WPM R12 vs Melbourne City | Fri 3rd Jan | 7:00pm | Sky Sport 3

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

 
Crisis actors, buddy. That’s what he called the family of 6 year olds shot down by a gunman. 
And that’s what Nick Mowbray retweets.
That’s what buys you your football. 

I’m fine with losing a few football games, but I’d never be fine with that.

If that’s weak for you, well that’s you. 

HattyCW

Don't think I'm even going to bother with the Adelaide game next Saturday, just keep an eye on the other top 5 teams and hope they will pile on as much pressure as possible on AFC, plus watch and see whether the Glory can actually get something against AFC, highly doubt it but you never know. Fudge those tw*ts in AFC jerseys in amongst the City fans as well.

Finally, can the forum stop breaking for one fudgeing minute?!

Sounding like one of those guys who turned on the Auckland game to hatewatch rather than watching the Wahinix!

I hope Auckland don't win the comp but honestly hatewatching every single one of their games is not the way to go. Let's keep the chat on our club.

Ninja

HattyCW

Jonnyboi

Half a Pint

City have just drawn 1-1 away  in Gosford, where we won 3-0 - Do we dare to believe we can possibly escape the graveyard that is AAMI Park with a point or 3? 

Or is it once again just wishful thinking?

Wishful thinking mate! “Everywhere they gooooo”

22 losses at AAMI Park hahaha

Love you Phoenix, a laugh a minute 😂

Yes, it's called hardship, we've experienced hardship, struggles, and tough periods that your perfect little rich kid club will likely not even come close to experiencing in their lifetime.

 
To be fair, Auckland clubs have experienced plenty of hardship. However, they've never survived. The odds are not in their favor once the hard times come.

They've never had to experience a worldwide pandemic, being forced to play away from home and their fans for two whole seasons, aside from those return matches back to Wellington and Auckland, plus be threatened with being getting rid of by the very organisation that controls the league.

MetalLegNZ

Fenix

Wow, no shots in the entire game!
Well done, thats completely embarrassing.

I have to say Im concerned about the whole coaching/academy/stats science thats built up over recent years - they are crushing diversity, inviduality and surprise, and producing one dimensional robots. its self sustaining for them of course, but the end product is garbage.

I think having a go an the academy is a little off - one bad season does not negate the good work they have done.

Glad we have not signed Chief to a new contract yet... time for us to renegotiate it from a position of power, compared to where he was at 6 months ago.

Retre is a passenger in the middle, just sits deep and does nothing. He only passes the ball backwards - he needs to go along with our current system.

My criticism was aimed at all academies,and their general approach to indoctrination of footballers.

Ninja

According to Payne the game plan is to sit back, absorb pressure, and try hit on the counter.

Basically we are being set up to play the most boring, defensive, uninspiring style of football and hoping to get lucky on the counter. This is the style of football that has been drilled in to the players all season, so unless something drastic happens, we are going to have to get used to this nonsense for the rest of the season.

I think that "negative bollocks" are the words you are looking for...

Fenix

MetalLegNZ

Fenix

Wow, no shots in the entire game!
Well done, thats completely embarrassing.

I have to say Im concerned about the whole coaching/academy/stats science thats built up over recent years - they are crushing diversity, inviduality and surprise, and producing one dimensional robots. its self sustaining for them of course, but the end product is garbage.

I think having a go an the academy is a little off - one bad season does not negate the good work they have done.

Glad we have not signed Chief to a new contract yet... time for us to renegotiate it from a position of power, compared to where he was at 6 months ago.

Retre is a passenger in the middle, just sits deep and does nothing. He only passes the ball backwards - he needs to go along with our current system.

My criticism was aimed at all academies,and their general approach to indoctrination of footballers.

