MetalLegNZ wrote:
Interesting call on Bazeley... to call him the biggest anchor to this team, when I think everyone on here would admit the All Whites have played some of their best ever football during this tournament is to me, highly contradictory.
We have seen, in friendlies, that outside our starting 11, we lack depth. That our bench has lacked influence. Losing Garbett made that worse. Bazeley, probably quite reasonably could have thought, my best 11, is the only 11 capable of getting us back into the game. Fresh legs might bring energy, but at what cost, quality?
Thomas is the only exception to that rule - but given his lack of minutes, one can understand why he has perhaps not been given more time.
For a long time, people have talked about the next World Cup as our best chance, when this current crop are all late twenties, early thirties and experienced pros. I still think it is... assuming we can find a decent striker outside Wood.
We'd have played that football without him, and probably even better with a competent coach.
We're playing ok because of the players we have in our best available XI, not our tactical setup - the proof being our inability to adjust tactically & manage a game, a massively important skill that Bazeley lacks having never coached at a high level before.
You can't genuinely tell me that Singh on a yellow and walking around for 15 minutes because he was gassed is contributing more than a sub option, but Bazeley didn't do anything until the game was already gone. You can just see from watching his in game decisions and demeanor that he's way over his head. He's not helped that our senior players lost focus due to the refs calls but again, he's the one responsible for how we react to hardship as a team.
We're playing ok because of the players we have in our best available XI, not our tactical setup - the proof being our inability to adjust tactically & manage a game, a massively important skill that Bazeley lacks having never coached at a high level before.
You can't genuinely tell me that Singh on a yellow and walking around for 15 minutes because he was gassed is contributing more than a sub option, but Bazeley didn't do anything until the game was already gone. You can just see from watching his in game decisions and demeanor that he's way over his head. He's not helped that our senior players lost focus due to the refs calls but again, he's the one responsible for how we react to hardship as a team.