Wooten does his job
There is card bonanza on here for the Spelling Ref. I've seen both Wooten & Wooton.
How hard is it to spell Wootan?
Too hard for you apparently.
(although obviously you were having a laugh)
WPM R11 vs Adelaide | Thurs 4th Jan | 9:45pm | SkySport 4
There is card bonanza on here for the Spelling Ref. I've seen both Wooten & Wooton.
How hard is it to spell Wootan?
Too hard for you apparently.
(although obviously you were having a laugh)
Don't forget we're still playing with an attack on one leg.
Most were saying preseason we needed more up front. And that we'd need someone like Old to step up.
Well Barba and Old have both stepped up, Kraev is playing well, but with Zawada out we're still a bit short.
With no Kraev or Zawada at the end there we're really short of impact and focal point. Ball can't add much and the OvH and Supyks can't be expected to win games at the end for us. Not yet anyway.
Be good to get Zawada back.
Most were saying preseason we needed more up front. And that we'd need someone like Old to step up.
Well Barba and Old have both stepped up, Kraev is playing well, but with Zawada out we're still a bit short.
With no Kraev or Zawada at the end there we're really short of impact and focal point. Ball can't add much and the OvH and Supyks can't be expected to win games at the end for us. Not yet anyway.
Be good to get Zawada back.
A point in Adelaide is a very solid result, but I can’t help but feel we should have won that.
Would really like to see another creative 10 brought in this month.
Would really like to see another creative 10 brought in this month.
Totally agreed. We might have exploited the red card if one of their attackers was red-carded and their pressure eased up. Adelaide: "One defender missing? Just attack instead of defending". We were saved by both Irankunde and Ibesuke being subbed, not by a red card to a defender.
On the other point, I am not expecting a new "creative 10" . I think our money is somewhat restricted this season. But we are a bit short of creativity with Zawada still off the park, and it is showing when games are finely poised, like this one.
Think Van Hattum has been good last two games. Nearly two assists…think he’s close to having a break outish game. And you realise he’s played with Old and others in the reserves…
In Chief I trust. Top at Christmas and New Year! Do you know how happy I was saying that all holidays?
In Chief I trust. Top at Christmas and New Year! Do you know how happy I was saying that all holidays?
To be honest, this might be a great result but only if we win next week
Think Van Hattum has been good last two games. Nearly two assists…
In Chief I trust. Top at Christmas and New Year! Do you know how happy I was saying that all holidays?
In Chief I trust. Top at Christmas and New Year! Do you know how happy I was saying that all holidays?
Melbourne Victory: "Grrrrr....."
Payne hasn’t been trying to get in behind or into the box, or release the same sizzling ankle height crosses the last few of games. Fatigue? Opposition expectations? Reverting to his norm?
He was a creative force earlier in the season and now he’s not.
Edit: realise he got a fairly good assist chalked off by Kraev being minutely offside. Sorry Timmy!
Edit Edit: and he’s laid on the ball which troubled the defense enough for Kosta to nip in for a second. Terrible call by me. Just frustrated we couldn’t find a goal when we had the man advantage at the end I guess.
He was a creative force earlier in the season and now he’s not.
Edit: realise he got a fairly good assist chalked off by Kraev being minutely offside. Sorry Timmy!
Edit Edit: and he’s laid on the ball which troubled the defense enough for Kosta to nip in for a second. Terrible call by me. Just frustrated we couldn’t find a goal when we had the man advantage at the end I guess.
If we had a creative cm we would be set. We need to get someone in in this window.
Oldie should be that guy.
Much more effective than out wide where he’s been lately.
Wooten does his job
There is card bonanza on here for the Spelling Ref. I've seen both Wooten & Wooton.
How hard is it to spell Wootan?
Wotton. Seems it's the 4 letter combinations where folks come unstuck. You ever get Zawada wrong give yourself a Polska upper cut.
Wooten does his job
There is card bonanza on here for the Spelling Ref. I've seen both Wooten & Wooton.
How hard is it to spell Wootan?
Wotton. Seems it's the 4 letter combinations where folks come unstuck. You ever get Zawada wrong give yourself an upper cut.
*sigh*
WOOTTON.
We were indeed very lucky to draw that. We will drop to third by the end of this round and we have our third away game in a row against Perth next before hosting the Victory. Might be reverting to the mean here boys
This Saturday the VUC play in Perth & WSW host CCM.
It's the ALM. Is no guarantee the Nix will drop to 3rd.
And we play Perth in Sydney next Sunday, not WA. So the Glory will have about the same 3.5-4 hour trip & 2 days less rest. Presumably the Nix are returning to Welly now, with 10 days before the Unite Round in NSW.
Wooten does his job
There is card bonanza on here for the Spelling Ref. I've seen both Wooten & Wooton.
How hard is it to spell Wootan?
Wotton. Seems it's the 4 letter combinations where folks come unstuck. You ever get Zawada wrong give yourself an upper cut.
*sigh*
WOOTTON.
