Ernie! To Be Fair Perth is a Long Way Away
Wildcard’s Word:
For the first four minutes of the game, while the Nix were bossing 98% of possession and the closest Glen Moss had come to touching the ball was a quick peek over his shoulder as he walked out from the changing sheds, it looked like this would be a pretty different game to what it ended up being.
Kosta and Wee Mac were back, each taking their expected places (possibly harsh on Rodriguez to lose his spot but who else were ya gonna drop?) and Andy Durante was back as well, the three of them really raking in the frequent flyer miles. I mean, it’s a long enough trip from Wellywood to Perth but to make the trip from Washington DC is one helluva journey. So while it was cool to see something closer to a top strength team, expectations still had to be tempered. We were down several players last week and narrowly lost a game we might have stolen otherwise (might have, only might have) and this weekend they had to go to Perth still trying to calibrate the squad again.
You can’t let these things become excuses but it’s looking like the hangover of that international window might bleed into the season further than we’d hoped and when the Nix play Sydney FC next week back home it’s already gonna feel like a must-win, now that they’re the last team remaining without a point.
Anyway, they started good in Perth. Vinnie Lia was stepping up and winning the ball, Kosta and Roy were gassing all over, looking for that room in behind the defence. They didn’t find it, though they did each make regular acquaintance with the linesman’s flag. Goddamn offsides again. That’s a thing to watch for because some teams are going to want to play a high defensive line and there’s a bit of Leicester City potential about this Phoenix team. Not in a Miraculous Champions kinda way but more in that quick trigger attack way. Win the ball and immediately look to hit them with that raking ball over the top. There’s no N’Golo Kante or Danny Drinkwater in this midfield but there are some superb passers of a football and there’s pace to spare up the top between Roy and Kosta. It should always be an option, we saw it a couple times here.
But to their credit, Perth were pretty well organised and they were tidy enough on the ball. After looking like the reincarnation of Claude Makelele for a few mins there, Vinniesta was soon in the trenches in the wrong way. Constant chippiness, and the Glory fellas were doing their best to play it up too… though it doesn’t help his cause when Lia goes kicking dudes in the head. But shout out to the A-League for some things – on multiple occasions there were pushes and shoves (Diego Castro usually involved) that were let go. You don’t always see that in other places.
It didn’t look like Lia had a chance of seeing out the 90 there but things slowed down as the game evolved. For all the early (very early) promise, the Nix didn’t actually threaten the goal of the Glory. Liam Reddy in goal for them too, didja notice? He hardly had a save to make in the first 45 except for the odd dreamer from range. Nothing that had him sweating, that’s for sure.
Meanwhile the Phoenix were probably lucky to be level at the break. It’s a good thing for Durante and Rossi because, as we’d hoped, they looked commanding and in control at the back. There’s the makings of a superb partnership in there, even if they’re maybe short a bit of speed. But the real problem they’re gonna face and they had to deal with it here is that there’s no protection for them. Tratt and Parkhouse kept their spots from last game and while they look decent, they’re not there yet as A-League defenders. Tratt is the better fullback but has been sloppy going forward while Parky looks out of place at the back and despite being a natural winger/striker, he cannot seem to put a bloody ball in the box properly. Then there’s Vince Lia playing the Albert Riera role and as much as we all love Vinnie, that ain’t him.
Which is leading me to consider a change of formation. Hear me out here, Ernie. These two games have seen a 4-3-3 being named but in reality it has been a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. 4-1-2-1-2 if you must. Professor Fink playing much deeper than a typical number ten role, though that may be in part due to us not having the ball all that much in the right areas. First of all, I’d rather see Roly and Fink swap but whatever. What I’d most like to see is more of a 4-2-4 or a 4-3-3 but with a forward pointing triangle. Meaning: 4-2-1-3. However you shape it, even if they go for a 4-2-3-1 which is a sacrifice in terms of how they’re trying to get Roy/Kosta to play, they don’t have the personnel to get away with a single holding midfielder. Chuck two in there and look to play more on the counter attack. Your call, Ern.
