WPM R14 vs Newcastle Jets | Sat 27th Jan | 8:00pm | Sky Sport 5

Friar Tuck

Rufer misses the Brisbane match if I’m not mistaken. Will be interesting to see what the midfield is with Payne still out too. Could be a chance for Conchie to shine?

Slightly odd to me that he hasn't even been getting a look in edge-wise from the subs bench over the past several weeks.

Either that or Chiefy is going to come up with some quirky formation... Lucky it's only Brisbane, but we should take nothing for granted in this league.

A draw vs Brisbane keeps us top coming for 2 straight home games. That’s all I want next week.

That game was... an ordeal. But our approach reflected the fact that Newcastle despite their table position is a place teams come to and fear conceding a heap of goals. 

First half was excellent, we could have scored more than once, deserved to lead at the break. 

Second half... just lost the momentum and let them keep attacking us, pretty frustrating to watch. We largely defended well but just kept letting them attack us... and yeah eventually an unlucky deflected goal was coming tbh. 

On comes Zawada, well won by Sutton, craftily setup by Old and a clinical finish by the main man. 

A few let themselves down tonight, but focussing on the positives, Paulsen, Surman, Old and Zawada - all superb IMO. 

The team keeps on doing it, long may it last! I'd be over the moon if we could pick up the Premiers Plate, and make the GF. Time will tell but it's exciting times, enjoy while it lasts!

As a bit of criticism, imo we give a lot of teams far too much respect and drop back to defend deep.  Feels unnecessary at times, we're better than that now.
But then, it seems to be working 💪 

InsulinMachine

The team keeps on doing it, long may it last! I'd be over the moon if we could pick up the Premiers Plate, and make the GF. Time will tell but it's exciting times, enjoy while it lasts!

As a bit of criticism, imo we give a lot of teams far too much respect and drop back to defend deep.  Feels unnecessary at times, we're better than that now.
But then, it seems to be working 💪 

Interesting their coach saying we set up five at the back to negate their speed out wide.

Do we want to play that formation again on Friday? It might help make up for having no Rufer in the midfield I guess.

theprof

it's a way of contolling posession, especially when there is nothing up front. a lot of teams across the globe are using the tactic to very good effect.
Posession based footy doesn't necessarily mean attack with the ball all the time, it's about holing onto the ball and making the opposition chase you until they are out of position creating a chance for an attack.

We know that. But way too often it's negative crap. There are limited people who are gonna pay good money to watch 10 back and sideways passes in a row. Positive things happen when are positive.  

localman77

Fenix

Why does every possession have to back to the centre half?
No wonder crowds are dieing

You don't understand football. That's fine. Just accept it

Ha ha, ive played more football than you have ever seen. And not in NZ either.

Sick of the negativity regarding the passing back and sitting off the Jets - they are a counter-attacking team, which was totally nullified by the way we sat back and let them kick it around aimlessly in our half, but largely outside our box. Would have been nice to have been slightly more comfortable, but that’s the way to beat this Jets team. 

As for passing around the back, it’s much better to hold the ball and work another chance than try to continue driving forward and lose the ball. 

Awesome win from the boys tonight and great to be top of the table outright. Brisbane will be tough without Rufer and Payne, but it helps they aren’t in a great place right now. Still so much of the season to go, but it’s awesome to see how Chiefy has us playing.

Far out some of you are never happy we are TOP OF THE LEAGUE and frankly i dont give a shark how we got there.
As an aside just to show how badly we are ripped off $35 for 4 cans of beer and if you were a Jets member it was even cheaper. Car parking $15 

Gonna be interesting with Rufer and Payne out at the same time. Rufer is gonna be a big miss. I think Chiefy will be forced into starting Sheridan or go for an attacking lineup with a midfield of Ball, Kraev, Al-Taay. 

wilbaker

Gonna be interesting with Rufer and Payne out at the same time. Rufer is gonna be a big miss. I think Chiefy will be forced into starting Sheridan or go for an attacking lineup with a midfield of Ball, Kraev, Al-Taay. 

