Well that was a tough second half to watch, first half very entertaining! End to end stuff with chances all round. Thought the ref let play go on almost too much, she could/should have blown up a couple of challenges. If we can maintain posession we could be very dangerous and surprise some teams. The big issue is that we try and play it out from the back and today both our CB's gave the ball away continuously! So many passes through the middle of the park that ended up at an opponents feet. I put it down to too many passes across the back and then noone in the midfield making themselves available (Knott in particular went missing for large parts of the game). Hasset made herself busy but once again she had nobody with her to lay the ball off too. For mine Knott should have been dragged at the half. Satchell look dangerous but she lacks a final touch, Whinham again was busy but needs to look up when she has the ball, so many runners that she could pass to and yet she missed all of them - her pass strength needs work. Micky Robertson looked good today as did Foster. Think tired legs largely contributed to the goals in the second, everyone looked gassed at about the 55th minute, hopefully the new training facilities will pay off in this area soon.
Phil Rollo was there and tweeted the crowd looked like "200-300ish", so even that figure might have received the old Qatari mathematician bump up. Never easy to tell by just looking, but it did look very sparse on camera.
That was the last stand-alone home match (ie not before/after the men's team) until the end of Feb though and then there's only one more after that, so I don't reckon they'll seek any other arrangements.
I would rate Candy ahead of Edwards for sure and Alfeld. She was standout player in the national league last year, Edwards has a lot to learn about GK technical play. theprof
Fenix
The main conclusions from last week were that Taylor isnt a footballer. She has to go. The keeper had her moments, but was a bit diminutive and lacking strength for me. I seriously hope we have better options.
dude, she's 19! So still developing as a footballer, she was easily one of our best last season! Brianna Edwards is our #2 keeper Lily Alfield is #1 and will be back, but none of the 3 keeper we have are tall by keepers standards, but then I dont think many keepers in the women's game are really tall.
The WU keeper's kit looks very similar to our away kit on the TV
Don't get why we're not playing in our home strip to be honest...
When the men's team played at home against Western United last month they also played in the away strip. So the A-League must think there's a clash between the shirts? There is a black vertical stripe on the WU kit but apart from that it seems very different to our yellow and black.
Phil Rollo was there and tweeted the crowd looked like "200-300ish", so even that figure might have received the old Qatari mathematician bump up. Never easy to tell by just looking, but it did look very sparse on camera.
That was the last stand-alone home match (ie not before/after the men's team) until the end of Feb though and then there's only one more after that, so I don't reckon they'll seek any other arrangements.
The crowd is similar to what the Wellington Rugby team attracts to their home games
The WU keeper's kit looks very similar to our away kit on the TV
Don't get why we're not playing in our home strip to be honest...
When the men's team played at home against Western United last month they also played in the away strip. So the A-League must think there's a clash between the shirts? There is a black vertical stripe on the WU kit but apart from that it seems very different to our yellow and black.
"commercial reasons". have different sponsors on them so have a deal where they wear each one so many times
Same game as last week. Good first half, lucky to not lose by a street in the second. I think my assessment from last week was about right. Taylor causing all sorts of problems at the back. First half people were going past her way too easy. She got better second half, but her passing out didnt - just got worse and worse. All too predictable on many occasions from goalkicks - if i can read what they are going to do, im sure the opposition can. Also, the keeper is unfortunately too short of stature. On the positive side i thought the 10 (Whinham?) was great, never noticed her last week. Also the little lady on the left (Robertson i think) did excellent work,she was impressive. The 11 and 13 starred again,they are the heart of the team. Im yet to be convinced about the 7 or 9. Barry, the 4, looked great, she made just one big stuff up and went and won the ball straight back again. But she wants to let Taylor do all the playing out with the ball, and that makes me nervous based on what ive seen. Van de Meer was very solid until she went off. The 9 for Western was exceptional, lead their attack perfectly, whilst we dont seem to have similar presence up front. Western were clearly a much taller and stronger team all round. I enjoyed it, i will keep watching. This is my opinion - what message boards are for, you dont have to agree.
I am not happy with the coaching. 1. Surely when the opposition has worked out that from goal kicks you will tap the ball backwards and forwards in front of your goal and surrender possession through missplaced passes, you then have a plan B that involves some other way of getting the ball upfield! Two games, identical problem. 2. Get one of your front players to come towards the ball occasionally and receive it. Chloe Knott did that last year. This year we just send it over the top all game, and the opposition don't have to think about it.
As if her performance wasnt bad enough, now i see Taylor wore a woke armband! For goodness sake, leave this crap out of sport, there are a million and one things we could all wear an armband for, but sport has always been above all that. Just play the game.
If you sneer about demonstrations of LGBT solidarity, you should really not be allowed to watch women's football. It's like watching basketball and being angry that the players express anti-racist views.
