WPM R18 vs Perth Glory | Sat 24th Feb | 11:45pm | Sky Sports 7

Someone just lace the farken thing!

Faaark! Thought that was the moment!

Great save by Sail from a Zawada header!

How did Salas get all the way over there to make that tackle?! Great stuff.

Dang! We should have won that.

A draw in Perth I will happily take.  Off to bed.

Dominant half, good result on the road against an inform Perth.

Take the draw in the end probs should’ve won that but didn’t create solid enough chances probs needed another attacker in that first half. Hughes and Old were motm for me. Rufer also excellent 

Happy with a point here. Chances to have won it, but Perth had moments too. Always tough going over to WA, so I'm glad we don't have to do it again this season.

Old was a highlight, and it was great seeing up step up a notch when our subs came on.

Feels to me like Salas is the missing piece of the puzzle. We didn't score but for the first time this season I got a glimpse of what a championship winning Nix might look like. 

Adelaide up next with one of the worst away records and worst form in the league so should hopefully follow this up with a win!

Well we made 3-4 opportunities and they blocked, tackled and saved. And Zawada fell over his feet once when he really should have scored. 

A ridiculous game we should have won easily, but we’ll take the point. 

Nervous about Salas tackling in and around the box, but so far so clutch. 

Shows how much we miss a player like David Ball, but just with a bit more composure in front of goal. 

We wasted the first half. If we’d played Kraev up front first half we score two imo. Just so gunshy. And Perth defended well enough when we did shoot. 

Still, ahead on the table and in Chief we trust. 

Very dominant once the 3 import subs came on. Sail saves Zawada's header, Salas played a great ball to the Pole he should have better with, Old hit the upright, ball didn't just quite sit up for Rufer went he looked in.

Though yeah Perth still had chances on the counters, so some nerves.

Only saw 2nd half but I thought Old was great. Rufer got MOTM. Hughes impresses me.

4 points from a 2 game game roadie with a few returning from injury. Team returns to Welly in really good shape.

My take is less generous: we dominated a game where we didn’t create enough or attempt to create sufficient shooting chances. We ran out of time to win the game because we held everyone back and Perth defended last ditch well for 10-15 minutes which was enough. 

I don’t understand the Conchie selection. He was out of position and it showed. We dominated the first half, but had no one to shoot or square to when we did get in the box. 

Chiefy said none of Salas, Zawada or Kraev are yet fit enough to play more than 30-40 mins. He was very happy with the result, which of course he's considering in combination with the win at MAC. Helps increase the squad depth by giving Conchie 60 mins in a more advanced role. He'll be growing in confidence, starting to feel he belongs at this level.

Perfect result tomorrow a VUC & CCM draw so gap stays at 5 points.
Next weekend Nix host an out of form Adelaide, whilst CCM have tricky M3 derby at Newcastle, and VUC are in Brisbane.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350185386/wellington-phoenixs-league-men-buffer-could-shrink-after-0-0-draw-perth-glory

Adelaide lost today and had a player sent off (not red IMO). Found their game more interesting to watch then ours. Have full confidence in 3 points from the next game.

Also happy that we're gutted at getting a draw in Perth after years and years of watching us play shark across the ditch. Our away from is mint ATM.

I’m happy with a point away at Perth. Probably happier I didn’t stay up for it though.

We are top of the league.
All we neeed now is CCM to draw with Victory and we'll keep our 5 point lead.

Our defensive unit is so impressive. Hughes slots in there seamlessly.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Our defensive unit is so impressive. Hughes slots in there seamlessly.

Hughes has been great in these back fives. He seems a little small but the Nix webby lists him at 183cm, so maybe he just needs to add some muscle on his 19yr old frame. Fun fact, he has never lost in a Nix shirt P8 W6 D2 L0

I really hope the transfer fee for Salas isn't too high, I'm quickly falling in love with him.

If Zawada and Kraev weren't on minute restrictions, we win that match. We couldn't get behind their back line, so needed their ability in the air with us whipping crosses in from the flanks.

