All Whites v Tunisia | Wed 27th March | 9:00am | FIFA+

Marto

martinb

Again subs felt pre-scripted and not at all in line with what was happening on the pitch. 

Kosta, Rufer and Stamenic deserved better. The thing with Libby was weird. Sarpreet and Garbett tired, and Sarpreet getting disheartened. We looked good when we tried to attack on the transition, but it was too rare. And the cavalry arrived too late. McCowatt a little anonymous too, but then he’s a player who tends to fly under the radar, before popping up with a crucial touch or finish. 

 Hard to say. Wayne's not playing much for Argyle so I'd imagine they'd have been happy with him playing 180 mins of football. To only come on with 10 to go and players absolutely stuffed on the park is bewildering.

Straight red from the Spelling Ref surely. Repeated offence.
I think you even posted soon after BW signed for Plymouth, you were going to get a Pilgrims shirt with Wayne on the back!!

In the final, Croatia prevailed 4-2. Modric assists for the first two goals. Still all class at age 38 (39 in September).

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350215926/all-whites-lose-tunisia-penalty-shootout-after-0-0-draw

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/03/26/world/friendlies/egypt/croatia/4341871/

coochiee

Marto

YoungHeartHM

Screenshot_2024-03-27-10-47-53-66_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg 44.38 KB

The goals are coming lads... 

FARKEN when!?

would have been one today had Tunisia not cheated.

Doesn't really help that every national coach we've have is an ex centre back going back to '05 (unsure what Hudson was).

Bazeley was a right full back or right-sided midfielder.
Huddo no idea, but his old man Alan Hudson was a gifted midfielder. Doubt it makes much difference where you played to how you coch.

Edit - Hudson is these days Technical Director of Al-Markhiya SC, who are currently bottom of the Qatari league.

It might make a difference though. Southgate and Tuchel are both high profile managers who used to be defenders and they are boring as fudge.

loyalgunner

I thought we played really well overall, particularly in the first half.  There was some quick exciting play and really pushing forward. The team can be proud of that.  Poor shootout, but I don't think that's symptomatic of anything. On another day we could have slotted all of them.

One thing not being mentioned is our defense is solid.  We only conceded penalties.  Crocombe had a solid few games penalty shootout aside.

Unless Cacace happened to say something you'd expect that red card to be wiped.

Certainly looked like he was sayhing something when the camera panned to nthe incident, whether it was directed at the ref or the Tunisian player it's impossible to say.

Their player Achouri was venting at the ref, because he blew full time, when the Tunisian was running forward in possession. Then Cacace has obviously said something directed at Achouri, that caused offence. Maybe the ref heard what Libby said. Achouri has played in Denmark the last few years (now at FCK), so likely has some English!

Or maybe Libby knows a few curse words in Arabic. He has a Moroccan team mate at Empoli, who may have taught him some useful naughty words, for getting at opposition players. I mean given how close Italia is to North Africa, probably many Italians know some Arabic words. As we know Cacace ain't shy of some sharkhousery.

The starting XI 🇳🇿🇹🇳

📸 | https://t.co/OJmG8SHmaD pic.twitter.com/DxIb6JaQxB

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) March 26, 2024

so not really red card worthy then.

It’s still ridiculous for Waine to only get 20 odd minutes over two games. As I mentioned before his minutes per goal are fine. 

Kosta goal involvements this season: 15 in 1804 minutes.
Waine: 7 in 945 minutes. 

Good to see the combination between Singh and Garbett, but they were absolutely spent. And Tunisia had control of the game. 

Anyone figured out what happened between Libby and friend?

Edit: so only speculation so far. They had had a bit of a tussle earlier, but I didn’t see fully what happened there either. 

Not really surprising Achouri acting like a Twit - his club and former club in Denmark are the two scummiest teams in the league. 

lthomas20

Not really surprising Achouri acting like a Twit - his club and former club in Denmark are the two scummiest teams in the league. 

 
It was kind of like the ref lost patience with his kids. It’s Daddy’s own time. Everyone in timeout! Leave me alone!

For some crude context, Tunisia's starting 11 of players at the following leagues/clubs.