Average field positions (per the A-League's official site) - not that Finkler (7) is playing way behind the strikers and that the diamond middle leaves a big gap for the Glory central mids.
Then straight after halfway things took a turn towards tragedy. It didn’t look at first like Parky had done much wrong but that was down to some poor camerawork. When we finally saw it from the right angle, yeah he clipped the bloke’s heels and Castro made it 1-0 from the spot. Stupid, always stupid when that stuff happens. Right after the break and as they say the plan goes out the window.
We needed to keep it even as the team on the road. All that travel, chasing the game was never going to be much of a goer. That All Whites hangover carried on with McGlinchey taken off before the hour mark, Tommy Doyle also coming on in place of Parky – Rodriguez replaced Wee Mac. I could be a dick here and say that McGlinchey hardly did a thing but why single out one player in that midfield when the whole lot of them were anonymous here (with the sole exception of Vince Lia)?
Again, why can’t we cross? Even Professor Fink who was meant to be this free kick wizard has hardly lobbed a decent one in yet. It ain’t good enough. I know that isn’t their preferred way of getting through a defence but this Phoenix team cannot afford to be one of those sides where you shut down their favourite avenues and they’re inept from then on. They’ve been that before, it isn’t fun.
Oh and then that muppet Keogh goes and wins a rubbish spottie! Andy Keogh you massive battler, should’ve been booked for a lumpy dive in the first half and then there was no way he beat Mossy to that ball. The guy’s way too slow. Runs like he left his legs back at Millwall. Remember when he had to leave last year coz they were over the salary cap? Hahaha. For some reason, with the score only at 1-0 and with Castro having already scored one from the spot, Keogh stepped up to take this one… and it was hilariously weak. Look, he gets the last laugh if he’s reading this but at least we got a laugh in the middle there somewhere.
Here's the lumpy dive:
Going forward, everything was just a little laboured and slow for Wellington. They tried their usual skipping past defenders and stepping up into space and all that but the Glory defenders almost always got a foot on something. So many tackles and half-tackles. Probably a sign of jet-lag or whatever. It sucked either way.
And then Doyle goes gunning down the sideline, feeds Roy Krishna who cuts back instead of using the overlap and he loses the ball. Cardinal sin, son. Leaves the entire left side of defence exposed and try as they might they couldn’t catch the sonovabitch Risdon, whose cutback to Marinkovic was lovely and he buried it to make it 2-0. Dammit, dammit, dammit, GODDAMMIT!
Immediately Hamish Watson comes on for Roly Bonevacia but seeing as the Phoenix can’t cross, his presence in the box was mostly wasted. Still, it was in those last 15 minutes that we actually started threatening the goal finally. There was one stunning chance after Watson sung in a nice ball (from his left boot, if memory serves) and Krishna inexplicably headed it straight at Liam Reddy. All he had to do was head it down and it was 2-1 with time to play. We all know Roy isn’t as clinical as he could be but sometimes those ones sting more than others. As for Kosta, well the less said the better. There were moments where his sharp flicks and first-time passes set him a class above but on the whole he was something close to terrible. Again, blame the travel. He always seemed to think he had more time than he did and he must’ve been dispossessed something like a dozen times.
Guys, do better than this.
So in a weekend where three separate teams all scored four times, the Nix are 180 minutes without a goal. This is a very big problem, though at least we know that most of these guys can play better than they’re doing. Kosta we’ve seen before, Fink is not new to this league. The only players we were in the dark about are the ones in defence and that’s not been our worry… at least not yet. And with three new players getting the starts there you can expect the backline to need a few games to settle. All those creative players though, they shouldn’t need that luxury. It takes 90 minutes of solid defence to keep a clean sheet but you can score a goal with a moment of inspiration. Even on a bad day they ought to be able to test the keeper a few times before falling 2-0 down and getting desperate. To be fair to them, there have been flashes of some glorious stuff... but only flashes so far.
