All Whites' Dead End Road To Russia 2018

Yeah, that not being fit enough thing is bizarre. I mean the guy's just completed 2 tournaments and has also been trialling which I assume also involves playing games. 

Hopefully it's just a line being used so that he doesn't have to say anything about a pending contract offer or something.

But he hasn't had trials, at least none that anyone can name since the Confeds. If that's the case, he should be in Wellington and asking the coach if he can train / keep match fit.

Plently of off contract / off season players do this. 

If he was offered a trial now, would he be fit enough to do it. Would love some hard facts. Does he have a contract offer, yes or no. 

Didn't Chris Wood do that as well after the first game against Fiji after picking up a knock. Didn't he go back to Leeds instead of staying with the squad for the return leg in Wellington. I'm just going by memory so correct me if I'm wrong.

Most concerning thing is there is a lack of Midfielders here, i mean actual midfielders. Hudson will convert a defender to defensive mid and put a winger in the middle of the park. He really is a shark coach. Also, how on earth do kip colvey and wynne keep making squads, theyre both dreadful.

Maybe because he saw Sail as the most viable option when you look at availability vs current fitness/being employed as a professional vs experience.

I think he ticked the first two boxes, not so much the third. Also, it is a big ask for a player to go halfway around the world to sit on the bench and #22 knowing full well there is a 1% chance of actually seeing any game time. 
Also, I think Hudson would have faced backlash if he'd called Gleeson into the squad for what is essentially a 3rd GK spot - almost as if he were doing it out of spite.

I am not necessarily justifying him, just trying to understand the thought process.

Yeah but Moss is the 3rd best keeper. Marinovic & Gleeson should be duelling it out for the no 1 spot, and should have been for 12 months now. A competitive environment keeps everyone on their toes, and striving to be better.

o.O

Hudson makes weird selection decisions to prove he's smarter than everyone else

needs more #unattachedfc

Honestly I think there's a combination of reasons for why Hudson hasn't selected Boyd and Gleeson. The problem is these reasons seem mostly for his personal agenda. I think if he selects these two, (who don't happen to kiss his ass for a place in the team, rather do their talking with performances for club) he suddenly has to start them as they deserve a place in the starting 11 on merit. This means he has to drop a couple of players who probably do kiss his arse - if not at least he has become fond of these guys on a personal level which is not a reason to select someone. In my opinion he's just using the most convenient/semi-passable excuse to not select these guys to avoid sucking up what comes with doing the right thing - AKA get over his ego issues and drop his matey players. Of course this is just a theory based on the little information out there. One thing we know about Hudson is he is very defensive and doesn't really say it how it is, so we are left with no option but to theorise with the info we do get.

Also we know in professional sport you get all sorts of personalities with players, some are easy to manage and others require closer, more specialised management. If Boyd and Gleeson fit into the latter category (I don't necessarily think they do), it's more on the manager to figure out the issues and get the players to buy into what he wants to do. Outside of injury etc Hudson's ego is the only thing in the way of us getting our strongest 11 on the park. 

AWs just cannot afford petty little player/coach ego conflicts - the player depth is wafer thin as it is - without then not selecting the best 23 man squad possible.

Marinovic has done pretty well, but Gleeson should be in the squad pushing him for that starting spot. We haven't seen Boyd in an AWs shirt since he left for Portugal - has he progressed since being overseas?  We really have no idea, but gut feeling is he should be in the squad ahead of Patterson.

If Boyd & Marinovic want to play for NZ, both these guys need to get on the phone to Hudson, apologise in need, eat some humble pie, and make it clear they are keen and available. They can ask Tommy Smith for a prepared speech.

On another note if Lewis has not been trialling overseas since the Confeds Cup, why hasn't he been flogged to death at NZF's headquarters by their fitness trainer, for the last month? Surely he has been told what he needs to do. Is AH really communicating openly with his team, or playing little mind games. 

Hudson needs to take some responsibility if Lewis is not fit.

He has been his project the last couple of years, always in the squad, more then often in the first team

Plays in a problem position where we have little depth and recent performances indicates he is better then most in that posi and derserved to be there

Based in NZ, same city, if there's one player that Hudson has the ability to influence and have control over it is Lewis.

It's just that Hudson is planning a new fangled 5 - 0 - 5 formation. Who needs a midfield when you bypass it?

and he left the nations cup for his sister's wedding

Dropping Lewis and Tuiloma is just plain weird.

If they are not fit then surely that is a failure of the coaches communication and monitoring systems. Surely everyone is being monitored and is made well aware of the fitness requirements for selection. 

Our midfield is already wafer thin..there is no depth there. So arguably our best performing midfielder this season (Lewis) and our only specialist holding midfielder(Tuiloma) will not be playing in the biggest match of the year. Not because they are injured but because no plan was inacted to have two key players match ready!!!!!!!!!

Fitness does not necessarily have to mean serious match play but a monitored fitness program with an approved provided should have got these two to a level where they could have played against the Solomons...even for 45 minutes each.

I think Hudson is just being a silly boy!!!!!!

Re: Boyd

Hudson said that while he thinks Boyd is a good player, the explanation for his absence was simple.

