R8 vs Central Coast Mariners | Sat Nov 25 | 7:35pm | RoF

Giving me the sharks

Apparently Mariners haven't won in Wellington in 5 years, and haven't won away in ages too..

thats a big 'if'  for us. And i think teams have already figured that out we aren't much chop under pressure. this tactic is to flawed to play with players who have ability levels as ours do

Worst performance of the season? At least in the Newcastle game we were beaten by a decent side.

Sure I can agree with that - but if the coach thinks that's our best play then it's his call - I just wanted to highlight why he keeps doing it (and personally I think in some games this season it's worked very well)

Dead club walking 

Well off the mark sorry fella, neither are even close to being up to it. Keegan in five years time, yes i can see that. Italiano never. Decent shot stopper but one of the worst keepers ever seen when the balls in the air. And ordinary on the deck. The fact we went into this season with our keeping options as they are is criminal. On the plus side the TAB account just keeps on growing.

What the fudge did I just watch?

The quality of the game was awful, from both teams. We had 0 game plan, i really feel for the couple of players who do try like Roy Krishna.

That will get the Eurosnobs flocking back for more!

If the game against Perth was as exhilarating like getting to the top of Mt Everest, tonight's game was like finding a KFC outlet on the summit.

Bit rough on KFC

Keegan Smith plays off both feet, is a key part of keeping our momentum going and more importantly has been playing with a variation of our backline since pre-season. Whatever we were trying to play today, we didn't know how to do it. Tough on Italiano, but while Smith personally was poor last game we still won. 

Dear oh dear. Poor performance all round. Only Roy can hold his head up.

From the stadium, I definately agree with that.  They lack a bit up front, but they were sharp moving and passing tonight, much quicker than us shifting the ball, more accurate controlling it and very confident on the ball.  They made us look pedestrian and inaccurate.  Which we were.  Some of their play to score was just very clinical.

Putting it like that makes it sound like we were half decent.

Makes me feel like a Zinger Tower burger!

I always feel like absolute shark after eating KFC so I see the comparison.

I'm guttered!, absolutely guttered.....  CCM where the better side and I can see why they beat SFC playing like this. Bring on next week COYN!!

Wicked wings aren't a bad option either ;)

Mariners were in a different league from us tonight. Quicker to the ball, faster, and deserved to bury us.

This was really bad shark footy. They stood with two players upfront and our backline coukd not get passed. The midfield was so bad, gave no options, and got worse after Paracki played CB. The passing was crap they did not win a single ball. Watson is a waste, better play Singh to give him game time. Italiano distribution was shark, there was one example where he gave it to Abbas and he had no option, a keeper has to see this.

Definitely worst football so far I think crowd agreed, people leaving after 80 min, cheers at the 4th goal and buuhs at the whistle. No positives.

Piney just tweeted that Smith was sick.

Have you seen our corners?  I wouldn't bother putting a player in the box if I was defending, the goal would still be safe

its terrible hearing a crowd yelling when we are playing the ball on the ground at the back, demanding it be hoofed long. :/

Italiano's slow and laboured distribution from the back end was very much part of the picture. We were slow and uncertain from the back four. Wasn't necessarily to blame for the goals; but I would continue to start Smith in preference. 

(There were a couple of shocker 15 metre passes in the ground which the RCB had to retreat to receive given the spin on them.!)

CCM have looked better in the last couple of rounds so I am not so sure this result should be a surprise. Okon is a good coach and served a good apprenticeship.

I think Darie will look at this and go ‘what the fudge’ cause now he has some big problems in terms of personnel to pick/not pick. Mullen is not a FB and Galloway should play over him. Ridenton was Dyer....er and Finkler is an oxygen thief. Dario is out of position, Paracki is playing frustrated and how THE FUCK is Hamish Offside Watson, our plan B. Our keepers are both weak and how ANYONE thinks life is better with out Moss, well I have a new America’s Cup Village to sell you. We have some problems now that perhaps were not apparent 2/3 months ago.

That there should sum up the problem Dario and Rado have to deal with tomorrow in a case of what do they do next? Not so sure there are obvious answers when so many players are playing poorly as well.

Don't know about snobbish, but you'd be very odd to decide not to go to a match in EPL/Serie A, etc, because it "wasn't A-League standard"

Did anyone see what the attendance was? I'm getting a little bit nervous, are we last place all across the table in terms of the actual leaderboard, attendances and membership numbers? We surely must be below the bar in terms of the metrics set out for the club, right? 

Guys, literally the first thing Watson did was be flagged for offside. Get rid of him. 

5k. Even the Fever Zone was sparse.

Why do you build me up, 

Wellington Phoenix just to let me down? 

And mess me around? 

And worst of all,

You never win, Phoenix, when you know you should. 

But I love you still 

I need you (I need you) 

More than anyone, Phoenix, 

You know that I have from the start 

So build me up (build me up) 

Wellington, don't break my heart

We have been on a downward trajectory for a while now, and all that renewed positivity from the start of the season has dissapated. It's all a bit depressing, and I can't see us being around in a few years.

For those among us who like switch things around a tad I have been using the following site for a few years now for MLS data...

see link for MLS data ... http://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/usa-major-league-soccer-2017/1 you have options to change the year and play offs etc...

The site covers all major leagues including ours.... but it has a very interestings option you can look at a sides home crowds and away crowds...

This is the A-League link... and its interesting to see who are the sides who draw the best away crowds... it defaults to home crowds but you can also click away crowds ... BTW this is one of my favourite Football sites...

http://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/aus-a-league-2017-2018/1/

If interested I hope you enjoy...

BTW it also has a all time table of NSL & A-League table that's interesting to have a boo peep at ... its over on the right hand side... 

Whats interesting for you guys is the away crowds over say the last 3 years... 

Crowd - 5,679 

Agree with all of this, though I suspect Galloway wasn't 100% hence not starting. I'd love to know what happened to Finkler because when he played for Victory he was dangerous. 

Overall this season has looked far more positive than the previous years, albeit our position doesn't reflect this. We have better personnel (on and off the pitch), several matches we have looked a league above last season (and then bottled it), we have started to look like we have a game plan (not so much tonight) and we have (for most part) stopped hoofing and hoping. 

I think all of these positives are exactly why watching the utter bollocks last night makes me/others more frustrated. It felt like all of the things we have been doing well were thrown out with the kitchen water.