All Whites v Ireland | Fri 15th November 2019 | 8.40am | SS7

i'll say it again if it gets us another

In every game, libby looks classy ay. such a competent player and he keeps getting better. 

before the goal we started playing well

hopefully we don't shark ourselves now

although we can expect ireland to up their effort

hopefully we get to hear a bit more of mick mccarthy abusing his players

Beautiful goal. Great pass by Cacace and a great cross. Kind of glad the All Whites don't have a game against Australia any time soon.... This is a very good All Whites squad.

His job is also to be an option for a pass while in transition, and to recieve and make passes, he wasn't doing well enough in that regard. He wasn't bad, just struggling with the step up in pace. Goal was well worked though, so hats off to him.

that's awesome footy

At this point in the game people could say the same thing about Wood, he hasnt done anything at all however we know just how good he is. The young player you are criticising is on his debut, playing in a team which hasnt played together in 17 months, has had only a couple of days trianing together and many of the players he hadnt played with before. Your criticism is/was too early and out of context.

Far too harsh on McCowatt and Just. This is a step up for them and they are just finding their feet, there is no other way to do this.

jeez give the kid a break, its his first international with a new coach and new instructions. Everyone is gonna be finding their stride and place in the team. He did the one thing we really needed him to do - put the ball in the back of the net.

and wasn't the build up to the goal awesome too

Winston with the worst pass of the game by either team, clearly not at this level.....

Have to say in this opening 40 minutes its given me more optimism for the AW's future than in the last 6 or 7 years.

what is it with the Nix and AW's inability to defend set pieces?

Give the kid a break? It's not like I was beating on him, all I was referring to is the step up required for international football can be difficult, not that he's shark and should be dropped forever. It's also not fudgeing tiddlywinks, we need to expect more of our players regardless of the team, the systems or the situation. Stop being precious.

I think the difference has been Rory Fallons cuddling

oool, libby let his man jump then. 

Fudge off, you sounded like a Twit and got called out on it, stop being precious.

fiddly dee potatoes there's some precious wee petals on this forum aren't there

you don't need to convince me that he is a good player and he is going to be great for us or that this is all part of the process etc (which by the way all sort of back up my original observation)

of course he's on debut. of course he's young. no one is criticizing the lad, just making the observation (that i stand by) that he is struggling

he's given the ball away 3-4 times since his goal including giving the ball away in the build up to their equalizer

Absolutely loved it. I'm stunned they are looking like such a good unit after 2 days and no games since pretty much forever

I'm sorry mate, but this comment has twit written all over it

You're telling me to fudge off and that I'm sounding like twit for rightly pointing out a debutant is struggling at an international level (despite his goal), which he objectively is. I'm not the one being precious.

Here is McCowatt goal https://streamja.com/X1Oz

I wasn't expecting anything, I know McCowatt is a good player and has a huge future, but it's still a fair and relatively benign (or so I thought) comment to say a player is struggling when stepping up a level. Particularly going from the a-league to international. I'm not sure how this has offended so many people, like half the forum are McCowatt's family or something.

reid was great, but given his lack of game time i think bringing bill on might even be an upgrade

Im not sure that anyone has taken offence - for me its a little unfair to say a player is struggling at international level when he's less than 30 minutes into his first game. I was simply saying you should at least give him two or three games before you start saying he's struggling at this level.

more good footy from us. i'm loving this

even the small things with the movement and also even the foul by boxall was the right thing to do

if joe bell isn't in the premier league within 2 years i'll be stunned

McCowatt was fouled there by Parrott - not called but then Irish striker was left with so much space.

2nd half Marinovich is having a shocker

defence all at sea without Reid oprganising things.

Some dude literally told me to fudge off and that I'm a twit. Saying that a player is struggling after 30 minutes making the step up isn't the same thing as you think he'll never make it. It was just an objective perspective based on what I was seeing, and it showed again before Ireland's second goal.

Yeah the fouls seem to be a one way street really given what we've been called for. Bit like the A-league.....

Haha don't think you called that one well so far reg ;)

That last one for example - barely a touch by Boxall!

Hang on, please let me check marinovic's age before i respond....

......

... he's 28. yes, i agree, not a good spell for him at all

i gotta shut up

I dont care if we were to let in another 3 goals I am totally buzzing about the future if we keep heading down this path.

not sure that shows "Taking offence" but maybe a little aggressive given the perceived jusdgement of a player over a short period of time. Eitherway - I called you out for being a little harsh on the kid, and to be fair that second goal cant be on McCowatt - he was defending deeper than he probably needed to be - where was his defender?

i'm hoping they don't take any risks with ryan thomas here