2017/18 Phoenix Preseason

pretty hard to not mention Paraki or whatever his name is, he put himself about plenty.. Otherwise we could pick plenty of Auckland players and not be worse off.

Paracki and Singh the best on Martin Luckie today for me.

Basalaj the best keeper in Wellington.

As for Rogerson, he might have scored two but he was also quite wasteful. A good game from him but I am still not sure about him overall.

I saw McGlinchey there but not playing? Surely he will be in the starting 11

Played in the first game didn't he? Team v ACFC a mock run for next Sunday, when McGlinchey, Doyle, Durante will be with the All Whites.

Ah yep....got it. He might replace Ridenton?

Think you have your Singhs and Rogersons muddled. If the player didn't look up and was wasteful it was one if he played well and scored he was Singh

Why you need hands?

We need a "WTF are you on about?" button next to the "This!"

he's an important minor character in the final denouement of treasure island

any combinations shaping up? 

relying on Finkler is going to be problematic?

If Ridenton can slot in corners like he apparently did yesterday, we can let Gui go if he doesn't shape up quickly.

He was terrible. And Darije was very unimpressed with his performance.

I wouldn't be shocked if Dura and Mullen are the CB combo in Round 2.

Roly Mk 2?

Wasn't Rossi given an extended holiday or something over the break which meant he's behind the curve getting up to match fitness? I remember something about something like that as part of the general shambles?

He was given an extended break because he was getting married.

Perhaps his motivation is not quite there after last seasons shambles.

interesting that the coach wasn't impressed with the calibre of our pre season and at the last minute obviously forced the beuracrats of the Phoenix to grow the balls and play Auckland city 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/97430527/harder-preseason-needed-in-the-future-if-wellington-phoenix-want-to-start-strong

Didn't the Phoenix want to play Auckland but ACFC wanted to play on Waiheke which the Phoenix said no to? Besides, I don't know what the "grow the balls" thing means, they play A-League teams and also the best team in the Premiership for the last two years.

Nonsense comment.

It does seem as though we're underdone compared to previous years, it shows just how important getting through that first round of FFA cup is for our pre-season. Still, if we've learnt anything from the A-League it's that the most important thing is that you peak at the right time of the year.

he also lost the plot once after losing out, and looked to be out for vengeance. He will be liability if he keeps that up.

are you talking about Rossi or Mullen?

Given Dura is also one of the slowest A League players we got caught square a lot last year. That’s why we always revert to sitting so deep which means our midfield has an impossible job of shutting down the space. 

I was genuinely surprised by the result against a very underdone ACFC side. But ACFC are as good as half of the A league sides- just not the half the Nix need to beat. 

We sat on the bank at the end so had a nice view of some of the work around the goal mouth. I thought we were just still lacking the killer creativity, directness and touch in front of goal.  And too many guys just cycling the ball.  One of few exceptions was Ridenton getting a ball outside the box central and taking a snap shot wide. Instead of pushing it back or wide again. 

Plays that suggest where we are at: 

Krishna had the ball just outside the box having cut in and beaten a player. Kaludjerovic was signalling for the ball to his feet just above the six yard box and there was a line for Krishna to run to follow the pass and decoy or take a return lay off for a close range shot.  Alt. Kaludj to turn his defender and shoot.  But Krishna turns and passes it back to Paracki. At which point Kaludjerovic started going off at Krishna. Another ocassion Kaludj was holding the offside line near the top of the box and Finkler looked to weight a ball just in behind. Looked the right play and Kaludj anticipated and turned and went for it but Finkler had badly over hit it and put his head in his hands. Other times Krishna or Dario got in behind and were trying to find Kaludj but the defence was too deep and compressed and were able to block and hold position in front of Kaludj or get first to the ball. Seemed typical of where we were at. And had a familiar feel. 

If those combinations and touches start gelling we'll be right. And maybe a few more early shots from the top of the box to force the D to come to us more and make space in the box. 

In general play Paracki still looks good but winning the midfield with Finkler quite a way in front of him is going to need some good work from the fullbacks and Ridenton/McG. ACFC were quick to get massed behind the ball so you'd have to say our transition wasn't direct enough and was mostly going through width. We were trying some longer ball stuff to get forward quickly but with pretty ordinary results. 

