WPM R16 vs Melbourne Victory | Fri 6th Feb | 7:00pm | RoF / SS1 - Double Header

martinb

Elbo

Diving, should have been a yellow..

If it’s an obvious non-foul then it’s a dive with a yellow. 

Lucky it’s not me playing out there tonight or I’d be obvious non-fouling plenty from here on in.

It's really not a dive. Who makes contact with who is the question you need to consider here.

zonknz

ballane

martinb

WanderingSheep

Sakes, that was too easy.

 
Sleepwalking defending.

Yet some will somehow find a way to blame Chief

Picks the team, formation, and presumably has input into player signings?

all very true, the one thing he doesnt control is how the players do whatever the've been asked to do on the pitch. he cant control AKH no coming out for the ball, nor is he responsible for James having an off day or week.

zonknz

ballane

martinb

WanderingSheep

Sakes, that was too easy.

 
Sleepwalking defending.

Yet some will somehow find a way to blame Chief

Picks the team, formation, and presumably has input into player signings?

Tactically we were outplayed again. When the opposition sets up and nullifies our threats or game plan, to often there is no adjustment during the game that changes the narrative. That loads pressure onto players and creates frustration which leads to mistakes and head drop performances. 

austin111

I learnt a new referee expression today. The penalty shout was ruled out because it was " normal football contact"
 WHAT? A defender sticks a leg out and makes contact. Its a foul anywhere on the field. If its outside the box its a free kick, inside its a penalty.
A League referees..????????

The defender stood firm and stuck his heel out. If he got the ball ( not clear on replay I've seen) then its ok.  If he didn't get the ball  that's a trip and a penalty. 

In any case, I don't see how VAR showed enough to overturn the decision.

And as for all the wrestling and holding the referee allowed...

zonknz

martinb

Elbo

Diving, should have been a yellow..

If it’s an obvious non-foul then it’s a dive with a yellow. 

Lucky it’s not me playing out there tonight or I’d be obvious non-fouling plenty from here on in.

It's really not a dive. Who makes contact with who is the question you need to consider here.

That makes it clearly a non-foul? 

He’s stuck out a leg, blocked off a run without getting close to the ball, and a foul given against him by a well positioned referee. A clear and obvious mistake? 

The "Clear and Obvious" Threshold

I stand by my opinion that it is a terrible VAR intervention and someone should be sacked.

Nixieboys222

Table is very tight and anyone can beat anyone on their day, but if we keep conceding 2.3 goals a game on average we will not get close to the top 6.. sort that out and we are talking 

How far away is Oluwayemi?

Quality shot stopper. That poor stat immediately improves when he returns.

I fear it may be a while for Josh. In the press conference last night, when talking about reasons for optimism going forward he mentioned AKH's presence, as though this would serve us in the games to come

Well, we've got slow and ponderous and boring since Bill T came in and joined James & Hughes, back and forth across the back line we go, like last year.  Tedious.

I like Armiento, but I think he's being played out of position, despite now being our second highest goal scorer.  He's too slow to be a wing back.  He works hard, but his best features are lost at LWB.  He's not really quick enough to get back in time to defend (or he stays back and then is unavailable in attack).   When he receives the ball, he almost always passes it back to the LCB, he almost never takes on his man on the outside (that lack of speed cf. Payne on the other side, or cf. Sheridan), nor does he cut back in and pass forward.  But his shooting?  Brilliant.  Get him in the front third, man, he's not a defender.

This also makes our attack pretty one-sided.  Oppositions know that Payne can bomb forward with the ball or cut inside and Armiento wont do either.

Hughes & Eze had great games, real heart in those two.

imanixsupporter

I fear it may be a while for Josh. In the press conference last night, when talking about reasons for optimism going forward he mentioned AKH's presence, as though this would serve us in the games to come

That ain't great news. Until the defence is sorted out, as others have posted this is not a finals team, Singh or no Singh.

martinb

zonknz

martinb

Elbo

Diving, should have been a yellow..

If it’s an obvious non-foul then it’s a dive with a yellow. 

Lucky it’s not me playing out there tonight or I’d be obvious non-fouling plenty from here on in.

It's really not a dive. Who makes contact with who is the question you need to consider here.

That makes it clearly a non-foul? 