How do you pick the starting 11 now. Al taay, Rufer, Salas and Pennington have all been playing out of their skins. Old is a locked in starter and Hughes is looking like another gem. I suspect when we play at home we will play a back four and Hughes will drop to the bench. I also think that David Ball will be very lucky to retain his starting spot. 

This is a level of depth I never expected.

Injuries and various levels of fitness is making it easier.

martinb

My take is less generous: we dominated a game where we didn’t create enough or attempt to create sufficient shooting chances. We ran out of time to win the game because we held everyone back and Perth defended last ditch well for 10-15 minutes which was enough. 

I don’t understand the Conchie selection. He was out of position and it showed. We dominated the first half, but had no one to shoot or square to when we did get in the box. 

In one way I like your thinking because it shows your expectations for this team are a lot higher these days, but I have to disagree with you. I thought the plan was perfect and came within a whisker of getting us three points which, to be honest, I don't think Chiefy was even aiming for. 

I can't even remember the last time we had Perth so heavily on the back foot in the last 20 minutes of an away game, let alone a Perth side that has scored more goals than anyone else in the league. It's a really tough fixture for us to get anything out of. By bringing on the attacking weapons later all the pressure on our backline was relieved and we didn't have to resort to the traditional desperation defending at the end.

Also, on Conchie I was satisfied with his performance. He did the job he was asked to and it was a noticeable improvement on the Macarthur game.

Watching the game on replay, take a draw but I think we should have won. Perth showed little on attack and we had a few great half chances that should have been put away.

Props to the support there, looked like a big pumping crowd as well as there as WWE on in Perth.

Conchie is solid enough for a very young central midfielder in his first season of professional football, but obviously has a lot of improving to do (which I think he could very well be capable of, time will tell). But doesn't anyone else think it might mean Chiefy has run out of patience with OVH if he played Conchie in that advanced position last night and not Oskar? 

Edit: Chiefy in his post match presser thought OVH & Payne were too similar and so played Conchie who he thought would be better at dropping deeper/away from the back line to allow more space for Payne running wide 

Outpost

martinb

My take is less generous: we dominated a game where we didn’t create enough or attempt to create sufficient shooting chances. We ran out of time to win the game because we held everyone back and Perth defended last ditch well for 10-15 minutes which was enough. 

I don’t understand the Conchie selection. He was out of position and it showed. We dominated the first half, but had no one to shoot or square to when we did get in the box. 

In one way I like your thinking because it shows your expectations for this team are a lot higher these days, but I have to disagree with you. I thought the plan was perfect and came within a whisker of getting us three points which, to be honest, I don't think Chiefy was even aiming for. 

I can't even remember the last time we had Perth so heavily on the back foot in the last 20 minutes of an away game, let alone a Perth side that has scored more goals than anyone else in the league. It's a really tough fixture for us to get anything out of. By bringing on the attacking weapons later all the pressure on our backline was relieved and we didn't have to resort to the traditional desperation defending at the end.

Also, on Conchie I was satisfied with his performance. He did the job he was asked to and it was a noticeable improvement on the Macarthur game.

I also disagree that this is a game we "should have won". It was way too close a contest. An accidental goal could have settled it. 
I agree with Outpost that the plan was correct (keeping Zawada and Kraev on the bench till later in the second half, and not starting them). If we had the youngsters to come on in the second half instead we might have been in trouble once Williams came on. As it was, our most dominant part of the game (with Zawada, Salas and Kraev on the field) stymied Glory's chances, and they've also run out of time.  
Please keep in mind Glory scoring track record of late:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/team/_/id/5322/perth-glory
You have to go back to 8 Dec 2023 to find when they scored less than two goals. And, you have to go back to April 2023 to find their last nil-all draw.
Someone better than me with stats could also point out that they've scored heaps of their goals in the dying minutes of the games.
No wonder Stajcic was ropeable at the sidelines, he was furious they could not break our defences.  An excellent point away against a tricky team. Even Donovan liked what he was seeing from our team.

