2023 Football Ferns International Fixtures

Wow!
Clearly this is unfolding not just as another bad performance by the Ferns but as a low point in the history of Football Ferns internationals...

How many more years does Jitka have on that contract of hers? 
For what's been served up, a deal that long has to go down as one of the biggest muggings in NZF history. Absolutely thieving a living. 

Although players aren't doing themselves any favours with poor passing, easy turnovers, losing the battle for the second phase, and just ball watching... 

Crap all round.

On the bright side. Will get to see Clegg at #9 now.

We actually look better without Wilkinson...

Wow, that Norway win was a real poison pill, wasn’t it. Can’t deal with another few years of Jitkaball

She never seems to be in the right place at the right time. She is never available for a pass and has no idea how to create space for herself. She relies on being big and quick

Monto

Wilkinson proving her quality once again. 

Should never play for us again imo.

I think the team functions quite a bit better with Jale out there, noticed that at the WWC too. Should be starting I think.

Clegg looks somewhat dangerous with limited opportunities, certainly more of a threat than out other options.

Well that's our near full strength team and they've absolutely shat the bed, quite honestly just flip the script and make 9-10 changes for the second game. What the heck do we have to lose?!

They should have just played this one behind closed doors as well.

Is Esson really our best keeper???

Enjoyed the commentators having a whinge about Chilean theatrics like Esson didn't fake an injury so that we could have a team talk. 

Get off your high horse.

Get rid of the coach ffs

Hopefully that's the last we see of Wilkinson. 

And after the next game, hopefully that's the last we see of the coach. 

I don't think Wilkinson deserves as much grief as she gets. I think her poor games can be partly blamed on a coach who is still stealing a living.

Not our day in Santiago.

▶️ Watch the full match replay in NZ on FIFA+ at https://t.co/utUcl1bXyn

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) September 24, 2023

Following the game, head coach Jitka Klimková reflected on the performance:

“Well, I know we can do better than that. That's no doubt about it. 

“We remember, it still fresh in our heads, how we performed during the World Cup and what we've seen today is not even close.

“It was a lot of mistakes, we gave the ball away even without the pressure. It was a lot of turnovers today and if you are giving the ball away, then of course you are on your back foot and you have to defend. 

“Huge credit to Chile because they played really, really interesting and quick football that led to three goals and I have to say it's a very strong team that we faced today.”

That's as bad as it gets! awful!

3 things guaranteed in life...death, tax and Rennie will never score.

Satchell has a touch that would be offensive in park football!

Wilkinson days are done - shes had her day in the sun and done a job.

Midfield is average... just stock standard pass it back or side ways unless Hassett goes on a rare mazy run!  The middle of the park needs bore creativity and running! we are so easy to play against.

Bowen and Bott hold their own to be fair. Stott had a tough day but is often decent so she can hang around. Riley has to go, not up to it any more. Bott should be captain.

Esson had a bad day but is another who is often decent so give her a chance.

I know we don't have much depth but play the young ones and stick with them and hopefully we will flourish in 3-4 years time!

The coaches comments about how well we did at world cup just shows how delusional and out of touch she really is!!!! alarming to be honest.

Bulldoze the lot.

Our womens game in nz has gone back drastically! Are even the best team in Oceania anymore?? 

So for assaulting a match offical that should be a 15 match ban for Wilkinson, I presume that would carry over to A-League?

Back to Sth America for the Ferns in the Nov window by the sounds of it. Colombia, Argentina or Brazil all likely stronger than Chile.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/132984676/football-ferns-coach-must-share-the-playing-time-love-as-paris-olympics-push-begins

Another 1980 playing minutes (90 x 11 players x 2 matches) will likely follow in November, when the Ferns are expected to return to South America for their final matches this year.

Satchell ain't remotely international class. Wilkinson,well,maybe she was a while back.
Can't understand why either of those were selected.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Pretty bad last twenty minutes. All the defenders are having passes out intercepted, keeper included. Change the friggen plan!!

That's what happens when you are predictable! If your defence are shut down well by a press,then there must be a hole in behind. 

It's not that hard

Where is Jacqui Hand?  One of the best players at the WWC, and one of the few currently well in season.

Basically Klimkova's had the team for 28 games now. Apart from the win over Norway, and a win in Sth Korea - it's been a succession of dire results. Regularly getting beaten now by teams not only ranked above the Ferns, but by teams also ranked below. At least with previous coaches like Tom Sermanni the team usually beat teams lower than them

Results ain't the be & end all as the team is rebuilt somewhat, but there must be some serious concerns at NZF about Klimkova's ability to manage it all.

