The Nix Fix: Undefeated

We’ve only had one game in the A-League season so far, but I’m celebrating the fact that we’re undefeated and inside the top six!

Being a Wellington Phoenix fan definitely has more downs than ups so you really must celebrate every success, no matter how small and insignificant others may think it is.

Personally I’m happy with last week’s result. It’s easy to forget that this result came without our three on-duty All White players (Durante, McGlinchey, Doyle) and an injured Finkler. My regular 3 readers of this column will recall I did correctly predict a 1-1 draw which I thought would be a solid start to our season. Wins are obviously ideal and we’ll need plenty of them should we hope to finish up the ladder but as long as we’re collecting points I’m happy.

My Three Takeaways

The crowd
8,146 fans were at Westpac Stadium on Sunday evening to see the new Nix team in action. While it was the lowest opening round crowd across the league, I didn’t think it was too bad considering it was in the middle of the school holidays which rules out a lot of families who would usually be in town.

The New Signings
I was really impressed with our new signings, with the exception of Ali Abbas (see below). It was great to see Vidosic open his Phoenix account nodding in a Krishna cross. Galloway and Kaludjerovic were solid in their debuts but the biggest praise must go to Goran Paraki. Playing in the middle of the park he was brilliant. A definite class above and one to watch in the upcoming rounds as he becomes more comfortable with his surrounding players.

Ali Abbas
The Iraqi journeyman was underwhelming in his Nix debut. Playing at left-back his defence left a lot to be desired with some blaming him (deservedly so) for the Adelaide goal. He didn’t seem to offer much going forward either, losing the ball a few times. I’m picking he’ll likely be on the bench this week against Sydney with Doyle coming in at left-back.

This Weekend

Round two sees the Nix travel “across the ditch” to take on last years champions, Sydney FC. Coach Kalezic will be glad to welcome back the above mentioned All Whites in what will be one of the toughest assignments of the season. Sydney were 1-0 winners over Melbourne Victory last week and will be hot favourites to take all 3 points on offer. It’s hard to see us winning this one but I can potentially see us grinding out a low scoring draw, perhaps even scoreless, and I would gladly take it!

Google+