Wellington Woes For Wanderering ACL Champs

24 matches to go boys.. Plenty of time

Mullen was channeling his inner CB when he made the wrong run inside that led to the goal

 

 

A bit disappointing but hey, our attack looks great. I'm still not 100% sure why Juric drops back so far and so wide to get the ball, like he crossed the ball twice - he should've been on the end of crosses, not crossing the ball himself!

 

Adeleke looks fantastic, I was quite worried about him but he looks the goods - great tackler, so it seems.

Poor result. Decent performance.

A few more weeks of misery then your patience will be rewarded, hang in there.

Mack please change the tittle to Wullington please

We always play crap at Wellington. Unfortunately that's where we are going straight after Morocco as well. Never mind. Let's go forwards and remember. The only way is up.

like i said in previous posts....looked class in patches, probably need to stop trying these flicks and take more shots on target. Am disapointed with the result however because i felt we did enough to at least score one in the game. Should have also made more subs for tired legs. But anyway onwards we go.

Erdz wrote

 

 

Am I the only one who enjoyed Phoenix' active support?

 

I'll just get my coat now.

 

 

I enjoyed a few tunes, especially when they sang the celtic I just can't get enough chant.

Did we do a last post and minutes silence for remembrance day on Tuesday before our game??

like how they just did for adelaide v smurfs?

 

I saw the players lining up for a while before our game but I assumed that was for Johnny Warren

 

Erdz wrote

 

 

Am I the only one who enjoyed Phoenix' active support?I'll just get my coat now.

 

 

I enjoyed a few tunes, especially when they sang the celtic I just can't get enough chant.

Maybe I didn't have the volume up enough but I couldn't hear them for ****

Fapman on the other thread being an absolute ***** again I see

I must've been seeing a different Adeleke because I didn't find him all that crash hot.

I understand he probably isn't fully match fit, and he did have some good moments but I found him sitting too far in at times giving space on the outside. He looked good at chasing down and tackling but that space should not have been given in first place.

I'll put his earlier than expected fatigue down to not being match fit yet which is understandable. I think the good moments showed great promise, but I think Popa needs to work on him a bit more.

 

Castalen however, he's really impressed me. He's gonna be a gun player.

Fapman on the other thread being an absolute ***** again I see

I have a gif of a certain Al hilal player sharing his bodily fluids ready for him

midfield ran out of legs and creativity and we had perkatus on the bench who did not travel. mmmm

Fapman on the other thread being an absolute ***** again I see

It's just people's way of trying to get back at us, they had how many years to get a result in the ACL ?

Our tactics were too negative. The 4 defenders and 2 DMs stayed too deep which meant the wingers and Juric were isolated up front. Our only tactic when in possession was to boot it down the flanks and hope Tha Castelan or Ruka can beat a player and create something. The only times we looked good attacking were when the players got closer together and made runs for each other.

Did we even press?

 

The upside was that all new guys and youth players looked good, Castelan is a beast and I like Adeleke's touch and pace.Ruka still a bit rusty but will be a gun.

 

I thought we improved in the second half, and we'll keep improving against Perth.

Had to turn the volume down, commentators were giving me brain cancer.

Cmon Popa, less fitness drills this week and more teamwork and tactics.

midfield ran out of legs and creativity and we had perkatus on the bench who did not travel. mmmm

I would of thought more subs could have been made for the tired legs. I hope that we will one day see our strongest 11 on the park together which didnt happen much in the past 2 seasons due to injury, rotation etc. Ruka looked very lethal on the wing and castellen was class when on the ball. Add saba into this line up in the middle and we have more creativity and fire power.

Our tactics were too negative. The 4 defenders and 2 DMs stayed too deep which meant the wingers and Juric were isolated up front. Our only tactic when in possession was to boot it down the flanks and hope Tha Castelan or Ruka can beat a player and create something. The only times we looked good attacking were when the players got closer together and made runs for each other.

Did we even press?

 

The upside was that all new guys and youth players looked good, Castelan is a beast and I like Adeleke's touch and pace.Ruka still a bit rusty but will be a gun.

 

I thought we improved in the second half, and we'll keep improving against Perth.

Had to turn the volume down, commentators were giving me brain cancer.

Cmon Popa, less fitness drills this week and more teamwork and tactics.

         

Was in cheers and we got a decent turnout. Maybe 20 fans. A point would have been fair but I dont want to complain too much yet as still on a high from last week. String three wins together and we will be ok. Premiership may have gone already but we can still win the a league. No doubt

Dissapointing result really. Should never have ipened up like that for the goal.

Where we lost it:

 

*Midfield. Another sluggish display from LaRocca. Trifiro really poor. You can tell how poor he was when even the lesser midfielders from phoenix in Lia looked far more productive. Just not comfortable under pressure and passing was horrible.

*The right side. Castelan was not at his best but damn he is stunted by Mullen. Not an overly poor defensive performances but just slow and useless with the ball is Mullen.

*And lastly, the obvious was finishing. We made chances just that final ball and shot lacked. We will be much better with Bridge or Saba. Fofanah did a good job for a 16year old! But just couldnt grab the midfield by the balls!

 

 

Positives are fitness for key new players. And damn Adeleke looks the goods! So assured. Tired off a litle but he will be great quality for us. Perhaps a shot at midfield becons the way hes so comfortable on the ball.

 

Also thought popa should have put on haliti way earlier on, either before the goal or definitely straight after.

Also need to get midfield more involved. Were very sucked in to iur acl tactics, ive been adamant all along we need to adjust it back in the a-league. 2 deep mids hugging the defence will not work and its not how we played the last 2 seasons in the a-league with Mooy involved.