But yeah, the international break and the ill-timed trip to Perth haven’t helped. Unfortunately we’re dead last and playing the top team next week and everyone else has a two game headstart on us. That’s the shake, though. The season starts proper next Sunday.
Diggity Doc’s Digest:
There's no need to fluff about when we're here rollin' through some of the same thoughts and observations that have previously hampered out with the Phoenix. In digesting the loss to Perth, I did manage to keep a positive mindset though, and this was one of those games which could have left you feeling pretty bummed about the Nix or still quite hopeful given the context surrounding their first two games.
Our All Whites have had an adventurous week or so and the entire team had to endure a splash of travel, especially those new blokes who were experiencing their first ever 'Distance Derby'. Anyone who says all of that is a non-factor is a bit silly and no other A-League team has had to experience what the Phoenix have in the past two weeks. The odds have been stacked against them, however I still can't fight off the feeling that I'm yet to see any sort of killer instinct in this 2016/17 Nix side, which reminds me a lot of previous Nix teams.
Some of the work from the Phoenix moving into Perth's half and then into a better attacking position was borderline sublime. Michael McGlinchey has often walked a tight-rope with me, often looking like the classy international that he is while also often drifting in and out of games generally looking like a waste of space. Here, for much of the first-half, McGlinchey combined well with the likes of Mr Finkler, Roly along with Kosta and Roy; there's so much attacking prowess in that group and they showcased not only skill but a willingness to combine and run off of each other. That's a lethal combination and it produced a bunch of half-chances ... and that my friends is the problem.
The sense of deja vu comes from seeing the Phoenix control the game, string passes together and look bloody good in doing so while not quite doing enough to win the game. I don't want to get too dramatic thanks to the context of the All Whites excursion and the Distance Derby, we've seen Phoenix teams do this before though and it would be nice to see some nice passing movements result in making the opposition goal-keeper do some work, better yet, scoring a goal or two.
I reckon the pressure to do that is greater now, thanks to the attacking combination the Phoenix have. There's blokes in Kosta and Roy who will test any defensive line and their kahunas in playing a high line, there's an abundance of players who will feed them the ball and those midfielders won't think twice about steaming forward to get the ball back. Now, there's fewer excuses and that means we've simply got to expect this team to score some goals, especially when opportunities were consistently presented to attack down the flanks which is also deja vu-ish.
Keep the context in mind as it's a fair excuse for those first two weeks. Moving forward though, that won't be the case.
WHO ARE YA!?
Hmm. There really wasn't a stand out for the Nix but maybe we need to give a big ol' pat on the back to Andrew Durante, who was one of the All Whites having to jet halfway around the world and back for this game and he still looked his usual sublime self. Very few mistakes, very few reasons to worry. Between he and Signor Rossi, the starting central defence is once again a strength for this Nix club.
UNDERCOVER BROTHER
Imagine where we'd be without Glen Moss? No, don't, it isn't worth the wasted tears. Late in the game he rushed out to make a clearance and got absolutely clattered, needing a couple minutes of treatment (which, naturally, didn't all get made up in stoppage time). The last line of defence that he supplies behind Dura/Rossi is immense. The depth behind him at this club is not. Thank whoever you usually do in these situations (Saint Ifill?) that he looked okay. And the award here is justified by a wonderful diving stop to win the ball which was given as a penalty followed by a very simple penalty save to boost his fantasy points.
CHIN UP, SON
Oh Kosta, mate. You can do sooo much better than that. No crosses, no shots on target, no chances created. Only 12 completed passes at a 50% success rate. Ordinarily you expect a touch of class and a quick tempo of play from Kosta but instead he only looked tired. Maybe the boots were too tight? That might explain why he lost the ball so damn much.