WPW R17 vs Western United | Sun 18th Feb | 7:00pm | Sky Sports 3

Well this is a scheduled loss. Half the team still away with the Ferns, playing away & facing a Western side on a 4 match winning streak.

Currently I can't see it on the Sky TV Guide. Originally this was a different day iirc. It has MCY/ADL in the ALW listed on Sky Sport Pop-Up 2, so maybe this might replace that. 

Who is actually available for this game? (ie uninjured / not sick)

R Foster
McMillan (just going off the squad on the nix website and she has had her debut)
Davidson
Lake
McMeeken
Whinham?
Brazendale
Main
Breslin
Cox
Brown
Elliott
Robertson

Only one I am not sure of is Speckmaier but from memory I think that is what is available, also unsure about Longo because she came home early from Ferns as a precaution to an injury so maybe unlikely?? Apologies if I am wrong.

Unknwn Quantity

Who is actually available for this game? (ie uninjured / not sick)

brookem

R Foster
McMillan (just going off the squad on the nix website and she has had her debut)
Davidson
Lake
McMeeken
Whinham?
Brazendale
Main
Breslin
Cox
Brown
Elliott
Robertson

Only one I am not sure of is Speckmaier but from memory I think that is what is available, also unsure about Longo because she came home early from Ferns as a precaution to an injury so maybe unlikely?? Apologies if I am wrong.

Unknwn Quantity

Who is actually available for this game? (ie uninjured / not sick)

There is plenty of talent still in there. We need Whinham to prove herself though, and we could still be a bit light in the midfield area.

Hey just wanted to ask what time is this game? I am sure the Phoenix say it is 7pm because the men game got moved and both teams to kick off at the same time (https://wellingtonphoenix.com/news/mens-and-womens-matches-to-kick-off-simultaneously/). However looking on the sky sport guide and even when they advise the game it starts at 8pm on Sky sport nine?

Cheers for this, assuming they can promote a couple of players from the academy to fill the bench?

And I hope Main is ok, I heard she is still overcoming Covid :(

Fenix

brookem

R Foster
McMillan (just going off the squad on the nix website and she has had her debut)
Davidson
Lake
McMeeken
Whinham?
Brazendale
Main
Breslin
Cox
Brown
Elliott
Robertson

Only one I am not sure of is Speckmaier but from memory I think that is what is available, also unsure about Longo because she came home early from Ferns as a precaution to an injury so maybe unlikely?? Apologies if I am wrong.

Unknwn Quantity

Who is actually available for this game? (ie uninjured / not sick)

There is plenty of talent still in there. We need Whinham to prove herself though, and we could still be a bit light in the midfield area.

brookem

Hey just wanted to ask what time is this game? I am sure the Phoenix say it is 7pm because the men game got moved and both teams to kick off at the same time (https://wellingtonphoenix.com/news/mens-and-womens-matches-to-kick-off-simultaneously/). However looking on the sky sport guide and even when they advise the game it starts at 8pm on Sky sport nine?

Sky have it wrong it's 7PM

Okay thank you

localman77

brookem

Hey just wanted to ask what time is this game? I am sure the Phoenix say it is 7pm because the men game got moved and both teams to kick off at the same time (https://wellingtonphoenix.com/news/mens-and-womens-matches-to-kick-off-simultaneously/). However looking on the sky sport guide and even when they advise the game it starts at 8pm on Sky sport nine?

Sky have it wrong it's 7PM

Wellington Phoenix women’s squad (one to be omitted): 1. Rylee FOSTER (gk), 2. Zoe MCMEEKEN, 7. Isabel COX, 9. Kelli BROWN, 10. Alyssa WHINHAM, 11. Hope BRESLIN, 14. Michaela ROBERTSON, 15. Daisy BRAZENDALE, 18. Hailey DAVIDSON, 19. Liv INGHAM, 20. Emma MAIN, 21. Manaia ELLIOTT, 22. Aimee DANIELI (gk), 23. Rebecca LAKE, 25. Ella MCMILLAN, 26. Tiana JABER, 27. Helena ERRINGTON.

In: 1. Rylee FOSTER (gk) (returning from suspension), 9. Kelli BROWN (promoted), 14. Michaela ROBERTSON (promoted), 19. Liv INGHAM (returning from injury).

Out: 3. Kate TAYLOR (international duty), 4. Mackenzie BARRY (international duty), 6. Macey FRASER (injured), 12. Brianna EDWARDS (gk) (international duty), 13. Michaela FOSTER (international duty), 16. Annalie LONGO (c) (injured), 17. Mariana SPECKMAIER (injured).

