Well let's all say a collective 'kia ora' to tough times. A 3-1 away loss to a Newcastle Jets team who are now one of three teams below the Wellington Phoneix was tough to stomach, especially when desperation and that classic 'find a way to win' mentality was absent.

At this stage however these losses aren't as hard to stomach as they were a month or two ago, I've come to expect bumbling, fumbling displays now, especially on attack. Unfortunately against Newcastle, these woes crept further back and the Nix saw the same Newcastle team who have scored the least amount of goals of any team this season with 12, put three past them.

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I thought we had reached a bit of a crossroads a week or two ago where something simply had to change. Some will point to Roy Krishna's absence as a key factor in the struggles of the Nix yet even when Krishna was playing the Nix struggled to build penetrating attacking movements, it's just that Krishna's presence and his pace allowed him to pounce on opportunities. Reason for great concern right now is how ineffective the Nix look fiddling with the ball in their opponents half, which was meant to be what made the Nix so fun to watch.

Possession: 67% for the Nix vs 33% for the Jets.

Passing Accuracy: 85.2% vs 63.4%

Total Passes: 548 vs 265

Total Crosses: 26 vs 18

Total Shots: 20 vs 10

This has gone beyond mentioning single players as the whole team simply doesn't look as though they do anything at training. Well they are probably practicing passing backwards and sideways, as they are good at that but when it comes time for a midfielder to link with a striker, there's nothing.

There's either no run made with intent, or the pass simply isn't good enough.

Late in the game the Phoenix enjoyed a mountain of what could be known as 'quality ball' as they held on to the ball in Newcastle's half, probing, or trying to probe for a weakness. This has become a staple of the Phoenix, however a lot of the time they would end up going backwards to Vince Lia or Albert Riera at halfway where Lia/Riera would have the ball in the centre circle with Andrew Durante and Dylan Fox flanking Lia/Riera, less than 10 metres away.

When enjoying such possession, teams can push players into threatening areas, yet the central positions of Durante and Fox meant that Tom Doyle and Matt Ridenton couldn't push forward. If Durante and Fox pushed wider, Doyle and Ridenton could occupy more advanced positions and the Nix would have some width in their attack ... instead of trying to squeeze through tight spaces in the middle of the field that opposing teams like to clog up with lots of bodies.

This stood out to me because apparently the Phoenix love to hold the ball, basically playing a half-court sort of game, that's their bread and butter. Instead, the Nix looked as though they were adopting a new style, as they have looked all season.

Funnily enough the Phoenix's goal came from a semi-counter attack as a quick free kick was played, with a through ball for Blake Powell who crossed it to Ridenton who had the jump on his defender. The Nix caught the Jets off guard rather than breaking them down.

What scares me the most about this Phoenix team under Ernie Merrick is that they haven't been able to adapt to how teams are shutting them down, which goes beyond players who are missing. Opposing teams will protect the middle of the field, get as many bodies as they can and force the Nix to probe without posing much of a threat.

This hasn't been a secret as it's been the case for much of Merrick's tenure, recent weeks have seen the Nix flogging a dead horse, which apparently means you're insane.

Sporadically, the Phoenix would enjoy a whiff of the goal and in what feels like classic Phoenix fashion, they somehow found a way to duff the opportunity. This screenshot below kinda sums it up for me as there are three Phoenix players capable of getting a touch, sending the ball into the goal. Only thing is that they are all off-side and they somehow managed to not score...

Other media outlets will speculate about the A-League licence extension that looks to be heading towards Wellington via carrier pigeon, I'm more concern about how this season will end up for our Phoenix. Right now things are bad, real bad and they have been for weeks without improvement, leaving the Phoenix in 7th, with another away game against Melbourne City who sit in 4th this weekend.

We must remain positive though, somehow Ernie! will sort this shit out and what better time to start turning things around than against Aaron Mooy and his City outfit. After City, the Nix play the other two teams below them in Central Coast and Perth, right now though I'm not overly confident that they will give use the results we want.

One step at a time, oh and I've gotta stay positive so bring on City!