Tunisian clubs x 2
Bundesliga II (Greuther Fürth)
Ligue 2 (Caen)
Swiss league (Servette) - previously with Salernitana in Serie A
Greek league (Atromitos) - previously with Salernitana in Serie A
Russian Premier League (Akhmat Grozny)
Bundesliga (Union Berlin)
Serie A (Lecce)
Hungry (Ferencváros)
Superliga Denmark (FC Copenhagen)

Suspect they are over ranked in the FIFA rankings, maybe off their 2022 WC over performance??  They only conceded 1 goal (Mitch Duke) as drew 0-0 with Denmark, lost 1-0 Australia, and beat France 1-0.

And we are obviously ranked too low.

But not going to appeal? 

martinb

But not going to appeal? 

 Probably not worth the effort. Next All Whites game is against New Caledonia in Vanuatu, Cacace was already probably a good bet to miss that game as it was. As this team will know better than most, he-said-she-said situations can be difficult to prove/disprove. Any review panel would probably defer to the referee's decision unless there was clear evidence against it.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350215926/harsh-red-card-caps-all-whites-frustrating-night-against-tunisia

Wonder if Bazeley ever does come across a pen shootout again in his reign, whether he would sub on Paulsen for Crocombe?
It is de rigueur these days almost, after Redmayne's heroics. That's of course if a shootout transpired, Paulsen was on the pine.

It's unlikely AWs will be in a pen shootout at OFC Nations Cup (though we were at the last edition), OFC WC qualifying or World Cup itself (if we get there). But we are likely playing in one of these FIFA Series tourneys in March 2026 (last window before the US/Mexico/Canada WC). History could repeat.

A disappointed squad that’s determined to get things right 🗣️

Head Coach Darren Bazeley reflects on the All Whites match against Tunisia this morning 🇳🇿🇹🇳 pic.twitter.com/OjrdnYNA5z

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) March 27, 2024

lthomas20

Will it go down as a draw or a loss in FIFA rankings?

On that topic, the two results had a net ranking coefficient increase of 0.20. The Egypt loss saw it go down by 2.38 and the draw (as it will be, though the points on offer for a penalty loss are the same as a draw) saw them go up by 2.58 (taking into account Croatia vs Tunisia too). So the total coefficient should now be 1197.67.

They should go down one spot though to 104th - as far as I can see that would be the only movement. Kyrgyzstan (currently ranked 104/1196.97 points) will overtake us. They picked up 16.63 ranking points from their two wins over Chinese Taipei. It doesn't look like any of the AFC teams around us (Palestine, Tajikistan, Thailand, Vietnam) will change enough to go past us either way as the three above us had reasonable results while Vietnam lost both matches to Indonesia.

Anyone had any luck looking for a replay?

Edit: I've only seen 3 mins of highlights, but very glad, pleasantly surprised even that Bazeley played Rufer and didn't persist with Mata & Pijnaker. 

imanixsupporter

Anyone had any luck looking for a replay?

Edit: I've only seen 3 mins of highlights, but very glad, pleasantly surprised even that Bazeley played Rufer and didn't persist with Mata & Pijnaker. 

 
I’m not sure if they’re blocked in NZ:

That’s Tunisian public TV and one half. 

that’s a full game 

imanixsupporter

Anyone had any luck looking for a replay?

Edit: I've only seen 3 mins of highlights, but very glad, pleasantly surprised even that Bazeley played Rufer and didn't persist with Mata & Pijnaker. 

Full replay is available on Fifa+ - Just go to the 'Latest Full Match Replays' section rather than the NZF section

Thanks - had just discovered that myself too. Terrible site to navigate.

My take as follows

 

Garbett- sloppy in possession. Some of his passing was bordering on awful. Looked knackered after first 20 mins, struggled to hold the ball up. dont want to be too negative but he should have been dragged at HT for Old. 3/10

Rufer – great Def Mid presence- tenacious 7/10

McCowatt – delivers a quality set piece – he’s bisy but not sure his runs are always effective 6/10

Smith was solid – ahead of Pinjaker still as more reliable – still a weapon on set pieces… 8/10

Cacace’s delivery was really, really  poor today – I cant remember a decent cross out of the dozen he attempted. His shot was a beast but that was it.  5/10

Boxall – rock solid 7/10

Stamenic -passing was solid, solid shift but faded 8/10

Kosta – decent movement 7/10

Bindon was solid bit not a RWB for this style of play 7/10

Singh – feel for the guy – not going his way- that dink was a gem.  7/10

 

Bazeley – id bet the subs and timings were predetermined– he needed to be proactive – really passive managing and did not respond to a lacklustre second spell. I mean Elliot has a football brain- I cant believe he didn’t see what we were all seeing. Really uninspiring managing that was. 2/10

Not a fan of Baz, but he doesn't deserve a 2/10 ranking.