As much as i want Klimkova out and gone because i think shes incompetent and delusional...it's not all her fault. NZF need a long hard look at how they are developing and producing players.....we are producing park footballers - yes i know some are in pro teams but they are making up the numbers. For whatever reason we dont seem to get athleticism in nz female players but we dont produce creative or technical players. NZF always complicate and try re-invent the wheel to justify a change or look like they are pro active with ideas...well its all bs. Our football is garbage and our players are poor...thats the harsh reality of it.

Still want Kimklova out but bigger picture is dire.

Big Pete 65

With the streaming, it's nice not having the match interrupted by ads every seven minutes or so like you get on You Tube.
The only ads I got were at half-time.
So I'm positive about the FIFA+ streaming.

Use Opera with an ad blocker and you'll get no ads on YouTube.

MetalLegNZ

I don't think Wilkinson deserves as much grief as she gets. I think her poor games can be partly blamed on a coach who is still stealing a living.

I think both are stealing a living in International football.

Positives for me satchell and Ronnie both got taken off and Wilkinson got sent off! 

Here is my summary of Jitka Klimkova's reign, backed up by publicly available statistics. ⬇️

**Please note that some statistics are not available for certain matches, or are only partially available**

Jitka Klimkova
Played - 29 
Won - 5
Drawn - 5
Lost - 19

Scored - 14 (0.48 per game)
Scored more than 1 goal in a match - Has only happened 3 times in 29 attempts, and only against AFC opposition (🇰🇷🇵🇭🇻🇳)
Conceded - 54 (1.86 per game)
Clean Sheets - 6 (🇰🇷🇨🇿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇲🇽🇻🇳🇳🇴)

Passes completed: 6579/9287 (70.8%) 
Highest - v 🇻🇳 (2-0 July 10, 2023) 85%
Lowest - v 🇺🇲 (0-5 January 21, 2023) 57%
Mean completed passes per game: 263 
Mean Posession: 44.46%
🇳🇿 v 🌏
Shots on 🎯/Shots Attempted
64/206 (31%) for 14 ⚽
14.71 Shots per goal scored
🌏 v 🇳🇿
Shots on 🎯/Shots Attempted
143/376 (38%) for 54 ⚽ 
6.96 Shots per goal scored 
•This simply shows that we are inefficient in our play in front of goal - It takes more than double the amount of shots than that of our opponents before we hit the back of the net. 
•Not only are we inefficient/profligate in front of goal in the final ⅓, we give our opponents far too many chances in return - A staggering 170+ extra attempts on goal we've faced across 29 matches so far.
•In shots on target against us, our opposition has had more than 3 shots on 🎯 in 16/29 games. 
•On only 2/29 occasions have we managed more than 3 shots on target - 🇻🇳 (2-0)/🇵🇭 (0-1)
•Furthermore, it's in these two matches against 🇻🇳/🇵🇭 that we've hit 25% (16/64) of our shots on target in the Klimkova reign - We are just over two years in, and those matches represent about 7% of our fixtures in that time!

From day dot under Klimkova there has been no improvement, and some might rightly argue that we've gone backwards... Of course a manager is nothing without player's, so to that end she has been let down badly as well. In saying that, she is the one selecting them so something needs to change quickly in that regard as well.

But as far as I have witnessed, there has been no progression whatsoever under her management. That she has another 4 years on her contract is right up there in New Zealand Footballing heritage as one of the worst/costliest mistakes to be made by NZF.

Stats don't paint the whole picture of course, but it doesn't make for nice reading. If you've been watching along like I have, then they certainly correlate well with some of the absolute dogshark performances that have occured under her watch...

Anyway, hope someone found some value out of all this. Sorry for the longish post too.

Ouch. I hope she has ideas for more murals to paint to fill in the time.

She could maybe write a song about it. 

Definitely if the coach picked players based on stats of how they performed. No reason why they can see stats from training as well- shots on target and chances given up too. 

YoungHeartHM

Here is my summary of Jitka Klimkova's reign, backed up by publicly available statistics. ⬇️

**Please note that some statistics are not available for certain matches, or are only partially available**

Jitka Klimkova
Played - 29 
Won - 5
Drawn - 5
Lost - 19

Scored - 14 (0.48 per game)
Scored more than 1 goal in a match - Has only happened 3 times in 29 attempts, and only against AFC opposition (🇰🇷🇵🇭🇻🇳)
Conceded - 54 (1.86 per game)
Clean Sheets - 6 (🇰🇷🇨🇿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇲🇽🇻🇳🇳🇴)

