WPM R18 vs Central Coast Mariners | Fri 24th Feb | 9:45pm | SS7

When’s Kosta back? 

Perhaps to be fair to van Hattum his instructions are to keep it tight. Thought Ugarkovic had clipped him and his was a cleaner challenge. 2 fouls and a yellow shows he’s at least defending. 

But he’s not been much of a goal threat. Wonder if we could play Mauragis on the left and Sutton where Sasse started late on? 

Damnit keep up- I still wanna see the game from last time! 3-0 clean win…

Thought Sasse was good enough for his start this week? Should have had an assist at least and Ball was slow feeding him for a good striking chance?

Alf Tupper

reg22

IMO the most boring and borish part of our game has become the pre-occupation with refereeing decisions. It used to be diving and cheating, but our sports obsession with this makes me want to follow a sport that focuses significantly more on the sport itself.

Paramounts attempts to drum up refereeing drama where there is none, or little is pathetic.

It also has a massive filter down effect to grassroots and kids football.

Here's a template:
1. Decision goes against my team, i am angry
2. Decision goes for my team, I didn't see it
3. Other team gets angry about referee, I get angry at them
4. Any questionable decision is endlessly analysed by broadcaster to generate 'content'

Where's the tactical analysis, review of playing styles, critique of player technique? Na, it's all referees.

I must have forgotten how to read. Most of the posts I read are about tactics, player technique etc etc. Most of it errant nonsense but entertaining usually.

I get what he is saying but there is hardly a sport out there that isn't obsessive about officiating. It's the price we pay for having a million cameras capturing every detail from every angle, and increasingly controlling how every match plays out. 

It's completely unsurprising broadcasters seem to be focusing so much on refereeing decisions in this post-VAR world in which a man in a booth watching a screen pores over slow motion replays with the express purpose of ruling out fantastic goals on a technicality that no one has noticed. That's what makes me want to turn my TV off.

To be fair to Sutts he got through a lot, a lot of work. Felt he had every third touch almost. 
And he had to mark Nkololo who didn’t get away from him very often. 

Would’ve been interesting to see how McGarry coped with that. 

Roux’s block was amazing, but don’t think we tested him enough or as much as Elliot might have. Imo Elliot makes him look silly and we win…
Edit: Elliot woulda been up against McGarry… yuh, not even drinking, though felt like getting started after the last goal!

I just wish McGarry scored as much when he played for as he does now whenever he plays against us! And that Roux was as good in a white shirt!

I thought we weren't good enough yesterday. Probably tiredness from being away from home but we didn't deserve a point. Defensively especially we made so many mistakes, including against a 9 men team just after we scored. Had Kaltak not been sent off, we would have lost. I think it was a red card, but very unfortunate as he tackled the top part of the ball (probably not intending to).
Sail and Zawada MotM for me, everyone else just not good enough.

Still, a point is a point, bring on our home game next week.

Ccm got robbed for sure. They were all over us and had at least three clear cut chances one on one with sail they should have scored. We had a couple of good chances, but they were half hearted. 

It's easy to praise kaltak as a great defender because he does a lot of risky and wreckless shark that other defenders could do but don't because they don't want to get sent off every second week.

Zawada showed his greatness by getting something out of nothing. But we are missing lewis big time, zawada is sorely in need of more quality service.

Two red cards through reckless and stupid decisions. CCM were their own downfall.

Just had a brief look:
2020-21, two goals against by former players (Kosta x2)
2021-22, four goals against by former players (Hemed x2, Uli, Rojas)
2022-23 already seven goals against by former players (McGarry x2, Tratt, David Williams x3, Uli)

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Two red cards through reckless and stupid decisions. CCM were their own downfall.

Plus they didn’t take their chances.

martinb

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Two red cards through reckless and stupid decisions. CCM were their own downfall.

Plus they didn’t take their chances.

Thank you! Finally someone said it. If we were in this position, we would be saying the same thing. They looked more threatening up forward, but didn't do anything with it.

We didn't deserve it, but that is a point we fly back to NZ with.

lthomas20

Just had a brief look:
2020-21, two goals against by former players (Kosta x2)
2021-22, four goals against by former players (Hemed x2, Uli, Rojas)
2022-23 already seven goals against by former players (McGarry x2, Tratt, David Williams x3, Uli)

Looking at our last 8 matches for the regular season, we still have Newcastle (Sotirio and Piscopo), Sydney (Burgess), and Brisbane (Brindell-South), all of whom have yet to score against us, need to keep it that way. Sotirio did score a goal against us in 17/18 when he was still with WSW, but that was obviously before he joined us.

Don't need to worry about Davila scoring against us twice this season though when we vs Macarthur again as he's unfortunately been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

There's also Victory (Bozinovski) but I think it's unlikely.

With the Phoenix not having played at home for a while it was no excuse for such a lame performance - apart from the first 10 minutes we didn't push forward from the back, our marking was poor, we turned over a lot of possession through aimless passing - it was only really poor finishing by CCM that they weren't leading by 3 or 4 goals at halftime... our composure in front of goal was just as bad as theirs, we had plenty of scoring opportunities when they were down to 10 men for the last 30 minutes, then down to 9 late in the match. 

I'm surprised wooten wasn't pulled at half time, he was making a lot of mistakes and resorting to rash challenges

Plays the ball and then the leg, it is reckless. And if you see the whole thing in motion he is flying in. I'm glad refs call those fouls.

