Recently come back after a bad one, so he's taking an extended break over the off-season to be fit. He only has one year left on his Bayern deal so the upcoming season is crucial for him.
For me a win will be seeing us not playing 3 centre backs. It worked for Ricky in 2009/10 as it fit his strengths up top and at the back but we’ve moved on from them yet the shape has more or less stayed. We just end up carrying a player.
We have very mobile wing backs that can play in a 4-3-3 or variant thereof because we have two 6’s that are smart enough to know when to press and when to sit to cover the runs of Libby and Callan.
So that would be a win for me..
Yeah you play 3 centre backs if you have 3 great centre backs (which we did in Nelson, Reid and a young Tommy Smith).
But your formation should always get your best players on the pitch, which for us is now the midfield.
In no world should you be sacrificing one of Bell, Stamenic, Garbett, Thomas or Singh for Pijnaker, Tuiloma, Boxall or god forbid, Tim Payne.
Counter agrument is we only currently have one consistently top class CB in Boxall. The unflustered rock presence. Smith is way past his best it seems, Pijnaker is still making mistakes in a weak Irish league, and Tuiloma is having a mixed time of it in the MLS. Charlotte picked 3 CBs in their most recent game and he sat on the bench. So who starts alongside M Boxall in a back 4?
Also in the last 12-18 mths the AWs have managed to get near parity in the possession stakes even when playing away from home. Whether it be a back 3/5 or a back 4. This isn't the U20s. Exception being that game in Barcelona against Peru, when a few of the team seemed to freeze in such an intimidating atmosphere, and the 1st half was wave after wave of Peruvian attacks. Also from memory we got bossed by the Socceroos once Wood went off at Eden Park.
I think that's going to be a bigger issue against Sweden, than whether Bazeley goes 2 or 3 CBs. Without Wood the lack of a class big man up front, with quality holding play when the AWs need to go long. As long as 3 of Bell, Stamenic, Lewis & Garbett start I think we have enough quality to play out of tight spaces when the Swedes press. But when you just have to go long can Mata or Waine do what Wood does? Not a job for Greive. And whoever does start up front can't just be left all alone & isolated.
If it is 3 CBs, I'd like to see Boxall in the middle with Pijnaker & Surman either side. It's just a friendly after all, 3 years out from the WC. Start Surman in front of 30,000 Swedes wearing Viking horns and see how he goes. He's the future, and young players learn so much playing these sort of games. Stamenic would have learnt a shark load from his 45 mins against the Peruvians before getting hauled at HT. He'd hardly played for FCK prior that, but since then has been in plenty of big UCL & Superliga games.
Lastly as always which shape, allows Cacace the best opportunity to bomb forward. Maybe it is a back 4 with Bell and/or Stamenic dropping back as cover. But sans Wood, Singh & Thomas - it's almost impossible to see the AWs scoring without Libby being heavily involved.
I don't think much can be read into possession anymore. The game has moved on since peak tiki taka. It's very easy, potentially easier, to have high levels of possession when playing a back 5 as you can comfortably pass back and forth along the backline and many teams don't even bother pressing until you venture some distance into their half.
I think you might be underrating our midfielders and forwards by suggesting we are as dependent on Cacace for attack as you are. Maybe it is because we are playing a back 5 and as a result find it harder to dominate in the final third that we become so dependent on impetus from wingbacks.
I agree with your CB selection if we are to play 3 of them but I'd rather see a pairing of Boxall and Smith. A proper test to see if Smith still has the legs or whether we can put him out to pasture earlier than expected coochiee
Friar Tuck
JasperNix
For me a win will be seeing us not playing 3 centre backs. It worked for Ricky in 2009/10 as it fit his strengths up top and at the back but we’ve moved on from them yet the shape has more or less stayed. We just end up carrying a player.
We have very mobile wing backs that can play in a 4-3-3 or variant thereof because we have two 6’s that are smart enough to know when to press and when to sit to cover the runs of Libby and Callan.
So that would be a win for me..
Yeah you play 3 centre backs if you have 3 great centre backs (which we did in Nelson, Reid and a young Tommy Smith).
But your formation should always get your best players on the pitch, which for us is now the midfield.
In no world should you be sacrificing one of Bell, Stamenic, Garbett, Thomas or Singh for Pijnaker, Tuiloma, Boxall or god forbid, Tim Payne.