Edited November 7, 2014 by DeeDee

Our tactics were too negative. The 4 defenders and 2 DMs stayed too deep which meant the wingers and Juric were isolated up front. Our only tactic when in possession was to boot it down the flanks and hope Tha Castelan or Ruka can beat a player and create something. The only times we looked good attacking were when the players got closer together and made runs for each other.

Did we even press?

The upside was that all new guys and youth players looked good, Castelan is a beast and I like Adeleke's touch and pace.Ruka still a bit rusty but will be a gun.

I thought we improved in the second half, and we'll keep improving against Perth.

Had to turn the volume down, commentators were giving me brain cancer.

Cmon Popa, less fitness drills this week and more teamwork and tactics.

This could answer Unlimited's question as to why Juric had to drop so far and play out so wide.

- Defensively I thought we were pretty solid tonight, a few half chances created but glad we can make so many changes and still look solid (think MV Rd 1)

- For me Mullen was the problem in defence tonight because he was found out so many times. Interesting that they really focused on Adeleke rather than him but thought first half he did plenty right in attack and defence. Mullen made plenty of lapses in the second half and lucky Spira was there to rescue us on more than one occasion. May become our D'apuzzo

- Adeleke, don't know where the criticism for Rudan came from, the penalty given against him was a joke, was it for Adeleke pulling WP player and why wasn't a free kick called when Adeleke was man handled? Anyway as someone said "A-League Refs and for the goal he was caught on the wrong side of his player, can't blame the whole goal on him.

- On the goal, Mullen was at fault for the goal at the start of the move. He stepped inside watching the man with the ball, leaving his man on the outside to drift wide which forced Spira to come across to cover him but never could be expected to make up the ground. As I said previously, the whole Adeleke thing, sure he was at fault for not being in front of burns but can't expect us to make an amateur mistake at the beginning of the move. Also ball was given away sloppy in midfield prior to them being on the front foot.

- There were a few nervy moments but overall I don't think they caused us too many headaches and second half apart from the penalty I don't think Covic had a save to make in the second half so was expecting a draw before they scored in 80mins

 

- I think Fofanah channeled his inner bridge, his work rate was just immense all over the park but at 16 yo can't be expected to boss too many defences as they were all over him not allowing him to get on the ball. What he did do, I really liked but still his presence wasn't felt and didn't get enough time on the ball to distribute which made it difficult for the two DCM's to play out so we looked really week in this regard. I feel this is why we didn't create enough clear chances and looked comfortable in possesion around half way but poor in the opposition half.

- Our DCM's, we all know what la Rocca provides and with no saba the weight of creating our moves relied on Trifiro who wasn't as good as we have seen him in Asia. He just couldn't get the ball forward good enough to our attacking weapons and couldn't create out from midfield (what Mooy really brought to our side, creating from lying deep in midfield) and with Fofanah not really getting on the ball too much made it difficult.

- Really liked Ruka and Castelen, they will really provide something to us this season but is going to take a few weeks to get on the same wave length as Saba and Juric

- Juric. Felt he tried to do too much today, got the ball and tried to take on the whole team, would have liked him to get on the ball a bit often in the final third as opposed to coming so deep to collect. Let the CAM get the ball to you in dangerous positions and use your team mates plenty more!!

- Most of our shots today were pretty poor, so many wayward or over the top. Would be nice to get some on target, maybe trying too hard?

 

Overall I feel many of our players haven't got the minutes in there legs that many would expect at this point in the season. Having used an ACL 11 many of the other players are realy going to need to get into things (Saba, Castelen, Ruka, Juric, Spira, Trifiro, Adeleke)! This time also means that combinations are going to take a little to gel together! This can only mean good things but I hope we start to get going sooner rather than later!

A lot of times we were way too slow in counter attacking n can we maybe cut the little flicks out until we're 3-0 up??? N we still can't shoot for shiit.......doesn't matter , 3 games gone, plenty to go , new boys look good though

midfield ran out of legs and creativity and we had perkatus on the bench who did not travel. mmmm

Are you serious?

Also Spira really needs to stop the jigging with the ball for so long. Nothing forward and no space to run go back or to topor straight away.

 

midfield ran out of legs and creativity and we had perkatus on the bench who did not travel. mmmm

I would of thought more subs could have been made for the tired legs. I hope that we will one day see our strongest 11 on the park together which didnt happen much in the past 2 seasons due to injury, rotation etc. Ruka looked very lethal on the wing and castellen was class when on the ball. Add saba into this line up in the middle and we have more creativity and fire power.

Agree with this! Could it have hurt to put Pertakis on the field, that's if he travelled (according to longball)

A pretty so-so game. We had some glimpses of great play and definitely look dangerous on the counter

 

Adeleke and Mullen were stand outs. Both for different reasons.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Vitor to own the midfield and connect our great defence with our super attack.

 

 

Does anyone else feel like everytime we get the ball we are being suffocated by the other team?

We always play crap at Wellington. Unfortunately that's where we are going straight after Morocco as well. Never mind. Let's go forwards and remember. The only way is up.

I thought of all our games against Wellington today was probably the best, usually we have a shocker and give them 100 chances!!

 

Fapman on the other thread being an absolute ***** again I see

It's just people's way of trying to get back at us, they had how many years to get a result in the ACL ?

Has he been a) watching our game b) through the loo seat again c) seen a different game as a result and d) has an urge to inform us about his insights? Poor lad. Considering the time he spends here, does he actually have any time left to share his insights with his hokoah blue buddies? It must be tough living in the west and to have the constant nagging feeling of not belonging. But from what I see there's plenty of 14 year olds in the cove. He should fit right in.