Scholes used to go to the pub 3 times a week in his early career. Money can’t replace actually living. They train 2 hours a day and sit around, unable to do much at all on 100,000 pounds a week. It’s a bizarre time…

We lose games by having no middle. I'd like to see us play a midfield three of Ruf, al tasty and nagasawa/Retre. Have two of them playing DM, the other CM(probably nagasawa). then have Kosta flanked by Rojas, lbs or OVH or whoever up top. Or have two players as wide midfielders. 
Whatever the shape, without people in the middle, our 5 at the back and passing out doesn't have enough variety to beat presses. 

I've been to many many games at AAMI and that might be the worst Nix performance ever there, which is saying something..

Nagasawa put in perhaps the worst 45min of any Nix import in recent memory

Every pass was backwards, sideways, anything but forward - I'm not usually in the 'KICK IT FORWARD' brigade but holy fudge, we were doing it while 2-0 down with 3 mins to go! 

There were only 4 players out there who looked like they gave a fudge - Payne (who looked injured to me), Brooke-Smith, Kosta and Oluwayemi who was shouting at everyone all game

Retre and Nagasawa both have the personality of a plank of wood out there, and neither can run a football match. I thought Pennington and Al-Taay were average but woof. Without Rufer we have nothing, and are forced wide to Payne who has no options inside.

When we are passing around the back, our CMs need to present for the fudgeing ball. Instead, I saw Retre staring at his boots at one point and Nagasawa pointing to pass it to Sutton over and over.

Conchie at least has something about him in there, even if he hasn't put it together yet - I'd give him another shot over Retre.

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

What was written on those notes passed between Wooton and Retre? "Pass the ball back to Oluwayemi".

That was some dry and utterly aimless football. We should have been licking our lips at their line up. It was our best chance to break the AAMI curse. 

This sit back absorb and counter when opportunity arises football can work, and has worked for us in the past. But you've got to have direction and purpose to drive it. We've got none of these things at present.

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

 Man you guys can’t do anything right!!! The phrase is, “if you want my comeback, wipe it off your mums chin”. Ffs. One job. Losing at everything!

nufc_nz

Woots looks so confused by Chiefy’s note ffs. 

Woots is not a leader. Shouldn’t have been made captain today. Ball would have been a good candidate but well he’s MIA.

Jonnyboi

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

 Man you guys can’t do anything right!!! The phrase is, “if you want my comeback, wipe it off your mums chin”. Ffs. One job. Losing at everything!

No it was definately in your mums mouth. She will confirm it.

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

LG- stealing Jimmy Carr’s material! Eh, he’s made enough money out of it…

HattyCW

Jonnyboi

Half a Pint

City have just drawn 1-1 away  in Gosford, where we won 3-0 - Do we dare to believe we can possibly escape the graveyard that is AAMI Park with a point or 3? 

Or is it once again just wishful thinking?

Wishful thinking mate! “Everywhere they gooooo”

22 losses at AAMI Park hahaha

Love you Phoenix, a laugh a minute 😂

Yes, it's called hardship, we've experienced hardship, struggles, and tough periods that your perfect little rich kid club will likely not even come close to experiencing in their lifetime.

Actually I can see the club fall apart if the clubs main owner gets bored/dies etc. Not sold on the others keeping AFC afloat the way WelNix have.

Jonnyboi

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

 Man you guys can’t do anything right!!! The phrase is, “if you want my comeback, wipe it off your mums chin”. Ffs. One job. Losing at everything!

 
Johnnyboi is the comestain gatekeeper? Makes as much sense as anything…you probably only accept the first folio of your mum jokes.

Johnny knows all! Doubt him not…

Been away to research banter and come back completely unchanged…

Marto

HattyCW

Jonnyboi

Half a Pint

City have just drawn 1-1 away  in Gosford, where we won 3-0 - Do we dare to believe we can possibly escape the graveyard that is AAMI Park with a point or 3? 

Or is it once again just wishful thinking?

Wishful thinking mate! “Everywhere they gooooo”

22 losses at AAMI Park hahaha

Love you Phoenix, a laugh a minute 😂

Yes, it's called hardship, we've experienced hardship, struggles, and tough periods that your perfect little rich kid club will likely not even come close to experiencing in their lifetime.

