Ernie! Shout Out To Sydney For The Point
The Wellington Phoenix will return back to the safe, green pastures of Aotearoa with a point. Their Sydney excursion ended with a 0-0 draw against Sydney FC last Thursday and while all that sounds very underwhelming, away draws are generally rather satisfying.
What will satisfy Ernie! the most should be the work of his defenders and midfield in keeping the Sky Blues scoreless. Without Ben Sigmund, the Nix won turnovers in the midfield thanks to the typically great work from Albert Riera (once again leader of the interceptions with five - the most of any player on the field) with help from Alex Rodriquez and Louis Fenton, who was pushed up the field after spending a few seasons as a fullback. Fenton didn't feature heavily in attack - no Nix player did - however he did showcase his workrate and speed in defence.
Who knows what Ernie! is thinking regarding Fenton though as he did slide back to right-back to make way for Blake Powell. I certainly wouldn't be upset to see Fenton given more game time in a wide right position.
The Phoenix were once again hamstrung by an inability to make the most of any attacking movement. Whether it was winning a turnover in the middle of the park or passing their way out of deep-defence, the Nix looked great until they tried and failed to link up in the attacking third.
In theory, having Michael McGlinchey and Roly Bonevacia create for each other and Roy Krishna should be a thing of beauty. In reality, it can be painful. Regardless of who had the ball they would usually be all alone moving forward which can partly be put down to the counter-attacking nature of the Phoenix away from home, although given how often this is the case it forms a worrying trend with this Nix team. I've been repeat about this for a while now as the Nix either attack down the flanks with no one in the middle to cross/pass to or they opt for short, sharp passing through the middle which is easily countered by teams who clog the middle of the field ... we barely saw any of this against Sydney though as attacking movements fell apart before this stage.
This 0-0 draw saw no shots on target from the Nix, four shots from outside the box and two from inside the box. That's rather shitty from a Phoenix team with what I consider to be some of the best attacking players in the A-League and even in the loss to the Western Sydney Wanderers before this game, it was Manny Muscat who curled the only goal in. As the Nix players settle back into their home routines after this Sydney excursion, I'm left with the yucky taste of a fumbling attack.
I guess now it's the opportune moment to rip into Graham Arnold, coach of Sydney FC. This ol' geezer piped up about cynical fouls slowing things down and funnily enough, his group of Sky Blues were audacious enough to commit 29 fouls. Besides the immense stupidity of this at the hands of Sydney FC, it did hinder the attack of the Phoenix to an extent.
Such has been the up and down nature of the way the Phoenix attack - it was only a few weeks ago that they looked like a team of footballin' wizards - we know that they could turn it on at any moment. While the Phoenix will be eyeing up a clinical display from their attacking troopers, we've witnessed two examples of a stingy defence which ensured that they almost snuck away from Sydney with more than a point. This defence will be called on once again this weekend against the Melbourne Victory ... who sit at the top of the table.
Back in 7th spot on the ladder are the Phoenix and as the Victory possess the most lethal group of attacking players in the A-League, it will be a timely moment for the Phoenix to roll out one of their dazzling performances in front of a bunch of Aucklanders.
We're eight games into the season, so here's the team that I want to see in action come Saturday night: Moss, Muscat, Durante, Sigmund, Gulley, Riera, Rodriquez, Fenton, Bonevacia, McGlinchey, Krishna.