Unavailable: 3. Kate TAYLOR (international duty), 4. Mackenzie BARRY (international duty), 5. Marisa VAN DER MEER (injured), 6. Macey FRASER (injured), 8. Grace WISNEWSKI (injured), 12. Brianna EDWARDS (gk) (international duty), 13. Michaela FOSTER (international duty), 16. Annalie LONGO (c) (injured), 17. Mariana SPECKMAIER (injured). 

Fair enough not to risk the likes of Longo and Speckmaier if they are still not 100% recovered from injury niggles. Next week is the international break, so they will have another two weeks to get 100% fit hopefully, for the final push over the last part of the season.

Interesting to see who wears the captain's armband this weekend. I seem to recall Lake and Breslin both being in the leadership group at the start of the season so guessing it will be one of those two. 

No Longo or Specmaier - thats a bare bones squad.
Good opportunities for some though, maybe they can prove they are more deserving.
Ingham in the squad - I have never seen her play but I know of her as she was quite prominent in junior athletics

Surely Lake or R. Foster would wear the arm band? Lake was captain of the Pride for ages wasn’t she? 

Our starting 11 despite having 6 starters away is probably still stronger than last year it is our bench that whilst not weak is certainly unknown. 

           Cox, Brown
Elliot, Whinham, Breslin, Main/Robertson
McMeeken, Lake, Jaber, Davidson
                     Foster
      
All those players have started matches or if not, we would be happy with them coming on for last 30minutes if we had everyone available, so it’s still a competitive starting 11.

Centre mid is the area we are light on, so maybe we play an academy player there next to Whinham? 

Anyway, I will be watching and supporting our Nix. #COYN

Let’s have a go at a lineup ;)
3-5-2? No idea on our oppositions lineup to be fair… 

Rylee FOSTER (gk)

Zoe MCMEEKEN
Tiana JABER
Hailey DAVIDSON

Hope BRESLIN
Rebecca LAKE
Alyssa WHINHAM
Emma MAIN
Michaela ROBERTSON

Isabel COX
Kelli BROWN

Unused sub

Surely Lake or R. Foster would wear the arm band? Lake was captain of the Pride for ages wasn’t she? 

Our starting 11 despite having 6 starters away is probably still stronger than last year it is our bench that whilst not weak is certainly unknown. 

           Cox, Brown
Elliot, Whinham, Breslin, Main/Robertson
McMeeken, Lake, Jaber, Davidson
                     Foster
      
All those players have started matches or if not, we would be happy with them coming on for last 30minutes if we had everyone available, so it’s still a competitive starting 11.

Centre mid is the area we are light on, so maybe we play an academy player there next to Whinham? 

Anyway, I will be watching and supporting our Nix. #COYN

Brazendale I believe is a defensive midfielder. No idea whether shes up to starting.

Lake is the best one to play in there, but again that puts McMillan in the defence.
 
Maybe all these "reserve" players will be brilliant, who know. Id really like to see Brown run up front, because we just havent seen enough of her to judge at all

I’d like to see Errington in midfield. Golden boot winner at Under 20 OFC.  Played with boys until a year ago from what I’ve heard… definitely under utilised. 

Yeah I agree, but I think as a sub. As a starter alongside a weaker team already would be really unfair on her. I don’t think a player, so new into the A-League should be thrown totally in the deep end if we don’t have to.

I'm mostly worried about our midfield. WU are pretty physical. So a couple of teenagers and Whinham is just going to get over run. Probably that is why I expect to see Breslin in there to give us a bit of physicality. also expect us to set up quite defensively and play long into the channels a bit more than small ball.

                        Foster
Davidson   Jaber   Lake  McMeechan
          Breslin        Brazendale
                   Whinham
Main         Brown          Cox.

With Elliot, Robertson and Errington from the bench.

Pointy end of the season. Judging by men over recent seasons. Generally need 1.5ppg to make top 6. That means the women would need 14 points from there last 7 games. 4 games away and 3 games at home......Gonna need to really turn around there away form. If they can get anything out of this game would be huge. Big ask though.

9 first teamers out. OMG. Good luck ladies.

A miracle happened, Sky looked at their Twitter & their sport content team are looking into the timing of their broadcasting of ALW match.

What was said on twitter? But thank you for letting us know 

RR

A miracle happened, Sky looked at their Twitter & their sport content team are looking into the timing of their broadcasting of ALW match.

Hey, thanks for letting us know. Our Sport content team are looking into it. Cheers!

— Sky Sport NZ (@skysportnz) February 17, 2024

Just gotta wait and see what they do about it now

Thank you for saying something! Now hoping something does get sorted 

RR

Hey, thanks for letting us know. Our Sport content team are looking into it. Cheers!

— Sky Sport NZ (@skysportnz) February 17, 2024

Just gotta wait and see what they do about it now

They have moved it to Sky Sports 3, with a 6:55pm start. So problem solved. 

