1-1 away, and undefeated 3 rounds in, not a bad way to head into next Saturdays derby.
Some positives for sure, Loke looks a really good replacement for Payne, both long term for the nix and the AW's.
Our defence looked solid, and will be much better with Hughes and James in the centre. Sheridan does ok as CB but he made several errors throughout the game which left us exposed.
Eze continues to impress, he has pace, he has poise on the ball and he is scoring. Midfield looked good too, decent enough ball movement and good connection from back to front.
Injuries are a concern though, Ishige, Roa Conchie added to the existing list.
Josh O. looked solid in goal, sweeping well coming for the crosses very well, could say he dominated his area really well.
The high line seems to be working, and Italiano seems to have allowed the long ball back into the game plan and it almost paid off with a decent Eze chance from route one.
Still early days, but the path to redemption for Italiano has begun
Some positives for sure, Loke looks a really good replacement for Payne, both long term for the nix and the AW's.
Our defence looked solid, and will be much better with Hughes and James in the centre. Sheridan does ok as CB but he made several errors throughout the game which left us exposed.
Eze continues to impress, he has pace, he has poise on the ball and he is scoring. Midfield looked good too, decent enough ball movement and good connection from back to front.
Injuries are a concern though, Ishige, Roa Conchie added to the existing list.
Josh O. looked solid in goal, sweeping well coming for the crosses very well, could say he dominated his area really well.
The high line seems to be working, and Italiano seems to have allowed the long ball back into the game plan and it almost paid off with a decent Eze chance from route one.
Still early days, but the path to redemption for Italiano has begun
Agreed. Eze may need some gentle coaching to focus on his accuracy, but otherwise he is a great addition to the team.
And also, after last season's disappointments, I am actually impressed with the improvement in the performance of our two Japanese imports, but especially Nagasawa. It does not overcome the issue of their physical limitations against burly opponents, but Nagasawa played full 9o minutes despite some crunching tackles and did not seem that terribly fazed (or just was fortunate he did not end up injured like Ishige).
As a side issue, one of the commentators (the female one) said that she understands why "the Nix were not protesting too much about Steele fouling Ishige, in light of Eze not getting a red last week". I just thought, jeez, what a lot of crap.