WPM R3 vs Auckland FC | Sat 2nd Nov | 5pm | RoF / Sky Sports 2 | March 4pm

And which of us would make a different choice? He's been purchased by a Premier League club, and he just says 'no' to a move to AKL? Come on, it's pro football, you do what the paymaster says...

AucklandPhoenix

Alex’s actions were fine.

The brief amount I have seen of Toomey however he appears a tool.

Those who were at the game wouldn’t have seen the build up, but they basically got sound bites from the majority of both teams about the derby.

Toomey’s was particularly cringe 

Hope this guy has the talent to back up his mouth because unless he does he is set for a fall.

What did Toomey say?

coochiee

That would be a dumb knee jerk reaction. The guy has played one bad pass in 3 games. Yes a very bad one for all to see, but a quantum of one. How many wayward passes does your average outfield player make in an ALM game.

I mean does Ishige get dropped for being open on goal and fudgeing up?

Oli Sail came to the ROF last year with the Glory and gifted Zawada a goal. Doesn't mean Sail isn't a good ALM keeper.

If it happens again for sure Olu's position is then under question. But for now the team work on things at training to make sure it doesn't happen again. 

Re other keepers, from the one Weenix game I saw against NCR, plus reading other match reports Dublin Boon ain't ready for the ALM. AKH have no real idea, but then doubt anyone else here does either.

Rufer would have just been generally angry at losing in that soft manner, such a big game in his 150th. He may have vented at Oluwayemi in the heat of the moment, but he'll also know these things can happen.

We got Josh cos the other keepers weren’t ready. 

Good morning

We are the Phoenix, the mighty Phoenix 
We’re not the Kings or Knights !


Down the noisy neighbours 
We’re a stirring giant
We’ll smash them next time 

That is all

I wonder what the current value is of each of the teams? Us and them.

nufc_nz

Dougie Rydal

Gooner 4 Life

So are people still supporting Auckland FC against the Aussie teams? I won't be personally but that's just my choice. To me, they're just another opponent. It would be like supporting Spurs when they play in Europe. 

 Or in my case ARSEnal, but I'll be supporting AFC, they're full of Kiwi's. I flew up to the game on Saturday and hated Auckland & The Port with a passion, but I'd still rather they beat up on any Aussie side.

Nah. 

How would you feel if god forbid, AFC won the league before us?

That’s a punch to the balls tbh.

Approaching 20 years as a club and we haven’t won sh!t. 

And Auckland is his home town.

Dougie Rydal

And which of us would make a different choice? He's been purchased by a Premier League club, and he just says 'no' to a move to AKL? Come on, it's pro football, you do what the paymaster says...

Jazzy Jeff

AucklandPhoenix

Alex’s actions were fine.

The brief amount I have seen of Toomey however he appears a tool.

Those who were at the game wouldn’t have seen the build up, but they basically got sound bites from the majority of both teams about the derby.

Toomey’s was particularly cringe 

Hope this guy has the talent to back up his mouth because unless he does he is set for a fall.

What did Toomey say?

Don't know about the sound bite beforehand, but Toomey just seems to be a bitter, somewhat insufferable flog.
 
Gave Oluwayemi a spray after the first goal as he sprinted past him while he was sprawled, and then the 🤫 after the second goal once they'd jumped the advertising and ran towards the port.

Iirc he also did the same when he scored against the WeeNix in the NL in the past season or two.

I really hope the boys saw that first bit at least (at first I thought it was Verstraeten, but on second look it was definitely Toomey) and someone like Rufer absolutely clatters him back in Auckland next month. Hell, it doesn't even need to be Rufer, just get someone to go in and give him a tickle up. I'd love to see it.

If it was a Nix player the coach and captain would’ve had a word with him before he played. Because the Nix have a no dickheads policy. No Sir Brian to sort out the billionaires and their blue and white AFC offspring eh? 

Fish rots from the head. 

Mowbrays->McFlynn->Corica->Toomey, Gallegos, Moreno-> The Port and their little nose tweakn jerks, aggro chanting at tweens, throwing their rubbish and singing about how we are shark. 