We drew with a team that based on paper is of a far higher quality than our team and we were the better side over 90mins - they didn't register a shot on target in 90 mins.

Yes, another game we failed to score, but that can be put down to, two very good saves and a bad pen. We created decent chances.

I don't think he got it right positionally with some players (but that's my opinion- and it is only an opinion) And the fact that we were missing 3 certain starters doesn't help.

Overall, after 2 games I would give Beazley a 7/10. We conceeded on 1 goal across 180 mins from a soft pen and were good enough to match or better the two teams we played across the two games for large chunks of the match. Work to be done in the final third - but the other 2 seem pretty good.

I thought Bazeley got his selection changes pretty much on cue for this game, so that alone deserves more than 2/10. But yeah he left his subs too late.

I'm banging on about it, but the team badly needs Singh confident & firing at a new club somewhere. It's almost more crucial now, than a fit Wood being available. 

Bit of a wait until the next big game, Mexico in September. Hopefully NZF can line up a middling CONCACAF opponent (Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras) for the 2nd game in that window. Can break this winless streak. And of course the Olywhites getting out of an Olympics pool including USA & France would be huge. But that seems a bridge too far.

It's critical that we get young creative players like Herdman and Old better embedded into this setup - in many ways I think the creative reliance on Singh is worse than the goalscoring reliance on Wood. This starts with the U23s and the Olympics.

He's a classy player on his day, but not reliable in club form or staying injury-free.

I don't want to be on these forums in two years time still seeing - ah but if only Singh wasn't injured/out of form, we coulda shoulda woulda!

There’s a huge difference between 7/10 and 2/10. 

I mean these are class players. They could probably organise a defense themselves. Rufer not being selected initially seems like a bad joke. I really wish I could have seen how he and Stamenic would have gone in the first game. 

Smith had his moments, but also slowed the passing with an odd habit of what I’d consider using the wrong foot to pass each way. But it seemed to be his way. Particularly when a quick transfer out in front of the FB was called for. But he grew into the game, and I was impressed that late in the game he kept pace with and held off one of the new subs. 

I mean if you’ve read the thread you know what I think! But Bazeley has a lot to thank Chief and the Nix for in Rufer and Kosta. They should have won him the game. He had a lot of weapons on the bench and he didn’t use them nearly as well as they should’ve been used. 

I want to feel dumber than the AW coach. I’m not sure I felt that with our sub plan. Reminds me of the criticism of Jeremy Coney’s captaincy way back when…

I don’t think we’re any closer to knowing who our first team is or who should be playing. I’m not sure if that was a trial game or we were treating it as what the opportunity was- a near genuine competitive knockout game we were trying to win. The Libby captaincy is interesting, but also perhaps a bit of a snub to Boxall. 

I don’t think the players know what their role is either- talk about Libby’s crossing- why is that what we’re asking him to do when Kosta is up front? That just shows the confusion of vision in the team leadership- either they haven’t talked about it. Or worse they have and decided it’s a tactic worth pursuing. 

I do think having a lot of Nix/ex Nix guys on the park greatly helped us as they had an understanding of how each other plays. Similar to how we performed in 2010. I think only 4 outfield players at the start of game hadn't been at the Nix and all subs had Nix in the blood.

I think Baz is a 4 or 5 out of 10 for these two games. I think current and ex Nix coaches had a bigger influence.

Some of those players left the NIX long ago and are different players now. Boxall for example. To say other coaches had more influence is an impossible point to prove.

And sorry, but our players aren't class.

If they were they would be in class teams in top divisions. By NZ standard they are very good. By international standards they are not. We don't have 1 player that would make a top 20 international team.

These results weren't bad. Actually gor a team of our quality they were pretty good.

MetalLegNZ

Some of those players left the NIX long ago and are different players now. Boxall for example. To say other coaches had more influence is an impossible point to prove.

And sorry, but our players aren't class.

If they were they would be in class teams in top divisions. By NZ standard they are very good. By international standards they are not. We don't have 1 player that would make a top 20 international team.

These results weren't bad. Actually gor a team of our quality they were pretty good.

Were you happy with how we played the second half? 
Were you happy with the service for Kosta? 
Were you happy with the RB selections? 
Are you convinced, given the players available and their form we gave ourselves the best opportunity to win both games? Why/Why not?
Who were your respective MoM players for us? 
What would you change or retain before the next game to improve?

