Nigel McNie

I went to watch the LA Galaxy vs. the Phoenix last night. Gamewise it wasn't that interesting, other than validating my opinions about the Phoenix and watching Beckham play.

Beckham was obviously just coasting around, but routinely hit through/switch balls with pinpoint accuracy. It's obvious that the Galaxy have been well drilled into what to expect from him too. He never really beat a man and never did anything flashy, but still had a direct hand in setting up at least one of the goals, even though he was half way down field.

As for the rest of the Galaxy, I didn't really assess them too much apart from their keeper, whom I don't rate.

The Phoenix, it seems, play very much like my Naenae team. When they apply themselves, they go through these purple patches where they zoom down the line in double quick time with good short passing and movement, and can cause problems around an opposition goal mouth. But I've still yet to see one of our attackers skip round or turn a defender and make a goal look easy, and they also couldn't hit a barn door if it was falling on them. Perhaps it's a lack of composure around goal, but it's a problem they need to address. Naenae solved this problem somewhat with an English import. Maybe the Phoenix need to find someone with more class up front? [1]

And the Phoenix defense... well let's just say they've probably cost about six championship points between them. They have to sharpen up, work doubly hard on their defensive pattern, and having that classy striker so they could get some tackling practise against some proper opposition wouldn't go astray too.

Of course, it's early days yet for the team. I'm not advocating a change in coach or team (barring the extra man up front). On the contrary, I reckon they should have at least three seasons to have a real go at showing us all what they can do. As mentioned before, they do show great promise at times - let's hope they'll deliver in future.

[1]	Not that I'd advocate an import, and thus a denial of any possible NZ talent, so soon in the club's history.

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It was a gorgeous day today, marred ever so slightly by the small cold I've managed to pick up. It's pretty tame to be honest, I hope it stays that way given all the soccer I'm currently playing. I decided to head out an do a bit of practice on the bike since I probably don't do enough, so I went to the empty carpark in Newtown. However, it was very anti-socially chained shut. So I instead headed out to the Hutt to see my folks, and practice at the Riverside Drive carpark instead. I got some good boot scrapage going, and assisted a police officer with his enquiries, so all in all it was a rather productive afternoon.

Pity about the Phoenix - again - who managed to snatch a draw from the grasps of victory. It's sad to see that after so many games I've yet to see an attacker really turn and fuck up a defender or two before slotting a goal from our side.

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