Passes completed: 6579/9287 (70.8%) 
Highest - v 🇻🇳 (2-0 July 10, 2023) 85%
Lowest - v 🇺🇲 (0-5 January 21, 2023) 57%
Mean completed passes per game: 263 
Mean Posession: 44.46%
🇳🇿 v 🌏
Shots on 🎯/Shots Attempted
64/206 (31%) for 14 ⚽
14.71 Shots per goal scored
🌏 v 🇳🇿
Shots on 🎯/Shots Attempted
143/376 (38%) for 54 ⚽ 
6.96 Shots per goal scored 
•This simply shows that we are inefficient in our play in front of goal - It takes more than double the amount of shots than that of our opponents before we hit the back of the net. 
•Not only are we inefficient/profligate in front of goal in the final ⅓, we give our opponents far too many chances in return - A staggering 170+ extra attempts on goal we've faced across 29 matches so far.
•In shots on target against us, our opposition has had more than 3 shots on 🎯 in 16/29 games. 
•On only 2/29 occasions have we managed more than 3 shots on target - 🇻🇳 (2-0)/🇵🇭 (0-1)
•Furthermore, it's in these two matches against 🇻🇳/🇵🇭 that we've hit 25% (16/64) of our shots on target in the Klimkova reign - We are just over two years in!

From day dot under Klimkova there has been no improvement, and some might rightly argue that we've gone backwards... Of course a manager is nothing without player's, so to that end she has been let down badly as well. In saying that, she is the one selecting them so something needs to change quickly in that regard as well.

But as far as I have witnessed, there has been no progression whatsoever under her management. That she has another 4 years on her contract is right up there in New Zealand Footballing heritage as one of the worst/costliest mistakes to be made by NZF.

Stats don't paint the whole picture of course, but it doesn't make for nice reading. If you've been watching along like I have, then they certainly correlate well with some of the absolute dogshark performances that have occured under Klimkova's watch...

Anyway, hope someone found some value out of all this. Sorry for the longish post too.

Can someone in the media ask NZF and Pragnell some tough questions...

Like is she still in the job because its too much to pay her out?

Do NZF admit a 7 year deal was in hindsight wrong and a big mistake was made here?

What pressure Jitka is under based on current statistics of her reign and what happens next if things do not get better?

I mean not really tough questions but love to see what Pragnell comes out. I think as genuine supporters we deserve explanations and better from the organisation. 

I cant see NZF sacking Klimkova. NZF just doesn't have the budget to be paying out coaches. They made there bed and now they have to sleep in it. 
But this latest result / team performance should be huge red flags for the coaching staff. The status quo of player selection is not working and/or making any positive progress.
Time now for really tough decisions, squad selection wise.
We need to bring in younger more technical players now. Time to start the new World Cup cycle now. Not wait till after the Olympics. 

Selection of players at age group level also needs to change as current preference is still physical players over technical players.  A better development programme for the age group teams is also required if we really want to develop future players for the Ferns.  

Are there any football journalists or media in this country anymore?? who are they?? where are they?? Never see or read anything anymore....they should be jumping on this issue!!

Showtime Nixie

Are there any football journalists or media in this country anymore?? who are they?? where are they?? Never see or read anything anymore....they should be jumping on this issue!!

What issue?

SN doesn't think there's a sufficient level of witch-hunt/lynch-mob atmosphere, in that Klimkóva hasn't actually fled the country ahead of an angry mob yet

Mindhack

Selection of players at age group level also needs to change as current preference is still physical players over technical players.  A better development programme for the age group teams is also required if we really want to develop future players for the Ferns.  

I disagree with that. Better technical players are for sure coming into the national U17s & U20s now. It's just that they are still only 15-19 yrs of age. Some like Fraser & Whinham will get a go with the Nix ALW team this season. Clegg with WSW. Nathan with Canberra.

But none of them are yet really ready to make a big impression in senior women's international football. It's gonna take some time.

Unlike say the AWs who now have a swag of talented technical experienced players in that 20-24 age range. That's in many ways just a reflection of the Weenix (and Ole) Academies having been going for longer in the male space, compared to female. Weenix have 3-4 female teams now I read somewhere?? We will see increasing numbers of better female technical players being produced.

I've watched some of both the recent U20 & U17 OFC tourneys. Sure the opposition are often plain awful, but is definitely some real talent coming through. Helen Errington really one to watch I reckon. Signed a deal in Portugal??

https://theniche-cache.com/football/2023/8/18/here-arIZe-six-future-football-ferns-to-help-solve-our-goal-scoring-issues

Doloras

SN doesn't think there's a sufficient level of witch-hunt/lynch-mob atmosphere, in that Klimkóva hasn't actually fled the country ahead of an angry mob yet

Yes I'm all for some strong criticism of Kilmkova, but SN is like a rabies infected hound. Going as far as to question if NZ is still the best female football team in OFC. No it's the Vanuatu U17s. 

If it's too costly to sack her, can't she be pushed aside and given some sort of admin role and give Tony Readings or the Nix's coach the gig?