Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix Match Day Jamboree!!!©

[otto62]

Thought the first goal came from Tunnicliffe pushing too far forward following one of their playmakers then getting sucked in to pressuring a defender, expecting a team press which didn’t come, they passed around him and went straight through our middle. After that he and Isaias were solid and gave great midfield cover for the defence, which we’ve been lacking in a lot of games.

[Jessesdad]

Simply a great game of football to watch live. We were gloriously Adelaide - moments of pure brilliance....and then some other stuff.
Credit to Warland for taking that one for the team. Prevented us losing and gave us another chance to win. Hiro...!!!! Wow. Nestory back to being criminally fast and dangerous.
I don't mind where we end up on the table if I can watch games like that.
The Nix were bizarrely open at the back, standing off us leaving huge gaps to exploit. On another night...
Delianov will get better. Huge shoes to fill (literally) but we can remember how good he seemed when he was our number 1.

[RedTide]

So many good things about last night ... 28 shots on goal tells its own story. A fairer result would have been 4 - 2 our way, but I'll take the point.

I don't really understand how Wellington are top of the table. Tactically, they are a generation behind. Sit back and absorb the press and then hoof it over the (opposition) midfield to your forwards? That's First Division c. 1970 stuff. Someone should tell Giancarlo Italiano that the world has moved on since Brian Clough was at Nottingham Forest.

Speaking of (a) Clough - our one gets better and better with every game and he could well be 'the new Goody'. He always had the on ball talent and the knack of finding space in threatening positions, which are vital in a 10. Now that he has had 18 months to get his body right and he has adjusted to the pace and physicality of the Australian game, he is our genuine playmaker and the one that the opposition teams fear. If they spend too much time trying to shut down Nestory on the right, then Clough charges through the middle and creates mayhem. It's beautiful to watch.

Did anyone else notice that at times Wellington triple teamed Hiroshi in their box? That was how much of a threat he was to them. He is the slowest player in the side, but his height and heading ability strike fear into opposition defences; much as Bruce Djite used to do in his prime (albeit for his lethal left foot, rather than his head).

The less said about the ref, the better.

The crowd at Coopers were incredible, as always. The Foxtel commentators always remark on the atmosphere and how much they love an evening at Hindmarsh. There really is no other stadium like it in the country for sheer spine-tingling atmosphere.

Overall, a B+ to us and Wellington will be mightily relieved to come away with a point. We seem to be through our obligatory mid-season slump, when we can't win anything for a whole month and now have a few games at Coopers to really get back on track. It's a great time to be a Reds fan.

[Interloper]

I feel like an overreaction to the first half of the Sydney game (including learning nothing from the improved second half) has screwed the season.

Ibusuki pairs well with any other attackers and it's absurd he sat on the bench so much.

Also I think one of Bovalina + Irankunda on the right or the Bovalina + Kitto LB/RB pairing is a bridge too far.