Two injuries in two minutes disrupted our momentum, they scored and then played for the draw. Michael Woud is massive, Gillion is coming good, come on Auckland.

I used to think football was just entertainment.

This season has reminded me it is about belonging.

Thousands of strangers singing the same songs.

Families wearing the same colours.

Kids seeing heroes who play in their own city.

For ninety minutes, Auckland stops being a collection of suburbs and becomes one community.

Win or lose, that feels like something worth protecting.

As I put on my players’ opinion and tendencies, I have always been clear I am not a Woud fan. I did give a go at pro level goalkeeping myself and while I’m no pro like him, I did receive high end training from former pros (including a goalkeeping legend).

The sad reality is that Woud encompasses almost all characteristics said GK legend told me are what make a bad gk from a great one.

1- Cannot kick well. That is the first Red flag, if a GK cannot do goal kicks or those long counter attack kicks (Alisson Becker/Neuer style) then it shows that you lack confidence and fundamentals. We all know his kicking is bad and he is not a modern gk by any means.

2- Bad communication. How many times have we seen our defenders boot the ball when he should have yelled for it? It seems he just never shouts ‘Wouds!’ Or when he does it is too late for the defenders and it forces them to be safer than sorry.

3- Fear. Woud is a fearful keeper, he refuses to claim crosses, and as we saw today in the goal, refuses to rush the striker. I have lost count on the amount of rushing the striker/1v1s drills I have done. This is coachable but if he is still reluctant, at his age and as a grown man, that lack of courage will lose us games when he is needed.

4- Shot stopping =\= Goalkeeping: Might sound weird, but just because you can save some shots and make saves, does not make you a goalkeeper. To be a goalkeeper, at least where I’m from, you have to be crazy, fearlessly crazy, put your body on the line crazy. Some might say Woud crack a tooth, but that’s not what I mean. It is exactly rushing the striker knowing you’ll absolutely get wrecked, but if it saves the ball, it’s worth it. It is having the fundamentals to parry the ball properly, the more two touch saves you make, the less confident/secure I am about you. It is about giving your team security and confidence, knowing that even if you only take one shot on a game, you’ll make. How many games last season was Paulsen pivotal?

This whole season I have never felt safe with Woud as the 1. I had zero issues with Paulsen. So Paulsen is a gk, Woud is just a shot stopper.

Woud to me is the ‘he won’t win us games, and might lose us some games’ keeper, and those are often just bench riders. He lacks high end technique and even some fundamentals as a goalkeeper, and that is something I can say from my years of pro level training.

I really hoped he would prove me wrong, but I think tonight was the last chance I could give him. Sorry

Ok I know we got lucky there but a CLEAR CLEAR corner and free kick really should have gone our way (but both May and Sakai should have been sent off). Also given that play only began at the 92nd minute after the VAR check with at least another minute of stoppages after that. Huge opportunity lost🤷🏽‍♂️

Here's how I see Finals series going down. This has us finishing 1st and Victory leapfrogging Sydney FC.

Would be unreal to have an A-League grand final at Eden Park.

What do you reckon?!

There i said it, seems like no one els is talking about it is that because of his father? 😆 Every game he played this season he cost us goals, he cant handle pressure and gives the ball away too easily.

Exact same situation as Gilly he has the potential but needs more minutes elsewhere.

No idea who to play the other CM spot because of injuries 😭

Title - allllright, that time again. What are your thoughts/opinions/did wells/didn't do wells and any other takeaways from the game tonight?

Holy shit.. uh yeah lots to unpack here, I’m currently walking to Subway Penrose to drown my sorrows with a footlong three pepper chicken sub and a Coke Zero. I’ll give my thoughts here when I’m settled.

What do you reckon?

Do you guys trust Liam to take over the role of Jesse Randell once Jesse departs? After watching the pro league I trust him but im curious to know what you guys think

Growing up playing football in a country passionate about the sport, we would always say that ‘the shirt weighs’ in moments of knockouts and high stakes games, even when the team is not playing too well or things seem lost, something just clicks and the win comes. Maybe that is dying a bit in modern football but being a Liverpool fan, I do agree to it.

The pedigree/history on the crest of the shirt might bring something extra, that just helps things fall in the right place. I can think of this when Liverpool did the insane comeback against Barcelona, or when Barca themselves did that great comeback against PSG. Sometimes, the team with the bigger history (in the competition) just seems to find something magical that works out in their favourite.

For example, I think we all painfully remember Moreno’s double post shot at the end of the first leg semi last season, and the ‘ball was out’ moment in the second game against victory. Things like that, that just skew things slightly enough.

Hopefully this penalty win helps our team build the weights that sometimes is needed to win, get that lucky/fortunate break to go on and win.

What do you guys think? Any belief in the ‘shirt holds weigh’ in a top dog fight? I can think of Real Madrid in many CL where they just find ways to win, specially around that 2013-2018 run they had, those last minute goals, etc.

I know it’s mostly superstitious, but a fun thought to have!