Actually I can see the club fall apart if the clubs main owner gets bored/dies etc. Not sold on the others keeping AFC afloat the way WelNix have.

The thing is, The Nix might not have won anything, BUT, they made made the transition from Terry to the current consortium and have managed to secure a future. 17 years is pretty damn good. Should Auckland last 10 years then good on them. Only time will tell how they go.

martinb

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

LG- stealing Jimmy Carr’s material! Eh, he’s made enough money out of it…

Clearly it’s copied from somewhere. Nonetheless it’s a great joke, on par with with the nix season, it’s hilarious.

Too bad they can’t deliver the joke properly or deliver a good performance!

17 years experience and performing like this. Not too late to jump ship nix fans! Thank goodness AFC saved us from your 3hite!

Jonnyboi

martinb

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

LG- stealing Jimmy Carr’s material! Eh, he’s made enough money out of it…

Clearly it’s copied from somewhere. Nonetheless it’s a great joke, on par with with the nix season, it’s hilarious.

Too bad they can’t deliver the joke properly or deliver a good performance!

17 years experience and performing like this. Not too late to jump ship nix fans! Thank goodness AFC saved us from your 3hite!

 
It’s a crap joke. And the version that Carr uses references teeth. Cos it doesn’t really matter.

Let us know when you’re 17 and you’ve experienced a few highs and lows in your life! It’ll make you a more interesting person…

I’m a very interesting person, mark my words 😂

Okay... so getting back on topic, I'll listen to Chiefy's post game comments in the morning and hopefully he's got some explanations for this. Or he continues to defend it. 

Top 6 will be tough this year. The only positiv is there are 3 teams below us that have already blown their seasons.

valeo

I've been to many many games at AAMI and that might be the worst Nix performance ever there, which is saying something..

Nagasawa put in perhaps the worst 45min of any Nix import in recent memory

Every pass was backwards, sideways, anything but forward - I'm not usually in the 'KICK IT FORWARD' brigade but holy fudge, we were doing it while 2-0 down with 3 mins to go! 

There were only 4 players out there who looked like they gave a fudge - Payne (who looked injured to me), Brooke-Smith, Kosta and Oluwayemi who was shouting at everyone all game

Retre and Nagasawa both have the personality of a plank of wood out there, and neither can run a football match. I thought Pennington and Al-Taay were average but woof. Without Rufer we have nothing, and are forced wide to Payne who has no options inside.

When we are passing around the back, our CMs need to present for the fudgeing ball. Instead, I saw Retre staring at his boots at one point and Nagasawa pointing to pass it to Sutton over and over.

Conchie at least has something about him in there, even if he hasn't put it together yet - I'd give him another shot over Retre.

Pretty spot on.

I'm all for the pass it back and make a better chance, but there were times we had someone running forward and just waited on the ball a second, the chance closed, and then we passed it back.

Rough performance to say the least.

We are really missing that x factor in the transition.  I think this is where losing Kraev has hurt us this season.

Jonnyboi

I’m a very interesting person, mark my words 😂

By the looks of it that comment hurt your feelings hahahah. The fact you have to try convince random people online you're interesting really says a lot. Most trolls have thicker skin mate 🤣

Funny thing is, every account and comment made by Auckland fans here only further proves that Wellington is the saviour of football in New Zealand. This forum is the home of Kiwi football fans.

I hope you lot are having fun on Facebook, with posts wedged between conspiracy theories and ads for god-knows-what.

From the dire straits that the Kingz and the Knights left NZ football in (they were Auckland teams btw), and the lack of professional pathways for young boys and girls to follow, Wellington and the Phoenix have dragged football in this country kicking and screaming into the 21st century. You're welcome for that, by the way.