He’s stuck out a leg, blocked off a run without getting close to the ball, and a foul given against him by a well positioned referee. A clear and obvious mistake? 

The "Clear and Obvious" Threshold

• Subjective Decisions: For fouls, penalties, and red cards, the VAR will only intervene if the evidence shows a "clear and obvious error". If the incident is deemed "subjective" or "soft," the original on-field decision will stand, as the threshold for overturning it is very high.
• "No Reasonable Referee" Test: The threshold is effectively designed to only correct decisions that "no reasonable referee" would have made, rather than re-refereeing every decision.

I stand by my opinion that it is a terrible VAR intervention and someone should be sacked.

" ...the threshold for overturning it is very high.".

Clearly that wasn't applied yesterday. 

Crowd 5783

3,800 were there for the womens match first. 

Some decent players in the team.  However a dumb Coach.  A real Coach would stop playing long balls to a lone front man and sort out midfield (they don't seem to know what their role is).
However a real Coach would also start at the back and sort out his defence.  Then move forward with midfield giving support to front men and able to work back to help defend.  Good midfielders should be box to box players, unfortunately Nix lack that, maybe a fitness issue but nothing a real Coach couldn't fix.
In other words get rid of Chiefy because his ego won't allow him to resign.

Watched Kartum carefully yesterday especially in the second half. Timecand again he was in a nice pocket looking to receivevthe ball. Time and again he didnt receive it. Basically did nothing until he was subbed.

valeo

wilbaker

valeo

Nelfoos

Kartum and Singh behind Eze with Najjarine, Mileusnic and Piper backing them up is real depth in our front 3, all able to affect a game whether starting or subbing in.

Such a stark difference to Walker and LBS last year, no offence to the lads.

Definitely, hopefully not too little too late, though.

I don't think Singh really fixes our main issues - which is solidity in the middle and at the back - but it's still exciting

Anything that gets Najjirine out of the team is ok with me

It's hard to know the flow on effect that Singh and Sander will have on the team overall. We struggle sometimes building up and not having the creative 10's being able to receive the ball, beat a man to unlock the oppositions press or even just hold onto the ball and play a pass that doesn't get intercepted. So then we could be having the ball in more dangerous areas which will limit the amount of defending we'll have to do and will help in those transition moments where we look to move forward but lose the ball easily and the defenders are caught out of position. 

Fair points. We've had a distinct lack of technical quality in the middle of the park and struggle to keep the ball - so will help with that

No idea what kind of a player Kartum is yet really

For me nothing wrong at all with some of the long balls. The problem is not so much the long ball but the execution of it. Because when they get it right Eze sure as hell can finish them off and remind again why thats a problem.
There were a number of times last nite yet again where Eze was positioned perfectly but yet again either the player with the ball never bothered to check for him passed backwards/sideways/lost possession or couldnt execute the pass accurately enough.
Not calling for us to be playing long ball but when you have someone like Eze in your team why wouldnt you use it as one of your options.   

i don't think he is a dumb coach. Perhaps an overthinker.  He has got some good results but also some bad. Feels like he is still trying to find his best 11. 

I doubt Welnix will fire him, with 10 games left they may as well let the contract run out.  I want to have faith that things will turn around.  

Boomstick

Some decent players in the team.  However a dumb Coach.  A real Coach would stop playing long balls to a lone front man and sort out midfield (they don't seem to know what their role is).
However a real Coach would also start at the back and sort out his defence.  Then move forward with midfield giving support to front men and able to work back to help defend.  Good midfielders should be box to box players, unfortunately Nix lack that, maybe a fitness issue but nothing a real Coach couldn't fix.
In other words get rid of Chiefy because his ego won't allow him to resign.

That was the point I was making with my earlier O's and X's post, Alf. We had players between the lines with enough space to receive and turn. Especially if we then had runners creating a bit of indecision in their back four and central mids.

We're either not letting those passes go or, too often, not making the turn and sending it straight back to the back three. Nagasawa was doing a bit more with it. Sander wasn't getting it. Rufer being missing didn't help.

Maybe it improves with confidence and, as Martinb is saying, with a bit more stability in the starters. It would be nice to see them starting to click. There's  potential. Though I'm not sure how we'd stand up in a physically intense game like today's AFC SYD one.

mjp2

That was the point I was making with my earlier O's and X's post, Alf. We had players between the lines with enough space to receive and turn. Especially if we then had runners creating a bit of indecision in their back four and central mids.

