All Whites vs Poland | Fri 10th Oct | 7:45am (NZT) | Stadion Śląski (Chorzów, Poland)

Saffa

Payne and FDV are super fit but not match fight mate. There is a big difference. 

I get there is a difference, but both of them would have played in pre season games. Both of them will know the physical challenges of International football.

The above logic also kind of contradicts the fact that people can come back from injury and play decent minutes and not look off the pace. 

Both are injury free and profressionals. I expect more at this stage of their respective off seasons.

I personally didn’t think Payne looked that bad, a couple of heavy touches and caught out of position when he was further up the field but a definite improvement on the Aussie games and we just don’t really have anyone better, but FDV was god awful and has been since he’s been starting, slow, gives the opposition to much width by standing to central, can’t carry the ball forward, his one attribute is his crossing but for me it doesn’t make up for him being a liability in every other aspect. I’m hoping the FDV experiment is now put to bed and they look at McGarry as Libby’s back up if Dalton can’t stay injury free

Base has already made up his mind on Adj. I bet next game he only get 20 minutes


As difficult as the lose is, I would focus on the performance of the team. Really good 1st half. The goals will come. The only way you push the ceiling up is if there is a hidden gem in the cupboard. 

And there is really nobody else out there that we haven't seen before.

Hutcho137

Napier Phoenix

Did you notice McCowart back in the defensive corner if the pitch a couple of times tidying up?

Hutcho137

If Wood is on minutes restraint, could we push McCowatt up to ST push Singh to the right and bring in Bell with Thomas and Stamenic?

Yeah I noticed that too,  McCowatt put in a real shift both ways. Loved how he tracked back into the corners to tidy things up defensively, but he also looked sharp higher up the pitch. Wouldn’t mind seeing him pushed up front next time, especially if Bell comes in alongside Thomas and Stamenic. That’d free McCowatt to focus more on pressing and creating chances, reckon he’s got the energy and movement to cause problems up top. 

I've questioned McCowatt's presence in many starting XIs but today he was my MoM. I'd like to see him, Chris and Just working together up front.

I also see no place for Singh in our strongest starting XI now. I think Thomas, Stamenic, Just and Bell keep him on the bench. Three of them are all playing at a higher level now.

Thought Singh was fine today. So quick on the turn and realistically he is our only real playmaker. 

The standard he is playing at is also likely at least on a par with Just.

Saffa

Base has already made up his mind on Adj. I bet next game he only get 20 minutes


As difficult as the lose is, I would focus on the performance of the team. Really good 1st half. The goals will come. The only way you push the ceiling up is if there is a hidden gem in the cupboard. 

And there is really nobody else out there that we haven't seen before.

Where are the goals going to come from? We had a number of good shooting positions but didn't pull the trigger once when in the box. 

We can't rely on Wood all the time. We really need a solid second striker. Right now that's Just but he's a midfielder, not a striker.

Marto

Saffa

Base has already made up his mind on Adj. I bet next game he only get 20 minutes


As difficult as the lose is, I would focus on the performance of the team. Really good 1st half. The goals will come. The only way you push the ceiling up is if there is a hidden gem in the cupboard. 

And there is really nobody else out there that we haven't seen before.

Where are the goals going to come from? We had a number of good shooting positions but didn't pull the trigger once when in the box. 

We can't rely on Wood all the time. We really need a solid second striker. Right now that's Just but he's a midfielder, not a striker.

Jesse Randall

Jesse Randall lol, he's going to need a really good season

The goals will come. The goal opportunity stats are high, everybody's got to  raise their hand when it comes to goalscoring just like everybody has to contribute with defending. 

I think the focus needs to be more on getting clean sheets. In the last few internationals the All Whites have only managed 1 clean sheet (against Ivory Coast). That will immediately reduce the pressure to score. Most of those goals were preventable. 

The team needs to be a bit mongrel and be hard to break down and beat. I'm not saying defensive just hard to break down.

8 min highlights, that can view outside of NZ.

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/10/10/watch-highlights-from-all-whites-friendly-international-against-poland/

Going forward i think our best chance of scoring is through the MCowatt Wood combo. Against Australia Wood was heavily marked but he still got on the end of balls. However no body was there to play off him. McCowatt would be good in this role and he is a goal scorer...we just need him and Wood to work in tandem.

Are we allowed to like Darjie Kalezic now?

I'm wondering if some folk here think that international football is like EA FC on medium difficulty.

This was an outstanding performance against an excellent opponent who are well ahead of us.

Just watched the game delayed.

Singh was our best attacking player. Surman looked good at the back.

Payne actually played okay. FDV didn't and made so many basic errors. 

We frustrated them but didn't really control the ball for long at all in the 2nd half. I think we should have brought Bell on and had that strong central midfield with marko and Thomas. 

reg22

I'm wondering if some folk here think that international football is like EA FC on medium difficulty.

This was an outstanding performance against an excellent opponent who are well ahead of us.