Shoot me
Said from start of season depth will be a major problem. Club should be making a play for free agent Rojas
Too easy to spell, when Supyk is on the bench.
Said from start of season depth will be a major problem. Club should be making a play for free agent Rojas
I think he'll be playing in blue and white in a few months time, the Auckland one mind not the SM kind.
Was super frustrating to watch us tamely pass it around their box at the 90 minute mark for nearly 5 minutes without looking the slightest bit threatening, unlike Adelaide who looked scary until the very end up front.
This was perhaps the second week in a row of Chiefy learning some lessons.
Ben Old was far less effective in a front three role than he has been from midfield, and Kelly-Heald being put in at left back (presumably because he'd be a better 1v1 defender against Irankunda) didn't really work out so well either.
Kelly-Heald did get the assist but other than that he wasn't really up to all that much in my view, and it was only the sleepiness of the Adelaide defense that allowed Kosta to sneak in to convert.
I fully expect Ball & Sutton to be restored to the XI against Perth
Ben Old was far less effective in a front three role than he has been from midfield, and Kelly-Heald being put in at left back (presumably because he'd be a better 1v1 defender against Irankunda) didn't really work out so well either.
Kelly-Heald did get the assist but other than that he wasn't really up to all that much in my view, and it was only the sleepiness of the Adelaide defense that allowed Kosta to sneak in to convert.
I fully expect Ball & Sutton to be restored to the XI against Perth
Cant be too unhappy about the end result, Italiano clearly has two tactical plans, one for home and one for away games. Both seem to be based around the counter attack model but away we sit deeper and invite the press and hit on the counter with our pace out wide, hence Old getting more starts. Kosta seems to be loving this new style and Kraev seems to be taking to it as well. it will be interesting to see if anythign changes when Zawada is back and fit. We have the highest conversion rate of shots on goal to goals scored, which is awesome. We had 8 shots last night, 4 on target and scored twice. Compare that to Adelaide who had 28 shots with 7 on target and scored twice. Yes, I'd like us to have more shots but not just wildly being struck in the direction of the goal as the reds were doing. We have to remember this is the first season with this style of footy for the team - its a work in progress. Fot us to be at the top of the table at this stage of the league is insanity, ignoring what all the experts said at the start of the season (and even some "experts" on here) that we were gonna finish dead last because we had no stars and were reliant on too many young kids. We have two losses and those were down to teams that manages to work the press very well and caught us on some mistakes, last night showed some improvement on dealing with the high press, their goals came from some very nice play and movement by their Japanese import Ibusuki. Who had a massive mismatch on corners with
Al Taay marking him. Really needed a taller defender on him but maybe he was the experienced player who was heliping out the younger taller CB (Surman). Hard to know but Al Taay lost his man and he scored from a corner. The second goal was just a nice piece of iner play and a good shot low. Paulsen will probably expect to do better in the future if either situation occurs again.
Those calling for Rojaas to be called up and signed have got to be joking - he hasnt played since June 7 23 after leaving Colo colo due to not being selected, he played 170 minutes over three games last year so he's hardly gonna be football ready when (if) he arrives in Auckland. It'll be great to see him back in the Aleague but not in yellow and black.
I agree with Marto that the last 6 minutes when playing against 10 were a little frustrating, we should have been testing their keeper more - he was very average. But, if that is what Italiano wants the boys to be doing, looking for a gap and scoring then who am I to complain about it. Especially when we are not losing every away game, in fact we are actually winning away and home is back to being a fortress, and regardless of rule changes we are top of the league.
Al Taay marking him. Really needed a taller defender on him but maybe he was the experienced player who was heliping out the younger taller CB (Surman). Hard to know but Al Taay lost his man and he scored from a corner. The second goal was just a nice piece of iner play and a good shot low. Paulsen will probably expect to do better in the future if either situation occurs again.
Those calling for Rojaas to be called up and signed have got to be joking - he hasnt played since June 7 23 after leaving Colo colo due to not being selected, he played 170 minutes over three games last year so he's hardly gonna be football ready when (if) he arrives in Auckland. It'll be great to see him back in the Aleague but not in yellow and black.
I agree with Marto that the last 6 minutes when playing against 10 were a little frustrating, we should have been testing their keeper more - he was very average. But, if that is what Italiano wants the boys to be doing, looking for a gap and scoring then who am I to complain about it. Especially when we are not losing every away game, in fact we are actually winning away and home is back to being a fortress, and regardless of rule changes we are top of the league.
There were a couple of likely goals on either side only saved by the post. One by Clough (but that one was against the outer side of the post) and by Ibusuki (a true rocket against the upright or a post that ricocheted all the way back to Mars). The shot off the post by Pennington was probably more of a speculative one, but it did not bounce back to any of our guys lurking.
Wooten does his job
There is card bonanza on here for the Spelling Ref. I've seen both Wooten & Wooton.
How hard is it to spell Wootan?
Wotton. Seems it's the 4 letter combinations where folks come unstuck. You ever get Zawada wrong give yourself an upper cut.
*sigh*
WOOTTON.
