The Wellington Phoenix lost to Sydney FC 3-0. Did you know that? No one would hate you if you didn't know, there was a fair amount of other sporting action on and let's be honest, this game didn't exactly cut through the clutter. I mean even Sydney's goals were pretty shitty and we have to salute Manny Muscat for the own goal, good effort mate.

Two red cards were probably the highlight of the contest, especially when a former Wellington Phoenix soldier returns to Welly and gets a red. Shout out to Shane Smeltz, good effort mate.

The Phoenix obviously suffered from the international window, but there's two sides to that coin. They were without their two classiest players in Michael McGlinchey and Nathan Burns, but the midfield was still the same with the troopin' trio of Roly Bonevacia, Albert Riera and Alex Gorrin all playing. That's one of the biggest things to take away from the contest as Sydney FC really put our midfield under pressure with a high press and our usually potent midfield couldn't quite find the attacking flow of previous games. 

You could definitely put that down to not having two of our best players with McGlinchey always in a good spot to receive a pass and Burns requiring plenty of attention. Without them, the attacking options that pose a genuine threat are limited so it's easier to put pressure as there aren't the same repercussions. The Nix had more possession than Sydney along with more passes and a greater passing accuracy, they looked comfortable on the ball as they generally do. However, Sydney had far more interceptions as well as far more shots as the Nix struggled to pose much of an attacking threat. Everything felt far too compact and with these two lads back in the mix they should stretch the game out a bit more, offer some width and some more time and space for the midfielders to serve up those yummy passes.

We gave Alex Rufer and Mathew Ridenton a run which was good along with new recruit Kwabeena Appiah-Kubi, they need all the game time they can get to continue their development. This international window is tricky, but luckily the Phoenix have worked their way into a position where they weren't going to suffer too badly with the loss of their best players. They suffered in the sense that they lost in a bit of a stinker, but the loss isn't detrimental to their playoff hopes ... we're still first yo.

Who are ya!? Wellington Phoenix, who are ya? I just don't really care about this, let's move on to nek week.

Nek Week the Nix have a huge game at home against the Melbourne Victory in Wellington. Like the Sydney FC game, this one doesn't have a huge influence on things except if they loose, the Nix will give up first spot but they are knee deep in the finals mix which as I said earlier is a reward for their work throughout the season. 

They will however be eager to rectify a few things and they come up against a side who are going to test them across the park. With the Nix playing Melbourne City and the Central Coast Mariners after this game, it's a good chance to really see where they are at against a team who are in a similar position as them. Will the Victory follow a similar lead as Sydney and really go after our midfield? Will the Victory make the most of their wide threats up against the likes of Muscat, Louis Fenton and/or Michael Boxall? 

The crucial and most obvious thing for the Phoenix is how their international lads slot back in to the side. Hopefully we'll see just how good they are, it's easy to notice that with Burns and his razzle dazzle but McGlinchey is far more subtle. It's going to be a great contest and it's nice that these games aren't must-win games, it's more about perfecting their football which needs some polish after this weekend's game.