Wont be easy.. Bulls are very unpredictable but have plenty of weapons who can hurt the high line in Anthony Caceras, Grzan, the Mexican Duran is a good player they do struggle defensively and are very slow back there, if Eze and Armiento can get in behind, it will be trouble for them
I think Macarthur, like us, might be one of those teams floating around 5th-9th this season - so will be a good test to see where we are actually at. Agreed, we need James back ASAP.
Hopefully there wont be any post derby syndrome this season. I think we really struggled mentally last season.....often for quite a few matches post derbies. Chiefy seemed to down play this years game saying it was just another match for three points. Hopefully we get good news on the injured players. James is very important for us but it would be good to see the likes of Walker as well
Wellington Phoenix v Macarthur Bulls Saturday, November 22 – Sky Stadium – 3:00pm AEDT
Wellington Phoenix squad: 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Manjrekar JAMES, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 11. Carlo ARMIENTO, 12. Dan EDWARDS, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 17. Gabriel SLOANE-RODRIGUES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 20. Ramy NAJJARINE, 23. Luke SUPYK, 24. Xuan LOKE, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 37. Anaru CASSIDY, 39. Jayden SMITH, 40. Eamonn MCCARRON (gk)
(Two to be omitted) Ins: 4. Manjrekar JAMES (returning from injury) Outs: 48. Mac MUNRO (omitted) Unavailable: 6. Tim PAYNE (injured), 8. Paulo RETRE (injured), 9. Hideki ISHIGE (injured), 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC (injured), 19. Nathan WALKER (injured)
Macarthur Bulls squad: 1. Alex ROBINSON, 3. Damien DA SILVA, 5. Matthew JURMAN, 6. Tomislav USKOK, 7. Sime GRZAN, 8. Luke VICKERY, 10. Anthony CACERES, 11. BERNARDO, 12. Filip KURTO, 13. Rafael DURAN MARTINEZ, 14. Kristian POPOVIC, 17. Oliver RANDAZZO, 18. Walter SCOTT, 19. Harry POLITIDIS, 22. Liam ROSE, 25. Callum TALBOT, 26. Luke BRATTAN, 28. Harrison SAWYER, 29. Zane HELWEH, 33. Dong-won JI
(Two to be omitted) Ins: 11. BERNARDO (return from injury), 14. Kristian POPOVIC (promoted) Outs: 23. Frans DELI (omitted), 32. Will MCKAY (omitted), 35. Henrique OLIVEIRA (U17 Joeys duty) Unavailable: 9. Chris IKONOMIDIS – injured, 24. Dean BOSNJAK – injured, 31. Sebastian KRSLOVIC – injured
Hopefully the international break has given us a chance to work on a few things - Most notably that high line!
Feels like its been talked about incessantly over social media and other avenues over the past several weeks. The intent is right, but the execution has been lacking. Hopefully having James back will give us the direction, leadership and a bit of stability at the back for this one.
I would imagine there would be a few slight tweaks to how high the line sits overall as well.
Excited to see Hughes and James starting together for the first time this season - They looked good together in the preseason game against CCM so hopefully they can carry that through to today!
Glad Loke has been dropped. There has been insane hype on these forums for a guy who should be no better than 4th choice RB for us.
He’s done well for a guy having responsibility dumped on him.
I’m glad to see that there’s still competition there and, unlike last season when some guys like Walker and LBS were given our whole attack at points, he’s not being put under too much pressure too early.
And Sheridan has played everywhere but his preferred position so it’ll be good to see him there too.
I prescribe 2 Red Bulls, a half pint (maybe a Southern Comfort shot if necessary) and ‘Twist and Shout’ followed by ‘Oh Wellington!’ and a couple of early goals for us.