No pay back hits or anything. Keep it on the scoreboard.

Gooner 4 Life

So are people still supporting Auckland FC against the Aussie teams? I won't be personally but that's just my choice. To me, they're just another opponent. It would be like supporting Spurs when they play in Europe. 

Absolutely not. They can have their moment after we've won like 3 A Leagues. For now, they can get fudgeed.

Lachyloolaa

Gooner 4 Life

So are people still supporting Auckland FC against the Aussie teams? I won't be personally but that's just my choice. To me, they're just another opponent. It would be like supporting Spurs when they play in Europe. 

Absolutely not. They can have their moment after we've won like 3 A Leagues. For now, they can get fudgeed.

This is the only apt response. As I said to my in laws, they are not us. It’s football, not a scout troop. 

Is there any decent footage of the first goal floating around anywhere?  Watching the replay, it was almost missed by showing a superflous drone shot so you do not get a good mental picture of what JA faced in that situation, or why Hughes passed it back to him in the first place.  

Double post - deleted

Watching a replay of the first goal from the little footage available it seems our centre backs split left and right as you would expect. The drill would be for the keeper to pass laterally to either of the CBs to play out. Why he chose to try a flat pass straight down the field when there were three or four AFC players in the box is anyone’s guess. Just put it down to inexperience. Hopefully he will learn from it. It was a mistake that other keepers make occasionally but unfortunately for us it was a key error in a huge huge match.

One thing I've been wondering is why the head clash was not looked at by VAR. 

The cross comes in Wottoon heads it away, then he gets collected head to head by May when the ball is about two meters away from him. Coming in late and collecting a player head to head is pretty red to me, but I haven't seen anyone else with that take. Am I missing something here?

Sorry for quality can't screenshot skysportnow. This shows the moment of contact, the ball is above the player under the ninja sign. 

martinb

If it was a Nix player the coach and captain would’ve had a word with him before he played. Because the Nix have a no dickheads policy. No Sir Brian to sort out the billionaires and their blue and white AFC offspring eh? 

Fish rots from the head. 

Mowbrays->McFlynn->Corica->Toomey, Gallegos, Moreno-> The Port and their little nose tweakn jerks, aggro chanting at tweens, throwing their rubbish and singing about how we are shark. 

No pay back hits or anything. Keep it on the scoreboard.

To be fair I think you're being a bit harsh here. We've had plenty of dickheads in our team, especially if you know some of them personally.

Our no dickheads policy really only extends to the team environment and even that is really only on regards to internal interactions.

The idea that we don't have dickheads and every other team is full of them is naive at best.

I'm posting this here cos the forum is being a dickhead and "forbidding me" to access other threads.
I've been looking at the schedule and have realised that over the first 8 weeks Auckland have a grand total of 2 away games, the first being the derby and then in week 8 City in Melbourne. They also get a bye week this week. Such a friendly draw, basically they get to stay in NZ for 2 months of the league and have everyone come to them. Ridiculous!

Hopefully that bites them in the ass when they're away for a big chunk later in the season?
Unless it helps them get used to being on the road...

Maaaaaaatt

One thing I've been wondering is why the head clash was not looked at by VAR. 

The cross comes in Wottoon heads it away, then he gets collected head to head by May when the ball is about two meters away from him. Coming in late and collecting a player head to head is pretty red to me, but I haven't seen anyone else with that take. Am I missing something here?

20241106_083325.jpg 3.5 MB

Sorry for quality can't screenshot skysportnow. This shows the moment of contact, the ball is above the player under the ninja sign. 

With the disappointment of the result I had kind of forgotten about the head clash, to be honest. Did they even do concussion testing or did they just patch him up and "off you go"?

I think that, as ridiculous as it is, May got the bloody eyebrow so they were never going to deem him the perpetrator of a late challenge...

theprof

I'm posting this here cos the forum is being a dickhead and "forbidding me" to access other threads.
I've been looking at the schedule and have realised that over the first 8 weeks Auckland have a grand total of 2 away games, the first being the derby and then in week 8 City in Melbourne. They also get a bye week this week. Such a friendly draw, basically they get to stay in NZ for 2 months of the league and have everyone come to them. Ridiculous!