Here’s my main question: what were we trying to do and did we achieve it? 

Or are all games a kind of sub Ricki goal of losing or drawing, but not shipping too many and shrugging? 
Ie- you lot aren’t class, so let’s not bother with a game plan? 

I think we have many players who are very good and playing at a decent level, and in form. Some could be playing at a higher level than they are.  If they’re a good team depends on how they’re managed. Class is a changing proposition, that’s why we play. 

In answer to your main question. I'd say the main goal was for our players to spend time together playing against decent opposition, to coordinate our connections in defence, midfield, attack and across the whole team. I'd say yes we achieved doing that. We defended well. We held our own in the midfield, we created chances through a variety of different link ups to our attackers. 
No we didn't win, but yes I think most of the players will be confident that we were very competitive. We are a country of 5 million people. We did well against 109 million and 12 million, where football is their main sport.

Outside of winning and scoring - I would say we ticked off pretty much all of our targeted goals.

Was I happy with the second half - parts of it yes, others no. But if you can point to a game where you have been happy with a teams performance for a full 90 mins in a 0-0 draw or a 1 - 0 loss or even win, I'd be amazed and call bull shark.

Thoughts after the two games.

I think Payne or Kirwan or Roux at RB would add a lot to this window's team.

Hopefully Bazeley has realised by now that Pijnaker can no longer start. If he does, our defense is fine. Comfortable with Crocombe being number 1 for now.

Our midfield is also fine. Doesn't really matter who starts, Stamenic, Bell, Lewis, Rufer can all do a decent job. Garbett is interesting. To me he doesn't really seem like the greatest midfielder but he's so much more of a goal threat than anyone else we have in midfield. I honestly still think he should be tried out as a number 9. 

I think McCowatt was fairly underwhelming in this window. Seems like he is a nailed on starter which is odd given how our front 3 hasn't been delivering. Looking forward to seeing more of Old, Kosta & Rojas in the front 3 with Wood in upcoming games and less of McCowatt, Just, Waine, Mata & Grieve. 

Old was poor. Limited minutes yes, but never really seemed to get involved in the games.

Shame that it looks like Ryan Thomas will never play for the All whites again, let alone a club. :( :( 

Waine/Wood up front with Rojas and Barb/Old behind sounds good on paper for me.

Mata/Just etc are good squad players, not starters. 

MetalLegNZ

Old was poor. Limited minutes yes, but never really seemed to get involved in the games.

Oh come on. Got 8 minutes at the end of the Tunisia game. Started one counter where we almost scored.  The team and manager was fine, but Old was poor? 

MetalLegNZ

Outside of winning and scoring - I would say we ticked off pretty much all of our targeted goals.

Was I happy with the second half - parts of it yes, others no. But if you can point to a game where you have been happy with a teams performance for a full 90 mins in a 0-0 draw or a 1 - 0 loss or even win, I'd be amazed and call bull shark.

You’re just talking in generalities. Soccer was the winner on the day. Game of two halves. Per capita. 

Talking about the defense in the second game- it was good in part because Rufer and Stamenic cleaned up everything in front of them and really gave them cover. Pijnaker would have looked much better with that too. Plus we already knew Boxy is a damn fine defender and that Crocombe is a good keeper. And that Libby is Libby.

We went to the WC 2010 off the back of the Wales game where we played cohesively and with intent. We didn’t apologise for not really being a football nation or make excuses. We went behind, we didn’t say oh can’t be helped there a big country with a big stadium. We attacked and equalised. Against Giggs, Bellamy and pals. I want that mentality back. 

Garbett is coming back from injury, iirc. Think his performances will improve.

There were many steps the management team could have taken to improve the performance of the team. I’m not convinced they did anything not pre-decided in that second half. 

Wales as a country are smaller than us, rugby is agruably their bigger sport, and they have very rarely been to a FIFA World Cup (twice). Tunisia have been 6 times. You can just name a few Welsh footballers, but like me zero from Tunis. 

Oh and not sure that 2-2 draw in 2007, meant that much in the journey to WC qualification. Only Paston, Bertos, Lochhead & Smeltz from that game were starters at 2010 WC. https://www.11v11.com/matches/wales-v-new-zealand-26-may-2007-277865/

We were still having plenty of shark results after that like losing to Thailand & Tanzania. The results in 2009 incl 4-3 loss to Italy, and 0-0 draw verus Iraq (think Bahrain later that year) meant alot more.

