Ifill changes games.

Leo B is famous for the bundles in with the balls...

time to time, the nix have had one of those moments in the last 10 games at least.

I was impressed the way the Phoenix controlled so much of the match, particularly in midfield. In all honesty if you had a clinical finisher you would have scored two or three against the Mariners, and probably have three or four wins under your belt this season. Imagine someone who could put away the numerous chances created like the late Keryn Jordan would have with aplomb. It's not the defence or midfield that's the core problem - it's that Brockie and Stein can't hit a barn door at the moment and you have no other real striker options. The club must buy in a striker in the January window. I don't think Stein has it in him to score more than a handful of goals because for all his ball control, his shooting range is limited to a left foot. Perhaps he's better as a holding player up front. As for Brockie, I think his mad hatter haircut sums it up. You can't wait any longer for him to get his act together. The pity is Cunningham seems more interested in arguing with the referee than keeping a cool head and finishing off chances. No, you need to buy in a proven striker next month.

Maybe you should look again at Krishna, who has improved his close control under Ramon at ACFC.. The poor finishing of Brockie and Stein is letting Merrick and the Phoenix down when others in the side are doing so well. Honestly, there must be a striker in this country who could put away at least some of those gilt-edged chances that keep going begging for the Phoenix? 

This season has been Groundhog Day - same bullshit every single game. Depress

I think we are on the same page here jeff - if brockie and stein had scored we would not be annalysing a poor decision by a defender - in fact it may not have even occurred - fact is it did happen, we did not score a goal and we lost, again.

Has to be a point where we cant keep saying 'oh, but we played well..'. Fact is we cant finish a hamburger at the moment and finishing is a pretty big part of winning football games..

A few random thoughts.

Big thing for me this season, so far, is that there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. Last season that certainly wasn't the case.

We're playing reasonably good football and we are now getting to the stage where we are starting to create enough chances to win games, we just unfortunately aren't taking them. The combination of poor finishing and sloppy defending is obviously killing us but I'm confident we can turn it round. At the moment our strikers look terrified in front of goal, the composure isn't there. Just needs a goal or two and that confidence will come back.

I think it's time Siggy had a rest. He was average, to say the least, last season and this season he's making basic errors which are going a long way towards us losing games. Not solely blaming him for defeats, but the goals he's been responsible for haven't helped. When confidence is low and results aren't going your way, you can't afford a bombscare in your back four who is starting to gift goals on a regular basis. I think it's time for Boxall to get a run.

As for the whole Ifill debate. He is the one player who actually looks capable of creating something for us but I'm not convinced he can last the 90 minutes. There are pros and cons about him starting or coming on from the bench. Right now, I'm not sure which is the best option.

Stein and Brockie? Their finishing is fairly woeful right now, for me the only thing saving Stein from the axe is that he actually gets involved and links up well with our mids. Brockie, not so much.

Ernie has got us playing decent football, despite having a squad of limited quality, and we look capbale of winning games and have been unlucky not to grab more points. I don't think it's a coincidence that WSW, CCM, Brisbane etc have all, apparently, been poor against us. That isn't giving us the credit we probably deserve.

I'm as pissed off as everyone else is, but I've always thought that this would be a tough season. Strange as it might seem, I'm probably happier with the way the season is going than I thought I would be. It is what it is, the squad isn't going to dramatically change from now to the end of the season, so we'll have to plough on with what we've got.

Ernie must feel like he's playing Football Manager - his team creates a ton of chances but concedes through a defensive shambles and loses the match without scoring. Pity he can't just go back to last time he saved the game and try again.

I think we need this for Sunday

and he's limited in the air. (Stein) But I think he'd make a really good number 10...I don't think he's that good as a Greenie, back to goal player...

whEN'S THE LAST TIME WE WON A BLOODY GAME?  tHIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY.

Guys gotta say.. hand on heart not the other thing ... you should have smashed us last night you were the better side by a fair margin.... keep the faith you are heading in the right direction .... 

i think give the younger guys a run now, tired of seeing this shambles, keep stein on as he is creating and assisting more than brockie, but is aw brockie do one thing last night and that was miss a sitter (again) other than that I forgot he was on the pitch. stein did miss a penalty but we should have been 2-1 up by then anyway.

boyd-ifill-ridenton give them a go, id love to see rufer have a game, I watch him play central league a bit and he handles it with ease at his age, maybe its his time to step up

so everyone is buy seats in the lawn area or what ever the stadium call it. classic!

Watson and Bertsch must be wondering why they're with the Nix - or are they a) no good and written off? b) still too young to be risked playing a mans' game?

Agree, in a minor key

Why you wanna play young guys? If they don't perform in the first game they are lost, you need some experience.

I would start Ifill. What's all that "he can't play 90min"? He said he is fit, 7kg lighter. If his tired, then he runs a bit less, so what? He make slower up with expirience. Ifill for Brockie.

Brockie is not helping at all, he totally lost his magic to shoot the impossible goals, he even lost to score the sitters. Give him some time to watch and use him as impact player. 

After listening to Ernies post match press conference I feel a whole lot better. Really pleased he is our coach. He has experiance and maturity and won't panic. He did make quite a few interesting points. One about Brockie. He said he needs to do more than pop up two or three times a match and try for a goal. Which has always been a criticism of Brockies play and why he got dropped by the Jets. It sounded to me that Ernie had put the hard word on him...:.."get more involved or else" Without Brockies goals there is little to justify his place. At least Boyd buzzed around around, made himself available for passes and made a couple of good runs. 

He also said that the team did OK without Carlos...which is true. I thought Hicks did some really good stuff in that game....he has great feet in tight situations. If Carlos did throw his toys out of the cot and left then the prospect of Stein playing deeper does not bother me. Stein looks good as a playmaker and it would take the goal scoring pressure off him. Bench Brockie, get someone else in up front in the transfer window in January

Is the ASB Premiership, in our own backyard, looking attractive yet?