Tend to agree Rossi didn't look as comanding and a bit off his game.  But hey he's Series A Italian and this is pre-season in Wellington.. Hopefully no issues there. 

Some tidy stuff but seemed to me that was a bit off top A League pace and finish. Early days still and a lot of new combos so still fairly positive how we might develop. But they have definitely got improvement to work on. 

Not related to the games itself, but am I the only one that thinks the setup for something advertised as a community/family day was piss poor?

I realize Nix were hampered by the council in terms of letting anyone onto the pitches, but having gone along with my wife and 9 m/o , the options for the first game were either stand outside a chain link fence, or scramble up a bank and perch on the edge to try and watch. I wonder what their public liability insurance would be like had anyone slipped off those banks?

Hopefully they use their brains next time and have it somewhere where people can actually sit. There's plenty of venues around the city that would of worked better.

Given all this, bets on Darije quitting midway through the season, like Ernie, frustrated at the incompetence of the set up and the attitude of the players?

7 of that starting 11 were pretty much Darije and Rado's signings so an attitude problem (or a losing mentality inherited from previous seasons) shouldn't be an issue. With a new coach and majority of a new starting 11  it is disappointing to see that it does seem like something is missing.

Abbas looks weaker than Doyle for me, and even though Ridenton did well on saturday, we cannot let the midfield get overrun. I'd like to see Abbas there after round 1 and use his energy to apply pressure. 

Finkler hopefully will be dropped and Mcglinchey can replace him.

Yep, remember that, it was right in front of me. If he does that in league games, he'll earn a few suspensions.

I thought Abbas was excellent. Super-comfortable at the back, was also able to press in midfield along with Dario that got City in tough spots that they could get out of because Finkler was not on the same page pressing-wise. He also has a quality touch, and looked to go forward at every opportunity.

I thought abbas was not great seemed to get gassed every time on defence and not reading the defensive play very well meaning the cb was having to cover him a lot. But that was just my thought from the first half from where i was sitting. Thought he did ok moving forward though

For me Abbas was confortably distributing out from the back, and when he bombed forward he seemed indecisive. Either aimlessly crossing early or turning back when something was on. Didnt link up well with McGarry. 

Did that happen once last season in his 7 yellows?..or maybe it was pre season as well.  Stand to be corrected.

Apologies as a bit off topic, but how would ACFC now go in a 27 game A League season, esp if this squad of players (with it seems with more Kiwis than previous), got to train as full time professionals? 

As a Kiwi in Aussie, still puzzles me that a greater city of 1.3 million odd has no presence in A League. Of course realise that is a whole other story. 

They pretty much do train full time as professionals.

It was against Wests in the pre-season wasn't it?

They'd have to lose a bit of foreign before you could start making an argument on this.

Again: the real reason is that the Kingz/Knights ended up a disaster and a tragedy even worse than Gold Coast and the Furries. Also, because there's no adequate stadium. Eden Park's too big and expensive, NHS is out in the wilds and Mt Smart is about to fall over.

Move first class cricket off Eden Park no 2, and develop it as a boutique 15,000 seat stadium for football and rugby. Cardiff has a similar setup - major international rugby/football stadium of 80,000 seats, then much smaller club rugby stadium next door. No idea whether this could work with local Mt Eden residential night time event restrictions?????

The baggage of previous Akld A League failures - I have no idea how to solve. Sorry wrong thread I know, and this debate has been flogged to death elsewhere - just that ACFC have assembled a squad with pretty good depth (needs a few more Australasian players admittedly) that think would be at least be competitive at a level up, week in, week out

The reason the Knights fell over was because Aucklanders could not be bothered to turn up to the games.

They could be competitive but playing in front of 597 at QBE isn't economically viable.

A second stadium on the outer oval would be a lot more expensive than most people would think. You'd have to pay for a new cricket ground as Auckland cricket have rights to it in the deed. Then there's the noise/light pollution issue with resource consent. Currently EP are allowed only 25 night games a year and none on Sundays - see recent day night test cricket dispensation.