R4 vs Brisbane Roar | Sat 28th Oct | 7:35pm | RoF

Coming off the last two games we looked really impressive. Looking forward to this

Roar haven't been great so far, rather important we pick up the 3 points next week.

Wots the news on the injury front?  Whats up with central defenders and their groins??? Dura and now the Italian. Hope Finkler can play some part..we need his creativity

There's a chance Durante is available - he's had a cortisone shot. Rossi is a biiiig miss though, hopefully he can shake these nagging injuries.

I'm fully expecting us to win this, and comfortably based on performances so far. Kaludjerovic needs to be involved more but I think when Gui returns we'll see that a little more. There's a lot to like about how we're playing and I'm as excited about watching us play as I have been in a long time.

I have never witnessed fans being so positive after we have lost two games. It says a lot about how the team are playing despite those results and fans can see what is trying to be achieved. Fire up? Shark, I'm fired up for next week already, I can't wait!!

Shirts off already!

We've shown some very promising signs against tough opponents thus far. Now would love to see us collecting 3 points from the Roar at home. After that, we have Jets away, and Glory at home, I think these are three out of four teams we need to finish above to make the six at the end of the season. If we can turn these good performances into points over the next few weeks, this could put us on track for a memorable season. 

I didn't make it to any games last year due to the birth of my son and general new parent sleep deprivation, a whole run of sharkty luck, and basic cash flow issues. This will be the first game I've been to since the end of the 2015-16 season and I'm getting mega-amped for it, especially as we actually look like a decent football team for once!

Yep; though if we don't start getting results soon that opitism will quickly fade.

I am a big fan of how Darije has responded to questions - he explains things clearly and succinctly; and I think you can see this in how the team has performed thus far. Everyone seems to know their responsibilities and everyone is fighting hard for each other. We just need a bit more quality up front.

Can't wait for Brisbane. If we keep developing our pattern like this, we are in for one helluva ride down the track.

We won't be the finished product for a while. Too many defensive injuries, WC and need more games together.

But most teams are going to battle to stay with us by December.   

All the positivity on here is making me very uneasy.

I'll be very interested to see how their new French recruit slots in. Impressive CV, but the team chemistry will have a big question mark over it

Was he in the country on another visa and potentially training with them or has he just flown in?

Gods I hope we win.  I am looking forward to Saturday night football.

I just realised we will be probably be 9th at the end of this round. 

Something I haven't seen mentioned much - Durante's 5 games away from being the player with the most games ever in the A-League, usurping Danny Vukovic who's now in Belgium. Can't wait for him to get back to fitness to smash that record, hopes he makes the field against Brisbane

Greetings from Iraq. This is my first post on Yellow Fever. Thanks to those who provided the link to stream last weeks game. I'm quietly confident that this squad will get better as the season progresses, starting with a win at home against the Roar this week... What's the story with Gui? He'd be a handy addition to the team right now.

I'm in the process of relocating to the wonderful city of Wellington (We've got the wind, the rain and the Phoenix) at the end of January as my wife and I are expecting our first child and want her to live somewhere where she doesn't need a flack jacket.... Look forward to getting to know you online and getting to the Cake Tin for a few games in the new year.                 

Excuse the unintended pun considering where you are but a very warm welcome to the site. Congratulations on your impending arrival with a baby and safe travels in getting here.

I hope we win

Yeh, the only place you need a flak jacket in Wellington is here on this forum!

So good to see the work ethic of the team at such a high standard - no more Bonevacia and Barbarouses giving up in the 70th minute, the culture of the team seems like it's centered on hard work and teamwork. Vidosic and Roy were fantastic in getting stuck in with their defensive duties, yet still had the energy to get back up the pitch quickly and play some great, attractive football. Really impressed so far, so wins against Brisbane and Perth at home are a must, given the standard of football we're playing. Newy are proving they're pretty decent this season too though, so an away draw would be okay but I still reckon we have the class to take them out away from home.

Agreed

(Anti-jinx) 

You forget that the Nix have been playing shark teams back into form since forever.

