Ernie! All Bark No Roar, But A Reminder
It was an odd game in Brisbane last night between the Wellington Phoenix and the Brisbane Roar as both teams welcomed back their Socceroos and the Roar welcomed back some of their troopers. It was odd for our Phoenix because they lost the game thanks to some pretty poor efforts in defence and in the midfield while on attack, they were all good but only scraped through to two goals thanks to a funky goal from Kenny Cunningham.
The Roar scored the winner late in the match to make it 3-2 to hand the Phoenix a defeat that they kind of deserved but one that they would definitely be pretty pissed off at. Defence is the making of any dominant sports team and that was probably the most worrying aspect of the Nix's defeat in Brisbane, that the Roar scored their goals far too easily.
It's probably a timely reminder that while the Nix have the talent going forward, they won't win A-League games by turning the ball over cheaply in midfield. Nor will they go deep in to the finals with opponents finding themselves wide open in the box to nod it in to the net.
It looks like it's a fine line between being a solid defender/slick passer and a liability for Ben Sigmund. The poor fella hit an early clearance straight to a Roar player which resulted in a shot just wide, he (along with Andrew Durante) then allowed some Roar joker a free header from a corner which was slotted and then gave up the winner as he let his man drift in behind him to nod it home. Definitely not the best effort from Sigmund in Brisbane, but from what we've seen from Siggy this season, this should be a one off performance and it's kind of nice to put this loss down to a few poor performances instead of being beaten all ends up.
Oh, but happy birthday mate
Sigmund wasn't alone, Vinnie Lia is earning a great reputation as the turnover king. He seems to struggle with multiple opponents putting him under the pump with the severity of his turnovers seemingly un-matched in the league. But once again, it's all good as Lia is a decent servant and shouldn't be starting too many games as the Nix look to re-established their midfield of Albert Riera, Roly Bonevacia and Alex Rodriquez.
I've highlighted the strength of that core, the foundations of the Phoenix with Sigmund and Durante working hard in combination with Riera and the midfield. This wasn't the case against the Roar and the Nix were punished, but it should be a nice wake up call as the Nix weren't far off getting the win, let alone a draw.
Up front, the movement of Nathan Burns and Roy Krishna is beautiful. It's movement with pace which makes it incisive and it was a joy to see these two linking up with each other and Michael McGlinchey, I've missed it.
Who Are Ya!? Nathan Burns, mate first of all congratulations on your efforts with the Dingos, secondly, welcome back. Loved your work as usual and hopefully you don't follow your mate Tim Cahill and chase the Chinese dosh. Stick it out chief, help the Nix do something cray cray.
Nek Week The lads take on Western Sydney, in Sydney. This is nothing less than a 'shit we need to win this one' game for a few reasons. The Nix have slipped to fourth and while we'll all be pretty happy if they just made the finals, there's not many points between them and the Perth Glory in first. It's also a big game because it's away from home and the Nix are coming off of a game that should serve as a reminder of the standards needed. Against the Roar, it looked as though, amongst the moments of excitement and class, that vintage Nix habits were creeping in. The loss to the Roar will hopefully push the Nix back up a gear and hopefully we'll see them get back on the wagon against the Wanderers, but if we see those old Nix habits again, then, well, eww yuck.