With any luck, you'll have a fraction of the success we've had in selling young Kiwi talent all across the world. As it seems like it's your first year following football, you should know that your star goalie can thank the Phoenix for his career, as well as a couple of other players on your roster.

Your team are standing on the shoulders of bloody legends. Count yourself lucky.

Jonnyboi

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

 Man you guys can’t do anything right!!! The phrase is, “if you want my comeback, wipe it off your mums chin”. Ffs. One job. Losing at everything!

I don't understand why you're even here, we don't play you again until round 20.

Rent free I guess.

Ryan

Jonnyboi

LG

Jonnyboi

martinb

Jonnyboi

I thought AFC did well to beat the muppets twice. Turns out there’s no shock factor there. Absolutely can’t wait to do the 3 peat over you lot 😂. At least you might finish above Perth hahaha

ahahahaha ha ha
Our owner doesn’t retweet Alex Jones. We’re doing fine baby boy.

 Ooooh great comeback mate! As weak as your teams’ season so far. You’d have thought your club would have learnt their lesson in 17 years 😂. Suckers for punishment, eh?

If you want my comeback, ask your mother to open her mouth!!

Childish messages, deserve childish responses. Mods, feel free to delete my response if you wish to.

 Man you guys can’t do anything right!!! The phrase is, “if you want my comeback, wipe it off your mums chin”. Ffs. One job. Losing at everything!

I don't understand why you're even here, we don't play you again until round 20.

Rent free I guess.

Imagine spending your Friday evening on an opposition fan site, how sad do you have to be? 😂

Chiefy said Rojas is out until round 17/18, which is a big change from the "4 more weeks" I swear we heard a couple weeks back. Also said it was "indefinite" when Rufer would be back, so must be quite the illness. 

Disappointed by the post-match press conference that Chiefy is asked quite a few questions but not asked about why players like al-Taay and Ball have barely been seen when we have no midfield presence and are really struggling to transition into attack when we do have the ball. Sure Bally wasn't threatening the goal directly but he was a big part of our front 3 for large parts of the season and really helped make us tick, I specifically remember thinking at points in the season when Zawada returned from injury last year that we looked far better when our front 3 was Kraev, Ball & Kosta than when he was playing. 

And al-Taay played very regularly last year and was doing well, to me he didn't appear at all a step down from Pennington, I felt he created a better balance with Rufer when we had a very attacking player like Old or Kraev in our midfield 3 at times. 

Watched half of italiano’s press conference and gave up. Basically felt like he was just defending our style of play and saying we need more time to imbed the philosophy.

Is it second season syndrome for chiefy. His tactics have been found out and are now easy to counter. Let the CBs have the ball and close down all the passing lanes in midfield. Then press on queue when we box ourselves in the corner.
Appears we don't have much of a plan B. 
This I guess is where we find out what chiefy is really made of as a coach. Can he change and adapt.

Is it mutanty with al-taay, ball etc. has chiefy lost the dressing room and that is holding up his contract talks. I'd be frustrated if I was forced to play that style of football without the players to do it.

Whats obvious already this season is the comp is split between the clubs that have maintained their financial clout and those needing to adopt the low cost model.
We are firmly in the second camp. We lost nearly all our best players who took Chieflys tactics and produced a fantastic season. This season we have journeyman imports and kids from the academy. Last night proved beyond any question that these players dont have the skills to effectively play 
Chieflys tactics. 
The question is what happens now? Can we switch and play another style? If so then what. Without a fully functioning Rojas our options are severely limited. 
Rather than just criticise.....lets hear some viable tactical options

The question I ask, and this is an unpopular opinion to be sure but it is one I've had since last season, is this. Were Italianos tactics actually good last season or were we blinded by our position on the ladder?

What I mean by this is that we won a lot of one nill nail biters last season that were saved by some serious quality on our starring eleven. I can't count the amount of times Paulsen would make an incredible save, Surman would somehow clear the ball just off the goal line as the last man, Rufer would make that incisive tackle to wrestle away possession and Old would go on runs to create chances. Did we win those matches because of the tactics or because of the individual contributions?

