WPW R7 vs Melbourne Victory | Sun 10th Dec | 4:00pm | Porirua Park/Sky Sports 1

No van der Meer (ACL) or Knott (Released) + the other returning Ferns have to take 4 flights & only arrive home Friday night. Victory are 4th & surging up the table. This is gonna be a massive test of the teams depth.

RR

No van der Meer (ACL) or Knott (Released) + the other returning Ferns have to take 4 flights & only arrive home Friday night. Victory are 4th & surging up the table. This is gonna be a massive test of the teams depth.

Yeah and I hope we don’t put Barry and Foster at risk by playing them full 90s… if they do indeed play. One game versus the rest of the season.

Unknwn Quantity

RR

No van der Meer (ACL) or Knott (Released) + the other returning Ferns have to take 4 flights & only arrive home Friday night. Victory are 4th & surging up the table. This is gonna be a massive test of the teams depth.

Yeah and I hope we don’t put Barry and Foster at risk by playing them full 90s… if they do indeed play. One game versus the rest of the season.

Agree with this. We have just lost VDM. We really can't afford to lose Barry Taylor or Foster to injury as well. Can't see how they are going to be fit to play after 4 flights back to NZ.
Might end up with a backline of
Davidson   Lake     ????????      McMeeken   
                     Brazendale.

Might have to bring in some acadamy players. But from the little I saw of the reserve team shipping goals. It wasn't real confidence inspiring that they are at A league level just yet.
Will they announce some replacement players before Sunday. We really need cover now at CB/CDM.
Surely there are some that could step up from NZ NL short or long term. Could do worse than Rose Morton. Think she is a student at Otago Uni, so will probably be looking for a summer job. Or Chelsea Elliot from AU....
There was talk of another visa player and a player with A league experience being signed.  Charlotte Lancaster ?. She could slot into LB.

Speculation on the pod Betsy Hassett may re-sign. Season finished in Iceland 

Wellington Phoenix squad: 1. Rylee FOSTER (gk), 2. Zoe MCMEEKEN, 3. Kate TAYLOR, 4. Mackenzie BARRY, 6. Macey FRASER, 9. Kelli BROWN, 10. Alyssa WHINHAM, 11. Hope BRESLIN, 12. Brianna EDWARDS (gk), 13. Michaela FOSTER, 14. Michaela ROBERTSON, 15. Daisy BRAZENDALE, 16. Annalie LONGO (c), 17. Mariana SPECKMAIER, 18. Hailey DAVIDSON, 20. Emma MAIN, 21. Manaia ELLIOTT, 22. Aimee DANIELI (gk), 23. Rebecca LAKE, 24. Ella MCMILLAN

Four to be omitted

Ins: 15. Daisy BRAZENDALE (promoted), 24. Ella MCMILLAN (promoted)

Outs: 5. Marisa VAN DER MEER (injured), 7. Chloe KNOTT (released)

Unavailable: 5. Marisa VAN DER MEER (injured), 7. Chloe KNOTT (released), 8. Grace WISNEWSKI (injured), 19. Liv INGHAM (injured)

Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Lydia WILLIAMS, 2.Jamilla RANKIN, 3.Tori HANSEN, 4.Sara D’APPOLONIA, 5.Jessika NASH, 6.Beattie GOAD, 7.Ella O’GRADY, 8.Alana MURPHY, 10.McKenzie WEINERT, 13.Kurea OKINO, 15.Emma CHECKER, 16.Paige ZOIS, 18.Kayla MORRISON, 19.Lia PRIVITELLI, 20.Miranda TEMPLEMAN, 21.Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 22.Ava BRIEDIS, 23.Rachel LOWE, 24.Laura PICKETT, 27.Rosie CURTIS

Ins: 15.Emma CHECKER, 19.Lia PRIVITELLI, 24.Laura PICKETT, 27.Rosie CURTIS

Outs: Nil

Unavailable: 9.Emily GIELNIK

So good to see Macey back!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/133395982/wellington-phoenix-vow-to-improve-after-vicecaptain-chloe-knotts-abrupt-exit

Oomph.  Let's see how many turn up to Porirua Park in this shark weather.

Good luck Ladies!

Piney's co-commentator cannot stop saying "things I/you love to see". Get a new catchphrase please. Fun half this was though

Entertaining first half, I thought the worst when they came out firing and went 1-0 up, but credit to the ladies for firing straight back before being pegged back late on in half.

What's the crowd like in the stand? There's a good noise coming through on the broadcast. Keep it up. 👏👏👏

Rushing the passes a bit. Some of our decision making in the final third questionable. New combinations taking a while to gel. But we well and truly in this game. Expect they will press hight as we play into the wind in 2nd half. Hope we mix it up a bit and can find a bit more composure. That half was a bit helter skelter.