Today was like a sauna in QLD. Fudgeing horrible. I can see Chiefy going similar against the Roar. Defensive, conserve the energy. This isn't 2 degress celsius in the UK, these are energy sapping conditions to run around in for 90 mins. The quality of A League games is always slower & poorer in the hotter, more humid months.

It worked today. Why not try it again. Same formation with Conchie starting for Captain Fantastic. They have 6 days up on the Goldie now to acclimatise & work out a plan.

https://t.co/6ND3qhBFkE pic.twitter.com/vzGPriya5H

— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) January 27, 2024

Fenix

theprof

it's a way of contolling posession, especially when there is nothing up front. a lot of teams across the globe are using the tactic to very good effect.
Posession based footy doesn't necessarily mean attack with the ball all the time, it's about holing onto the ball and making the opposition chase you until they are out of position creating a chance for an attack.

We know that. But way too often it's negative crap. There are limited people who are gonna pay good money to watch 10 back and sideways passes in a row. Positive things happen when are positive.  

So we’ve scored 25 goals (2 behind the top 2 teams for GS). Imagine if we kicked the ball forward! We’d be prime Barcelona if only Chief understood your methods…

Went to the Foos so finished the replay.  Cracking game.  Was gonna be gutted if we walked away with a draw after Jets scored,  then Zawada showed us again just how fudgeing exceptional he is.

Such discipline keeping that shape and tactic going. Well done all.

Isn't Pennington out with 5 cards as well. I thought him and Rufer were both on four?

MetalLegNZ

Isn't Pennington out with 5 cards as well. I thought him and Rufer were both on four?

According to Fotmob he is on four. Knowing Pennington though he'll be on 5 after the Brisbane game lol

Actually quite an enjoyable watch. I kinda felt like we lost shape when zawada came in and it seemed like things that were starting to work, stopped, but boy did it click. Frustratingly, I thought old should have done the exact same
ball for kosta, then made the wrong call and luckily got a corner out of it. But overall that was a great performance. This team just keep delivering! 

Great to see zawada score on his return. Really nicely worked and taken goal. A nix performance wouldn’t be complete with a couple moments of madness, but definitely felt like we deserved that win. Top of the league and clear by 2 points. Get the fudge in! 

Just purchased a ticket for Waitangi Day game. Pax 542.
Add about 3000 for Phoenix members and the junior capital football members.

I have a good feeling about all of it. It’s not always the most pretty football, but we stopped playing the real howler games we had in the beginning. The last few months we play consistently, good team structure, grind out results, last minutes goals, a winning at all cost attitude of the players. There is no reason not to believe this could continue. Some here say there is negativity, I think most of them is valid critic and I guess some of this will be discussed by the coaching team as well. You always can improve details.
When I look at Paulsen, Surman, LKH all those young guys, half of the top A-League defense, they play flawless, I’m mean when was the last time Surman had howler? It is astonishing.

Enjoy these times guys. Football can be cruel and frustrating.
Right now we have a team and a manager who know their roles, play with intensity, confidence but also intelligence. 
I agree with the call that David Dome and management need to capitalise on this- throw a little more into the media and comms budget to try and get 20k into the cake tin. Dont wait for the finals for that..

Dont agree at all why go over board trying to make a big leap with crowds. Keep winning and crowds will go up would think getting 10k consistently should be the target first.

Just a bit more advertising and try get more buzz around than just by results is all.
Make our home *even more of an intimidating fortress for the rest of the season

number8

I have a good feeling about all of it. It’s not always the most pretty football, but we stopped playing the real howler games we had in the beginning. The last few months we play consistently, good team structure, grind out results, last minutes goals, a winning at all cost attitude of the players. There is no reason not to believe this could continue. Some here say there is negativity, I think most of them is valid critic and I guess some of this will be discussed by the coaching team as well. You always can improve details.
When I look at Paulsen, Surman, LKH all those young guys, half of the top A-League defense, they play flawless, I’m mean when was the last time Surman had howler? It is astonishing.

I was just going to say. You stole it from me.

