R8 vs Melbourne City | Sunday 30th Nov | 5:00pm | RoF

Yeah I killed it. Moving on...

My neck can't twist that much.

Shark really went sideways.

Greenie why are you wearing a do-rag?

Very strange... today I heard a rumour that Moss might be off to South Africa.

Probably got confused because someone said Brockie and Moss liked to listen to the Kaiser Chiefs?

(Apologies for the deep-sixed post. I'm not feeling well.)

Why is it black?

Or is that a silly question ?

Am I correct that Weemac started wider and came into a role behind Krishna and Burns after the break?  I thought we looked much better with him at the top of the diamond, Roly and A-Rod working around him and Krishna and Burns in front.  I thought in the first half we had more of a front three and Roly and A-Rod were struggling in the middle.

And I thought Roly in for Lia looked pretty shakey in the first half - a lot of short and misdirected passes.  I was thinking this is why Ernie has been preferring Lia, it's not all just experience and physicality.  But he took a fair bit of responsibility, I didn;t think he drifted out of this one much at all and settled pretty well later and with more support from McGlinchey - as I saw it.  I like the touches he can add, though we did not see him set up any key play today that I noticed. 

Despite the hatrick Krishna was MoM for me, but some good performances all round.  McG, Muscat, Doyle all put in good shifts, Roly didn't have his best game, I thought, but is still bustle and pace with skills  Riera didn't start that well but seemed to settle. 

Melb B wasted a few good chances that may have turned it into a different game.

Solidly in 5th and deserve to be there so far.  

Must..................resist....................get....................banned...................again...................

If you say so say old man 

Actually I'm in CHCH and we were watching the game at our Nix HQ and were joined by a new bloke who had just moved down from Welly. Said that his mate in Wellington had told him earlier in the day that Moss may be heading to South Africa, then I hear this rumour about Brockie... something's up.

I have no idea. People around me were watching and you could see the look on their faces - wtf??

Weemac was playing central since the beginning of the game. him and Burns seemed to switch a bit more after the break.

Really can't remember the last time we played so horribly and had that kind of luck for the 1st goal. Those first 30 mins we couldn't do a thing right - Roly and Riera especially were quite horrid in the middle and Moss looked like he had never caught a football before. 

Still, we pushed on really well after that and apart from a period after our 4th did very well.

quote=nufc_nz]

How amaturish it was. A couple of $10 pack fountains, a crate and Shawn the Sheep with a very bad haircut. As if Nixie isn't bad enough doing the chicken impersonation.... I note once again, neither mascot went over to the other side of the ground...which probably was a good thing.

The Fever gave it heaps and deservedly so.

For years we have been trying to live down the "More sheep than people" tag internationally and now they come out with this? Why not use a Kiwi?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/10614373/Ram...

Sign him up sign him up sign him up...............

What a game, could have gone to either side in the first 30, Melb really didnt take their chances and we really didnt seem to have any. Looked to me like Reira/Roly and A-Rod were still trying to figure out who each other were. After the non-offside goal we they seemed to click a bit better. Wee-mac playing centrally makes so much more sense! Burns and Krishna are better out wide, both have the pace and ability to cut back into scoring position when needed.

Thought our defence was better - although Siggy was lucky a couple of times to get away with poor positioning and terrible passes. Have to question how long it will be before Boxall or some other central defender replaces him or Dura. I love his passion but he is simply not up to this pass out from the back type of footy.

Finally - I was stoked not to see Lia anywhere near the playing 11 or even the bench! Whilst he may have been better this season than previous he is not the man we need playing in our midfield especially. Our 3 main midfielders have to be A-Rod, Reira and Roly - end of!

No real loss if it is Brockie going, he hasnt exactly looked like scoring this season, Moss would be more of a concern but I hear that Italiano is a pretty good option too.

Thought we were in for a long  day after the first 20mins. An amazing amount of finger pointing and blame game playing from us in that first 20.

A lucky goal changed  everything  and there was no looking back after that.

Some days the bounce of the ball goes your way others days it  doesn’t.

Well done Burnsy.

Well done to Burnsy, indeed. Our first hat-trick ever, apparently.

