Ernie! The Glory Of Reality
So the Wellington Phoenix have played Adelaide and Perth, two of the best teams in the A-League and they've lost to both of them. Granted both games formed a wee bit of a troubling road trip, but the manner in which the Phoenix lost has got to be a wee bit disappointing too. Not disappointing enough to seek answers, but the type of disappointing that just makes you kinda sad.
Hater...
The Nix headed to Perth, lost 2-1 and they'll be heading back to Aotearoa keen to put together a performance that sends excitement through their faithful. Against the Glory, they had a fair amount of the ball by the end thanks to some dick getting a red card for a terrible tackle (just 17 seconds after being subbed on) and then strutting off the field like he was cool, no you're a dick. You're a dick who used to play for the Newcastle Jets, so you're that much more of a dick.
Following that red card, the Nix had the extra man so it's fair enough that they had more of the ball, but it wasn't good that they couldn't take advantage of it. By that stage they were already 2-0 down and the Glory were playing them off the park. Both of the Glory's goals came from cheeky little crosses, not booming ones from out wide but pin point crosses from the edge of the box. The issue here is a double whammy, both crosses had a Glory attacker stuff the ball in to the net with the Nix defender in a bad position - the Glory attackers simply wanted the ball more than the Nix defenders. The fact that Perth put in 20 crosses to 12 from the Nix, plus 8 shots inside the box to 3 from the Nix, the Nix were once again out played. The fullbacks just got slaughtered.
All momentum that was earned before this road trip that coincided with the international window, has been thrown into the flames that we hope the Phoenix can rise from. Not ideal, but not the end of the world as the Nix sit in 5th and will welcome a little Scottish lad back in to the fold. Hopefully Michael McGlinchey can get the ball and shovel it on to another Wellington player because there's a desperate need for some quality passing, especially going forwards. McGlinchey won't come back and save the day, but hopefully his presence will get the team firing.
We've been given glimpses of what each player is capable of - Albert Riera has shown he's still really good, Roly Poly has had a few impressive appearances, Roy Krishna has been dynamic for a few moments (nice penalty, too), Nathan Burns has been the most consistent and we've started to see Tyler Boyd get some solid game time. It's all been to up and down, though. That's the problem, for the Nix to start to be a threat they need to string together consistent performances as individuals and as a team.
Who are ya!? Ruben Zadkovich, dick.
Nek Week the Nix face Melbourne City who sit a spot below the Nix on the ladder. The Nix have a long way to go to just get close to Sydney FC in fourth, but it starts with a solid performance at home this week. It's the perfect game to get back on track as it's a slightly easier contest than their last two and it's at home, but we need to start witnessing some signs of life, asap.