WPM R6 vs Western United | Sat 2nd Dec | 7:30pm | Sky Sports 2

Our defence has been very very good. Surman is playing like a veteran. Wootton is heaps better this season. Kelly-Heald is doing the job nicely and Payne is thriving. 
Paulsen dropped or spilled the ball several times and Surman reacted quickest to clear one of them. The best equal defence at the moment.

YoungHeartHM

Just curious as to where all those doom and gloom merchants from the start of the season are now? 👀

Completely eating my words... the coaches and team are doing a bloody brilliant job at the moment. Have really made some wonderful changes from last year and got a lot of players playing out of their skin. 

Long may it continue!

Just wanted to say in regard to some of the "lucky" comments... yes it wasn't a pretty game and got boring at times, but we deserved to win.

We created better chances, defended much more soundly and looked sharper going forward. Yes they missed some chances but we missed better ones, it could have been a more comfortable win. 

If you're looking for lucky look at the away draws vs MV and WSW. Not this one.

number8

WU Attendance 23/24
Total 4907
Average 2545

 that has to be worse then the Knights in their second season.

Marto

number8

WU Attendance 23/24
Total 4907
Average 2545

 that has to be worse then the Knights in their second season.

 
Ultimate A league says they were averaging just over 3K in their 2nd season. 

It might not be the most attractive of playing style at times but I think people are quick to forget the frustration of how often we'd ship 3-6 goals out of nowhere during the previous couple of seasons. It's a testament to the coaching staff and the players themselves that we've been able to plug up that historically leaky defence to quickly and resiliently. 

Finding a way to clinch a result in the small moments is what great teams do. It's what keeps them at the front of the pack. And so far that's what we've been able to do since October. 

Kosta was great In creating plays and chances. Would love to see him nab some goals to to with his efforts as the season progresses.

Ben Old is going to be massive!

Well! It’s just that Old has express pace:

IMG_7016.jpeg 1.42 MB

nufc_nz

Coochie coming on…

Not my best game. Think those fat shaming calls from that Bitumens fan were directed my way. I'm just big boned! 

 Let's have an amazing Performance at home next week.

That is so untrue (even without retrospect), you can seenhow we play out from Paulsen. Heart stopping as it is, Paulsen passes right and flat usually, a 45 degree ball towards the sideline, WU have  pressed the first receiver, then quickly the second, leaving the free man in right midfield and our pass goes there and we are immediately on counter. I like it, and will get more comfortable when I get used to Paulsen’s obvious competence and confidence with that first short ball.

InsulinMachine

We're playing like we don't give a sh.. about taking 1st place. What an utter load of garbage from everyone so far. 

Our backline only looks sideways and our midfield makes no effort whatsoever to make runs into pockets to receive the ball and bypass that press. WU have nothing to offer otherwise.

Shambles

Wooten is playing how we should expect an import to play, so satisfying this season, doing a great job marshalling those young guys.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Our defence has been very very good. Surman is playing like a veteran. Wootton is heaps better this season. Kelly-Heald is doing the job nicely and Payne is thriving. 
Paulsen dropped or spilled the ball several times and Surman reacted quickest to clear one of them. The best equal defence at the moment.

Napier Phoenix

Wooten is playing how we should expect an import to play, so satisfying this season, doing a great job marshalling those young guys.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Our defence has been very very good. Surman is playing like a veteran. Wootton is heaps better this season. Kelly-Heald is doing the job nicely and Payne is thriving. 
Paulsen dropped or spilled the ball several times and Surman reacted quickest to clear one of them. The best equal defence at the moment.

 That's been the biggest surprise for me so far. Naturally the young guys coming through are going to get better, but the drastic improvement of some of our senior players has been incredible. As you say Wootton, but obviously also Payne and Kosta look like different players so far. Rufer playing fantastic too. Hoping Italiano's magic will spread to Ball's geriatric legs the more minutes he gets.

The interesting thing is I don't have confidence in this team holding that number one position, and I think that's just because we lack a bit up front and we're happy to let a team shoot from distance with half chances, so if things don't go our way and a worldy or two goes in,  I don't know if the team has the ability to come back.

