Wildcard’s Word:

Look, I don’t wanna throw out excuses out every time, especially after a 6-1 hiding in Melbourne, but sometimes between the international breaks not being breaks, the travel early on in the season and then the odd shambolic refereeing decision it’s hard not to feel like the deck’s stacked against the Wellington Phoenix.

Away to the Victory this was always gonna be a tough task but it was made even tougher when Marco Rossi was ruled out late and Dylan Fox had to come in to start against Berisha and Rojas and all that lot. With Andy Durante trying to marshal a defence featuring three young Aussie lads there was definitely a degree of chaos on show, inexperience all around him. Which is possibly a reasoning but certainly not an excuse for the ridiculous lack of discipline that we were presented with.

But, like… the game was dead even for most of the first half. The Nix popped a few shots, with Roly getting forward a little more for one thing. They gave every bit as good as they got and then things swung with a stupid sixty seconds of dumbness. First Roly for some reason goes slapping into Daniel Georgievski and the ref pointed to the spot. Nothing crazy, just too eager and he was trying to make up for his mistake of letting the runner get in front of him. And… let’s just say the ref didn’t deal with the physicality of this game all too confidently.

For example, barely a breath after Besart Berisha slammed home his penalty he was stepping up to take another one after Dylan Fox was adjudged to have fouled Berisha, despite seeming to be in front of the Albanian. Tell you what, I thought that should’ve been a free kick the other way. Bloody furious, and when you’ve only scored… wait, when you haven’t scored at all in three games then a 2-0 deficit in the first half away to Melbourne is not the blueprint for a win.

Oh hey and how about Rashid Mahazi flying in with the springs exposed and already on a yellow, giving Vinnie Lia a good old fashioned shin-full of moulded imprints and getting away with only a warning? It was one of those typical moments where the ref based his call on the fact he’d already booked him, coz that was surely a yellow if it wouldn’t have been his second.

To be fair, the Nix had their best moments after the two goals went in. A few corners and some threat up top, maybe not enough of it but the scoreline doesn’t reflect the bulk of the game – which isn’t to say it was undeserved but yeah. Parky made some nice runs forward, probably his best showing after a few teethers so far, though Tratty had a flippin’ nightmare dealing with Mitch Austin. He seems to linger on the ball too much, which is strange because the longer the game went on the less any Phoenix player seemed to want to do that. I mean, last week I said something about being a bit more Leicester and hoofing that ball downfield nice and quick but with that you either go immediately as you win the ball or not at all. Holding it for long enough for the defence to set and them lumping it is doing nobody no good – you’re only giving them the ball back to come at you again.

Still, it felt like if they could get lucky and sneak one goal then it’d be game on from there. There were chances, you know. 11 total shots, though only two were on target and eight came from outside the box which gives you an indication of this one. They did finally get that first goal of the season… but it came after Dylan Fox had been sent off for a second yellow. He got one conceding that penalty and picked up another blocking off the run of Austin. Look, it was soft and Austin went down easy but Fox was punished for being caught out of position and although he wasn’t too happy with the decision, it was also kinda a matter of time. He was something in the vicinity of calamitous.

Sub him off earlier? Sure, but who the hell were you gonna bring on in his place? For a while it looked like Louis Fenton was warming up, supposedly to go onto the right with Tratt coming infield after the red but if anyone thinks that would’ve been the difference I’d be very suprised. Tratt had a shocker too. He’ll be lucky to hold his place and we can only pray that Marco Rossi is feeling better next week too.

The Nix did get a goal, ending a run of five and a half hours without one and that’s only counting this season. It was Roy Krishna who got it having done that thing I wanted him to do in blitzing in behind the defence and wow that first touch was something special. He earned the spottie with that bad boy alone. Although a silly Alan Baro challenge helped that matter. To be fully honest, I fully thought Krishna was gonna miss but nah he slipped that thing into the net, sending Larry Thomas the wrong way and suddenly at 2-1 the Phoenix were back in it!

Don’t get ya hopes up. From that moment on that the game took a turn towards the tragic on Halloween. Fenton came on eventually, replacing Parky as he got a few cramps or something, but it was Vince Lia that stepped into central defence. Now, Vinnie had more than a few struggles in holding off that Victory midfield where he had been but without him there it was horrific. It was a massacre.

