Two losses on the trott now at the stadium previously known as a "fortress" and the onus will be on us to go to an improving Newcastle Jets (more on them shortly) side and get at least a point.
Ricki Herbert is obviously happy with the formation he's been playing this season (well for the majority of it) with three workers in midfield in front of the back four and Leo and Paul Ifill interchanging flanks either side of Chris Greenacre. So where is it going wrong?
A couple of things I believe are attributing to it.
First - fullbacks. As much as Tony Lochead wasn't performing to the same levels we saw in the Phoenix's first season he's still the only out and out fullback in the squad and with the formation we play screening the centre of our defensive third the obvious place for teams to attack is our flanks.
Manny Muscat is a solid player who is far more effective at right back than left and after last season must be regarded more as a midfield enforcer than a fullback.
Troy Hearfield is a converted attacking player who posseses good pace but still doesn't read the game as well as fullbacks need to at this level.
Jade North/Ben Sigmund - both far more comfortable in the middle of a back four than exposed wide.
Ricki has dabbled with a back three only once this season and the one half we played that way didn't really work but neither was it given a decent chance - perhaps something we'll see more of next season with a pre-season playing the system under our belts.
Secondly - adaptability and flexibility.
The game against the Mariners was on our home patch and yet Ricki seemed reluctant to change his system when it appeared we were going to struggle to get something from the game. As mentioned above three screening midfielders when you're chasing a game at home seems over cautious, add to that a small in stature (harding working for sure no argument there) front man in Chris Greenacre toiling against a large, physical defense and we're relying on either a moment of magic (and Ifill isn't producing those as regularly as he did in his first season) or a Mariners mistake to give us a chance.
The question for me is why, when we're a goal down at home with 20 to go aren't we sacrificing one of our midfield three for a big physical target man like MacAllister? Leo and Iffill then have a target to hit and the Marniers need to committ more men back plus Greenacre is still there the harrass defenders and feed off knock downs from his bigger strike partner.
Instead we swap like for like all over the park with a less solid defensive option in Troy for Jade North (the same side both late goals came through), Daniel for Brown - a more creative player true but when big Dylan Mac comes on and Greenacre goes off the next most obvious player to make late runs and feed off knockdowns is Brown and he's no longer there.
So while changes are being made the system stays the same and opposition coaches are finding us out - Ricki needs a Plan B because Plan A isn't working as well as it did last season.
Ifill is being targetted and his play isn't the elusive mystery opposition defenders found it last season, we're short of genuine fullbacks and as our next opposition, Newcastle, have found to their benefit sometimes changing the way you do things works as testified by their peformance vs Adelaide with the side changing style to suit new signing Francis Jeffers.
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