However, I still wonder what happened to the JamTards. Yes, our first goal was lucky, as you say. We were badly under the pump until then, although Doyle was actually pretty solid and I would credit him with preventing a couple of early threats down his flank. 

But I can't really say that anything after that first goal was a matter of luck.  While Burns missed a tap in soon afterwards, there was a brilliant setup by Krishna leading to that chance - not really a matter of luck. Also, there was no doubt that he would miss either the penalty or the re-take. I kind of expected him to ask the ref if he'd like him to take it again third time!  So if you exclude that single luck factor for the first goal, we might have won by 2:1 but maybe not at all, such influence that single event (bad MC backpass) had on the game.  

Should a game between two good teams pivot on a single event like that? I don't think so. Maybe if it was an injury to a key player (like Riera last year) early in the half, but not a "lucky" goal. So maybe this says more about our relative quality (both teams).

This why I really liked Brisbane who battled all day against Perth at home and were down to a first half goal for most of the game, and Henrique equalised around 80th minute I think.  I thought this outcome for the Roar was a mark of a very good team that is going through a bad patch. Brisbane were/are way below Melb City on the ladder, but on the day I would rate them higher, comparing both their (1) relative "spirit" on the day, and also (2) the relative quality of the opposition (no shame to admit Perth are better team than us so far this season, they've proven it twice).

JV, I did not give him MOM-- obviously that was Burns. I said I thought he was the best player on the park.

What a great day out that was. Tough start but the goal on the break changed things and there was no looking back after that. Unusual to see the referee completely overrule the linesman like that too but it must have been clear as there didn't seem to be too many protests. Got a friend in Melbourne who is a big Melbourne City fan so managed to wind her up a bit via Facebook. Great stuff.

How can you see it? It was deleted.

That really was a very odd game and it reminded me of some Phoenix games in the past - dominate for the opening spell, concede, then fall away. For all the trumpeting, the Heart are not a good side. I don't think Duff provided as much and Mooy had a couple of rockets (leggy thinks that MOM material).

The 1st 30 mins was a disaster. Riera was the same give-the-ball-away Riera of last week. I actually think we were the cause of our own 1st 30 min performance because it was all the stuff we were doing wrong rather than the Heart outplaying us (if that makes sense) Keeper fumble, dumb FKs, poor passes. That's unforced errors (to use a tennis term) that we control.

When the goal came, it felt like the Heart were like bad sex. Good solid build up, generating lots in their favour, got this one stitched up about ready to score and then she calls out your mates name, you've gone soft and its game over. On the luck thing that Mainland and sthn jeff mentioned, good teams create their own luck. Yes that opening goal was lucky for us and came from out of nowhere but then in previous seasons, when we have been poor, we have not been able to generate anything like that. Referees decisions go against us, we have mix ups, we do this, do that. This was a case of a team that was decent but under the pump, getting a lucky bounce and then running with it and it came out 5-1. If the Heart were a good side, they would not have let it affected them like it did and would not have gotten smashed for 5 especially when they were so dominate in the 1st 30. That single incident completely changed both teams then and there. I think there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the Heart are not a good side which then makes our 1st 30 mins more indicative of how garbage we were vs how good they were. I question if Riera will have another game like that next week where in the opening 30 he was as crap as he was last week. It shows how much he gives us.

In respect of performance, I thought Krishna and McGlinchey are probably the only 2 players that gave good performances from the opening whistle until the end of their respective games. Some of that interplay up the left flank was outstanding and McGlinchey made some intelligent runs to draw the defender and create space for Krishna to run and jink at 1 guy which is his strength. On Krishna, I received a text in the game that said "Krishna - so long Brockie" and I guess when you consider Brockie is about 5 goals in his last 50 games and does not look like scoring soon, Kenny living offside and contributing little, Boyd showing enough to say 'I should be the next man off the bench up front' do you let both Brockie and Kenny go in the offseason and use the combined wage to sign an out and out striker? Krishna is to be a local.... There would be decent cash tied up in both of them and it creates game time for Boyd whom the Phoenix have invested in. Not to hate or scapegoat on Brockie because his work rate is higher this year off the ball, but he is not scoring or looking like scoring this decade. Brockie has the yips and I'm probably about to eat a large serve of humble pie across the next couple of games if Krishna keeps performing. Burns got a hat trick and I am happy for the guy that our 'not a striker' is leading the golden boot. I think that while he got the 3, he was still largely missing that 1st 30 and also muffed an easy one. He got a pen and a defensive gimme but his 2nd goal was a class finish. I don't think I can give him MOM though.