Counter agrument is we only currently have one consistently top class CB in Boxall. The unflustered rock presence. Smith is way past his best it seems, Pijnaker is still making mistakes in a weak Irish league, and Tuiloma is having a mixed time of it in the MLS. Charlotte picked 3 CBs in their most recent game and he sat on the bench. So who starts alongside M Boxall in a back 4?
Also in the last 12-18 mths the AWs have managed to get near parity in the possession stakes even when playing away from home. Whether it be a back 3/5 or a back 4. This isn't the U20s. Exception being that game in Barcelona against Peru, when a few of the team seemed to freeze in such an intimidating atmosphere, and the 1st half was wave after wave of Peruvian attacks. Also from memory we got bossed by the Socceroos once Wood went off at Eden Park.
I think that's going to be a bigger issue against Sweden, than whether Bazeley goes 2 or 3 CBs. Without Wood the lack of a class big man up front, with quality holding play when the AWs need to go long. As long as 3 of Bell, Stamenic, Lewis & Garbett start I think we have enough quality to play out of tight spaces when the Swedes press. But when you just have to go long can Mata or Waine do what Wood does? Not a job for Greive. And whoever does start up front can't just be left all alone & isolated.
If it is 3 CBs, I'd like to see Boxall in the middle with Pijnaker & Surman either side. It's just a friendly after all, 3 years out from the WC. Start Surman in front of 30,000 Swedes wearing Viking horns and see how he goes. He's the future, and young players learn so much playing these sort of games. Stamenic would have learnt a shark load from his 45 mins against the Peruvians before getting hauled at HT. He'd hardly played for FCK prior that, but since then has been in plenty of big UCL & Superliga games.
Lastly as always which shape, allows Cacace the best opportunity to bomb forward. Maybe it is a back 4 with Bell and/or Stamenic dropping back as cover. But sans Wood, Singh & Thomas - it's almost impossible to see the AWs scoring without Libby being heavily involved.
Greive, Mata & Waine are all still fairly young, with maybe higher ceilings than where they currently are - but I don't think there is much danger of under rating them at international level at the moment. I'd say as Kiwis it could be the opposite. Greive with 4 goals in 28 SPL games this season is agruably our 2nd best forward behind Wood.
By contrast Isak (who probably won't play against the AWs) scored 10 EPL goals in 22 games, with the odd magical assist as well.
And for all the skill of our young midfield, none of them are prolific scorers at club level either. Not sure tinkering with the formation is going to change that much.
What gives me some hope is that Waine non goal (offside against Peru). Was some really nice build up down the left, from a quickest counter. Nice ball Pijnaker to Garbett who does a lovely turn to beat his man, then a peach of a low cross from Libby. At 5.20mins in this video. A little reminder of what this team can do. Even sans Wood & Singh. https://youtu.be/sjyU-EKJ_0E
Time for the proverbial question. Any news on these 2 games being televised?
The All Whites v Sweden is live on Prime TV Saturday from 4.50 am.
Early start f you want to watch it live! Great that Prime are showing an AW's friendly free-to-air !!! I doubt if Prime will show the Qatar match but you can check.
Both him and Thomas are still not 100% I believe, so not risking further injuries, focussing on rehab in the off season.
BTW - where is everyone watching? I've been trying to find anywhere in Auckland that would be showing the game to hang out with other All Whites fans, but no luck. The licensing laws suck for any live sport in Europe you want to watch!! number8
Both him and Thomas are still not 100% I believe, so not risking further injuries, focussing on rehab in the off season.
BTW - where is everyone watching? I've been trying to find anywhere in Auckland that would be showing the game to hang out with other All Whites fans, but no luck. The licensing laws suck for any live sport in Europe you want to watch!! number8
What happened to Singh? Injured?
Maybe try contacting one of the clubs. Saw a social media post where I think Auckland City put on a breakfast for last weekend's UCL final.
Is it just me, or is anyone else put off of this game a little because no Ryan Thomas or Sarpreet Singh. I feel like they are integral to our team and we won't get meaningful games until either or both of them are in the squad.
Yeah I was keen to see them play, but I understand why they dont was to risk any injuries currently.Nommag
Is it just me, or is anyone else put off of this game a little because no Ryan Thomas or Sarpreet Singh. I feel like they are integral to our team and we won't get meaningful games until either or both of them are in the squad.
Don't blame any of that on Bazeley, I think it was very well coached. Can't prevent those atrocious lapses. Sweden took advantage of every little slip-up we had.
