All Whites V UAE Tuesday 10 Sept 6:15am

Pathetic performance!!

Disgusting foul by Siggy'

Shows how Nelson ran the team when he played.Herbert and his puppets have no idea.look'n at results since Ryan retired. any other country would have fired sherbet a long time ago.

I am just refreshing here, waiting for Smithy's "yeah, I know Ben's wife pretty well as we have been on a number of picnics together, and I can say she is an amazing person, and this is in no way embarrassing for her"

Almost physically painful to watch that. Very frustrating. The Siggy stomp looked really bad, I don't quite see the point of it though. It could have just been uncoordinated. 

Durante didn't look comfortable in midfield, I think it was worth a try just because the other options are so bad, but he didn't look comfortable with his back to the play. I hate to say this but our best shot of qualifying for Brazil is to once again go with a defensive attitude and bypass midfield. We just don't have the quality to play through it and cannot afford to go a goal down.

Agree with everyone here, Sigmund's foul was atrocious. Winston Reid once again looked uninterested and his ego is so high. I don't think he deserves to captain this team. It is one of the highest priveledges to captain your country and it appeared that he didn't want to be there. I also think that he is not as good as he thinks. For me, Ryan Nelsen is the best player we have ever had in New Zealand. I say this not only because I believe he was a brilliant defender, but also because of the desire and heart that he put into every single performance. The fact that he teared up when the national anthem was playing sums it all up.

The fact that Lochhead is guaranteed a start in any team Ricki Herbert coaches is absolutely ridiculous. The guy has been below par in an average professional league for years and now he is not even playing professionally. Bertos is probably not even going to play for the Nix this season, he seems well out of Ernie's plans. The fact that these two players are starting against potentially the best players in world football is pretty poor. And I say it is poor because I think New Zealand has better players/tactics that can be used to work around this problem.   

Still don't know what people see in Brockie either. He just looks completely ineffectual to me and well out of his depth.

It's all very well saying "muh siggy guys, he puts his heart on his sleeve erry game and loves this country" but at the end of the day the incident has just enforced peoples beliefs that he is no longer good enough for an all whites shirt, he proved nothing all last season, infact it was an incredible collapse in form on his behalf. As much as I love him I believe we have better options, certainly as a back up defender in the likes of fitzgerald, dura etc.The same goes for bertos and lochhead, and as for calling up these 'amateur' players from the NZ league who have proved to be utter shit too (except Ivan), its really gotta stop, if you can't get a basic professional contract at a local club then how can you be good enough to represent your country. 

But when he does not comment (and BT said he was not available to this morning) it looks like his wife has been rolled out to fight his battles. Cue comments of blouse, hiding behind wife's skirt etc.

The best move he has is to front foot it. Get in the media tomorrow and say 'yup I fucked up. I regret it and let everyone down and I will try my hardest not to let it happen again.'

It works a treat for ABs when they smack their missus or have an alcohol problem...

I am not saying he should be coach/manager-just saying he was the back bone of the team.

The real question is, what's left of the momentum from the 2010 campaign? Are the AW playing better football then four years ago? Can we see improvements when we watch those games: style of play, introducing youth, tactics, fitness? Coaches always have a philosophy, the next step, what is Ricki's plan, did he talked about it? Why is Fenton, Boyd not playing?

Smith(Capt), Reid, Vicelich, Hogg, Durante, Sigmund, Musa 
Mcglinchey, Rojas, Payne, Howieson, James, Clapham, Bertos
Wood, Smeltz, Barbarouses, Brockie, Bright, Killen,

What do the numbers in brackets mean? If you have those as player rankings then you are having a laugh having Bright at the top without doing anything and giving Spoonley a 5 for bench sitting.

they are how I rated the players today starting from 5.. minus points for bad touches playing bad etc. I thought Bright played okay compared to the rest of the team which is why Ive put him on top.

Agree with a lot of your calls Smithy, but you have this wrong. There was intent, it is so very obvious.

No excuses, and a decent ban I hope

Durante has to go, he is hopeless and I would rather have some ASB premiership player than a  Ozzy. No communication, players out of posistion we don't have a chance in hell against Mexico. 

Say goodbye to your Persil money Siggy.

Durante has to go, he is hopeless and I would rather have some ASB premiership player than a  Ozzy. No communication, players out of posistion we don't have a chance in hell against Mexico. 

Mexico will not lose today vs USA, and they have 2 games to go, I say NZ would play vs Honduras, Costa Rica or Panama.  Panama the more likely to get  NZ again to the WC.

Next test RH needs to trial Hogg and Boxall maybe Craig Henderson and Rojas if fit, the main problem  today is the lack of games  played by NZ during this key 2013, plus more drama since he couldnt find his team yet, it is a big question mark. 

At least CONCACAF teams are playing final matches twice this week and two more times next October.  This defeat could be better than a victory.  You always learn from your mistakes and shortcomings.  It is a wake up sign.

Yes and Herbert will react the same why he did at the Phoenix when the wakeup signs were there- like a possum in headlights - has no idea what to do. He will stick to the old guard, and play them out of position. Not Durante's fault at DM. Because he's not a DM. 

Was a shocker from Siggy in my eyes. Lols at the mrs but good stuff.

Siggy shoudn't start imo - we have a heap of better CB options like Dura, Reid, Smith, Fitzg even boxall if he kicks on.

I don't think NZ condones that sort of business on the football field, maybe in South America, but passion isn't an excuse round these parts.

Bring back nelsen.

i just love the angst about players out of position and a loss in a largely meaningless competition. We had several key players out, Marco, Smeltz, Fenton etc all who, if fit will be at the qualifiers. We were trialing players in different positions because we needed to know who could do what jobs if pressed, and finally these games were nothing more than 90 minute training runs. Sure against real teams who wanted to win, but the result for us was not improtant. It was simply time together as a team and time for the coach to see what his players could do in different scenarios. I expect we've learnt alot from these 2 games and will be better for it in come november.

Just seen the Siggy "tackle". What a knob.

The problem we have JD is that he clearly said he went into this game trialling things. It's a very easy crutch to dismiss all complaints at him by this very fact alone. If he had gone in and said he was picking his top 11 and playing the formation he wanted then we could stitch him up now. 

I know that's simplistic what I have written and what you say is very valid and I am not disagreeing with you. If he gets us back to WC2014 (and it's not looking good at the moment) he can thumb his nose at all of us and say he was right, did the job required, retire after Rio and look like a Rockstar because what he did worked. He may well fall into a win as opposed to planning it but if it works, then we all have to shut up and the problem coming out of WC2014 campaign and player development becomes a new coaches issue.

I think this question gets asked once this campaign is done either in November (likely) or in July (unlikely)

Ricki says some drivel every friendly/window

Im refering to theprofs post