Beginning with the way the Nix defence couldn’t hold a bloody line. So often somebody could drift a little wide and find a bit of room for the through ball as one defender or another lagged behind or stepped up too late, etc. Such was the case when Berisha got the ball around Parky, though there wasn’t much accounting for him literally throwing the youngster to the floor and the ref waving play on. Marco Rojas then caught Dura on the hop and finished beyond Mossy. That was game over with twenty minutes still to play but the Victory didn’t let up. There was Tratt coming across to pass the ball right to Rojas with an open goal in front of him, Moss having come out to clear it – which he probably wouldn’t have got to so he’s very culpable here too – and Marco got a gift against his old club.

Then Berisha went and competed his hatty when Wee Mac fell over trying to turn, gifting the ball to James Troisi (who made his comeback from injury off the bench). He held the ball long enough for Rojas to make a run and Lia played him on from the middle. Rojas squared perfectly to Besart the Bugger and that was that. Mitch Austin added another right at the end because it wasn’t quite embarrassing enough already. The word shambolic would not be doing it justice.

Jeezus, the last twenty were like the seventh level of hell. Time never goes slower than when you’re waiting for the mercy of the final whistle, just begging it doesn’t get any worse. 6-1 down, we’re officially past the point where we can try justify the whole ‘last on the table, lost every game’ thing. The way the Nix capitulated in the last twenty was just abysmal. Can we win a game soon, please?

Diggity Doc’s Digest:

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Our Wellington Phoenix were meant to be some sort of attacking force, scoring enough goals to make up for a few holes in their defence.

Some sort of attacking force, not the best attacking team in the A-League, just some sort of attacking force. There's not a whole lot in attack besides hoofin' it forward for Roy and Kosta, while defensively, yeah.

Look folks, this is bloody difficult because for a few weeks in a row we've seen our Nix be reasonably average ... varying degrees of average. And then we face Melbourne Victory, the team who gave us Mr Finkler and Kosta in what could have been an attacking recruitment drive to give the Nix some oomph up front in support of Roy Krishna. We got Mr Finkler and Kosta, and the Victory replaced them with Marco Rojas and Mitch Austin, balls.

Halloween is all a bit dumb, so is pondering things or players that you don't have that other people have; Vinnie Lia is no Rashid Mahazi or Leigh Broxham, Adam Parkhouse is no Daniel Georgievski and Roy Krishna goes alright but he's not quite Besart Berisha. We've had the luxury of falling back on a few excuses and we can't ignore that the Nix have had a tougher start to the season than any other team, but we've also got to be brutally honest and wonder if the Nix kinda just suck.

That tough start to the season only makes things more confusing as we try to get a gauge on what sort of team the Nix are. All signs point to them not being very good and regardless of the personnel, we are yet to see the Nix zone in on an impressive performance or at least a performance that showcases the team's style of play in a positive manner. We can all sense that there are some serious holes in the roster and how the Nix are playing their footy, yet those excuses pop up and we are left with a splash of hope that once things settle down, we may see the Nix dominate (and win) a game of A-League footy.

At what stage does Ernie's job become untenable and we look for a new name for this thingy-ma-jig? Probably after Ernie turns to a few changes in the team and how their playing footy, at the moment this group just simply isn't delivering and persisting to merely get the same result is apparently insanity.

Who knows what's next folks, I just don't know if I can muster up any more paragraphs about excuses and crappy football.

Who Are Ya!? Well… Roy Krishna scored a goal so that was nice.

Undercover Brother – Curious to see Ben Liftin given a spot on the bench and a debut late on, at least he’ll have reason to remember this one. Didn’t do anything, but he carved up in Queensland club footy last season so maybe he’ll be one to take notice of down the track. Also Gui Finkler probably had his best game linking up and, you know, doing stuff. But he’s not always got much of a work-rate and maybe he needs to do a little more defending if this team is gonna sort things out. Especially if Wee Mac and Roly are drifting outwards, that leaves Lia very exposed.

Chin Up, Son – How about the whole bloody team? Specifically Tratty and Foxbags who each had performances that if they’re lucky will be deeply, deeply repressed through the trauma of them. Is Marco Rossi alright? Coz if he needs a massage or anything then The Niche Cache is willing to chip in.

Up Next: Saturday, 7.35pm at home vs Newcastle Jets (NZT)