Official A-League Thread

[Legend_Killer33]

I can't believe there isn't already a thread for this but hey, there's one now.

Wellington Pheonix to play Central Coast in about 10 minutes. I'm going for a 2-1 to Pheonix.

Now all the Australians get in here and discuss/ argue with the only NZer here.

[Legend_Killer33]

Well there goes that theory

We need Steven Old (who use to go to my school) in Right Back. O'Dor stinks.

See what I did there?

[Guest Psyence]

/forum/index.php?showtopic=45196">This is what happens when you search Edited August 31, 2007 by Psyence

[Guest Pattitude]

The only thing the Phoenix have going for themselves is the cool name. Other than that, New Zealand was not meant to play soccer (i is not calling it football cos dats wat homos do lolz)

[Legend_Killer33]

Gve it 5-10 years and NZ will be a much more formidable nation in terms of football. Plus, this thread can be closed. I searched "A-League" but it just came up with a Board Message.

Oh and Pattitude, you're an idiot.

[Guest Pattitude]

Gve it 5-10 years and NZ will be a much more formidable nation in terms of football.

[Chris the Human]

Someone want to merge this thread with last year's? Gives it the illusion of life.

As for the Phoenix/Kings/Knights comparisons, it seems unfair to judge an entire nation based on the support habits of one city. Unless I'm mistaken, isn't this the first professional football franchise to exist outside of Auckland? Wellington's always struck me as a far more supportive city. Even the New Zealand Warriors draw great crowds there during bad years.

I'm moderately pleased with the Jets start to the year. With Carle, Okon, and Rodrigues (three of our four best players from last year) all leaving it was always going to be tough - but so far we've had a creditable 0-0 draw away from home against our bogey side and a 1-1 draw against a Queensland Roar side I rate highly in this year's title race. I'm hoping that when Mario Jardel finally gets to match fitness - he can produce even half of what he used to when he was winning European Golden Boots a few years ago.

Shocked to see the Mariners going so well so far. I've always rated them as a consistent but unspectacular mob - but with Mrdja fit and Petrovski in the forwards with him - they're suddenly looking the goods. Not as fun to watch as Wellington or Queensland or Melbourne - but they've certainly addressed the one facet of the game that's always let them down.

We're two rounds in - but here are my end of year predictions.

1. Melbourne

2. Central Coast

3. Queensland

4. Sydney

5. Adelaide

6. Wellington

7. Newcastle

8. Perth

The Victory have been shaky so far, but they're a class outfit and retained the neucleus of last year's dual premiership winning side. The Mariners have started well and short of injuries, should be able to continue it. I like the pairing of Tiatto and Moore at the back for Queensland, and Sydney will continue to improve as Juninho and Patrick come to grips with Australian football.

I think Adelaide could go two places up, but fifth is about as low as I can see them finishing. Nathan Burns and Bruce Djite are both future Socceroos, and they'll keep a fairly unspectacular Adelaide side in the race as long as they're scoring goals at a rate of knots like they've started. The Phoenix look like a flambuoyant side who'll entertain at home but struggle away. I wouldn't be shocked to see them scrape into the top four but I wouldn't be surprised to see them finish last either.

The Jets and the Glory just don't have the class, for mine. Without Carle and Rodrigues, the Jets already look like struggling to score points. Griffiths and Bridge are good - but we had both of them plus Rodrigues/Carle/Okon contributing last year. If Jardel, Denni, and Jorge Drovandi can get on deck and contribute we could be a surprise packet.

Perth are shithouse and will only get worse with Laziridis out for the year because of his masking agent controversy. They've got a few good young guys (like Nikita Rukyavista (sp?)) but they continue to be the weakest link in the A-League's Australian contingent when it comes to crowds, marketability, and playing attractive football.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Misanthrope

[Slogger]

The only thing the Phoenix have going for themselves is the cool name. Other than that, New Zealand was not meant to play soccer

I'm with Legend Killer on this one, The Phoenix have much MUCH more going for them than a cool name, They drew with last years champs in there first league game, They have a decent looking line-up and its too early in the season to judge them, New Zealand is ment to play soccer it's been in the world cup AND has had players play for clubs like New England and Werder Bremen, Dude you better get used to calling it football becuase most of the world is, The US is New Zealand Soccer is now New Zealand Football and if you say that only "homo's" call it football then i guess your a homo trying to make yourself feal good.