LKH what an amazing lad. I'm so pleased for him. He's come directly from the academy into the best club side in Australia/New Zealand and He's not missed a beat. Very little gets passed him. He wins the ball so much. I'm sure premier league sides are watching him. At 18 years old he's a good bet.

Chiefy can't leave him out.

When we win the league, LKH will have played a massive part in this achievement. 

All the talk about negative football, but I recon the games people enjoy the most afterwards and remember going forwards are the tense ones with the last minute winner. 

Ultimately Phoenix play a pragmatic game and have moments of very exciting and skillful football. There is enough there to entertain the crowds, especially at the top of the league.

I'm really not sure how anyone can be negative about how we're playing at the moment. I mean come on everyone, we're living in one of the best times to be a Nix fan - it is bloody brilliant. If you can't be positive right now I'm not sure when you ever will be!

I mean sure, it is valid to be critical of certain aspects of our game. If you want to analyse the gameplay we are almost certainly doing plenty of things wrong but I mean the best teams in the world make mistakes all the time as well! 

I notice Fenix always complains about negative back passing. I was watching Totenham just yesterday and there were some glaringly obvious balls they could have played forward and they didn't! Point is a lot of teams are guilty of this, and it is a work on for us, but there is so damn much to be positive about right now!! 💛🖤

The back and sideways passing is the tactic. They're trying to move opponents out of position to create an attacking space. These things are explained nicely on YouTube. 

Players are not individually choosing to be negative.

theprof

WTF was that! Paulsen lucky that Wootten was on the line.

*Wootton

images.jpeg-46.jpg 18.35 KB

kungfu panda

The back and sideways passing is the tactic. They're trying to move opponents out of position to create an attacking space. These things are explained nicely on YouTube. 

Players are not individually choosing to be negative.

And also, they are winning so its working.  You'd be an idiot to stop now.  If we were getting pumped they'd be idiots for not stopping but it's clearly a good strategy right now.

Main thing for it though is those high pass stats.   The team is passing well to each other to make those spaces.

The Spelling Referee

theprof

WTF was that! Paulsen lucky that Wootten was on the line.

*Wootton

images.jpeg-46.jpg 18.35 KB

*Winton

Bananas

kungfu panda

The back and sideways passing is the tactic. They're trying to move opponents out of position to create an attacking space. These things are explained nicely on YouTube. 

Players are not individually choosing to be negative.

And also, they are winning so its working.  You'd be an idiot to stop now.  If we were getting pumped they'd be idiots for not stopping but it's clearly a good strategy right now.

Main thing for it though is those high pass stats.   The team is passing well to each other to make those spaces.

Don't let that bloke who made the thread about how dogshark our passing is hear you say that ahahah. Some people just wanna be negative I guess 🤷🏼‍♂️

Bananas

The Spelling Referee

theprof

WTF was that! Paulsen lucky that Wootten was on the line.

*Wootton

images.jpeg-46.jpg 18.35 KB

*Winton

And Wynton must be feeling pretty proud too.

I think the main criticism re the passing backwards is to do with the lack of willingness to play the ball into the box to get a shot away. We often have the ball up there and then recycle back all the way to the keeper without ever getting a shot away. That can be frustrating to watch at times. It seems that the only times that we do end up getting shots away is when we're on the counter, which we do brilliantly well. Some people, myself included, would just like to see the odd probing pass in the final third not on a counter, we have the talent to do it.

I don't think anyone here is talking about our general play along the backline, we all understand the concept of moving the opposition out of position.

There's a big difference between think a good team can be even better and thinking a bad team is shark. Both positions are critical but come from very different places.

Anyway, we're the best team in the league and we have the potential to be even better, thats a pretty exciting time for a Nix fan.

We've scored 25 goals this season, the most any team has scored so far is 27 so I wouldn't say we're particularly bad at going forwards. Chief has been clear that we're looking for high quality chances when attacking and restricting the other team to low quality chances when defending. He talks about being in control in attack and in control in defences. Spraying and praying every half chance we get goes against Chiefs philosophy of the game.