"If someone has pulled out of the squad, there's no way, as the national team manager, that I'm going to be pleading and chasing after them to come and play for us.

"Ever since he pulled out of that squad, because he wanted to spend time with his personal trainer to prepare for preseason, rather than coming to the Nations Cup, I haven't heard from Tyler, so I think it would be wrong for me, and quite disrespectful to the team, to be chasing after someone that doesn't want to come."

Re: Gleeson

Hudson said that while Gleeson hadn't turned down another callup for any of the four squads selected since then, his past decisions had counted against him.

"We needed him before that, and he wanted to stay with his club. He's a really good keeper, there's no denying that, but it's the same scenario with Tyler - we need everyone showing they want to come and represent their country, and when they do, they'll be available, I'll consider them.

"But I haven't heard anything from Tyler or from Jake."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/95...

The lack of match fitness thing is bogus. Firstly, it's off season for pretty much everyone at the moment except the MLS and Scandanavian based guys, so lots of players wouldn't be at peak fitness. Secondly, he picked Rufer for the Confeds Cup when he had barely played all season before that. And he picked Dura, who was injured and couldn't play in either the first friendly or the FFA cup game for the Nix. What does he do, get them all to do a beep test and send in the results?

And those are the words of an actual professional coach? Just, wow...

His sister planned the wedding to occur around Woods schedule, the OFC changed the date of the nation's cup at the last minute and ruined those plans. There is absolutely no denying Woods commitment to NZ and it was probably a tough decision.

I actually think it's fair enough that he wants the players to call and tell him that they want to play. Smith did it and Moss did it.

I agree I hope they do sort it out but why has it come to sending the message out via the media before our most important game of the year? 

Baffling, the midfield looks horrific. Also how do Wynne and Colvey get picked, they look terrbile. 

I thought it would have been the coaches job to approach players he wants to select and then give the player the choice to accept or decline for whatever reason. If that's his reasoning, does that mean I should give Hudson a call and tell him I'm available for the Solomon's games?

According to the article he did and both players said no, now he's waiting for them to call him and say they're available again.

Both Moss and Smith did this so the players know that if they want to play they have to let NZF know that. We want players who want to play for the shirt not players that we have to beg to be involved.

Egos. "Sorry is the hardest word to say".  Well now Gleeson and Boyd know what they need to do. I think from get go Hudson has been frustrated with this issue of player unavailability. He publicly had a go at Smith via media. Smith obviously picked up phone and apologised. 

My annoyance was took so long to find out why Gleeson and Boyd were not making squads, and we are just weeks & months away from AWs biggest games in 4 years. They better act real fast if they want any involvement. 

Of course if by chance AWs overcome the massive odds to make Russia 2018, what would they do then?

With all this talk about fitness, it's worth remembering that at this time last year our All Whites assistant coach - Alex Armstrong, remember him? - was appointed largely of the strength of being a super duper fitness expert.

He was so, so important that Emblen was axed as previous assistant.

"His experience as a fitness coach will elevate the standard of our programme, something which is important to me," Hudson explained at the time.

But then suddenly it wasn't so important. 

Armstrong resigned with no explanation offered, and suddenly Peter Taylor was flavour of the day. 

To an outsider the subliminal message - drop your fitness guru and effectively don't replace him with anyone with a similar skill set - seemed to be fitness was no longer a biggie.

Although in a New Zealand context it always is.

Because the way the All Whites usually play we need to be fitter because we don't have possession much and spend the bulk of games chasing the ball.

Still, it is easier to address remedial fitness than remedial skill.

Incidentally, when he was here, the overlooked Boyd was one of the fittest players ever. Even now you could ship him in at short notice and he would still run like a bastard.

Alex Armstrong of course, returned to the fold in March, snuck in down the bottom of a press release puffing up some Chris Wood quotes.

Tks Fox, missed that. Wasn't paying attention, obviously.

I have said this many times, when successive coaches have allowed senior players to pick and choose when they play it makes it very hard to enforce the requirement that every players turns up for every game.  Is Winston Reid's career more important that Tyler Boyd's because he plays for West Ham?  Personally I think Hudson should build a bridge...because it sounds like if they call him to say they are available he would pick them!

Boyd's situation has been public since last October, and Gleeson could have picked up the phone any time since then to get clarity himself, he doesn't need to wait around for Hudson to be interview by someone interested.

Of course Hudson's going to say that, standard coaches rheotoric. Fact is he won't pick either, or Tyler Boyd, or Jake Gleeson because Hudson has an ego the size of Europe. That's why he continued to pick Moses Dyer too, it's a case of even though he was nowhere near international quality, Hudson wanted to try and prove that he could see something no-one else could. 

Not that he should pick Rory, that ship has sailed, but still....

If the players opted out, its up to them to opt back in.

I support Hudson on this, calling up players who don't really want to be there won't add to the culture / ethos of a team positively IMO no matter how good they are.

Roy Keane is a great example, best player in the team, but so much of a disruptive influence he was sent home. 

what date is the match in Wellington v the South American side if we beat the Sollies? 

It is not, It is childish. Coaches are people managers and they have to be in contact with the their players. Just call and say 'What's up?' and they will tell him how they feel, there is no pleading or begging in a simple chat.