I wonder how many remember that the first same-sex marriage in this country featured a former Football Fern.
Ooops someone doesn't like queer representation.... wait until you find out how many queer women there are in football here in NZ and globally..
Fenix
As if her performance wasnt bad enough, now i see Taylor wore a woke armband! For goodness sake, leave this crap out of sport, there are a million and one things we could all wear an armband for, but sport has always been above all that. Just play the game.
If you sneer about demonstrations of LGBT solidarity, you should really not be allowed to watch women's football. It's like watching basketball and being angry that the players express anti-racist views.
I wonder how many remember that the first same-sex marriage in this country featured a former Football Fern.
Melissa Ray. Married Natasha Vitali in 2013, unfortunately they split up a year later.
As if her performance wasnt bad enough, now i see Taylor wore a woke armband! For goodness sake, leave this crap out of sport, there are a million and one things we could all wear an armband for, but sport has always been above all that. Just play the game.
What will the stadium trust do? They are not selling anything as people are switching to alternatives, If they want to make money, Drop all car parking to $10 per event!! Drop the pricing of your food. Anyone who thinks $12 for a beer can is fair needs a reality check, $27 gets you a 12 pack. What can the club do? Other than the Sky advertising which is pretty good and their facebook presence which is pretty good. Review the pricing and blanket price the whole Stadium. $20 sit where you like, Kids under either $5 or $10
As if her performance wasnt bad enough, now i see Taylor wore a woke armband! For goodness sake, leave this crap out of sport, there are a million and one things we could all wear an armband for, but sport has always been above all that. Just play the game.
Credit to Western United. They look like a strong team. There coach has recruited well, with a spine of American imports. There strikers especially. McDonald and Kean are going to cause teams alot of problems this year. They deserved there win on that second half performance. We are still making the same mistakes as early last season. Decision making and execution are poor at times. There second goal came from an attacking freekick we had in there half. But instead of letting Foster send it into the mixer (she has been excellent on dead ball delivery) We decide to pass it backward to Taylor. who then passes it straight to Kean there centre forward who was in loads of space. We scramble under pressure and concede a corner which they then score from. That passage of play kind of summed up the worst of our decision making and execution. Next game is away to Victory. Who most surprisingly haven't scored a goal in two games. That makes me nervous for this one. I'd like to see Candy get a start in Goal. There was mention during the commentary that Taylor might be carrying some sort of injury. If that's the case she needs to be rested. And maybe that explains why she has been so out of form. Give Walker a run at CB if Taylor is injured. Walker did well last season. Anyone heard any report on Van de Meers injury? .
If you sneer about demonstrations of LGBT solidarity, you should really not be allowed to watch women's football. It's like watching basketball and being angry that the players express anti-racist views.
I wonder how many remember that the first same-sex marriage in this country featured a former Football Fern.
Melissa Ray. Married Natasha Vitali in 2013, unfortunately they split up a year later.
I had the privilege of playing alongside Mel Ray a few times at Onehunga Sports, she's a great character
The article also comments that Taylor is dealing with some sort of injury issue. Coaching team needs to step up here. Continuing to play her if she is injured and not at 100% appears to be just eroding away her confidence.
The article also comments that Taylor is dealing with some sort of injury issue. Coaching team needs to step up here. Continuing to play her if she is injured and not at 100% appears to be just eroding away her confidence.
This probably applies to half the squad, there was no break for the U20 cohort with Pheonix season going into U20 WC build up then into Pheonix preseason. Not ideal for young bodies.
On the back of these results. The other question I have. Would a lot of these players been better off over winter playing in the national women's competitions getting competitive games. Rather than sheltered away in the so call "A league development training" where they were playing friendlies against boys team. These girls must be sick of the sight of each other by now. And having our best female players not in the national and provincial competitions dilutes the local comps. There has been very little detail on what the 'A league development training" entailed, but its a question worth asking now.
I think serious questions need to be asked about the coaching staff and if they are actually the best coaches for our only pro team.
What is their track record? What other teams have they coached that have achieved success? Which players have they helped develop over the years?
I am scratching my head to answer many of these questions positively and feel that the club took the easy way out and appointed last year's Assistant rather than searching high and low for a top coach.
From memory, Natalie Lawrence coached the Team Wellington youth team a few years ago and they played terrible football and were near the bottom of the league despite having the pick of talented young players in the region.
that's a hot take, and ignores the fact that the established coach who was contracted for this season was released for an international gig at the last minute, noit really giving the club much time to find a new coach - they also probably wanted some continuity for the second season.
I guess this conversation highlights what a big loss Gemma Lewis was. She talked a lot last season about learnings as a team and her personally as a coach. Real shame we couldn't capitalise on those learnings. The new coach is saying similar things and unfortunately the learnings go on. Still I think its a bit early yet to fully judge. First two games were certainly against tough opponents. Although that is not about to end.