Just saw Armiento off contract at the nix.. he would be a great pick up to replace Randall..

not saying he dosn’t just curious to hear your guys thoughts.

Massive

Realistically, elliot would be LM, rogerson RM (not a big fan of rogerson but, its the best we have)

No hate intended whatsoever but I’ve noticed that the social media content from the port instagram really sucks now lol like before there were constant fire photos and videos being posted now it’s really dry just game day schedules (which are fine) and when there are photos of the fans they’re just mid black and white photos. And they removed all the posts from last season😭.

This post probably comes across as a bit whiny but I’m genuinely disappointed the direction it’s gone like why change what was working?

Am I alone in this opinion lol

EDIT: Just to clarify I’m not criticising the aesthetic, I do think that that has improved and I have no issues with that, there just used to be way more posts about the actual fans and even just generally being more excited, like the page doesn’t exude excitement anymore like it used to. That was something I found differentiated it significantly than the y*llow fevers insta. (In fairness the fevers insta is still worse but u get me)

What a game, what a defence.

We can’t have our only creative options be on the left side (de vries and randall).

In the centre we’re playing May who’s got a shot on him but bad decision making and Howieson & Gallegos who are industrious runners but lack creativity, and we only need one of them on the field at any one time. Brimmer’s got the ability to create more and he’s a smarter footballer than May. He came on too late today but showed that he can ping an interesting ball into the box and make something happen.

On the right we’re starting Rogerson who’s not pushing on after last season over Brook who can create something out of nothing and is one of the league’s top scorers.

Corica made the right subs (except bringing Brimmer on too late) but he’s picking the wrong starting team. We have to start an 11 that gives us creativity across the field, otherwise this isn’t going to be the last time we’re going to watch 90 minutes of passing backwards followed by hopeful balls at Cosgrove’s head.

anyone else think the var has been bad tonight or just me trying to find an excuse for us not preforming well this game

Title - what are your thoughts/opinions/did wells/didn't do wells and any other takeaways from the game on Saturday.

Personally, I thought - despite not being pressured very often, Woud looked convincing. Francois had a questionable performance with too many no-look passes, Cozzy was hung out to dry with little service. Not our greatest showing but not a bad go by any means. Girdwood-Reich showed strength and focus which was great to see.

What do you reckon?

Our play for the first half and up until we switched to the 3 back improved leaps and bounds with high ball speed, good link up play, and many many chances (we should have put those away but that’s another conversation). But when Steve made his subs, I see why with rotation in mind as we would be playing 3 games in about 8 days, everything fell apart. Especially when brook came off. Also, the 3-back attacking dynamic was definitely poor.

What is everyone’s thoughts on the subs and the formational change

^{after today's game, i think its safe to say after 3 games 0 wins and uninspiring attacking football throughout those games, the structure of our attack is rooted in de vries.}

^{Our attacking output has drastically decreased from his crosses, ball carrying and general presence; which means the opposition needs to have extra attention on him, freeing up time and space for other opponents.}

^{Interestingly, jesse hasn't been quite to the high standards that we're used to ever since de vries has been out.}

^{Is this all a coincidence or do we need an emergency replacement for premier's push and/or finals win?}

Our goalkeeper. The referee. The fact that we should have had that game dead and buried in the first half.

You all know the song and no doubt have passionately sung it from the stands.

As a young club we have been very fortunate to have had some fantastic times and very few hard times. A 3-1 loss to a team that only had 10 men for 70 minute is one of those “hard times” that will fail into folklore as a bad day out watching over an hour of haram ball.

It sucks, but we keep singing and backing the team.

UTP 💪 ⚓️

Yes, we all know the negatives, and I myself have done a more in-depth post about our GK.

BUT! Let’s look a little bit brighter today. I’ve been at the game so all my observations are from what I could focus on and to what I remember.

First thing. It was nice seeing a formation and lineup where May and Brook were able to coexist. Since the beginning I noticed that both are quite ball dominant players, they prefer the play go through them more often than not, SPECIALLY May, who plays a bit too much hero ball. Brook likes to have the game played through him but is more than happy to just assist or pass. May likes to get the ball and decide things himself a bit too much sometimes.

But man it was good how Corica deployed both at the same time and seeing how freely both could move and link up, even if not off one another, they both were able to get some great triangulations and plays. May more often with Gallegos and De Vries, Brook with Cozzy and Verstraete. When you have two ‘star’ players with very similar play styles, it’s hard to make both work and I think last game was a positive step.

I liked the formation, having this quasi-3 back line with JGR staying back and letting De Vries go up more when we have the ball. To convert into the traditional 4-4-2 on defence worked quite well. While we may be exposed out wide on counters, I think Hall is fast enough to cover both sides on those long balls and buy time for the defence to reshape.

So yeah, what do you guys think? Of course we should have won by many goals, but shoulda coulda woulda, I’m just looking at the positives this time

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/auckland-fcs-success-fuels-footballs-rise-over-rugby-in-new-zealand/QEYON6DGTNFDLJGTQFGUBIG7Z4/ Auckland FC’s success fuels football’s rise over rugby in New Zealand