ALL WHITES V BAHRAIN - Official 1st Leg T

[QUOTE=playwithFire]Some notes.

1. Bertos can not play RB, he should have played where Smeltz did.[quote]
I have just had Ricki Herbert on my flight from Auckland to Wellington this evening ,I asked him why Bertos was in that position for the game , he said that as Leo is a very quick runner his job was to elimnate the African striker and that was the only reason,it seemed to work.

how quick is Scott? could he not be there at RB? sorry cannot be bothered going thru the last million pages....

Haha post of the thread imo.

If that was his answer, then he was not telling the truth.
The African striker was super quick and skinned Leo on more than one occasion.
He will have to change his formation if he wants to win.

If he thinks that just because we are playing at home we will win, he is dreaming.

Saw Riki on Prime tonight. Reckons he has the formula the win. Hope he does.

Sound correct for me, having a quick player on their quickest flank player will be just enough to pressure the cross wide of it's mark. Rick may have saw it tactically better to narrow the angle for the cross by driving their player into the byline rather than attempt to make a committed tackle which could have allow the quick flank player to dribble around and make a goal attempt instead. Anticipation of the run may be less-instinctive for Bertos but to force a player wide is sound tactics if the player relies on speed and so rush their final ball delivery and giving the central defence to focus on the receiver rather than cover the deliverer of the ball.

However, I too wonder on how quick Scott is compared to Bertos. Who is our quickest player? Scott may be more suited at the home leg to release Bertos for the attack, where his lack of match fitness would not be exposed in the heat humidity of Bahrain.

Anyway, looking at the Salman goal attempt off the side post. I have to agree with the linesman that he was onside as the ball was kicked. He was flush with Ben Sigmund. Siggy, tried to pull the offside trap but he was a tad late executing it because he had to make about 3-5 metres in quick time.

On the second possible offside in that SBS video, the Bahrain player timing his run from the deep perfectly, to create a Paston save over the bar.

They are so much better than us it's not even worth comparing.

Dider Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure ring any bells?

If Salman was onside when that ball was played through then he should be at the Olympics because he is faster than Usan Bolt. He was a good metre offside when the ball was played.

If you believe that a National coach who you happen to meet on a flight from Auckland to Wellington is going to tell you why he made any decisions is either having you on, or maybe he should not be the coach.

For goodness sake. Watch the SBS video again. Pause the video just as the foot kick the final pass and you can see that Siggy was flush-even with the attacker and therefore Salman was onside.

Siggy was the last defender and moved forward in attempt to pull the offside trap. When he decided to move, he was 5 metres behind from Salman and as Siggy moved forward and as he was flush with Salman in the movement, that was when the ball was kicked!! Salman was standing still at the time the ball was kicked and only move after it was kicked. Siggy and the others appealed about half a second after the ball was kicked.

Originally I believed as much as anyone else that he was offside, but after looking at the video and replaying it numerous times, I am convinced that he was totally onside.

The ball travel a long distance across the ground (it was at least a few seconds) and the fact there was hardly any defenders tracking back in the area gives the illusion that at the time Salman gathered the ball in an offside position when in fact he was not. In a second, he and the other bahrain players were attacking and Siggy and the other defenders was appealing and not backtracking. Only Bertos from afar off was running back into the box but he started 30 metres away from the box and was nowhere near the four Bahrain players but close/far to two of them at the penalty spot.

Siggy had two options just before the final pass was made, either he moved forward to pull the offside trap or stay back and mark two bahrain players. The only real option is to take the offside trap option but he didn't move forward quick enough.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/2010-world-cup/#1

Pause at 00:06.64 before the kick and pause at 00:06.76 when he kicked the ball (you can see the ball just off his foot)AllWhitebelievr2009-10-13 23:32:38

Who cares.  He missed.

Thats true . . . but he's wrong and I'm still right.

It would be a pretty novel thing to see Ricki get 100 % support. The one time everyone needs to be giving the coach all the support he needs would be about now. However I suspect there are a bunch of people out there who hate Ricki so much they would prefer we lost so they can say "I told you so"

What the bloke with the grey hedgehog on his head said.

Yeah unfortunately is the attitude of a typical NZ sports fan. My dads the same...annoys the sh*t out of me. Bandwagon when they win,but loves it more when they lose,just so he can laugh and say i told you so. Is a very widespread attitude in NZ to sports other than rugby,and isnt helped by the media..in fact id argue its encouraged by them as they influence people so greatly it seems.

Sack Daddy.

ive got my money on ivory coast to fail in pool play, probably one of the most over rated teams in the cup and i think the pressure of performing in africa will get to them. portugal may not have had the most rock solid campaign but them and brazil will be the two through to the round of 16 from this pool.