Ryan

We've scored 25 goals this season, the most any team has scored so far is 27 so I wouldn't say we're particularly bad at going forwards. Chief has been clear that we're looking for high quality chances when attacking and restricting the other team to low quality chances when defending. He talks about being in control in attack and in control in defences. Spraying and praying every half chance we get goes against Chiefs philosophy of the game.

I agree with this. He must have taught the team not to continue forward if it looks like a low chance of a shot on target and it is better to recycle. And when the recycling involves passing backwards that can have an impact on the opposition defence in that they may loosen up the structure that stopped us from going further forward just a moment earlier.
This did not work particularly well say against Melbourne Victory but it seems to have worked overall so far this season.

We may be top of the league (and long may it continue) but I doubt we are the best team in the league.

Monto

I think the main criticism re the passing backwards is to do with the lack of willingness to play the ball into the box to get a shot away. We often have the ball up there and then recycle back all the way to the keeper without ever getting a shot away. That can be frustrating to watch at times. It seems that the only times that we do end up getting shots away is when we're on the counter, which we do brilliantly well. Some people, myself included, would just like to see the odd probing pass in the final third not on a counter, we have the talent to do it.

I don't think anyone here is talking about our general play along the backline, we all understand the concept of moving the opposition out of position.

There's a big difference between think a good team can be even better and thinking a bad team is shark. Both positions are critical but come from very different places.

Anyway, we're the best team in the league and we have the potential to be even better, thats a pretty exciting time for a Nix fan.

"Even when we win, we suck" - the Yellow Fever mantra

15 points from 8 away games, that equals our 3rd best return for a season ever already.

If playing fugly on the road is what we have to do, I'll take the points and try to forget about the performance before the next match is played. 

Leggy

We may be top of the league (and long may it continue) but I doubt we are the best team in the league.

Monto

I think the main criticism re the passing backwards is to do with the lack of willingness to play the ball into the box to get a shot away. We often have the ball up there and then recycle back all the way to the keeper without ever getting a shot away. That can be frustrating to watch at times. It seems that the only times that we do end up getting shots away is when we're on the counter, which we do brilliantly well. Some people, myself included, would just like to see the odd probing pass in the final third not on a counter, we have the talent to do it.

I don't think anyone here is talking about our general play along the backline, we all understand the concept of moving the opposition out of position.

There's a big difference between think a good team can be even better and thinking a bad team is shark. Both positions are critical but come from very different places.

Anyway, we're the best team in the league and we have the potential to be even better, thats a pretty exciting time for a Nix fan.

Leggy

I'm confused by how we define the best team in the league. I always thought that the team with the most points at the end of the season was considered to be the best team in the league for that season?
Maybe in my years of following Liverpool in the 1970's when we won the league more than once, maybe Paisley's teams weren't the best, maybe it was Southampton who were the best but they simply had fewer points at the end of the season? 

kungfu panda

Leggy

We may be top of the league (and long may it continue) but I doubt we are the best team in the league.

Monto

I think the main criticism re the passing backwards is to do with the lack of willingness to play the ball into the box to get a shot away. We often have the ball up there and then recycle back all the way to the keeper without ever getting a shot away. That can be frustrating to watch at times. It seems that the only times that we do end up getting shots away is when we're on the counter, which we do brilliantly well. Some people, myself included, would just like to see the odd probing pass in the final third not on a counter, we have the talent to do it.

I don't think anyone here is talking about our general play along the backline, we all understand the concept of moving the opposition out of position.

There's a big difference between think a good team can be even better and thinking a bad team is shark. Both positions are critical but come from very different places.

Anyway, we're the best team in the league and we have the potential to be even better, thats a pretty exciting time for a Nix fan.

Leggy

I'm confused by how we define the best team in the league. I always thought that the team with the most points at the end of the season was considered to be the best team in the league for that season?
Maybe in my years of following Liverpool in the 1970's when we won the league more than once, maybe Paisley's teams weren't the best, maybe it was Southampton who were the best but they simply had fewer points at the end of the season? 

There's so many statistics these days ahaha