Possession football looks good on us - best we've looked going forward in a long long time
Went down pretty much as expected. In a strange way I personally am not too upset. That final 10 minutes of the first half was a comedy of errors for sure but when it gets that bad you just gotta roll with it. From a fan's point of view I appreciated the teams intent in going out in the second half and trying to salvage a goal, instead of going back into their shells after an absolute spanking.
We were outgunned and outperformed by a far superior team. They capitalised on every mistake we made. Still some positives though. Got some shots off, tried to play possesion based football. McCowatt seems to have come on leaps and bounds since his days at the Phoenix, and Joe Bell is a workhorse. Libby is class.
Really hope one of the League 2 lads gets a crack with the gloves for Qatar. Don't think Oli has shown anything in the jersey over the last year that would suggest the no.1 spot deserves to be his and his alone.
Don't blame any of that on Bazeley, I think it was very well coached. Can't prevent those atrocious lapses. Sweden took advantage of every little slip-up we had.
Possession football looks good on us - best we've looked going forward in a long long time
Folks got the back 4 they were after, and Bazeley didn't coach the players to make the costly turnovers they did. And yipe at least the team was chasing goals in the 2nd half, not just sitting back trying to keep it respectable. Their players a class above, and were ruthless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyy25pDEFTw
But I guess that's Baze's issue. He's winning the games we expect to win - China with AWs, Guatamela with U20s - but we look a long way off those teams that have way better players than us. How do we close that gap. Is there perhaps a more inspired choice as a coach out there, given wage restraints NZF have??
At least the team will learn far more playing Sweden in front of a packed house, than next Qatar in front of a few hundred neutrals.
Don't blame any of that on Bazeley, I think it was very well coached. Can't prevent those atrocious lapses. Sweden took advantage of every little slip-up we had.
Possession football looks good on us - best we've looked going forward in a long long time
Folks got the back 4 they were after, and Bazeley didn't coach the players to make the costly turnovers they did. And yipe at least the team was chasing goals in the 2nd half, not just sitting back trying to keep at respectable. Their players a class above, and were ruthless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyy25pDEFTw
But I guess that's Baze's issue. He's winning the games we expect to win - China with AWs, Guatamela with U20s - but we look a long way off those teams that have way better players than us. How do we close that gap. Is there perhaps a more inspired choice as a coach out there, given wage restraints NZF have??
At least the team will learn far more playing Sweden in front of a packed house, than next Qatar in front of a few hundred neutrals.
Edit - I would 'This' both the above post game Posts, but can't seem to.
"How do we close the gap?" Well there's the long game ⬇️ Sweden v New Zealand - 2 x the population, but 32 x more professional football clubs. I'll bleat on about it until I'm blue on the face, but we need more professional opportunities in our own backyard. Admittedly we may have a few more teams to add to our list over the next few years, but that's where we start on our footballing pathway to improvement. Naturally our best talent will gravitate to overseas clubs as it is, and it will continue to be a nice accompaniment to the aforementioned future increase in number of teams/players.
Grow the game ▶️ Grow the pathways ▶️ Grow the player pool ▶️ Watch the positive outcomes of this snowball into a very good national team setup.
Shorter term ⬇️ Keep organizing games against quality opposition. Get this group together as often as possible, and playing quality games. A lot of the guys in this team are going to be stalwarts of the AW's set up for well over the next decade. You add in guys like Thomas, Wood, and Singh into that too and that's got the makings of a solid national team.
Also - It doesn't need to be said by now, but get a top gaffer in to help pull this all together in the shorter term! That's not to discredit Bazeley's set up from this morning because despite the result, I liked the setup and intent a lot. But NZF need to seriously pull finger here and get that sorted. It's farcical that this has dragged on this long. Time to put it right.
Don't blame any of that on Bazeley, I think it was very well coached. Can't prevent those atrocious lapses. Sweden took advantage of every little slip-up we had.
Possession football looks good on us - best we've looked going forward in a long long time
Folks got the back 4 they were after, and Bazeley didn't coach the players to make the costly turnovers they did. And yipe at least the team was chasing goals in the 2nd half, not just sitting back trying to keep at respectable. Their players a class above, and were ruthless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyy25pDEFTw
But I guess that's Baze's issue. He's winning the games we expect to win - China with AWs, Guatamela with U20s - but we look a long way off those teams that have way better players than us. How do we close that gap. Is there perhaps a more inspired choice as a coach out there, given wage restraints NZF have??