Mainland FC

Outpost

martinb

My take is less generous: we dominated a game where we didn’t create enough or attempt to create sufficient shooting chances. We ran out of time to win the game because we held everyone back and Perth defended last ditch well for 10-15 minutes which was enough. 

I don’t understand the Conchie selection. He was out of position and it showed. We dominated the first half, but had no one to shoot or square to when we did get in the box. 

In one way I like your thinking because it shows your expectations for this team are a lot higher these days, but I have to disagree with you. I thought the plan was perfect and came within a whisker of getting us three points which, to be honest, I don't think Chiefy was even aiming for. 

I can't even remember the last time we had Perth so heavily on the back foot in the last 20 minutes of an away game, let alone a Perth side that has scored more goals than anyone else in the league. It's a really tough fixture for us to get anything out of. By bringing on the attacking weapons later all the pressure on our backline was relieved and we didn't have to resort to the traditional desperation defending at the end.

Also, on Conchie I was satisfied with his performance. He did the job he was asked to and it was a noticeable improvement on the Macarthur game.

I also disagree that this is a game we "should have won". It was way too close a contest. An accidental goal could have settled it. 
I agree with Outpost that the plan was correct (keeping Zawada and Kraev on the bench till later in the second half, and not starting them). If we had the youngsters to come on in the second half instead we might have been in trouble once Williams came on. As it was, our most dominant part of the game (with Zawada, Salas and Kraev on the field) stymied Glory's chances, and they've also run out of time.  
Please keep in mind Glory scoring track record of late:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/team/_/id/5322/perth-glory
You have to go back to 8 Dec 2023 to find when they scored less than two goals. And, you have to go back to April 2023 to find their last nil-all draw.
Someone better than me with stats could also point out that they've scored heaps of their goals in the dying minutes of the games.
No wonder Stajcic was ropeable at the sidelines, he was furious they could not break our defences.  An excellent point away against a tricky team. Even Donovan liked what he was seeing from our team.

Screenshot_20240225-153814_Chrome.jpg 271.79 KB

I mean Conchie was fine. But when you have 11 fine players you need someone to be better to win.

And Perth is a tricky place to get results. 

And I think Payne had a poor game. In that he almost did a lot of good things, but never quite got that shot or cross in the right place and wasted a lot of opportunities. 

If this team finds fitness and form and  blows our opponents away I’ll be happy. 

But I’m also wary of a Davila/Hemed scenario where we are simultaneously the best team in the league and unable to get the job done. Perth are 8th, 8th!, in the league. We should beat them and we should’ve beaten them. 

So far this year we’ve mostly been unfancied and found a goal from somewhere and got the result. I’ve always felt the team’s absolute belief they’d get things done. This game was the first game this season where I didn’t feel like the result was coming for us. Like as a team we’d lost concentration. 

Now part of that is missing Kosta who has been sensational. 

Part of it too is making too many chops and changes and with Zawada back we’ve altered our playing style which I think has been easier to defend against. Or we’ve not been getting it quite right.

Hopefully everyone gets fit and Chief settles everything down and we get running in harness. But the lesson of this season and the Nix late season is that names don’t win you anything. 

It’ll be interesting- Salas or Pennington? And a few others like that. 

From one point of view sure, a good point. But we had wave after wave of first half attack with no one wanting to shoot, which is Chief’s doing. And we weren’t given enough time in the second for the changes to settle and for us to put the game away. And it makes me nervous to see us stutter…

It was amazing to see the dynamic change when Salas, Zawada and Kraev came on. Perth suddenly looked second class and we created chances for Zawada, with a bit of luck and we score. It’s unfortunate that Kosta is injured and we had no resl goal scorer on the pitch for the 60 min.
I thought playing LKH and Payne more forward was working well. A few times LKH was the most forward in the box. Some of the Al-Taay through balls where sublime, we almost never did that in past games. Glad Italiano unleashed some creativity. The game was pretty open and even for the first 60min. I found the CCM game boring and we look to afraid to go forward, but looks like Italiano is changing things a bit. Sadly we did not win last night, but we see flexibility in playing stile a thing Ufuk couldn’t bring to the table.

