WPM R1 vs Western Sydney Wanderers | Sun 22th Oct | 5:00pm | Sky Sports 7

Paulsen definitely not short on confidence.
Would really like to see a new contract in front of him before he breaks out

First drinks break assessment and I'm quite pleased with that first half of the first half to be honest.

Paulsen player of the season.

That’s a great save 

Anyone know how tall he is?, or is it just my imagination he is a little short for a keeper?

mikecj

Paulsen player of the season.

 Paulsen to get us the transfer fee that Sail never did

We pass the ball backwards so often. Everyone across the whole team. A bit frustrating 

lots of us playing for fouls, rather than passing to players

Nix playing alright but fudge this is boring

dunnix

mikecj

Paulsen player of the season.

 Paulsen to get us the transfer fee that Sail never did

 Certainly not on his current contract

If Paulson was in goal end of last season, we’d have done a whole lot better.

Every time we get forward, we pass back. Why? We’ve got no sting in our attack.

nufc_nz

Every time we get forward, we pass back. Why? We’ve got no sting in our attack.

Zawada was streaming forward, shoulda hoofed it so he had a chance to toe it.

I wanted that to be a goal :(

Oof two great chances to score rounding off the half. Unluggy boys

Pennington nice header!

defensively, we are tracking runners and scrambling well. Midfield is very passive. Dont get the slow the ball down and then hit a long ball approach, but there has been some space down Kosta's wing. 
Player wise, Back 5 have done good. Paulsen and Surman being the highlights. Bit disappointed in Balls decision making and how limited Rufer and Pennington have been as options in the middle. 

Big second half in the heat. COYN!!!! 

Still trying to understand our gameplay - seems we are quite keen to slow the tempo down and frustrate (?) the wanderers

Chief said on the pre show that this is still a work in progress that's evolving away from Uffie ball. Going all right considering.

0-0 first half, they had a couple of solid chances which Paulsen has kept out (two great saves). Other than that they've had a coupe of decent crosses but little else. We've done nothing with the ball except the first run by Zawada we've really not looked to get the ball wide to our attacking players, the two times we have the first thing we've done is look to pass it backwards. We seem to be happy to do the same ol' knock it around the back four and hope they opposition gets bored and we can hit on some counter/long ball. Which could have worked at the end of the first half. Early days, and our defense looks good, attack still a work in prigress I guess?

nufc_nz

If Paulson was in goal end of last season, we’d have done a whole lot better.

A lot of the talk has neglected that we needed a refresh at the end of last season. 

Sail was not in a good place, Sutton, Bally and Old were injured and we needed an injection of something fresh. Surman and Paulsen were underused. 

It’s good to see us doing something a bit different. Hopefully it comes good for us today. Moment of truth will be when the midfield tires…

maynardf

Still trying to understand our gameplay - seems we are quite keen to slow the tempo down and frustrate (?) the wanderers

seems like a valid tactic, especially away at 3pm and 30 degress.

martinb

nufc_nz

If Paulson was in goal end of last season, we’d have done a whole lot better.

A lot of the talk has neglected that we needed a refresh at the end of last season. 

Sail was not in a good place, Sutton, Bally and Old were injured and we needed an injection of something fresh. Surman and Paulsen were underused. 

It’s good to see us doing something a bit different. Hopefully it comes good for us today. Moment of truth will be when the midfield tires…

midfield subs will be keu, wil al talay be a spark?

maynardf

Still trying to understand our gameplay - seems we are quite keen to slow the tempo down and frustrate (?) the wanderers

Looking to condense play and bring the opposition in towards the middle of the park, as soon as there's space out wide the ball goes in and out of the midfield quickly then pinged wide where there is now space - we've done this a few times. Probably need someone a bit quicker than Ball on the right to do this effectively on both sides but its worked well for Kosta.

Kosta isnt much quicker than Ball, just looks it cos he's shorter and his legs move quicker.
If we are gonna rely on the wingers to bring the attack I'm not sure that we are going to be able to rely on Ball and Kosta for pacey run and decent cross.
It might have to be Kraev making a run from the middle.

Also, not shocked to see that Dan Margush has been bumped from WSW's bench by a 20 yr old newbie. God he was terrible last season.

0-0 at the half, and a lot of people on here would have chewed an arm off if offered that pre game.

Yes we're very limited in our play, but WSW haven't offered too much themselves. Happy overall with our defensive shape and tenacity in the the duels/second phase. The effort is there which is good to see from a relatively inexperienced mob. Really missing Clayton Lewis in the midfield though...

Hopefully we're a bit more adventurous this half.

COYN!

YoungHeartHM

0-0 at the half, and a lot of people on here would have chewed an arm off if offered that pre game.

Yes we're very limited in our play, but WSW haven't offered too much themselves. Happy overall with our defensive shape and tenacity in the the duels/second phase. The effort is there which is good to see from a relatively inexperienced mob. Really missing Clayton Lewis in the midfield though...

Hopefully we're a bit more adventurous this half.

COYN!

Watched a bit of the MacArthur game, Lewis looked decent sitting deep in their midfield, seems to have found his passing range and creativity too. Something we may well miss with Rufer, Pennington, Kraev as our mid three.

theprof

Kosta isnt much quicker than Ball, just looks it cos he's shorter and his legs move quicker.
If we are gonna rely on the wingers to bring the attack I'm not sure that we are going to be able to rely on Ball and Kosta for pacey run and decent cross.
It might have to be Kraev making a run from the middle.

Don't need anyone super quick, as the attack has to wait for Zawada or a midfielder to get into position to get to the cross anyway. The amount of space the tactic has given us on the left in the first half shows it at least kind of works. Plus it allows our defensive midfielders to screen the back four a lot better.

For his size Zawada is no slouch, he's pretty useful at getting into the box wgen or before needed.

what was the go with Conchie's "suspension"? surprised to see him in the matchday squad aready

Got that Herbert long ball special going lol

Honestly not too displeased with the defense at this stage, they've done fairly well all things considered. Just lacking some creativity in midfield and I reckon we could be leading rhis show.

Rufer! Impressive!

Smeltz4PM

what was the go with Conchie's "suspension"? surprised to see him in the matchday squad aready

he was suspended in the local leagues only, so it didnt impact the a-league. Club enforced a stand down for preseason and Aus Cup.

number8

Rufer! Impressive!

he's actually looked ok, perhaps sitting deeper than normal and letting Penningotn and Kraev do the attack work.

What a waste - Payne leaning back into a shot from 30m

Payne! What are you doing? Stupid!

Really pathetic shot from Payne. Under no pressure. How can you be a professional footballer and hit a shot that bad. 

not sure why Paine is even that high taking that shot, should have been Pennington or Kraev.

Al-Taay on for Ball,

Al-Taay for Ball seems a weird sub is it a change in formation?