Our passing is woeful. 
And the control from some of the women is really poor.
Need to do a lot better

Brazendale looks to be an exception, she's looked assured so far.

They are better than us. And their supported needs to be knocked out with that loud speaker 

Considering the lineup, I think their play has actually been better than I thought it would be. Mcmeeken needs to close down the winger when she is making a run rather than backing off ... she needs to take responsibility for her esp in advanced areas.

WU #6 should have been showen a red then. Clearly swinging arm to the back of jabbers head. Ffs ref. 

WEEsssTTTTeeRRRRRRRRnnn

Main and Robertson have been disappointing. And I'm a Main fan

Fulltime and it's a 3-0 loss. Bit of a test of squad depth. 

Fenix

Main and Robertson have been disappointing. And I'm a Main fan

Main is better in the middle, either AM or Striker rather than on the wing. For me they were trying to help cover their fullbacks who kept dropping and had to do extra work in the absence of a functioning midfield.

A game is generally won or lost in the middle of the park - and I thought that was the case today. Our midfield was obviously makeshift and it showed. There was not a lot of distribution through the middle of the park; rather our backline were largely forced to go around the back and out wide which made it far easier for the opposition. I would be interested to see how many times we were able to switch the play through the middle of the park (I'm guessing single figures).

To be fair, we have lost almost all our goals in Oz this season, and we could have been beaten 3-0 with our top team as well today. Keane is a top quality striker in the ALW, she hit the crossbar twice and her goal she would have probably scored against any ALW defence. Davidson or Jaber possibly could have been closer to Logazo ? Who scored the first goal, and for the second that was pretty tough, even to the best sides that sometimes happens when you think surely someone will touch it and it goes straight in. The third we needed to cut out the cross, but hard when we are chasing to try and get into the game. Lake was stupendous today, and Whinham was able to show her skills. I was impressed with Errington and McMillan showed great composure to dribble through a few attackers towards the end of the game. Next season let’s promote those younger players and not renew Breslin and Davidson. They haven’t set the league alight.

Unused sub

To be fair, we have lost almost all our goals in Oz this season, and we could have been beaten 3-0 with our top team as well today. Keane is a top quality striker in the ALW, she hit the crossbar twice and her goal she would have probably scored against any ALW defence. Davidson or Jaber possibly could have been closer to Logazo ? Who scored the first goal, and for the second that was pretty tough, even to the best sides that sometimes happens when you think surely someone will touch it and it goes straight in. The third we needed to cut out the cross, but hard when we are chasing to try and get into the game. Lake was stupendous today, and Whinham was able to show her skills. I was impressed with Errington and McMillan showed great composure to dribble through a few attackers towards the end of the game. Next season let’s promote those younger players and not renew Breslin and Davidson. They haven’t set the league alight.

It will be interesting to see which imports get renewed and which don't. I'd probably keep cox and speckmaier, the other three don't really look to be a level above the local players.

localman77

Unused sub

To be fair, we have lost almost all our goals in Oz this season, and we could have been beaten 3-0 with our top team as well today. Keane is a top quality striker in the ALW, she hit the crossbar twice and her goal she would have probably scored against any ALW defence. Davidson or Jaber possibly could have been closer to Logazo ? Who scored the first goal, and for the second that was pretty tough, even to the best sides that sometimes happens when you think surely someone will touch it and it goes straight in. The third we needed to cut out the cross, but hard when we are chasing to try and get into the game. Lake was stupendous today, and Whinham was able to show her skills. I was impressed with Errington and McMillan showed great composure to dribble through a few attackers towards the end of the game. Next season let’s promote those younger players and not renew Breslin and Davidson. They haven’t set the league alight.

It will be interesting to see which imports get renewed and which don't. I'd probably keep cox and speckmaier, the other three don't really look to be a level above the local players.

Totally agree, Davidson has done nothing to warrant an import spot, McMeeken has offered more. Id be ok with Foster staying, but then Edwards in goal has been equally good. Cox and Spekmeier are the ones to keep.

Davidson puts in the odd good block, but she couldn't pass you the pepper and salt. Breslin didnt seem to offer much - went back far more than forwards.

Errington and Brazendale looked fine. 

I do wonder how we set up going forwards, because neither Main or Brown look effective out wide. Robertson doesnt offer any more either.

The result in this game was to be expected. WU the better team for sure.
For us I thought Lake was immense. Cut out every cross and delivery into the box from there right. Not surprising they scored from a cross soon after she was subbed off.
I think Cox looks real quality and I hope we can give here much better service in the remaining matches. Am sure she is capable of banging in a few if we do.
Errington also impressed me off the bench. Looked very composed on the ball. Would like to see her get a bit more game time.
But tough outing against a well drilled WU team.