RR

Mainland FC

Outpost

martinb

My take is less generous: we dominated a game where we didn’t create enough or attempt to create sufficient shooting chances. We ran out of time to win the game because we held everyone back and Perth defended last ditch well for 10-15 minutes which was enough. 

I don’t understand the Conchie selection. He was out of position and it showed. We dominated the first half, but had no one to shoot or square to when we did get in the box. 

In one way I like your thinking because it shows your expectations for this team are a lot higher these days, but I have to disagree with you. I thought the plan was perfect and came within a whisker of getting us three points which, to be honest, I don't think Chiefy was even aiming for. 

I can't even remember the last time we had Perth so heavily on the back foot in the last 20 minutes of an away game, let alone a Perth side that has scored more goals than anyone else in the league. It's a really tough fixture for us to get anything out of. By bringing on the attacking weapons later all the pressure on our backline was relieved and we didn't have to resort to the traditional desperation defending at the end.

Also, on Conchie I was satisfied with his performance. He did the job he was asked to and it was a noticeable improvement on the Macarthur game.

I also disagree that this is a game we "should have won". It was way too close a contest. An accidental goal could have settled it. 
I agree with Outpost that the plan was correct (keeping Zawada and Kraev on the bench till later in the second half, and not starting them). If we had the youngsters to come on in the second half instead we might have been in trouble once Williams came on. As it was, our most dominant part of the game (with Zawada, Salas and Kraev on the field) stymied Glory's chances, and they've also run out of time.  
Please keep in mind Glory scoring track record of late:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/team/_/id/5322/perth-glory
You have to go back to 8 Dec 2023 to find when they scored less than two goals. And, you have to go back to April 2023 to find their last nil-all draw.
Someone better than me with stats could also point out that they've scored heaps of their goals in the dying minutes of the games.
No wonder Stajcic was ropeable at the sidelines, he was furious they could not break our defences.  An excellent point away against a tricky team. Even Donovan liked what he was seeing from our team.

Screenshot_20240225-153814_Chrome.jpg 271.79 KB

This emphasizes my point: during our usual high scoring sections we were dominant, but lacked a goal scorer or two on the paddock. That’s wasting 65 minutes.

Also accidental goals happen to teams that don’t make their own destiny. MacArthur scored one, by which time we’d already scored two. 

And sure, Perth are good, but we are better. That’s why we’re top and they are 8th. Even with their recent form we are better. At least we should be if winning the title is still our goal. 

Watching the replay, Perth had four chances in the first 30mins that could all have been goals. A 1-1 that Hughes got a late body on and two shots and a header a yard wide iirc

They weren't terrific but did create enough that they might have gone a goal up. We had our own half chances but could easily have been down a goal at half time. 

We might have won the game but it could have gone their way if Perth had nudged ahead and held us out as they did in the second half.

Totally different, you hope, if we have Zawada, Barbarouses, Kraev and Salas all good for 90 mins.  We're going to need them for games vs CCM, Sydney, Victory, City.

I'm happy Chief is working the squad up to a fully fit team ready for some big games to come.

My own assessment is that Perth had a poor start to the season but are now getting better. Their attack (with Taggart) is better than their defence. Tough team to break at their home ground. 
We have a better defence than attack. With Zawada injured Kosta took over the key scoring role, and seemed to excel in that situation. Zawada is back but has not come back to full form yet, and Kosta is injured so our attack last night was less than usual. If Zawada and Kraev (and Kosta) played a full game we might have prevailed.

Mainland FC

My own assessment is that Perth had a poor start to the season but are now getting better. Their attack (with Taggart) is better than their defence. Tough team to break at their home ground. 
We have a better defence than attack. With Zawada injured Kosta took over the key scoring role, but Zawada has not come back to full form yet, and Kosta was injured so our attack was less than usual. If Zawada and Kraev played a full game we might have prevailed.

My suggestion is what if Kraev had been given the first half instead of late on in the second, or if we’d given one or both of them more time in the second half. 

