​Is this the weakest Phoenix team ever?

All too rare unfortunately.

Honestly wasn’t a horrific question to raise at the time of posting. Looking at all this with an eye for criticism, you could have questioned a few things about the team - Mandi had half a lung, no Sheridan, very late news on signings, starting a broken Fenton and unproven Rufer, playing two 33+ year olds and a left back in a three-man defense, signing supposed washouts Williams and Nichols, trusting a 17 year old at left wing back, basing all our attack through a raw teenager, rookie coach... 

Obviously we were completely proven wrong (well, maybe not with Nichols eh) and the team functioned incredibly, but there was reason to be tentative - I know I certainly was, especially after those humbling losses to City and WSW

So to invert the original question a bit, it was posed to me at the last game that the current Rufer and Mandi midfield combination might be 'the best' central midfield two we have had.

I honestly screwed up my face like a 2 year old sucking a lemon. 

But perhaps he was right... which other combo would you say is better? 

Brown and Lia from that 09/10 10/11 period? (obviously with a touch of McKain helping out)

Surely nothing with Dani Sanchez, Ward and Alex Smith... functional but not exactly grabbing the game by the scruff.

Riera and Lia in Ernie's first year? Possibly on paper but they weren't that great and not exactly something that will unpick defences. 

Maybe the next year with Riera and Roly (with WeeMac joining in).

It possibly illustrates just how weak our midfields tend to be... so are Rufer and Mandi the best yet?

I kept faith through the bad period of excessive defence because of the pre-season game against Victory. And because Krishna, Williams, Singh and Burnsy seemed like a bunch of goals. Remember Burns played decently, just with the yips in front of goal at the start of our run.