At least the team will learn far more playing Sweden in front of a packed house, than next Qatar in front of a few hundred neutrals.
Edit - I would 'This' both the above post game Posts, but can't seem to.
"How do we close the gap?" Well there's the long game ⬇️ Sweden v New Zealand - 2 x the population, but 32 x more professional football clubs. I'll bleat on about it until I'm blue on the face, but we need more professional opportunities in our own backyard. Admittedly we may have a few more teams to add to our list over the next few years, but that's where we start on our footballing pathway to improvement. Naturally our best talent will gravitate to overseas clubs as it is, and it will continue to be a nice accompaniment to the aforementioned future increase in number of teams/players.
Grow the game ▶️ Grow the pathways ▶️ Grow the player pool ▶️ Watch the positive outcomes of this snowball into a very good national team setup.
Shorter term ⬇️ Keep organizing games against quality opposition. Get this group together as often as possible, and playing quality games. A lot of the guys in this team are going to be stalwarts of the AW's set up for well over the next decade. You add in guys like Thomas, Wood, and Singh into that too and that's got the makings of a solid national team.
Also - It doesn't need to be said by now, but get a top gaffer in to help pull this all together in the shorter term! That's not to discredit Bazeley's set up from this morning because despite the result, I liked that a lot. But NZF need to seriously pull finger here and get that sorted. It's farcical that this has dragged on this long. Time to put it right.
That 32 times doesn’t even factor in how close Denmark, Norway and Finland, let alone anywhere else in Europe.
If you’re a New Zealander who the Phoenix won’t give a gig to, where can you go? England is only open if you have a UK pass, elsewhere in Europe has language barriers. US/Canada seems to be a reasonable gig if possible. Asia, with low pay and/or tight foreign rules is basically all off the table. So the closest gig could be at least a 12 hour flight away.
Whereas in Sweden, a kid from Malmö - Roony Bardghji for one - if not getting a gig there, could cross the border to Copenhagen (or „Köpenhamn” as the Swedes say) which is 40 minutes away by train.
Don't blame any of that on Bazeley, I think it was very well coached. Can't prevent those atrocious lapses. Sweden took advantage of every little slip-up we had.
Possession football looks good on us - best we've looked going forward in a long long time
Folks got the back 4 they were after, and Bazeley didn't coach the players to make the costly turnovers they did. And yipe at least the team was chasing goals in the 2nd half, not just sitting back trying to keep at respectable. Their players a class above, and were ruthless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyy25pDEFTw
But I guess that's Baze's issue. He's winning the games we expect to win - China with AWs, Guatamela with U20s - but we look a long way off those teams that have way better players than us. How do we close that gap. Is there perhaps a more inspired choice as a coach out there, given wage restraints NZF have??
At least the team will learn far more playing Sweden in front of a packed house, than next Qatar in front of a few hundred neutrals.
Edit - I would 'This' both the above post game Posts, but can't seem to.
"How do we close the gap?" Well there's the long game ⬇️ Sweden v New Zealand - 2 x the population, but 32 x more professional football clubs. I'll bleat on about it until I'm blue on the face, but we need more professional opportunities in our own backyard. Admittedly we may have a few more teams to add to our list over the next few years, but that's where we start on our footballing pathway to improvement. Naturally our best talent will gravitate to overseas clubs as it is, and it will continue to be a nice accompaniment to the aforementioned future increase in number of teams/players.
Grow the game ▶️ Grow the pathways ▶️ Grow the player pool ▶️ Watch the positive outcomes of this snowball into a very good national team setup.
Shorter term ⬇️ Keep organizing games against quality opposition. Get this group together as often as possible, and playing quality games. A lot of the guys in this team are going to be stalwarts of the AW's set up for well over the next decade. You add in guys like Thomas, Wood, and Singh into that too and that's got the makings of a solid national team.
Also - It doesn't need to be said by now, but get a top gaffer in to help pull this all together in the shorter term! That's not to discredit Bazeley's set up from this morning because despite the result, I liked that a lot. But NZF need to seriously pull finger here and get that sorted. It's farcical that this has dragged on this long. Time to put it right.
That 32 times doesn’t even factor in how close Denmark, Norway and Finland, let alone anywhere else in Europe.
If you’re a New Zealander who the Phoenix won’t give a gig to, where can you go? England is only open if you have a UK pass, elsewhere in Europe has language barriers. US/Canada seems to be a reasonable gig if possible. Asia, with low pay and/or tight foreign rules is basically all off the table. So the closest gig could be at least a 12 hour flight away.