14 games in New Zealand for both us and Auckland this season. It works for us too given no timezone changes for the derbies and not spending hours in the airport travelling back and forth.

Could also play against Auckland too given not a lot of those guys have played in the Australian heat, so it will be good to see where they're really at, as it will certainly be a great leveller.

theprof

I'm posting this here cos the forum is being a dickhead and "forbidding me" to access other threads.
I've been looking at the schedule and have realised that over the first 8 weeks Auckland have a grand total of 2 away games, the first being the derby and then in week 8 City in Melbourne. They also get a bye week this week. Such a friendly draw, basically they get to stay in NZ for 2 months of the league and have everyone come to them. Ridiculous!

You've missed the away fixture against Macarthur in round five, which is part of Unite Round in Sydney, but yes, Auckland have five of their first eight (and seven of their first 11) matches at home. 

There is obviously a flipside to this though. Auckland have an away fixture-heavy finish to the season – five of their last eight, three of their last four.

They also have an earlier run of three out of four matches away after their second bye early next year.

All washes out in the end (and I'd wager frontloading Mt Smart matches pre-NRL is potentially a factor).

Monto

martinb

If it was a Nix player the coach and captain would’ve had a word with him before he played. Because the Nix have a no dickheads policy. No Sir Brian to sort out the billionaires and their blue and white AFC offspring eh? 

Fish rots from the head. 

Mowbrays->McFlynn->Corica->Toomey, Gallegos, Moreno-> The Port and their little nose tweakn jerks, aggro chanting at tweens, throwing their rubbish and singing about how we are shark. 

No pay back hits or anything. Keep it on the scoreboard.

To be fair I think you're being a bit harsh here. We've had plenty of dickheads in our team, especially if you know some of them personally.

Our no dickheads policy really only extends to the team environment and even that is really only on regards to internal interactions.

The idea that we don't have dickheads and every other team is full of them is naive at best.

Not that harsh tbh. 

Never seen a Nix player behave like Toomey that I can recall. 

I saw two players remonstrate with the referee angrily and at length without sanction. Gallegos a serial offender.

Can’t recall Rob demanding to be allowed to fly helicopters through Wellington suburbs or suing employees who said negative things anonymously about his companies on social media. 

I don’t know the players personally- it’s about how they represent the team in public. 

Can’t remember any of the Fever playing the hilarious game of nose tweaking during a TV interview. Can’t recall a bigger muppet on the forum than Port Soldier. 

Like I said culture is top down. 

queenofthequail

Maaaaaaatt

One thing I've been wondering is why the head clash was not looked at by VAR. 

The cross comes in Wottoon heads it away, then he gets collected head to head by May when the ball is about two meters away from him. Coming in late and collecting a player head to head is pretty red to me, but I haven't seen anyone else with that take. Am I missing something here?

20241106_083325.jpg 3.5 MB

Sorry for quality can't screenshot skysportnow. This shows the moment of contact, the ball is above the player under the ninja sign. 

With the disappointment of the result I had kind of forgotten about the head clash, to be honest. Did they even do concussion testing or did they just patch him up and "off you go"?

I think that, as ridiculous as it is, May got the bloody eyebrow so they were never going to deem him the perpetrator of a late challenge...

Does it with a boot or elbow it’s clearly weeks off. Commented on it in the match thread. He’s so late it’s bizarre. For some reason it’s treated like a legitimate challenge for the ball.