Kosta has his say on the All Whites performance against Tunisia 🇳🇿🇹🇳 pic.twitter.com/Bn8qQvAmf8

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) March 27, 2024

imanixsupporter

Thoughts after the two games.

I think Payne or Kirwan or Roux at RB would add a lot to this window's team.

Hopefully Bazeley has realised by now that Pijnaker can no longer start. If he does, our defense is fine. Comfortable with Crocombe being number 1 for now.

Our midfield is also fine. Doesn't really matter who starts, Stamenic, Bell, Lewis, Rufer can all do a decent job. Garbett is interesting. To me he doesn't really seem like the greatest midfielder but he's so much more of a goal threat than anyone else we have in midfield. I honestly still think he should be tried out as a number 9. 

I think McCowatt was fairly underwhelming in this window. Seems like he is a nailed on starter which is odd given how our front 3 hasn't been delivering. Looking forward to seeing more of Old, Kosta & Rojas in the front 3 with Wood in upcoming games and less of McCowatt, Just, Waine, Mata & Grieve. 

That’s an odd opinion on the attack imo. 
McCowatt, Waine and Mata definitely have immediate futures. Grieve and Just have to get back up a level imo. 

Rojas may or may not want to be back and may or may not be an improvement, depending on his motivation. 

Kosta is currently fire, but is unlikely to be around for 2026 at the same level of performance. 

With Old there’s a case for him not being a forward, but being a little further back where he can beat players and start counters or create opportunities- the Singh/Garbett/McCowatt positions. 

I do agree that we hamstrung ourselves by not selecting a RB who could add to the attack. 

I think it does matter who is selected in midfield. We saw a much less aggressive and defensively effective midfield against Egypt imo. We seemed to have a bigger gap between the midfield and the defense. Lewis can tackle, but has usually needed a Devlin type partner to make his game work when he’s played deeper.  I really liked Rufer and Stamenic as a pair, and in my mind that leaves Bell/Lewis competing with Garbett and McCowatt for a spot, who would make a 4-3-3.

coochiee

Kosta has his say on the All Whites performance against Tunisia 🇳🇿🇹🇳 pic.twitter.com/Bn8qQvAmf8

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) March 27, 2024

His job here is to boost the team, not give an analysis. 
We weren’t on top for 70 minutes- more like 40-50. And besides he’s a player who can be proud of his performance! Pen won, shootout pen scored. Looked like he was in his early 20s.

coochiee

Wales as a country are smaller than us, rugby is agruably their bigger sport, and they have very rarely been to a FIFA World Cup (twice). Tunisia have been 6 times. You can just name a few Welsh footballers, but like me zero from Tunis. 

Oh and not sure that 2-2 draw in 2007, meant that much in the journey to WC qualification. Only Paston, Bertos, Lochhead & Smeltz from that game were starters at 2010 WC. https://www.11v11.com/matches/wales-v-new-zealand-26-may-2007-277865/

We were still having plenty of shark results after that like losing to Thailand & Tanzania. The results in 2009 incl 4-3 loss to Italy, and 0-0 draw verus Iraq (think Bahrain later that year) meant alot more.

Kosta has his say on the All Whites performance against Tunisia 🇳🇿🇹🇳 pic.twitter.com/Bn8qQvAmf8

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) March 27, 2024

The Wales performance was about losing our inferiority complex. 
That flowed into Ricki and the Phoenix, and into the qualifying games and friendlies you mentioned, including the win over Serbia. 

It was only 4 because off the back of the performances of the team Rory, McG, Tommy Smith and the mighty Winston Wiremu Reid all looked at us as a place where they wanted to play football. Oh and Tim Brown’s hard man tackle against Aussie pre-cup where he injured himself!

And Smeltzy was taken by Ricki off the back of that game to the Nix and to the WC where he had the vision and composure to play the ball for the goal in the first game in the WC. 

Sorry Coochie, I’m a bit fired up and got a real bee in the bonnet at the mo, but we’ve got a team who should look better than they do. And it must be hard for Bazeley to come in as he did. NZF screwed the process too. 

Compared to Ricki, whatever we think of him now- at that time he wanted the AW job as a step to greater things and he went and got it. Sure it was over reach to think Lochhead could make it at Southampton, but that was the mindset. I think no one else would have sent him. But Ricki did. Around that team there was such a power of self belief and a lack of cultural cringe. 