I never believed what we were doing last season was fully sustainable, we conceded so many quality shots each game that eventually, when either our players stopped overperforming or we got new players that weren't as good, it would come undone. 

It's not really like Chiefy hasn't been backed either, he got some, on paper, great signings. Didn't he go to Japan to scout Ishige and Nagasawa himself? He's the one that said he wanted to build the team around Rojas and that he wasn't worried about a Zawada replacement. He's the one that refuses to use the import that he leaves at home.

Idk man, I just wanna fudgeing win something for once. We look very far away from that.

It's a salary capped league, surely we have to have some ambition right?

austin111

Whats obvious already this season is the comp is split between the clubs that have maintained their financial clout and those needing to adopt the low cost model.
We are firmly in the second camp. We lost nearly all our best players who took Chieflys tactics and produced a fantastic season. This season we have journeyman imports and kids from the academy. Last night proved beyond any question that these players dont have the skills to effectively play 
Chieflys tactics. 
The question is what happens now? Can we switch and play another style? If so then what. Without a fully functioning Rojas our options are severely limited. 
Rather than just criticise.....lets hear some viable tactical options

We lost our good players but got very good coin as a result - I.e, Paulson. 

We have spent more money on our squad this year I would guess.

austin111

Whats obvious already this season is the comp is split between the clubs that have maintained their financial clout and those needing to adopt the low cost model.
We are firmly in the second camp. We lost nearly all our best players who took Chieflys tactics and produced a fantastic season. This season we have journeyman imports and kids from the academy. Last night proved beyond any question that these players dont have the skills to effectively play 
Chieflys tactics. 
The question is what happens now? Can we switch and play another style? If so then what. Without a fully functioning Rojas our options are severely limited. 
Rather than just criticise.....lets hear some viable tactical options

We lost our good players but got very good coin as a result - I.e, Paulson. 

We have spent more money on our squad this year I would guess.

Monto

The question I ask, and this is an unpopular opinion to be sure but it is one I've had since last season, is this. Were Italianos tactics actually good last season or were we blinded by our position on the ladder?

What I mean by this is that we won a lot of one nill nail biters last season that were saved by some serious quality on our starring eleven. I can't count the amount of times Paulsen would make an incredible save, Surman would somehow clear the ball just off the goal line as the last man, Rufer would make that incisive tackle to wrestle away possession and Old would go on runs to create chances. Did we win those matches because of the tactics or because of the individual contributions?

I never believed what we were doing last season was fully sustainable, we conceded so many quality shots each game that eventually, when either our players stopped overperforming or we got new players that weren't as good, it would come undone. 

It's not really like Chiefy hasn't been backed either, he got some, on paper, great signings. Didn't he go to Japan to scout Ishige and Nagasawa himself? He's the one that said he wanted to build the team around Rojas and that he wasn't worried about a Zawada replacement. He's the one that refuses to use the import that he leaves at home.

Idk man, I just wanna fudgeing win something for once. We look very far away from that.

It's a salary capped league, surely we have to have some ambition right?

Agree with the above.

Third of the season is done and we are 10th in a 13 team league. Last season we finished second.
This season we have an older squad compared to most, last seasonwe had one of the youngest - the young ones were the surprise factor to the opposition.
The Paulsen and Old factor is what we are missing at the moment. Had we kept Paulsen for another season we could have sold him for twice the price after winning it all this year - look at his form this year. Probably the same with Old - minus his injury.
The decision to sell them both I understand - but I dont think it was the right choice.
We currently do not have the team to shock any opposition - Rojas was not a replacement for an exciting player like Old, nor was Colacovski - note both injured (again).
Cheif has changed his tactical approach this season (apparently) from last year where he had to adapt to the squad he had, he's brought in players he wants and who he sees being able to play the roles he needs them to - this is a big issue for me right now as it doesnt look like the players and manager are on the same page. 