Entertaining game. Got the feeling that we could pull away from the victory if we just applied ourselves a bit for the first 15mins of the 2nd half. A

2-2 with half the shots on target. Had we had someone on the back post on the corner they wouldnt have scored the first.
definately in this!

2-2 draw. Got to be happy to take that considering the lead up to this game. Speckmaier should have buried that 1 on 1 though.

You could see how much that Speckmaier opportunity hurt.

Fark so close to winning it a few times.

Great game,some great football in a very strong wind. Don't understand why we took off Brown and Main,and ended up with Breslin up front. Whinham did well when she  came on. Fraser was great,but McMeekin was player of the day for me,did a fantastic job all over the place

Glad to hear that the sound was coming through the broadcast.  Sounded great in the stands but I was nervous it was just being right next to it.

The crowd was a bit light but it was absolutely pissing down not long ago.  I was a little apprehensive and we didn't take our toddler in case the rain dropped again.  Turned out to be the perfect day to go watch a damn exciting game of football.

The amount of turnovers we gave away was ridiculous, especially in the final third. Still a good performance overall though, especially with a bit of a rotated XI. A draw probably a fair result but we were so agonisingly close to winning it.

Bananas

Glad to hear that the sound was coming through the broadcast.  Sounded great in the stands but I was nervous it was just being right next to it.

The crowd was a bit light but it was absolutely pissing down not long ago.  I was a little apprehensive and we didn't take our toddler in case the rain dropped again.  Turned out to be the perfect day to go watch a damn exciting game of football.

I think there would've been a few people that had to choose between the mens match and the womens, splits things a bit unfortunately and it's a pricey weekend to got to both.

Was a good arvo out though, credit to the fever!

PS
Brown didnt look particularly comfortable out wide. But she proved she knows where the target is with her strike against the woodwork. So I wasnt surprised when she swapped with Speckmaeir for the second half.  But after 10 mins she was pulled, which seemed rather strange to me.  All season our striker has been too isolated if you ask me, and the last half hour was more of the same, although we did work the ball in well from wide several times.

I can assure you the wind was very very strong and can be blamed for many wayward passes and shots.

Fenix

Great game,some great football in a very strong wind. Don't understand why we took off Brown and Main,and ended up with Breslin up front. Whinham did well when she  came on. Fraser was great,but McMeekin was player of the day for me,did a fantastic job all over the place

Elliott didn’t provide much upon entry unfortunately 

A few comments. McMeekin was great, enthusiasm  infected others I think. Longo was composed and trustworthy in midfield. Speckmaier is wasted out wide. Fraser was quiet first half. Whinham created two great chances with great passes. Barry is so strong, shored the defence up when she came on. Well done team on surviving a really hard week and putting in an impressive performance. 

Fenix

PS
Brown didnt look particularly comfortable out wide. But she proved she knows where the target is with her strike against the woodwork. So I wasnt surprised when she swapped with Speckmaeir for the second half.  But after 10 mins she was pulled, which seemed rather strange to me.  All season our striker has been too isolated if you ask me, and the last half hour was more of the same, although we did work the ball in well from wide several times.

I can assure you the wind was very very strong and can be blamed for many wayward passes and shots.

You are right about the wind. Even basic ball control and short passes were clearly being effected by it. Despite the wind it was such an incredibly hard fought game that I found it a really entertaining watch.

MV are a quality team, very aggressive and well drilled, so I think it was actually a pretty good point to pick up. That Speckmaier miss though....

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

A few comments. McMeekin was great, enthusiasm  infected others I think. Longo was composed and trustworthy in midfield. Speckmaier is wasted out wide. Fraser was quiet first half. Whinham created two great chances with great passes. Barry is so strong, shored the defence up when she came on. Well done team on surviving a really hard week and putting in an impressive performance. 

McMeeken played so well but pretty much all these fantastic runs ended up in her turning it over cuz she ran into a dead end. I don't think she was totally to blame, she wasn't given options to pass many times. 

That kinda performance does give Temple options on how to replace Knott in the midfield. If Foster is a real option at DM, McMeeken might get plenty more opportunities to work on that end product. 

we are more organised we will always be a chance in games. If we can add one or two in the window to lift quality then thats positive. Still think we need a proper back up striker.

Showtime Nixie

we are more organised we will always be a chance in games. If we can add one or two in the window to lift quality then thats positive. Still think we need a proper back up striker.

We've just signed one, an American- Isobel Cox.

Did anyone find it weird that we had two defenders on the bench? I don’t think Foster works as a DCM personally.

I thought Lake's performance was very good considering it was her first start and against a quality opposition. She won some vital headers ala VDM. I thought too many players ran with the ball and lost possession in the first half. Second MV goal came from an example of that, but we were better in the second half. Pretty staunch from Taylor to start after her overseas exertions. Don't fancy Breslin in midfield but I suppose options were limited. All in all a good point in the circumstances.