vs Planes Sunday 4:30pm

Back from match,.. why oh why Ricki wont sub Brockie for Heysegems chasing a win at home I dont know..most frustrating.  Even when we had 11 he should have thrown on 3 attackers and said go for it. Boyd didnt really do it for me today.  Had chances to use pace and seemd a bit unwilling..except when he got clattered late on.

Cernak looks good..some unlucky attempts at thru ball.  Stein would have been on the end of them..albeit back to goal..and he would have nailed the first Brockie chance.

Heskey does a lt of work..still looks a great pro.

YF sounded good..liked the stand up if u luff the Nix..

Well, I just keep thinking how much difference to good players' performance a good manager makes. Smeltz is not doing that great for Perth because Ferguson is not the world's greatest manager even if Smeltz is a natural goal poacher. But Rojas is doing  extremely well under Ange Postecoglou.This is not just because the boy is a natural genius (well, he is very good), but because Ange actually is a good team manager (despite his failure as a manager with the Young Socceroos team a few years ago, but that's a different story). So that's why I wonder regarding Ricki; i.e. if you really can teach an old dog any new tricks.

Dire stuff again today I have to say.  As others have said, first half was ok and we were pressing the ball pretty well, but second half we did very little, even with a man advantage for 20 odd minutes.  Surely Ricki should've brought on a sub at that point?

Nothing that I seen today has changed my mind about Ricki, his time is up IMO.

Paston was ridiculous at the goal, he can't jump higher with his hand than Heskey can with his head?  Of course the whole thing came from another ridiculous Lochhead foul caused by the fact he is so far off the pace it's unbelievable.  He really is poor and finished at this level for me.  His attack at the start of the second half beggared belief - he was almost in the goal himself and yet didn't shoot and ended up giving the ball away!

The final ball from everyone was terrible as well, once again so many attacks that ended with a poor pass.  And the wasted set pieces continue again - will we ever score from a corner or free kick again?

Simply not good enough against what was a very average Jets team.

[quote=Steve-O]

Dire stuff again today I have to say.  As others have said, first half was ok and we were pressing the ball pretty well, but second half we did very little, even with a man advantage for 20 odd minutes.  Surely Ricki should've brought on a sub at that point?

Nothing that I seen today has changed my mind about Ricki, his time is up IMO.

Paston was ridiculous at the goal, he can't jump higher with his hand than Heskey can with his head?  Of course the whole thing came from another ridiculous Lochhead foul caused by the fact he is so far off the pace it's unbelievable.  He really is poor and finished at this level for me.  His attack at the start of the second half beggared belief - he was almost in the goal himself and yet didn't shoot and ended up giving the ball away!

The final ball from everyone was terrible as well, once again so many attacks that ended with a poor pass.  And the wasted set pieces continue again - will we ever score from a corner or free kick again?

Simply not good enough against what was a very average Jets team.

Back from the game - Felt it was a fair result in the end. But, the Nix had a huge advantage being 1-0 up with the Jets a man down. The atmosphere seemed great at the start of the game with the YF rocking and the sun beating down.

Then in the second half it turned limp?

Why were people clapping Lochead as he was walking off after being sent off?....His action/s directly cost the Nix the win today for me. He turned around to watch the free kick result in a goal...

The default mode for Lochead if he gets beat is always bring the player down, resulting in a free kick or card every time! Well done to the Jets for taking advantage of this weakness to earn a point in the game.

I'm flying up to Auckland next week to watch the Nix play the Glory - If Boxhill plays well next week has Lochead played his last game for the Nix in the starting line up? I'd say build for the future now and put Lochead on the bench for the remaining games of the season and say thanks for your service come the end of the season.  

Tough time call for tough choices - but this one is has been building all season....

Its a discussion forum so I have no probs with that.  yes the lenght wasnt quite there on a couple but he had got possession or re won it and looked up and attempted some thru balls or ball to feet.  looked promising from what I saw versus just straight out running at defenders and tripping over or not looking up.

Morgan should tell the team to win a game or two.

Can someone please point out all this love for Sanchez and Boyd today and tell me specifically what they did?

'They ran hard' doesn't really cut it. I just cannot see what either of them did to justify them getting this 'they played well' stuff.

A few chances from balls played across the face of the goal. What I would like to see is an option from a player peeling back and popping up outside the six yard box to cut it back to. Totori cut a crap ball back from the byline to one of their players - but that is where we need an option to be rather than two players three yards from the goal and a third lurking deep.

And Brockie needs to do more than just sit on the last defender and raise is arm up asking for the ball to be played over the top.

The lack of movement from the forwards is appalling really.  Did anyone see Heskey make an off the ball run that dragged a defender away and gave the player on the ball acres to run into?  Our players never do anything like that - they are like statues who only move when they have the ball.

I don't mind the angst but I would prefer if it came with perspective.

In a lot of respects (and I'll pick this example) most of the '' mob just go ''. Some do argue their position and fair enough too but then never come up with a name. All they provide is 'well just someone/anyone/go to market' without doing the sums and looking at what is in the market place.

I'm not in the '' camp but I do liken our situation to the 80's Lakers with Pat Riley. Great coach, won 5 titles in LA but in the end, the team tuned out because the message did not change. It did not mean he was a bad coach. Something had to give and Riles quit because he knew that his message was getting lost on the players. Do I think there is a better coach than Ricki right now? No so I'm not saying '' because I don't believe there are better options currently out there. I do think however that this lot have stopped listening/responding to the message. Coaches that last a long time at the same team learn to either bring in new assistants, turn over the squad or change the message. What the solution here is, I have no idea but the squad will turn over soon and I do think another assistant is required.

edit: and yes I wrote '' a lot to see the kitty a lot.

I think we all would

Brokie might have been  but he more likely to score then any of the other bozos out there.

Not an unreasonable summing up

and didnt he just look like a rabbit in the headlights when he did run into the box?

 Deep breath.   Hope I don't get slaughtered for saying this but....  I enjoyed todays' match. Yes, really!

On the highlights channel now