Shoot me
Honestly I think if we could just sort out our inability to retain possession in the midfield when we get pressed we'd be winning everything. We conceded a huge amount of shots the last two matches and most of it came from us giving up cheap possession. If we sort that out we win the league.
We must fix it fast though, a better team would have scored a couple more against us.
Still, I'm happy with a draw in Adelaide.
We must fix it fast though, a better team would have scored a couple more against us.
Still, I'm happy with a draw in Adelaide.
Happy with a draw in Adelaide. Even though we play on the counter as well, we could've slowed the game down at specific points to break Adelaide's rhythm purely because they relish fast-paced games. There were some stages when we did, and we looked good and created chances.
The Wellington Phoenix attempt the fewest shots per 90 in the A-League Men’s (10.09) and allow the most (19.27)
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) January 4, 2024
They also have the highest conversion rates for (15% of total shots, 29% of shots on target) and lowest rates against (5% shots, 17% on target)
Quality > Quantity
Overall an enjoyable game of football. Some of the typical frustrations but even as my short time as a nix fan, getting a positive result there of any kind is great. We soaked up pressure well but definitely felt like we were a bit lightweight in the middle. The goals were cheap once again, why does no one like marking the posts anymore?!?
Intrigued to see how we match up over the next couple of games. Any news of when Zawada is back?
Intrigued to see how we match up over the next couple of games. Any news of when Zawada is back?
The one against Sydney was the biggest shock. Even with Paulsen’s mistakes we then had 3-4 layers of defense that would usually kick in and frustrate the opposition. Rufer/Pennington or Al-Taay and their FBs, then Sootton Hoo/Surman and finally Paulsen himself.
The shock was not the mistake it was that the first layer wasn’t there, Surman dived in and got beaten and Paulsen couldn’t lay a glove on the shot.
It’s not something we’ve seen happen much in 11 rounds and requires bypassing 5 layers of protection.
Yet it happened 1 and 1/2 times against Sydney.
Adelaide seemed a bit different. But we got up twice and then gave it back twice. Still conceded 2 or more twice. A worrying thing.
The shock was not the mistake it was that the first layer wasn’t there, Surman dived in and got beaten and Paulsen couldn’t lay a glove on the shot.
It’s not something we’ve seen happen much in 11 rounds and requires bypassing 5 layers of protection.
Yet it happened 1 and 1/2 times against Sydney.
Adelaide seemed a bit different. But we got up twice and then gave it back twice. Still conceded 2 or more twice. A worrying thing.
I might be wrong here, but my thought is that we need to mix our game plan from time to time. Under Italiano we had a new defensive setup working well early on in the season, well enough for enough game points gained to lead the ladder by Christmas break. I don't think our defense (or midfield) are now suddenly worse than early in the season; I reckon that other coaches have sussed out by now how to get around it. As others have said, a Devlin or a Bonevacia type player is what could make the difference. Old seems to be tried in that role, not sure if he has enough physical presence for that type of work (but he has excellent vision).
Overall an enjoyable game of football. Some of the typical frustrations but even as my short time as a nix fan, getting a positive result there of any kind is great. We soaked up pressure well but definitely felt like we were a bit lightweight in the middle. The goals were cheap once again, why does no one like marking the posts anymore?!?
Intrigued to see how we match up over the next couple of games. Any news of when Zawada is back?
Intrigued to see how we match up over the next couple of games. Any news of when Zawada is back?
OZ might be a couple or 3 weeks probably. Had fluid in his thigh.
He’ll be fine, they gave him a tap on the knee ;-)
We were indeed very lucky to draw that. We will drop to third by the end of this round and we have our third away game in a row against Perth next before hosting the Victory. Might be reverting to the mean here boys
WSW lose 0-1 to Mariners. Nix will finish the round either 1st or 2nd.
VUC win in Perth they go top, any other result the Nix will say 1st for another week. Go the Glory.
Bummer. VUC get a 96th min winner (Folami), to go first with a 3-2 win. Looked like the Glory had snatched a draw, levelling at 2-2 in the 89th min.
Perth played the whole 2nd half with 10 men. 2nd yellow for Kamau in 46th min.
Unite Round in Sydney next weekend, the VUC play Mariners & the day after the Nix play Perth.
Perth played the whole 2nd half with 10 men. 2nd yellow for Kamau in 46th min.
Unite Round in Sydney next weekend, the VUC play Mariners & the day after the Nix play Perth.
Bummer. VUC get a 96th min winner (Folami), to go first with a 3-2 win. Looked like the Glory had snatched a draw, levelling at 2-2 in the 89th min.
Perth played the whole 2nd half with 10 men. 2nd yellow for Kamau in 46th min.
Unite Round in Sydney next weekend, the VUC play Mariners & the day after the Nix play Perth.
Perth played the whole 2nd half with 10 men. 2nd yellow for Kamau in 46th min.
Unite Round in Sydney next weekend, the VUC play Mariners & the day after the Nix play Perth.
Also wrong thread- but Cameron Cook keeps up that form and Oli is guna have splinters on his splinters.