Maybe that view is because it's so early in the season, when we hit the number one position in 2014/2015 it was later in the season, the team had been playing well for awhile and so I was confident that team could hold it, but unfortunately after the break for the Asian Club World Cup the team lost all momentum so that view was wrong.

Chief is saying that this team is still getting started and they aim to peak at the end of the season, so that's good news. But, I wonder if come January the team is still fighting at the top if the owners can be persuaded to spend money on the last import slot to bring in a second striker, ala Eugene Dadi in 2010, for a bit of depth and a late push into the finals. Be good to make a statement before an Auckland franchise arrives. 

The other way would be if a couple of the new ex academy attacking players got some time, grabbed it with both hands and really started having an impact further into the season. Along with Old. 

May be a bit premature in their first season, but you never know. 

Think we fans need to stop getting over excited about the team and putting to bigger expectations on them. Yes its great what they are doing but Chief is continually saying they are only just getting started and once they really get what he is trying to achieve things are going to get even better.
As for players i remember asking a couple of the senior guys about who to watch out for this season out of the young guys. They said Kelly-Heald and Supyk, KH  has shown there most certainly is something there lests hope Supyk steps up then along with Old there could be that help with the attack.
Cant wait to see where this team takes us we just need to ease up on getting over excited to soon.

Double this^

The principle stays the same, expect the minimum and when they smash that 😁

Kelly-Heald was very good last night. If he made an error, he generally made up for it. I can see why he is holding his starting spot. Sutton will really need to impress to take it back.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Kelly-Heald was very good last night. If he made an error, he generally made up for it. I can see why he is holding his starting spot. Sutton will really need to impress to take it back.

I think Sutton will get a few minutes in the midfield when he comes off the bench this season. 

Sutton has got more minutes every game - this one being his most.

I expect Sutton to start this week, mainly because Heald can't cross a ball to save himself.

MetalLegNZ

Sutton has got more minutes every game - this one being his most.

I expect Sutton to start this week, mainly because Heald can't cross a ball to save himself.

He put a beauty right onto the head of Zawada for a goal a few games back but yeah his crossing yesterday left a bit to be desired.

I thought Pennington owned all the Nix's best midfield stats! But yes as someone else mentioned it's been the improvement in the Nix's more veteran players this season - Wootten, Payne, Barba & Rufer - that's so far the biggest tick in Chiefy's coaching creds. Early days but all these guys are playing better than last season.

24 - Alex Rufer (@WgtnPhoenixFC) has made 24 tackles in the 2023/24 @aleaguemen season - five more than any other player in the competition. Tireless.#WeAreALeagues #ALM #COYN pic.twitter.com/bvq2uMexOk

— OptaJason (@OptaJason) December 2, 2023

Ryan

The interesting thing is I don't have confidence in this team holding that number one position, and I think that's just because we lack a bit up front and we're happy to let a team shoot from distance with half chances, so if things don't go our way and a worldy or two goes in,  I don't know if the team has the ability to come back.

Maybe that view is because it's so early in the season, when we hit the number one position in 2014/2015 it was later in the season, the team had been playing well for awhile and so I was confident that team could hold it, but unfortunately after the break for the Asian Club World Cup the team lost all momentum so that view was wrong.

Chief is saying that this team is still getting started and they aim to peak at the end of the season, so that's good news. But, I wonder if come January the team is still fighting at the top if the owners can be persuaded to spend money on the last import slot to bring in a second striker, ala Eugene Dadi in 2010, for a bit of depth and a late push into the finals. Be good to make a statement before an Auckland franchise arrives. 

Well they frustrated me last night, and I was fairly critical of them.
But they are top of the league for goodness sake, deservedly so.
Thats massive. We are used to feeding for scraps at the table.
Will it continue , well who knows.

I do agree that the defence is looking very good, aerially they win everything.

