Finally got to watching this, turns out having a newborn isn't conducive to watching football matches!
Rufer added so much to the midfield that we missed vs Mexico, he's quickly become one of our most under-rated players. Bell is fantastic moving the ball forward but just doesn't have the presence or physicality that Rufer does. I want to say play them beside each other but we're so stacked with midfielders it's hard to pick them both in your best 3. I'd find it very hard to look past a Rufer/Stamenic/Singh trio as the best combination between quality & balance. Any chance we can turn a CM into an RB?!
Personally I'd like to see Rufer dropping deeper in possession between Bindon (or Pijnaker in this case) & Surman to let Payne & Cacace bomb on and create the width, especially since Rufer gives a range of passing that you otherwise lose by not playing Pijnaker. That would let the wide players (Old and Just for me at the moment with McCowatt and Barba off the bench, Rojas depending on how he does this year as well and Garbett and Singh could even fill those narrower roles in a pinch) drift inside to make Woodsy less isolated.
Crocombe did well to recover from his error on that first Mexico goal with a strong performance. I was really disappointed in Libby who lost possession in terrible places and struggled to make square passes in both matches. He's still far and away out best left back but I wouldn't have minded seeing Sutts get a run out.
Huge progress from the Mexico game, but Bazeley has a lot of goodwill still to earn. Probably won't learn a lot more about this team from the upcoming games though - WC qualifiers should be a formailty and if we don't physically bully Malaysia off the park there'll be far more questions to answer but I'm looking forward to seeing these young fellas continue to gel.
Rufer added so much to the midfield that we missed vs Mexico, he's quickly become one of our most under-rated players. Bell is fantastic moving the ball forward but just doesn't have the presence or physicality that Rufer does. I want to say play them beside each other but we're so stacked with midfielders it's hard to pick them both in your best 3. I'd find it very hard to look past a Rufer/Stamenic/Singh trio as the best combination between quality & balance. Any chance we can turn a CM into an RB?!
Personally I'd like to see Rufer dropping deeper in possession between Bindon (or Pijnaker in this case) & Surman to let Payne & Cacace bomb on and create the width, especially since Rufer gives a range of passing that you otherwise lose by not playing Pijnaker. That would let the wide players (Old and Just for me at the moment with McCowatt and Barba off the bench, Rojas depending on how he does this year as well and Garbett and Singh could even fill those narrower roles in a pinch) drift inside to make Woodsy less isolated.
Crocombe did well to recover from his error on that first Mexico goal with a strong performance. I was really disappointed in Libby who lost possession in terrible places and struggled to make square passes in both matches. He's still far and away out best left back but I wouldn't have minded seeing Sutts get a run out.
Huge progress from the Mexico game, but Bazeley has a lot of goodwill still to earn. Probably won't learn a lot more about this team from the upcoming games though - WC qualifiers should be a formailty and if we don't physically bully Malaysia off the park there'll be far more questions to answer but I'm looking forward to seeing these young fellas continue to gel.
And congratulations Nelfoos! Enjoy it, they grow up so quickly.