"i is not calling it football cos dats wat homos do lolz"

Get some grammer.

[Legend_Killer33]

Slogger, I think you forgot to mention the most successful NZ football player ever. I'll give you a clue, he captains Blackburn... (Y)

Just something I want to say:

First off, Daniel is over rated. Sure hes Brazillian but that doesn't automatically make him first 11 material, even if it is a NZ team. Herbert is killing us by not starting Felipe. The only times we dominated both games were in the closing 10 minutes, and this is around the time Felipe has been brought on. Super sub, mybe. but if he played a full 90 minutes, the impact he would have would be great.

[Chris the Human]

Maybe Felipe's fitness is still in question?

[Slogger]

Slogger, I think you forgot to mention the most successful NZ football player ever. I'll give you a clue, he captains Blackburn... (Y)

Just something I want to say:

First off, Daniel is over rated. Sure hes Brazillian but that doesn't automatically make him first 11 material, even if it is a NZ team. Herbert is killing us by not starting Felipe. The only times we dominated both games were in the closing 10 minutes, and this is around the time Felipe has been brought on. Super sub, mybe. but if he played a full 90 minutes, the impact he would have would be great.

*Slaps Head* How could i forget about Ryan freeking Nelsen?

I think Wynton Rufer is beter he played for Werder AND made a "Classic XI" on Fifa 06.

Edited September 8, 2007 by Slogger9

[Chris the Human]

Not so much to do with the A-League (although Archie Thompson and ex A-Leaguer, David Carney were two of our best) - but what did people think of our 1-0 loss to a near full strength Argentina side?

I was very impressed with the performance of Bresciano. He was absolutely brilliant with ball at feet and when taking set pieces. His two free kicks could both very easily have gone in - and only bad luck denied him the opener. Carney was inspirational marking Messi, and although he made a few errors, you'd expect that against a player of Messi's quality. I though Neill did a good job - but Beauchamp was a liability, as he has been throughout his Socceroo career. I'd have loved to see Milligan get a run, had he not been involved in Olympic qualifiers.

The midfield was quite impressive. Culina and Bresciano managed to hold their own against more well known opposition, and both managed to make the Argentinian defence look feeble at times. Grella's long passing into the box was astounding. Where the hell was that in the Asian Nations Cup?

I thought Kennedy looked menacing when the ball was high, and Thompson's speed looked like it was causing some problems. Holman is a fucking waste of space, and Carle was well marked. I don't know if the Argentinians had scouted him - but he was certainly kept under constant pressure. Still produced two very good through balls that threatened.

Would have been great to have Kewell, Cahill, and Viduka out there - what we really lacked was somebody to take the ball and drive it into the back of the net in the final third. For all of our pretty work in the midfield and stout defence, we just didn't threaten the goal enough. Probably disappointing to go down given the circumstances under which their goal was scored - but it was certainly a good result against top quality opposition. And who'd have thought you'd get 70,000 in the rain on a Tuesday night? A few years back we'd have been happy with 15,000.

No more friendlies this year and that's the end of Graham Arnold's 'reign of terror'. Hopefully the FFA announces a replacement coach with some international experience soon so we can begin preparing for 2010 World Cup qualifiers in February next year.

[Slogger]

A one goal loss to the 2nd best team in the world must be saying something about our team, I mean we only lost to Brazil 2-0 in the World Cup and would have beaten Italy (Sorry to bring back the memory) untill we got screwed over, So Australia are doing better than what many people think, I didnt see the game but by what you said ill try an catch a replay.

[Chris the Human]

Yeah, it's worth a watch. We did some very good things and it was awesome to see Lional Messi cutting it up on Australian shores. The friendly against Uruguay earlier this year was a similar story - we played very well but lapses in concentration cost us after we'd taken a deserved 1-0 lead. Culina was again a star there - made the Uruguay defence look brittle at times.