Whereas in Sweden, a kid from Malmö - Roony Bardghji for one - if not getting a gig there, could cross the border to Copenhagen (or „Köpenhamn” as the Swedes say) which is 40 minutes away by train.
This is without a doubt the most significant limiting factor; can't think of another nation with a current pro pipeline where the issue is quite as serious
Don't blame any of that on Bazeley, I think it was very well coached. Can't prevent those atrocious lapses. Sweden took advantage of every little slip-up we had.
Possession football looks good on us - best we've looked going forward in a long long time
Yeah, really just disparity of quality. It was obviously not the Sweden team some in the NZ media thought it would be (though I thought would be clear the likes of Isak, Forsberg, Kulusevski were never going to play), so probably not a 'true' 22-ranked side, but much better nonetheless. Do any of our XI today get into a combined team with their starting XI? Probably not; Gudmundsson vs Cacace maybe the closest at left-back, but Gudmundsson plays more at a better Lille side than Cacace does at Empoli. Nordfeldt might not be great at AIK, but Sail didn't cover himself in glory today either.
Some of the defensive issues China uncovered but lacked the quality to capitalise on were exposed today by more quality finishers in Karlsson, Quaison and Elanga. Either way, Sail was the much busier keeper, just as he was against China.
The matches against European teams seem to be the real litmus test, and they typically don't end well. 1-4 loss today; 0-1 to Lithuania and 1-3 to Republic of Ireland in 2019; 0-4 to Portugal, 0-2 to Russia, 0-1 to Belarus, 0-1 to Northern Ireland in 2017. Seven losses from seven in recent years, two goals for and sixteen against. Even still, only Portugal and Russia were competitive matches, the rest friendlies where a result means exponentially more to us than to them. Be hard to argue we'd be any higher than bottom fifteen in UEFA, possibly bottom ten.
Bit surprised Waine started, especially in a lone striker role. That's not something I really remember seeing him do well, at least at a level higher than OFC matches. He seems to be too little involved, he's best as a poacher/finisher running off Wood, or Mata in this case.
FotMob has possession as 50/50, and that we made exactly as many (385) passes as them, albeit at a lower accuracy. Shots were 16 to 7 though, and that's the thing, the ball's best flying towards their goal, rather than to the feet of your centre-back partner.
Fairly happy with today - we paid the price for poor options with passing at the back/poor touch and they pounced.
That being said, I think we did better than most would have expected. McCowatt who I don't rate, did well today. I think his shift to a more central role has helped him to grow. His best moments outside the goal was when he was winning challenges and looking to break from his recoveries.
Sail needs to stop trying to be a ball playing goal keeper. Its not his jam.
Payne needs to go. He is costing the all whites a goal a game at the moment with his brain fades. Love his heart, not his decision making.
I think overall we were pretty poor, and so were Sweden, who while marginally better were basically just ruthless punishing our (totally unforced) mistakes and otherwise not up to much. Despite playing a back 4, and conceding as many, I don't think we looked, in general, fragile in defense or like we had much presence in midfield. Garbett, Bell & Stamenic all excellent players but surely nobody could look at them and say they are combining to form an fluent, effective midfield unit. We still look like it is almost always our instinct to play along the back and up the wings. Our midfielders don't demand to receive the ball in central areas, most of the time looking like they are hoping the ball won't go anywhere near them. And when we did try to play through the middle we were often very easily dispossessed, the most notable example being Sweden's third.
Agree with others that Sail was poor, I think the third goal was the only one he had no right to save. The other three were very saveable for a decent keeper at the top of his game. Hoping to see Crocombe vs Qatar.
Playing Payne at RB is incomprehensible. He has never looked international quality in a white shirt. Primarily at fault for the second goal. He shouldn't be making the squad at RB, with Roux, Kirwan and Elliott all superior.
I thought Tuiloma got caught ball watching for the third goal, haven't watched a replay but seemed to me that Boxall already had the left side of the box in that moment and Bill needed to be more aware of the space and Swedes to his right. He also got burned badly for the 4th (though recovered reasonably well, Sail should still have been able to save it). In general I don't think he showed he can be defensively reliable enough to operate in a CB pair on that performance alone.
Waine unfortunately offered little evidence he can be any more effective as a Wood alternative than Grieve or Mata. Could still be the case that he forms part of a full strength front 3 (for me it would be Rojas, Wood, Waine).