It’s really very dangerous play and unnecessary head injuries are no joke.

austin111

Watching a replay of the first goal from the little footage available it seems our centre backs split left and right as you would expect. The drill would be for the keeper to pass laterally to either of the CBs to play out. Why he chose to try a flat pass straight down the field when there were three or four AFC players in the box is anyone’s guess. Just put it down to inexperience. Hopefully he will learn from it. It was a mistake that other keepers make occasionally but unfortunately for us it was a key error in a huge huge match.

 except it wasn't the first pass in the sequence.  The ball had gone out to Hughes and come back.  Wootton was free to the right.  Of the three options he had at that point, long and to the right were better, perhaps not as confident of his left to do the pass to the right, perhaps the pass back from Hughes was a little slow giving him less time, perhaps the Auckland white shirt didn't standout enough against the concrete wall background or our similar light colored shirts (FIFA won't typically allow yellow v white), anyway it would be good to have had a camera angle that showed the bigger picture.

andrewvoerman

theprof

I'm posting this here cos the forum is being a dickhead and "forbidding me" to access other threads.
I've been looking at the schedule and have realised that over the first 8 weeks Auckland have a grand total of 2 away games, the first being the derby and then in week 8 City in Melbourne. They also get a bye week this week. Such a friendly draw, basically they get to stay in NZ for 2 months of the league and have everyone come to them. Ridiculous!

You've missed the away fixture against Macarthur in round five, which is part of Unite Round in Sydney, but yes, Auckland have five of their first eight (and seven of their first 11) matches at home. 

There is obviously a flipside to this though. Auckland have an away fixture-heavy finish to the season – five of their last eight, three of their last four.

They also have an earlier run of three out of four matches away after their second bye early next year.

All washes out in the end (and I'd wager frontloading Mt Smart matches pre-NRL is potentially a factor).

Flipside sure, but by the time they get all those away games they will have ahd time to settle and get to grip with themselves as a team. First month in NZ is a massive bonus to them, caompared the rest of the teams travelling home and away.

Just wonder with Toomey whether there is a bit of anti-Nix grudge, re them letting him go in 2022. Sat on the bench for 1 game. 

It's not uncommon for young footballers to carry a little bit of aggro against their former club, that 'dumped' them. Judging football talent is very subjective subject after all. And yeah when your professional football dream is crushed at a moment in time, you may carry a bit of baggage.

Not excusing Toomey's ugly antics, and may have the above wrong, but some context perhaps to what is going through his mind. This whole derby, ex Nix youngsters getting a 2nd chance with your rivals, all a bit new in NZ. But it's been a club football situation for eons elsewhere in the world. Not uncommon for it to blow up in a game incident down the track.

His behavior on Saturday aside, credit to Toomey that he went back to star in the National League, and then get a return to the ALM. It was a clever cameo, milking a free kick, and setting up Brimmer's 2nd goal. Now at age 23, one of those guys who career was probably hampered by Covid and cancellation of the 2021 U20 WC. A potential useful addition to the growing pool of NZ pro footballers.

Yet Rogerson seemed to be perfectly calm and not out to hurt the other team!

coochiee

Just wonder with Toomey whether there is a bit of anti-Nix grudge, re them letting him go in 2022. Sat on the bench for 1 game. 

It's not uncommon for young footballers to carry a little bit of aggro against their former club, that 'dumped' them. Judging football talent is very subjective subject after all. And yeah when your professional football dream is crushed at a moment in time, you may carry a bit of baggage.

Not excusing Toomey's ugly antics, and may have the above wrong, but some context perhaps to what is going through his mind. This whole derby, ex Nix youngsters getting a 2nd chance with your rivals, all a bit new in NZ. But it's been a club football situation for eons elsewhere in the world. Not uncommon for it to blow up in a game incident down the track.

His behavior on Saturday aside, credit to Toomey that he went back to star in the National League, and then get a return to the ALM. It was a clever cameo, milking a free kick, and setting up Brimmer's 2nd goal. Now at age 23, one of those guys who career was probably hampered by Covid and cancellation of the 2021 U20 WC. A potential useful addition to the growing pool of NZ pro footballers.

He specifically mentioned he had a point to prove / prove people wrong (can't remember the wording) in the pre-records for the pre-game coverage.

theprof

Yet Rogerson seemed to be perfectly calm and not out to hurt the other team!

Rogerson left the Nix over 6 years ago and has since forged a pro career in Germany, Finland and Armenia. Would only be small number still at the Nix from his time there
 
Time heals wounds in his case more. With Toomey all a bit more fresh

I've only just been able to bring myself to open this thread.

