Did we all collectively will this to happen? feel like a lot of the crew on here have been making the shore up the defence with Nikko call for a while now.
Nikko’s not as good as Michael but he’s a very solid player and exactly what we need. I’d say he’s probably the 5th or 6th best kiwi centre back playing today.
Bit tough on Surman he presumably falls back to no 5 in the CB pecking order. But he has the U20 WC not far away now in June, to keep himself motivated.
Be interesting to see how Boxall jnr goes. He looked good coming foward against some of those Island teams back in March last year for the AWs, but hardly the toughest opponents. He knows that with his bro (34), and Tommy Smith (turns 33 next month) both getting on plus Reid retired - he can become an AWs regular if he's good enough.
All in all a signing that makes some sense. He should be reasonably match fit, having been training for and then away at the CWC. He's non visa, and played with the likes of Sail, Payne, Lewis, Barba with the AWs before. The Nix need to shore up their defence to have a serious tilt at the toilet seat. The loss to the VUC showed that in no uncertain terms.
Bit tough on Surman he presumably falls back to no 5 in the CB pecking order. But he has the U20 WC not far away now in June, to keep himself motivated.
Be interesting to see how Boxall jnr goes. He looked good coming foward against some of those Island teams back in March last year for the AWs, but hardly the toughest opponents. He knows that with his bro (34), and Tommy Smith (turns 33 next month) both getting on plus Reid retired - he can become an AWs regular if he's good enough.
All in all a signing that makes some sense. He should be reasonably match fit, having been training for and then away at the CWC. He's non visa, and played with the likes of Sail, Payne, Lewis, Barba with the AWs before. The Nix need to shore up their defence to have a serious tilt at the toilet seat. The loss to the VUC showed that in no uncertain terms.
only signed till end of season so really only here to cover Payne and Wootten and maybe put some pressure on either of them. Surman is decent but still young and learnign his trrace, same as Laws. We needed another decent CB with experience and leadership to be able to steady the ship.
I'm thinking Nikko's probably a little better than Wootton and Payne, but will need some time to settle. Could we be seeing Payne at right back again?
Not with Callan Elliot's form this season (MVC game aside)
But Elliot went so badly against the VUC (plus got the early yellow), that if Talay had had Payne or even now Boxall as an alternative, he would have hauled Elliot off. Last weekend he had no choice but to keep him on.
Did we all collectively will this to happen? feel like a lot of the crew on here have been making the shore up the defence with Nikko call for a while now.
Phoenix staff, players, management, etc read this forum.
I'm thinking Nikko's probably a little better than Wootton and Payne, but will need some time to settle. Could we be seeing Payne at right back again?
Not with Callan Elliot's form this season (MVC game aside)
But Elliot went so badly against the VUC (plus got the early yellow), that if Talay had had Payne or even now Boxall as an alternative, he would have hauled Elliot off. Last weekend he had no choice but to keep him on.
100% but Payne's downfall again will be his versatility - doesn't quite dominate RB or CB and demand automatic selection. Elliot has been playing out of his skin this season and IMO deserves to start vs Macarthur.
Maybe keep Wootton out of the XI (assuming he's back) and move Payne across to RB later if required
Pleased with the signing. He's no Boxall Sr but he has a decent CV and I've liked the look of him in a white shirt when he donned it recently. A very good and much needed addition in my view.
Have to imagine a factor in making this signing is Finn Surman's looming Fifa Under-20 World Cup involvement, which, depending on when exactly he is released, could rule him out of the entire playoff run, should the Phoenix make it https://t.co/5ln4F88oMy
Don’t know anything about this guy but everyone seems happy, so happy days! Last time this forum “influenced” a signing it was TAHW and I was far from impressed with him 😬 hopefully we’ve hit the nail on the head with this signing.
Nah, Boxall said that when he joined Auckland he told them he'd be only there for a bit and he'd be looking to return to a professional environment so I'd imagine he had an out in his contract.
Best candidate for the transfer that's fallen through I've seen is Connor Chapman (who then signed for the Victory) - glad we've got Boxy if that's the case.
For me the jury is very much out of whether he's up to a starting spot on what I've seen but hope he can impress in any minutes he gets.
Na it was a kiwi. And you'd expect they would have been better than Nikko so likely to be in and around the AWs. Would either need to be a free agent or a club prepared to release him.
Na it was a kiwi. And you'd expect they would have been better than Nikko so likely to be in and around the AWs. Would either need to be a free agent or a club prepared to release him.
I know we don’t seem to have the inclination, but we don’t have any space in our squad for another striker of any kind?
Kosta, Kraev, Sasse and Ball haven’t kept up with their early season scoring and one goal is never going to be enough to give us a comfortable win.
Even with our current tactics someone able to hold up the ball and spring a counter with the names mentioned above might be handy. Certainly someone who could finish the season with 4-5 goals and an assist or two would be very handy.
Doesn’t seem to be Van Hattum yet.
Conversely anyone in the squad hitting a rich vein of form and complementing Zawada would be great too. And Lewis creating goals and dictating tempo makes things a lot easier of course.
Yeh so question is can we sign a striker squad restrictions wise and is the window closed? Mad amount of chopping and changing this season.
"They tried to recruit former Melbourne City player Rostyn Griffiths in the off-season, but the defensive midfielder/centre-back decided instead to join Des Buckingham’s Mumbai City in the Indian Super League."
"They tried to recruit former Melbourne City player Rostyn Griffiths in the off-season, but the defensive midfielder/centre-back decided instead to join Des Buckingham’s Mumbai City in the Indian Super League."
He joined Mumbai City last year (2022).
Ah, for some reason I thought that approach was made a few years ago. My bad.