Surely Darren can't have much chance of getting the role full time after that result. Hope he doesn't revert to a back 5, he might as well go all out vs Qatar, he must have very little to lose at this point.
I am being harsh or should Sail have done better with couple of those goals? Payne is waste of space. Waine was underwhelming. Same issue with Ferns and u20s trying to play out when they shouldn't! Read/manage the game better and make better decisions in the moment. I know we want to be possesion based team but sometimes knock it long if you have to rather then trying to play out every time and getting caught.
i feel the mistakes weren't trying to play out from back when it was inappropriate, it wasn't like those situations were screaming out "get rid!". Was just poor execution, from Just & Bell for the first, Payne giving ball up cheaply for the second, and Garbett with an inexplicably ambitious passing attempt under little pressure for the third, that pass was never on. Agree re sail, as I just said, could easily have done better for first, second and fourth Sweden goals, only being completely blameless for their third. watching_from_far
I am being harsh or should Sail have done better with couple of those goals? Payne is waste of space. Waine was underwhelming. Same issue with Ferns and u20s trying to play out when they shouldn't! Read/manage the game better and make better decisions in the moment. I know we want to be possesion based team but sometimes knock it long if you have to rather then trying to play out every time and getting caught.
I am overall not too unhappy with the match. We had good possession, on a number of occasions in each half got forward well, we had a number of goal scoring chances and on another day we could have had 3. Obviously it was a weaker Swedish squad but they were still good quality.
Very unimpressed with Payne and Sail. That’s becoming a theme of AW’s/Phoenix matches unfortunately.
Happy to see McCowatt put away a good goal. He battles away in the danish second tier and probably feels off the radar somewhat but he showed he’s a handy player. Would have liked to have seen more from Waine but hopefully we get that vs Qatar.
Based on how McCowatt went post the winter break with Helsingor (still 1 year left on his contract), plus last night, it wouldn't surprise if he moved up to a higher level somewhere this Euro summer. Join his old North Shore mate Liam Jordan in the Allsvenskan maybe.
The Qatar (ranked 51st) game is going to have a very different almost practice match feel to it. Still be nice to get a win.
Perhaps it’s because the site was down and we’ve had some time, but the opinions seem fairly similar and I agree with them.
The new style and intent was interesting. Where Nelsen coached us before, is this us coached by Bell?
We couldn’t hold the ball or compete physically up front. Waine looked like a guy who hasn’t had much game time. I was absolutely tearing my hair out at the point Libby made a run all the way up the field on the left, looked up to whip it into the box, saw no one and had to play the ball all the way back again. Either Just is chronically out of form or the new formation doesn’t suit him as much or both.
The goal was fantastic. McCowatt’s movement was a real positive.
Overall we were the plucky underdogs as we usually are. The Qatar game should give us a much better gauge.
We lacked any flexibility trying to play it out from the back, like they were told to always play the sideways/backwards pass and long balls from Oli or defenders were banned... even under pressure. Nice idea but with our skill level you have to mix it up occasionally to provide some balance so Sweden couldn't press them so hard with no consequences.
Even the best sides in the world have to mix things up in order to keep the opponent guessing. Things like switching wings (which Just and McW did), going more direct and increasing/decreasing ballspeed. That takes maturity but its essential at this level and the price we pay for having so few seasoned 27-35 olds playing key positions. However Im confident with the football brains of Bell, Singh and Just that this will come.
Waine cut a lone figure and cant play the wood role - he has to be in a front 2 so needs someone to play alongside (maybe a false 9).
The final point is there is a lot of focus on what we did with the ball. Without the ball I thought when we showed intensity we created chances. That was something Hay introduced and i felt lacked in yesterdays performance.
Was going to post up some highlights but all the footage is blocked by UEFA.com. But when boiled down to the highlights, I believe we could've realistically scored 3, which would've been pretty impressive.
Watching Payne's performance today makes Roux's exclusion even more of a head-scratcher.
Was going to post up some highlights but all the footage is blocked by UEFA.com. But when boiled down to the highlights, I believe we could've realistically scored 3, which would've been pretty impressive.
Watching Payne's performance today makes Roux's exclusion even more of a head-scratcher.