I thought the formation for the Phoenix was interesting as I saw McGlinchey drop a bit deeper and more central at times and it felt on occasions, he was top of a diamond midfield and over lapping on the left rather than a wide high left man. He certainly got about and you can see the difference he brings to the game. It meant Roly did not sit as high which it probably a more natural position for him.

Another interesting point is the debate across some threads over the last 2 weeks around A-Rod-Lia-A-Rod in terms of who should start. 'A-Rod can't start unless Lia is there to support him' 'Lia should not start cause he brings nothing to the game and plays sideways' 'A-Rod is too soft on the ball and should not start' Both players are bloody near identical although Vince is probably a but more physical. They both do engine room jobs but I expect there will be 'A-Rod was crap, should have Lia in there' calls again this week.

Questionable pens on TV replays. Durante appealed for his and got it and the Heart guy fell over? Thats how it looked on TV and the retake was understandable with nearly everyone 5 yards in the box.

Also want to say the Fever sounded awesome on TV too.

Game against Sydney should be more of the same from a selection point of view. I would like to see McGlinchey more in the AM role of a diamond pushing forward to the attacking line with Burns and Krishha aside him. Allows Roly to sit a little deeper and McGlinchey can float across the park too.

Yellow Fever sounded great from aisle 24, and pretty good atmosphere around us too. Also, may have been posted earlier but did anyone catch what the last guy won at half time? Didn't think it was a big enough celebration to have been the $10,000.

Was it the picture of a kid?

Good assessment. I agree that other than his 3 goals Burns was largely anonymous, and sometimes stayed too wide for his own goal (When we were on the opposite side of the field.) 

Rodriguez looks a little short of confidence, but i think he's worth his spot in the team. Krishna was my MOM. Worked effortlessly, and got a goal he deserved. 

Side note - What a Shocker from Gillet! Never have liked him or Williams tbh. You can't call that a backpass, and then two penalties out of thin air. Also the amount of soft fouls ffs let the game flow dude if they're not making an attempt to protect the ball it's not worth the foul. 

I am not sure if you saw it clearly, Djinksta.  Initially I had no idea what happened - OK, I was just getting a beer - and when I saw the side on replay I thought "how could they not call it offside", just what the linesman saw.  However, the replay from behind the goalposts shows clearly that Burns collected the ball from an opposition player, not from a Nix player.   Backpass or not, the last person who touched the ball before Burnsie was a Melbourne City player, and that means he (Burns) can't be called for offside.  

I may of course be mistaken, but the default rule is that you are never "offside" until your team member plays a ball forward to you while you are behind the enemy lines. This was not the case here, so no offside.

What time does this Sydney game kick off this weekend.

Thanks.

Our next game is against Newcastle Saturday 7pm NZT if that's what you mean.

The lino raised his flag and from a distance it looked like offside. When the goal was scored I was waiting for the ref to take play back to a FK.

Thanks, 

Watched some of New v CCM, hopefully we beat both of them. Neither looked anywhere near Sydney and Adelaide level.

Silliest post of the day.

Oh, please....

And Messi's no good because there are some games he doesn't score in.

"Man City to dump Aguero because twelve goals isn't enough."

Mourinho to send Diego Costa on loan because "he should be scoring more than eleven goals in thirteen games."

Man Utd to put Rooney on transfer list "because he hasn't scored much lately."

Yeah the table spots are interesting. Victory and Adelaide are the top 2 teams I think. Perth, Sydney and us are the 2-5 spots and I guess depending on what day and what location means who wins, will depend on where they are ranked but I would think if Perth were 3rd and Sydney 4th, I would not have too big an issue with that. I am not sold on Sydney yet. Without Janko, I think they look less than worthy.

I said at the start of the year we would be 3rd and while thats not quite right, I think we need to be careful we don't drop stupid points. We did not deserve any against Adelaide but we did have at least 1. We don't want to play CCM or Jets and lose points.