Pathetic.

REG has a point. Expectations on here are unrealistic. 

And people have short memories. After Australia people were asking the value of McCowatt and now some are saying he is our best chance to score next ro Wood. So which one is it?

The other thing from this game is I sense Garbett likes to feel a bit of an underdog or hard done by to fire himself up. A bit like a shark like Brucey or the story of a beserker who goes into hyperdrive. 

If true, fair enough. Shaq and Michael Jordan used to either create imaginary beef or amplify it in their mind to really get them going against some teams or players. 

But it might help to work with a sports psychologist to help channel that or figure it out if he hasn’t already…

It’s not something I’ve had a lot of experience with, but maybe others on here have a better idea? 

Some shift on debut from Owen Parker-Price ⚡

📸 @PhotosportNZ pic.twitter.com/kYtao0HfdJ

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) October 10, 2025

Midfield general 🔥

Marko Stamenić was voted Player of the Match against Poland by the fans after another solid shift 👏🥇 pic.twitter.com/hYhuwDRXQQ

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) October 10, 2025

It’s a pet peeve I have but it’s annoying seeing multiple people say “the goals will come.”

We’ve been saying this for what feels like years now. When do we admit that it’s a serious problem that must be sorted out by the WC? Yes it might not be realistic to expect great things from the national team but that’s no reason not to try and find a solution, this team can do better and we’ve got the time to test different strategies.

I'm reasonably optimistic that if Wood starts, and Norway roll out a virtual 2nd XI sans Haaland etc the AWs can nab a goal (singular) and get a result. 

The AWs should also be well rested - Norway play Israel tomorrow - and will have had more training sessions together, after probably only 2-3 sessions prior the Poland match.

But as per others we need to temper expectations with reality. Our best players (Wood excepted) are central midfielders and CBs. We have had to select Ben Waine to get enough players for a squad. Start him even against the Poles. 

The AWs struggling to score is a fair reflection of what is currently happening out there in club land with this squad.

Skyzaid

It’s a pet peeve I have but it’s annoying seeing multiple people say “the goals will come.”

We’ve been saying this for what feels like years now. When do we admit that it’s a serious problem that must be sorted out by the WC? Yes it might not be realistic to expect great things from the national team but that’s no reason not to try and find a solution, this team can do better and we’ve got the time to test different strategies.

They'll come. Trust the process.

On striker options, yes, there's not much to choose from but I thought Alex Grieve looked good when he got his chance, and a better player than McCowatt, and certainly Waine.
Now playing USL.

nixin

On striker options, yes, there's not much to choose from but I thought Alex Grieve looked good when he got his chance, and a better player than McCowatt, and certainly Waine.
Now playing USL.

So actually playing at a level lower then both Euro based players.

Realistically after Wood we have no one. The Nix, AFC and CHC really need to start work on developing young kiwi strikers as our cupboard is pretty bare.

If Greive was a better player than McCowatt (who could be somewhere like the Championship in 2026), Alex G wouldn't be in the obscure USL.

Would almost play Mata up front at this point

I watched the game and was pleased with AWs performance. 
No I do not buy the argument that Poland is 37 or whatever so we should be happy with a loss - Poland did not field key guys like Matty Cash or R. Lewandowski, because they were worried about an injury risk ahead of the Lithuania game.  
My brief overview is that the AWs had a good defensive game and  the midfield held up well.  Our attack however was pants and clearly remains work in progress; although I was pleasantly surprised by McCowatt's industriousness.  Waine was lively but not particularly dangerous; at least against this solid Polish defence.  I agree that we need more good effective strikers to balance the Chris Wood aspect; but have no idea who that might be in time for the WC 2026 finals.
Both Polish CBs were excellent on the day and we could not do much down the middle. 

This game against NZ (including a great goal by Zielinski) might help to calm down the nerves of the Polish public, since there was a lot of discontent lately regarding the team performance, and quite a bit of an internal rumbling in the team against the awful previous coach, Probierz, who was an appointee by PZPN  (the Polish FA) because of personal connections rather than talent.  His replacement (Jan Urban) is a safe pair of hands, but has only come in in late July - but Lewandowski also returned as a result.
In contrast, I think Norway will be a tougher opponent, and I hope to see another good game from our lads to assess our best options come 2026.

Rather than repeat what has already been said my key take outs from the game were:

1) structurally Baze needs to work out how, on transition, the 9 (wood, waine - whoever) doesnt get so isolated. Given the dual pivots i think the wide guys need to play more inverted (hang off the 9) and allow width to come from Libby (when there) and Payne. We were solid but also played conservatively with our fullbacks playing as fullbacks. So if you play dual 6’s you should in theory do so to allow more freedom positionally elsewhere. Without Libby i think the dual 6’s are perhaps necessary to remain compact against good teams but limit us going forward. Lets face it we are a different team with Libby. 