In hindsight things are always clearer. Given it's all hypothetical, there's every possibility Storm Roux could have done a lot better, but he could have also struggled even more than Payne did. His last All Whites performance saw him terrorised by Garang Kuol, who has barely kicked a ball for a non-Old Firm Scottish side; Jesper Karlsson on that Swedish left flank is a long way ahead of Kuol. He has 60 goals/assists in 80-odd Eredivisie appearances for AZ - this is a guy at a level far beyond any New Zealand player.
Storm Roux deserved to be picked, but I don't believe at all that he'd change the result if it's him out there instead of Payne. There's no right sided Cacace, the options are A League (Elliot, Ingham, Payne, Roux), Serie C (Kirwan, just off an ACL recovery), maybe Dalton Wilkins from the Danish 2. Div, or otherwise amateur players. Any of those players would be found out against one of the best wingers in Europe's fifth best league, Payne was just the unfortunate one who drew the short straw of hypotheticals turning into realities.
I don't think it is only hindsight. Payne has never looked particularly good at RB in an All Whites shirt. His something of a hospital pass to Sail vs Peru last year a notable example. He rarely played RB across the past two seasons at the Nix. Sure, Elliott very recently had a mare vs Goodwin, so if it is out of Elliott and Payne I can somewhat get it. But Roux, an A-League champion coming off a fantastic season, or Kirwan, who has really impressed in a white shirt were both available and not picked. I think it is fair to criticise that selection.
Was going to post up some highlights but all the footage is blocked by UEFA.com. But when boiled down to the highlights, I believe we could've realistically scored 3, which would've been pretty impressive.
Watching Payne's performance today makes Roux's exclusion even more of a head-scratcher.
In hindsight things are always clearer. Given it's all hypothetical, there's every possibility Storm Roux could have done a lot better, but he could have also struggled even more than Payne did. His last All Whites performance saw him terrorised by Garang Kuol, who has barely kicked a ball for a non-Old Firm Scottish side; Jesper Karlsson on that Swedish left flank is a long way ahead of Kuol. He has 60 goals/assists in 80-odd Eredivisie appearances for AZ - this is a guy at a level far beyond any New Zealand player.
Storm Roux deserved to be picked, but I don't believe at all that he'd change the result if it's him out there instead of Payne. There's no right sided Cacace, the options are A League (Elliot, Ingham, Payne, Roux), Serie C (Kirwan, just off an ACL recovery), maybe Dalton Wilkins from the Danish 2. Div, or otherwise amateur players. Any of those players would be found out against one of the best wingers in Europe's fifth best league, Payne was just the unfortunate one who drew the short straw of hypotheticals turning into realities.
Yeh, not suggesting Roux would have been Cafu incarnate or anything, just that he deserved a shot based on form, and that Payne didn't have a miracle performance up his sleeve to justify being picked ahead of him. Any of our current options would've found that match torrid, that's just the reality - wasn't meaning to imply a different lineup would've radically affected the outcome.
Was going to post up some highlights but all the footage is blocked by UEFA.com. But when boiled down to the highlights, I believe we could've realistically scored 3, which would've been pretty impressive.
Watching Payne's performance today makes Roux's exclusion even more of a head-scratcher.
In hindsight things are always clearer. Given it's all hypothetical, there's every possibility Storm Roux could have done a lot better, but he could have also struggled even more than Payne did. His last All Whites performance saw him terrorised by Garang Kuol, who has barely kicked a ball for a non-Old Firm Scottish side; Jesper Karlsson on that Swedish left flank is a long way ahead of Kuol. He has 60 goals/assists in 80-odd Eredivisie appearances for AZ - this is a guy at a level far beyond any New Zealand player.
Storm Roux deserved to be picked, but I don't believe at all that he'd change the result if it's him out there instead of Payne. There's no right sided Cacace, the options are A League (Elliot, Ingham, Payne, Roux), Serie C (Kirwan, just off an ACL recovery), maybe Dalton Wilkins from the Danish 2. Div, or otherwise amateur players. Any of those players would be found out against one of the best wingers in Europe's fifth best league, Payne was just the unfortunate one who drew the short straw of hypotheticals turning into realities.
Yeh, not suggesting Roux would have been Cafu incarnate or anything, just that he deserved a shot based on form, and that Payne didn't have a miracle performance up his sleeve to justify being picked ahead of him. Any of our current options would've found that match torrid, that's just the reality - wasn't meaning to imply a different lineup would've radically affected the outcome.
On the subject of- anyone hit any footage anywhere of Leo Bertos skinning Cafu? I swear it happened…