We're either not letting those passes go or, too often, not making the turn and sending it straight back to the back three. Nagasawa was doing a bit more with it. Sander wasn't getting it. Rufer being missing didn't help.

Maybe it improves with confidence and, as Martinb is saying, with a bit more stability in the starters. It would be nice to see them starting to click. There's  potential. Though I'm not sure how we'd stand up in a physically intense game like today's AFC SYD one.

I don't know how many times I've said it.

The team has no idea how to attack unless the ball starts with the keeper or the centre half., who has 11 defenders in front of them.

And when it does get to the centre half,as it always does, the pace of movement is none existent.

Innovation, surprise and speed are non existent. 

Absolutely shocking football. Overcoached dross. 

I guess I'd ask, Fenix, what's the evidence for overcoached.  It looks equally like tentativeness and lacking confidence. We've played half a season with a heap of injuries and poor results.

I don't know, except solving that (obvious) O's and X's problem unlocks this team. 

Edit:
That said, we're still scoring. 
And giving up too many goals at the other end.

Surely we change the way we attack now with Kartum and Singh? 

kwlap

Surely we change the way we attack now with Kartum and Singh? 

My worry is that chief doesn't know how to use them effectively. I worry that we are going to be resorting to balls over the midfield from the defence to Eze. I hope I'm wrong.

Nommag

kwlap

Surely we change the way we attack now with Kartum and Singh? 

My worry is that chief doesn't know how to use them effectively. I worry that we are going to be resorting to balls over the midfield from the defence to Eze. I hope I'm wrong.

When Chiefy signed Marco Rojas before last season, he went to lengths to say the game plan would be built around Marco. Sadly we never got to see that happen.

This is different being over halfway through a campaign, with no pre season to built a game plan around Singh. But I wouldn't surprise if Italiano, gives Sarpreet significant licence to get on the ball as much as possible. AWs team mates and senior Nix players Rufer and Payne (even Tuiloma) will offer Chiefy some advice on how Singh plays best.

I think of that 1-1 verus Ireland at Dublin a few years, when SS in that 2nd half ran the show. Hopefully down a level in the ALM he's capable of that in these next few months.

I agree, Singh should run the show but should not listen to an Italiano instructions, just bring creativity, everyone around him will light up.

mjp2

I guess I'd ask, Fenix, what's the evidence for overcoached.  It looks equally like tentativeness and lacking confidence. We've played half a season with a heap of injuries and poor results.

I don't know, except solving that (obvious) O's and X's problem unlocks this team. 

Edit:
That said, we're still scoring. 
And giving up too many goals at the other end.

Have you listened to any of his interviews?

Im not sure if we have time left in the season for Singh and Kartum to fully gel. Singh hasnt played for quite a while so will need time.
I think we are really missing a box to box midfielder. Someone like a Gallegos who does the hard yards, covers the ground and sets the match tempo.
For me our midfield is way to static. We lack vertical movement both in attack and defense. Time after time Eze was making busts and had zero support apart from Najirine. We need to get numbers flooding forward. Ditto in defense where we often leave a gap in front of our defense. So many of our goals are conceded because we are not getting numbers back to track their runners. Our midfield pkay is way too static

number8

BACK-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE--Long Ball

BACK-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-BACK-SIDE-SIDE-SIDE--"HOPEFUL" LONG BALL straight back to the opposition or out of play.

austin111

Im not sure if we have time left in the season for Singh and Kartum to fully gel. Singh hasnt played for quite a while so will need time.
I think we are really missing a box to box midfielder. Someone like a Gallegos who does the hard yards, covers the ground and sets the match tempo.
For me our midfield is way to static. We lack vertical movement both in attack and defense. Time after time Eze was making busts and had zero support apart from Najirine. We need to get numbers flooding forward. Ditto in defense where we often leave a gap in front of our defense. So many of our goals are conceded because we are not getting numbers back to track their runners. Our midfield pkay is way too static

This is spot on. How many times this season have we seen Eze bust a lung to get onto the ball, all to have..maybe one player with him? After 10 secs of waiting? 

Biggest problem is we still look like a team of individuals. Really horrendous coaching. My opinion of Italiano has somehow gotten even worse than last season.