Take last night for example, 1 shot in 90 minutes - that's a disgrace! If that was Cheif's plan then he should be gone by Monday! If it wasnt then the players need to answer as to why they weren't following the plan!
It's too early to be sacking people, but questions need to be asked and answers provided - I dont care about the PC bollocks and all the worsmithing we get - it's time for honest answers!

Monto

The question I ask, and this is an unpopular opinion to be sure but it is one I've had since last season, is this. Were Italianos tactics actually good last season or were we blinded by our position on the ladder?

What I mean by this is that we won a lot of one nill nail biters last season that were saved by some serious quality on our starring eleven. I can't count the amount of times Paulsen would make an incredible save, Surman would somehow clear the ball just off the goal line as the last man, Rufer would make that incisive tackle to wrestle away possession and Old would go on runs to create chances. Did we win those matches because of the tactics or because of the individual contributions?

I never believed what we were doing last season was fully sustainable, we conceded so many quality shots each game that eventually, when either our players stopped overperforming or we got new players that weren't as good, it would come undone. 

It's not really like Chiefy hasn't been backed either, he got some, on paper, great signings. Didn't he go to Japan to scout Ishige and Nagasawa himself? He's the one that said he wanted to build the team around Rojas and that he wasn't worried about a Zawada replacement. He's the one that refuses to use the import that he leaves at home.

Idk man, I just wanna fudgeing win something for once. We look very far away from that.

It's a salary capped league, surely we have to have some ambition right?

 
Agree with you. We where totally lucky last year to win that many games but we also played some fantastic possession football and deserved the wins 100%.
Team injury list looks grim. Rufer is out for maybe 4 weeks and Rojas another 7 weeks, Payne in doubt for the next game.
The good things is, it can’t get worse than 0 shots on goals.

What's bizarre to me is that it seems like Chiefy lost his nerve before game 1. Playing a back 5 at home against Western United perhaps betrays just how pragmatic and unambitious Chiefy is, despite all his talk about last season's counter-attacking setup being a response to the players at his disposal and not his ideal, and all his talk before/early in the season about wanting to play with more possession and control than last year. I know Sutton & LKH were missing so would have been a slight gamble to play a back 4 without a fit specialist LB, but it was game 1 at home against a middling team, not a semi-final! 

And then unfortunately we lost the one game when Rojas started and we looked to play positively, so it seems Chiefy has just completely thrown the baby out with the bathwater as a result as we have looked far, far more pragmatic and defensive since. And now we are 10 games in and really struggling results wise so Chiefy is probably even more terrified now. That he is out of contract at the end of the season probably isn't helping in that regard.

Does the club need to back Chiefy now, give him a 2 year extension and tell him that he needn't worry about results this season, it can be a transitional/building year and he can try and have the team play the way we did in the Macarthur game and it doesn't matter if we don't make the playoffs yet alone top 4, or something like that? 

iirc at the start of the season Chiefy was harping on that we were going to be playing exciting football and be the best team in the league to watch.
WTF has happened to that?
He kept saying round 7 it’ll be together and it hasn’t.

Went last night like i do every Melbourne game and it was far the worst I’ve seen them play, and the standards set by previous Melbourne game was quite high.. to me playing at around the backline and sideways shows that the players don’t have the confidence and belief in the game plan, that is no way a coaching instruction.. I don’t think there is belief in whatever system the coaches are trying to implement and some of the younger players are being exposed badly..

 speaking of young players, I couldn’t believe how small some of our compare to City.. when some of the city young lads came on, like Schreiber and Memethi they looked like seasoned pros with their body, some of our guys like Walker, even Sutton who isn’t that young, Spruyk and van Hattum look like a year 9 kid in the first day of high school, the second goal came from Walker being easily outmuscled on the ball, and the reason we lose so many balls is because they lack that physical element to their game, I think that’s something the academy staff should look into..

I won’t add more then what people have already said, we are miles off it in almost every aspect of our game..