Anyway as we’re saying these are all hypotheticals and the plan came close to working. My question is how do we make our plans more likely to work for the next few weeks…

When we had Old, Kraev, Zawada, Salas on , boy did we look threatening. If we get back to full squad before the end of the regular season , i can see us thumping teams.

theaucklandphoenixfan

When we had Old, Kraev, Zawada, Salas on , boy did we look threatening. If we get back to full squad before the end of the regular season , i can see us thumping teams.

That last half hour we suddenly went from looking like feisty battlers punching slightly above our weight to a quality title winning side. For the first time I actually allowed myself to consider we might actually win this thing....

martinb

Mainland FC

My own assessment is that Perth had a poor start to the season but are now getting better. Their attack (with Taggart) is better than their defence. Tough team to break at their home ground. 
We have a better defence than attack. With Zawada injured Kosta took over the key scoring role, but Zawada has not come back to full form yet, and Kosta was injured so our attack was less than usual. If Zawada and Kraev played a full game we might have prevailed.

My suggestion is what if Kraev had been given the first half instead of late on in the second, or if we’d given one or both of them more time in the second half. 

Anyway as we’re saying these are all hypotheticals and the plan came close to working. My question is how do we make our plans more likely to work for the next few weeks…

I agree that if Kraev had played the role given to Conchie in the first half we might have created or perhaps converted more chances. His exchanges with Old looked terrific once he came on to the park.

Perth and us are the two in form teams in the comp with 3 draws and 2 wins in the last 5 games. Perth also have the most potent attack in the comp. Ladder position doesn't show form, just how long it took Perth to get their shark together.

The conclusion that I drew this morning is that away from home and in the middle of the night, our b team is as good as their a team, and our a team was dominant. 

Ryan

Perth and us are the two in form teams in the comp with 3 draws and 2 wins in the last 5 games. Perth also have the most potent attack in the comp. Ladder position doesn't show form, just how long it took Perth to get their shark together.

The conclusion that I drew this morning is that away from home and in the middle of the night, our b team is as good as their a team, and our a team was dominant. 

Meanwhile, in Adelaide:
"do we really have to fly to New Zealand next weekend?"
"yeah, we do, that's them rules"
"...aawwrgh..."

Just watched a replay on a big screen (as opposed to on my phone in my car at a Scouts camp) and my god that Oli save from Zawadas header looks more amazing (and stings more) on the big screen.

I'm glad Oli has gotten back in the first team.  Had no animosity to the guy and want him to succeed.  Just want Paulsen to succeed more.

Early start this morning to watch the recorded match.

Not only did 4 points come home from this trip but the way the squad is developing over the season is worth commenting on.

This is in spite of certain TV commentators barely recognising the team’s existence. I thought last night their faint praise was appalling. 

With the spate of injuries amongst the seasoned players more of the younger guys are being given their chances to shine, which is adding to their confidence. This is beginning to show. The buildup of minutes for them will be critical in the last grinding weeks of the league and the playoffs.

I can’t praise enough the management skills that Chiefy and team have brought to the squad this year. If nothing else this could be his legacy and the success that it will bring the team now, and in the future, for the players as well. 

But we aren’t there yet.

If there is any criticism, it’s still the inconsistency in the accuracy of passing in the final third amongst the front half of the side. (The younger players are excludes as they will need time to get used to the pace in those positions.) 

I’m guessing on what the numbers might reveal. By now, all regular players should be hitting 90 plus % and it doesn’t seem to be happening.

I haven’t seen the stats but and would like to be proven wrong. If they are available online please let me know where I can analyse them. I know Roofs was 90 % in last night’s game. Good.

The other issue referred to by several on the forum has been the lack of goals from set pieces, including corners this season.

Why can’t they surprise us with something different or innovative, instead of the same old?

There are always two players over the ball at freekick time. One does nothing so why doesn’t he run off the taker into clear space around the wall? Or someone break off the defending wall? We are so predictable at the moment.

That’s my tuppance worth.