How far away are we from this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsWM_5jYiLk (own goal from passing around inside your six yard box as occurred yesterday in Bundeslegia 2)

reubee

How far away are we from this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsWM_5jYiLk (own goal from passing around inside your six yard box as occurred yesterday in Bundeslegia 2)

our tactics will eventually result in a mistake which leads to a goal. This is a certainty and it nearly happened against western too.

What you have to ask yourself is how many goals have been created using these tactics so far this season? Clearly we are doing something right since we are top of the table 💪 hopefully we will continue to improve and less of these mistakes happen!!

reubee

How far away are we from this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsWM_5jYiLk (own goal from passing around inside your six yard box as occurred yesterday in Bundeslegia 2)

Difference is that Paulsen is simply built different and would never in good conscience let the ball in the goal

anaveragestem

reubee

How far away are we from this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsWM_5jYiLk (own goal from passing around inside your six yard box as occurred yesterday in Bundeslegia 2)

our tactics will eventually result in a mistake which leads to a goal. This is a certainty and it nearly happened against western too.

What you have to ask yourself is how many goals have been created using these tactics so far this season? Clearly we are doing something right since we are top of the table 💪 hopefully we will continue to improve and less of these mistakes happen!!

While the risk is always there I dont see it as inevitable. There are risks and rewards with every tactic, currently Chiefy has the lads operating in a posession based tactiv that requires us to play out deep from the back. We play keep ball in order to draw the press and then aim to hit our wide men on the counter, which while Kosta and Ball are playing well works brilliantly. It helps at the moment that our central guys - Rufer, Pennington, Kraev and Al Taay are doing their work as well. 
Mistakes will happen, but conceding goals from those is rare.

The question I think is how predictable we become.

We have a few years we have hit a decent unbeaten streak, look a shoo-in for getting deep into the finals, but before finals kick in a strategy forms to stop us and we start falling before the finals.

At least with an early streak, if a team figures us out and we lose a few, we have time to adapt.

Optimism time baby, we're gonna win both leagues, we're gonna win both leagues!

Bananas

The question I think is how predictable we become.

We have a few years we have hit a decent unbeaten streak, look a shoo-in for getting deep into the finals, but before finals kick in a strategy forms to stop us and we start falling before the finals.

At least with an early streak, if a team figures us out and we lose a few, we have time to adapt.

Optimism time baby, we're gonna win both leagues, we're gonna win both leagues!

Assuming what Chiefy has said is accurate and the team are still learning and bedding in the new strategy, you'd hope that involves some kind of plan b. Over the years we've had a clear plan and stuck to it, but a second option when plan a doesnt work has been lacking.

Already seems to be a distinctly different style / game plan for home and away games. Playing away they seem way less ambitious, happy to slow the game down, conserve energy, drawing in the opposition and breaking on the counter. I'm sure on Saturday, we had way more backward passes then forward passes. Very frustrating at times when we have good field position. But it seems to be working so.......

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Our defence has been very very good. Surman is playing like a veteran. Wootton is heaps better this season. Kelly-Heald is doing the job nicely and Payne is thriving. 
Paulsen dropped or spilled the ball several times and Surman reacted quickest to clear one of them. The best equal defence at the moment.

Resharing this after yet another strong defensive showing from the Phoenix. Adam Griffiths was reluctant to take any credit when I interviewed him, but he's clearly having a positive influence on the team. 3 clean sheets in 6 games now. https://t.co/p9JAKb3YYX

— Phillip Rollo (@ByPhillipRollo) December 2, 2023

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/301019464/highflying-wellington-phoenix-make-mockery-of-preseason-predictions

Early days still but this is a team Wellington will be very proud of by the end of the season I think. Hope it continues but I think there is a lot of grit in the defence similar to the days of Durante, Siggy and long pins. Despite his age, Surman looks strong and is yet to let anyone boss him around, Wootton is getting back to his best form. 

With the midfield breaking up plays and helping with defensive duties, it looks like the cake tin will be a fortress again. Very well done to all the coaching staff!!

Cmon though Wellington! Try get all your mates out there this weekend! Would be awesome to see near 10K for a top of the table Nix!! Lets go 🔥🔥