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CCM (Simon) are OK with the second red card. I think that I would be OK with a yellow, it was just his finger. For Simon sliding stuts up into the legs is OK, but pointing a finger into face is not OK.

number8

Plays the ball and then the leg, it is reckless. And if you see the whole thing in motion he is flying in. I'm glad refs call those fouls.

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CCM (Simon) are OK with the second red card. I think that I would be OK with a yellow, it was just his finger. For Simon sliding stuts up into the legs is OK, but pointing a finger into face is not OK.

The Moresche red card was just stupid from him. I watched the replay again and he would've been fine imo if he just took away his finger after the first couple seconds but he just kept jabbing it in Woottons face.

Current goal standings 18 rounds in:

Total: 30 (29 + 1 OG)

30 goals scored from 10 different players. 

Zawada and Kraev alone account for over 50% of those goals, but a decent spread.

Also our second highest goal tally by round 18, beaten only by the 32 goals we’d scored by this point in 2014/15.

Should note that we’ve conceded 27 for a GD of +3, compared to 21 conceded in 14/15 for a GD of +11.

Friar Tuck

Current goal standings 18 rounds in:

1. 10 - Zawada
2. 7 - Kraev
3. 3 - Waine
4. 2 - Sasse (+1A)
5. 2 - Barbarouses
6. 1 - Lewis (+2A)
7. 1 - Sutton (+2A)
8. 1 - Old (+1A)
9. 1 - Ball (+1A)
10. 1 - Rufer

Total: 30 (29 + 1 OG)

30 goals scored from 10 different players. 

Zawada and Kraev alone account for over 50% of those goals, but a decent spread.

Also our second highest goal tally by round 18, beaten only by the 32 goals we’d scored by this point in 2014/15.

Should note that we’ve conceded 27 for a GD of +3, compared to 21 conceded in 14/15 for a GD of +11.

How does Zawada not have an Assist? He set one up for Kraev a week ago. 

siac

Friar Tuck

Current goal standings 18 rounds in:

1. 10 - Zawada
2. 7 - Kraev
3. 3 - Waine
4. 2 - Sasse (+1A)
5. 2 - Barbarouses
6. 1 - Lewis (+2A)
7. 1 - Sutton (+2A)
8. 1 - Old (+1A)
9. 1 - Ball (+1A)
10. 1 - Rufer

Total: 30 (29 + 1 OG)

30 goals scored from 10 different players. 

Zawada and Kraev alone account for over 50% of those goals, but a decent spread.

Also our second highest goal tally by round 18, beaten only by the 32 goals we’d scored by this point in 2014/15.

Should note that we’ve conceded 27 for a GD of +3, compared to 21 conceded in 14/15 for a GD of +11.

How does Zawada not have an Assist? He set one up for Kraev a week ago. 

He does, I was just using assists to differentiate players with the same number of goals scored.

Zawada has had a run of 8 games where he’s had a goal contribution, and 10 goal contributions from 11 games. 

We really need to tighten up our defence. I thought Wootton's return would make the difference, but clearly hasn't.

NZPhoenixFan

We really need to tighten up our defence. I thought Wootton's return would make the difference, but clearly hasn't.

Wooten has just come back from injury and looked off the pace so give him some time. 

Ryan

NZPhoenixFan

We really need to tighten up our defence. I thought Wootton's return would make the difference, but clearly hasn't.

Wooten has just come back from injury and looked off the pace so give him some time. 

Same too with Sutton. A couple of games and I am sure he will be back to his old self. Just a little rusty.

CCM proved to be a hard nut to crack, as expected (especially at their own ground).  They were, overall, a better team - which does not mean we played poorly; we were however put under pressure by a team which marked closer than we did, and which made quality passes that did not go astray.  
Excellent game from David Ball, who clearly understands the importance of speed once we win the ball back, and who hardly ever slows the game down or passes the ball back if he can advance.
Zawada has settled in and seems to have broken through confidence barrier - just like Yan Sasse, Zawada is essentially a domestic league player who was somewhat a fish-out-of-water early on (much like Sasse). Hope he remains healthy and match-fit for the rest of the season, and we should see more goals from him.
Many here commented on our RB and LB, but I do not think they were poor, just that their opposite players were better. In contrast, I can see our defensive midfield is still somewhat out of sorts; although others may disagree.
Newcastle will be a hard test again, but salvaging the draw against CCM should give our team a big morale boost, even if it was largely CCM imploding rather than us prevailing that gave us the draw. It could have easily ended in an ignominious loss against a team of nine, so we should count our blessings, and our points. They all count. 

I dont think the mental part of our game can be overstated. CCM lost the plot! They had the best of that game but due to a lack composure they lost control of a game they were dominating. The draw is a huge statement to the headspace of the entire squad.

theprof

I dont think the mental part of our game can be overstated. CCM lost the plot! They had the best of that game but due to a lack composure they lost control of a game they were dominating. The draw is a huge statement to the headspace of the entire squad.

Exactly how you would describe some of our performances this season to be fair.

...

NZPhoenixFan

We really need to tighten up our defence. I thought Wootton's return would make the difference, but clearly hasn't.

The Phoenix defence hasn't been that great for yonks, the first priority for any team is having very solid defence systems, otherwise you're really going to struggle to stay in matches... as mentioned before our marking is way too loose inside our box.