Well shark I'm disappointed but considering I never gave us a hope in hell of us making the finals this game has been a real bonus. Beaten by a better team on the night but we went down fighting.
To be fair we don't deserve to play the Premiers next week. We limped into the finals given injuries, covid etc its been a massive achievement to even make the finals. Something I didn't think we'd pull off.
This was the best we could realistically do with the squad we had. Looking forward to next season
Well it's all over. Gutted for the boys, but what a good game the second half has been. McGarry's introduction clearly showing Sutton was not doing well tonight, and McGarry was more effective. Piscopo was all class, even if Waine and Piscopo did not manage to stamp their presence on the game, he certainly did. I will miss him if he goes elsewhere. Between him and Sandoval he was clearly the better player. Also excellent effort from Surman while Payne probably did not do as much as he could have. WU defence was so-so, but Jamie Young was as good as Sail tonight. One goal, unfortunately, was all that it took.
Looking forward to retaining the good core of this squad for next season. Despite some here unfairly criticising Doloras for her comments on our player retention, she is right in that we often take a punt on a potentially good player from elsewhere when nobody else would. If that player then has a good season with us or two, they are seen as a good target for $$$ and move on. This is why our Nix academy has been a huge success for us, as we do not need to rely so much on imports, and our young guns are less likely to be poached early unless they are Rojas. Our excellent crop of young promising players will benefit playing with experienced mature players next to them even if they are past their prime. Payne improved next to Taylor, I am sure Surman benefits by having Wooton alongside.
Well, not our night. Proud of the boys in spite of it all, let the off season signing speculation begin. Old to take the no. 10 shirt off Reno, Surman signed on with a world record 15 year contract, Dimitar Berbatov comes out of retirement to lead the line...
Have been watch this video this week and wondering where our beating heart is on the ground…
I guess Dura was this kind of player, but we really haven’t played this way after Siggie and Manny.
Uffie definitely was a leader on the field.
I think Laws was. And in some ways Sotirio. Olli is, but a bit far from play. Ball leads by example. The injuries disrupted the playing group and the on field balance and leadership a bit.
We should have really been hounding them at the end, but we’ve not been that kind of team. Sting them early and then hold them out.
Whilst disappointing, I'm pretty happy with that effort. In most of our previous first round playoff losses we hardly fired a shot. At least we had some good chances and were denied by some great goalkeeping this time. A very good effort this season and with the potential to go even better next year, the lads should be very proud of themselves.
Looking forward to retaining the good core of this squad for next season. Despite some here unfairly criticising Doloras for her comments on our player retention, she is right in that we often take a punt on a potentially good player from elsewhere when nobody else would. If that player then has a good season with us or two, they are seen as a good target for $$$ and move on. This is why our Nix academy has been a huge success for us, as we don ot rely so much on imports. Our excellent crop of young promising players with experienced mature players next to them. Payne improved next to Taylor, I am sure Surman benefits by having Wooton partner him.
I doubt we take a punt at all, a lot of work goes into identifying players that will fit what the Phoenix are trying to achieve.
Good topsy turvey effort from the whole squad and coaching staff to hang in there this year. I thought we'd got enough players back to do the bizz in this one, but not to be.
Credit to WU. Great goal. Great defence. We didn't quite manage to blow their house down.
Absolutely gutted, but as soon as their goal went in I feared the worst. Didn't think we'd concede many more, but I was more concerned it seemed to stymie our attacking threat for a long time. We needed to score around half time to give ourselves a shot, but oh well. Had our chances, certainly more so than other finals games i've seen us play. Squad and club should hold themselves high, that was a helluva effort, just a shame we couldn't get past these guys to get a crack at the home final.
We've now bowed out at tge first hurdle in the last 4 finals games. Seems to me there's a mentality issue in this club, not tough enough mentally perhaps
We've now bowed out at tge first hurdle in the last 4 finals games. Seems to me there's a mentality issue in this club, not tough enough mentally perhaps
Two of those were both away when we had been playing at home that season and had always struggled away and were against strong teams. The one we had at home was the one we really should've won and this one was always gonna be tough too. So I'd say out of 4 there was only 1 where we were favorites to win.
We've now bowed out at tge first hurdle in the last 4 finals games. Seems to me there's a mentality issue in this club, not tough enough mentally perhaps
No way not enough players or coaching staff have been involved in all of those for it to be anything like that. Some well documented reasons why the last couple have happened.
We've now bowed out at tge first hurdle in the last 4 finals games. Seems to me there's a mentality issue in this club, not tough enough mentally perhaps
Only one of those games were at home. We should have been Perth two years ago, but the circumstances of the end of that season are well documented.
The teams been stuck Australia, have covid, lost their starting midfielder, and 2 of their best attacking players for large parts of the season, and comfortably made the top 6. Could easily have not won a game after Lewis got injured. Mental toughness is not their problem. Sometimes even games go against you.
We've now bowed out at tge first hurdle in the last 4 finals games. Seems to me there's a mentality issue in this club, not tough enough mentally perhaps
Only one of those games were at home. We should have been Perth two years ago, but the circumstances of the end of that season are well documented.
The teams been stuck Australia, have covid, lost their starting midfielder, and 2 of their best attacking players for large parts of the season, and comfortably made the top 6. Could easily have not won a game after Lewis got injured. Mental toughness is not their problem. Sometimes even games go against you.
I agree its been a tough year but how is it that we comfortably beat WU in a regular season match, but completely falter in a finals game? Beaten them 3 times this season, including 4:1 in the last meeting but when it counts we disappear in a puff of smoke. The answer simply is weak mentality. And as I pointed out, its been happening in our last 4 games. There's just no grit and determination in this team when its finals time
How many times had the team that the Phoenix put on the pitch played together recently?
We started with our seasoned pros, who hadn't played a whole lot recently. Made sense, but we looked more dangerous when we put on the youngsters that we'd relied on in the back half of the season and who were on the same page as each other.