I also wear the flak jacket in Lower Hutt. As per my username, I'm the lone Australian in a family of die-hard Kiwis... It's especially useful during the quad-nations/Bledisloe Cup... Might also keep me warm at the Cake Tin when the southerly picks up.

Welcome aboard. There are quite a few of us on the forum with strange passports and even stranger accents so you'll feel at home from day one. And some of us - as you might have read - also had to cope with childbirth during the Phoenix season, so we're all very familiar with that particular combination of joy and pain.

POST-MATCH UPDATE | For one week only our post-match function will be at @BethelWoods1969 this Saturday after #WELvBRI - Get along! #COYN pic.twitter.com/psnvrKxI5Z

— Wellington Phoenix (@WgtnPhoenixFC) October 24, 2017

Really looking forward to this. 3 more sleeps!

Battle for the spoon!. Cum on Nixs!!!.

Looking forward to the game. Strange that we have not won a game yet, but feel more positive about the coming season than for a while.

My team for this game assuming all fit

               Smith

Galloway  Mullen  Rossi  Abbas

       Parki         Ridenton

 Krishna    McGlinchey    Vid

                AK 

On the bench -Finkler, Parkhouse, Italiao, Doyle, (?-Undecided Rufer or another centre back just in case-Fox)

Anyway like the way the team seems to be developing and Ridenton seems to have really taken off under the new coaching set up.

Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 2.Daniel MULLEN, 3.Scott GALLOWAY, 4.Goran PARACKI, 7.Gui FINKLER, 8.Dario VIDOSIC, 9.Andrija KALUDJEROVIC, 10.Michael McGLINCHEY, 11.Hamish WATSON, 12.Adam PARKHOUSE, 14.Alex RUFER, 17.Ali ABBAS, 19.Thomas DOYLE, 21.Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE, 23.Matthew RIDENTON, 24.Logan ROGERSON, 30.Keegan SMITH (gk)

**two to be omitted**

Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 2.Dane INGHAM, 3.Luke DEVERE, 6.Avram PAPADOPOULOS, 9.Massimo MACCARONE, 10.Brett HOLMAN, 13.Jade NORTH, 14.Fahid BEN KHALFALLAH, 16.Mitchell OXBORROW, 17.Matt MCKAY (c), 18.Joe CALETTI, 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Eric BAUTHEAC, 24.Connor O’TOOLE, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 33.Petros SKAPETIS

**two to be omitted**

Durante is back, the new fitness coach we appointed today must be a miracle worker!

...announced today.

In the Matrix world 8 weeks is equivalent to 8 days!!

Yeah, there does seem to be a different vibe to this season, so far.

I could see the headline from recent years, 'Under Fire Phoenix: Win(g)less Start To Season Continues'.

I think the change in attitude is because it is clearly obvious what the new coaching team are trying to achieve and the players are responding to it. It hasn't quite come off yet, but then we have played the top 2 sides "away". Someone is going to get thrashed by the Nix when it all comes together properly.

What are our predictions for this game? I reckon we will dominate, but the score will be close. We've played much better than the outcomes of our first three games suggest, and while Brisbane can't exactly say the same. They'll be desperate to avoid a 4th straight loss, so they'll have to go all out when (if) we score first. I predict a 3-2 win for the nix. Two goals for Krishna and one for AK. Brisbane will score a scrappy goal with Maccarone and Brett Holman will score a stunner. Heard it here first fellas.

I would not underestimate Ben Kalfallah who is always a hard working and dangerous customer.

Phoenix Banner - Maccarone Cheese? Or might that inspire him to score a hattrick?

Brisbane are not a bad side at all. We had better not underestimate them.

Then again, it could just be a 0-0 snore-a-thon.

Or, we're painfully pipped 1-0, like it was last year. That loss really dented our momentum, early in the new year.

I remember that game and thought we were "undercooked".

Brisbane simply lasted longer - played till the final whistle while we somehow ran out of ideas in second half, not sure why. It might have been our lack of Plan B and everyone knew what to do to shut us down, then.