A huge amount of that self belief came from Nelsen. A born leader. Playing at a level where he commanded massive respect. But with plenty of experienced able lieutenants in Brown, Elliott, Vicelich, Killen etc. Oh & Rory with god on his side, also with massive self belief, if often a bit over stretched.

This is a much younger team on average. The addition of Smith & Barba made it an older starting eleven against Tunisia, but it is still mostly a youngest team by international standards.

But I think they have a strong belief in themselves. Maybe the playing group drove Bazeley to ditch the back 3/5, as they rate themselves to play with 1 less CB? Apart from Sweden, and to a lesser extent the Socceroos games (Auckland & London), I don't remember the AWs being dominated for long periods, the last few years. The first half against Peru yes another occassion where were almost entirely on the back foot. But that was the team's first game post Covid with an actual crowd, and some like a young inexperienced Stamenic froze a bit in that first half (dragged at HT), in front of 35,000 loud intimidating Peruvian fans. Young players learn a shark load from those matches.

But this group have now played plenty of games together against teams ranked 25-70 in the world, where they have gone toe for toe in chances & possession numbers. I think they have belief. Fiesty Garbett shows it in spades. Many developing further with their clubs. Marko S, has now played about 8 big UCL games since Peru 2022. But yeah the team needs goals and wins to take the next step, otherwise the frustration of close but no cigar could get a little poisonous, and yeah some of that self belief erode.

How the Olywhites go at the Olympics will be very interesting. As that's a competitive tourney, with big crowds, lots of media and the French & Americans will have some excellent young players. NZ will need to be brave, and somehow find a way to score. Yet again we sooo badly need Singh to find the right club for him. Really him & Wood I see as the only players who can worry the world's best. I don't see many goals/assists from other sources against the bigger teams, even if Pep was in charge.

We will get a good look at Marco this weekend, see what you think. I just think that things haven't been working in the final third and you know the old chestnut about the definition of insanity. Who wouldn't want to see an in-form front 3 of Marco, Kosta and Wood, to see what they can do? Marco looked incredibly sharp against Qatar last year and I'm sure he can get back to his best the same as Kosta has. I've had enough of the likes of Waine, Mata & Just delivering nothing of substance, and McCowatt hasn't been much better than them. The national team isn't a development school, you should be performing or you should quickly find yourself dropped. 

And I wasn't meaning that all the midfielders are equally good and effective and it's a total lolly scramble, probably went a bit far when I said it doesn't really matter. I was just meaning we have depth and options. Unlike in other areas of the park where our second string is miles behind our first choice. I personally agree that Rufer & Stamenic should be in the starting xi given their recent form but the likes of Bell and Lewis aren't a country mile behind.

martinb

imanixsupporter

Thoughts after the two games.

I think Payne or Kirwan or Roux at RB would add a lot to this window's team.

Hopefully Bazeley has realised by now that Pijnaker can no longer start. If he does, our defense is fine. Comfortable with Crocombe being number 1 for now.

Our midfield is also fine. Doesn't really matter who starts, Stamenic, Bell, Lewis, Rufer can all do a decent job. Garbett is interesting. To me he doesn't really seem like the greatest midfielder but he's so much more of a goal threat than anyone else we have in midfield. I honestly still think he should be tried out as a number 9. 

I think McCowatt was fairly underwhelming in this window. Seems like he is a nailed on starter which is odd given how our front 3 hasn't been delivering. Looking forward to seeing more of Old, Kosta & Rojas in the front 3 with Wood in upcoming games and less of McCowatt, Just, Waine, Mata & Grieve. 

That’s an odd opinion on the attack imo. 
McCowatt, Waine and Mata definitely have immediate futures. Grieve and Just have to get back up a level imo. 

Rojas may or may not want to be back and may or may not be an improvement, depending on his motivation. 

Kosta is currently fire, but is unlikely to be around for 2026 at the same level of performance. 

With Old there’s a case for him not being a forward, but being a little further back where he can beat players and start counters or create opportunities- the Singh/Garbett/McCowatt positions. 

I do agree that we hamstrung ourselves by not selecting a RB who could add to the attack. 

I think it does matter who is selected in midfield. We saw a much less aggressive and defensively effective midfield against Egypt imo. We seemed to have a bigger gap between the midfield and the defense. Lewis can tackle, but has usually needed a Devlin type partner to make his game work when he’s played deeper.  I really liked Rufer and Stamenic as a pair, and in my mind that leaves Bell/Lewis competing with Garbett and McCowatt for a spot, who would make a 4-3-3.