On AP, I have no issue with how he reacted, especially given at full time Tommy Smith went to give it to the Fever and Paulsen stopped him - seems Alex knows the booing for what it was and nothing more.

coochiee

theprof

Yet Rogerson seemed to be perfectly calm and not out to hurt the other team!

Rogerson left the Nix over 6 years ago and has since forged a pro career in Germany, Finland and Armenia. Would only be small number still at the Nix from his time there
 
Time heals wounds in his case more. With Toomey all a bit more fresh

Rogerson has also openly said he is thankful for his time at the Phoenix which allowed him a shot at at a career in pro football.

Sure he didn't quite crack it big time while he was with the Phoenix, but his case (as well as others) is more falling in line with what we see overseas where young players coming through, can, and do get ruthlessly turned over. That is the football machine after all.

Credit to him for slogging it out and making a go of it over in some far flung places, often for not great pay as well. Armenia after all was his best paying gig! Helluva nice lad too just quietly.

YoungHeartHM

coochiee

theprof

Yet Rogerson seemed to be perfectly calm and not out to hurt the other team!

Rogerson left the Nix over 6 years ago and has since forged a pro career in Germany, Finland and Armenia. Would only be small number still at the Nix from his time there
 
Time heals wounds in his case more. With Toomey all a bit more fresh

Rogerson has also openly said he is thankful for his time at the Phoenix which allowed him a shot at at a career in pro football.

Sure he didn't quite crack it big time while he was with the Phoenix, but his case (as well as others) is more falling in line with what we see overseas where young players coming through, can, and do get ruthlessly turned over. That is the football machine after all.

Credit to him for slogging it out and making a go of it over in some far flung places, often for not great pay as well. Armenia after all was his best paying gig! Helluva nice lad too just quietly.

Good to hear, if that last part is true. I might be wrong, but I feel like I remember when he and McGarry were coming through at the time, there was a bit of noise about him having an attitude issue and flirting with the line between confidence and arrogance. 

In any case,a fair few years in the wilderness of obscure European footy leagues would've been one helluva learning experience for him, and at first glance it looks to have been beneficial for him

An idea for Nix fans at the first away derby in December?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360476768/pigs-head-thrown-pitch-during-one-footballs-biggest-derbies

coochiee

An idea for Nix fans at the first away derby in December?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360476768/pigs-head-thrown-pitch-during-one-footballs-biggest-derbies

Barca did it first.

coochiee

An idea for Nix fans at the first away derby in December?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360476768/pigs-head-thrown-pitch-during-one-footballs-biggest-derbies

Luxon’s head?

With a touch to Auckland's owner, the head of the US President elect?

Though until one of these assassination attempts is finally successful, might have to be a orange topped Backbencheresque large caricature version.

Think the issue gunna be that behind the orange wonder is the large number who will no longer see democratic ideas as a key part of the US system. The consensus has been so strong they haven’t needed rules in most cases. Presidents put assets in trusts. Presidents release their tax returns. Presidents aren’t convicted felons, they can’t even vote in most cases.

But Trump’s the guy who went through that unelectrified fence so there are plenty keen to follow parts of his despotic example. 

And frankly it’s not worth the hassle if it went viral overseas or on socials! 

Have a rodeo where a Texas longhorn gets it at half time? lol that wouldn’t fly.

coochiee

An idea for Nix fans at the first away derby in December?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360476768/pigs-head-thrown-pitch-during-one-footballs-biggest-derbies

It'll have to be a good throw from way up in the away bay at Mt Smart. Are Auckland trying to do a "St James Park" to away fans?

Gooner 4 Life

coochiee

An idea for Nix fans at the first away derby in December?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360476768/pigs-head-thrown-pitch-during-one-footballs-biggest-derbies

It'll have to be a good throw from way up in the away bay at Mt Smart. Are Auckland trying to do a "St James Park" to away fans?

Not only that they have both teams going to the same end of the ground at the end of the game only Nix fans wont have access to their team. Hopefully the idiots have fixed it by the time of Februarys game they have no friggen idea.