Round 13 - Wellington vs Sydney FC - 15/1/25

Lovely little 5pm on a Wednesday game. That’ll do numbers for the ratings!

I do worry about our fixture congestion for this one, particularly with the flight to NZ.

I don’t have much hope for this game, either. I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of starters are left in Sydney, actually. Even someone like Lolley, who has played pretty much every minute of the three games over the last week, could probably do with a rest.

If we can nick a draw out of this, I’d be pretty happy.

With pressure on Talay, I can see us going with pretty much the exact same squad as last game

1 Like

It’s a hard one for Talay because we should really be beating Brisbane next week even with a weakened/tired team, and we then get an actual several day break after that. So do we go hard for this one, or play the kids accepting it was always going to be a tough game?

Probably a balancing act. Wellington have a pretty poor team this year but you’d guess Kosta will score against us. We can probably get a draw even if Lolley gets a rest or only plays a half. Ouahim only played 50 mins so hopefully he should be alright for most of the game. Segecic also didn’t play a full game, he should be good to go.

As usual we have the players to do the job even if they’re pretty tired. The weather in Wellington will help us a lot too actually.

But I can’t get too down about a loss here, our schedule is unfortunate to say the least and we are right at the worst part of it. Would take a draw in a heartbeat especially with no injuries and some of the senior guys rested/playing half a game.

This one might be similar to when we went to Auckland after Hiroshima. We looked pretty bad but still almost got a win/draw, we were a bit unlucky.

We have enough quality to make a few tweaks and still beat both Wellington and Brisbane

Lolley got a hat-trick against Perth.
Segga got a hat trick against Central Coast.

(Dips hand into the bucket of nanes)

…Andrew Redmayne?

I don’t think there is any pressure on Talay anymore after our last few matches, if there was at all

I disagree in the sense that what does he do now?

He changed things and it worked, but does he rotate the side because of fixtures, what if it doesn’t work against wellington, what else can he change?
If he leaves the side the same and they lose, should he have rotated the team, was it just bad opponents etc.

Winnable game. Phoenix have been out of form leading into this.

On a separate note, anyone travelling across and/or pregame arrangements?

2 Likes

We’ve won 3 out of 5 and JUST scraped through with a draw in the other 2 for which we 100% should have lost. I’d say the pressure is still there and we’re 100% still fairly fragile across the board. We haven’t been massively challenged yet with this new system. We’ve had three matches where we’ve pretty much relied on the individual brilliance of a single player. We had Costa against Adelaide, Lolley against Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth, followed by Segicic against CCM .

We’re definitely playing but I still don’t think we’re playing properly as a fully settled team. There’s moments were some players work well together, but not across the entire board. Essentially, we’re potentially ne or two injuries or benchings away from falling behind again.

2 Likes

I’d leave the defence alone, as a semblance of stability is starting to show. There’s plenty of scope to rotate players in attack. Kucharski scores goals for fun and we’ve barely seen him, aside from cameos in the last five. Lolley needs a rest before he hurts himself.

2 Likes

I’ve just got over here.

2 Likes

I’d definitely love to see the team playing that we had on at the end of the game, with maybe Klimala on for Wood. Would allow us to bring Oahim and Lolley on later in the game.

I’ve been here for a day and a half and the weather is lovely if you like shivering with cold.

Just out for a walk.
The wind bites coming down the alleyways.

The place feels like a mix of Hobart and Melbourne. Definitely won’t struggle to find a feed and a beer.

1 Like

Go to Fork and Brewer, loved that place when I was on an away trip a few years back.

2 Likes

Just down from my hotel. Looks good.

1 Like

Are people happy to meet at the “Home” pub or try somewhere else?

Talay has arguably the best resources, highest budget, finest facilities , superior local talent pool and highest quality support staff in the league.

At times we have been woeful considering the embarrassment of riches at his disposal, and some of the puzzling selection decisions and tactics in games have been very frustrating.

We shouldn’t get too comfortable having spanked Perth and CCM.

Lucky for us Welly have been in the doldrums of late, although that probably makes this the perfect banana skin for us.

1 Like

I’m happy to do that.