2) thomas was really underwhelming- doest game in aussie was great but since has been good off the ball but wasteful with it. Itll be good to see Bell this week with Marco.

3) really thought the defence across the park was decent. Worked as a unit.  Clearly backing our CBs to win crosses as our fullbacks tucked in a lot and didn’t close them down - backfired on that goal - FDV was no where near him. 

Looking forward to Norway game  

Just got around to watching the replay.

Paulsen faultless.

Back 4 really solid except for Payne's first half performance which was poor, second half was more like the Payne at his best we know and love. Hoping to see him start that way in the next game but wouldn't be massively surprised if Tuiloma got another go, he looks fitter than the last window he showed up at. Still think Payne in good form is our best bet at RB though, just been a while since we saw that now...

Honestly, the rest of the team were not particularly good. Stamenic probably the best of our front 6. We looked nowhere near as good as we did in Canberra. Waine def not the answer as the backup 9 currently, would like to see anybody else get decent minutes there to see how they go, be it McCowatt, ADJ or even Garbett (I think he could really thrive there). 

I've said it before I'll say it again, the three 10s we play in this formation simply aren't offering enough to justify their existence, not just in terms of goals/assists but even in terms of general threateningness. I'd much rather take one of them away and add Bell to the mix, to make us more solid defensively and in terms of general midfield presence to enable the likes of Stamenic, Thomas and Cacace when he returns to get forward more. 

None of the subs had enough time to make an impression one way or the other. Other than it being not very nice to sub OPP on with Tuiloma & LKH, made him look like a child in comparison. 

Ninja

Would almost play Mata up front at this point

I think this is truly the best option. But then we need McCowatt or Garnett/Just to be closer to him. 

I think he had a solid season for the A league champions, will win an aerial ball better than Waine and will tie up CB while bringing in othe other players well too.

I'd agree on the basis of his AFC form last season in isolation but he has had his chances in white and never looked that good, plus needs to get back into good club form again before he is given another chance, you see how Payne and Waine were looking out there yesterday, clearly lacking first team form and fitness. 

martinb

Ninja

Would almost play Mata up front at this point

I think this is truly the best option. But then we need McCowatt or Garnett/Just to be closer to him. 

I think he had a solid season for the A league champions, will win an aerial ball better than Waine and will tie up CB while bringing in othe other players well too.

imanixsupporter

Just got around to watching the replay.

Paulsen faultless.

Back 4 really solid except for Payne's first half performance which was poor, second half was more like the Payne at his best we know and love. Hoping to see him start that way in the next game but wouldn't be massively surprised if Tuiloma got another go, he looks fitter than the last window he showed up at. Still think Payne in good form is our best bet at RB though, just been a while since we saw that now...

Honestly, the rest of the team were not particularly good. Stamenic probably the best of our front 6. We looked nowhere near as good as we did in Canberra. Waine def not the answer as the backup 9 currently, would like to see anybody else get decent minutes there to see how they go, be it McCowatt, ADJ or even Garbett (I think he could really thrive there). 

I've said it before I'll say it again, the three 10s we play in this formation simply aren't offering enough to justify their existence, not just in terms of goals/assists but even in terms of general threateningness. I'd much rather take one of them away and add Bell to the mix, to make us more solid defensively and in terms of general midfield presence to enable the likes of Stamenic, Thomas and Cacace when he returns to get forward more. 

None of the subs had enough time to make an impression one way or the other. Other than it being not very nice to sub OPP on with Tuiloma & LKH, made him look like a child in comparison. 

Interesting.

Certainly Bell, Thomas and Stamenic would be in an 11 of our best players. 

That means Thomas or Stamenic become box to box instead of sitting deep. 

Fully agree. I hope Bell on the bench was just a load thing and that he’s a part of Baze’s best XI in mind.

The 3 attacking midfielders just don’t offer enough as you said. I actually think we need to trial the diamond formation at some point. Our wide players are wasteful and I can’t remember the last time something good came from our wingers in recent memory?!? Maybe besides the ball Stamenic played to Just who went on to score in the June window against Ivory Coast but other than that absolutely nothing.

I’d like to see Bell, Stamenic, Thomas and Singh in a diamond with Wood and McCowatt up top. McCowatt’s best work seems to be done when he’s playing more centrally.

I remember at the U20 WC in Poland 6 years ago too he was fantastic in the No9 under Des. 

imanixsupporter

Just got around to watching the replay.

Paulsen faultless.

Back 4 really solid except for Payne's first half performance which was poor, second half was more like the Payne at his best we know and love. Hoping to see him start that way in the next game but wouldn't be massively surprised if Tuiloma got another go, he looks fitter than the last window he showed up at. Still think Payne in good form is our best bet at RB though, just been a while since we saw that now...

Honestly, the rest of the team were not particularly good. Stamenic probably the best of our front 6. We looked nowhere near as good as we did in Canberra. Waine def not the answer as the backup 9 currently, would like to see anybody else get decent minutes there to see how they go, be it McCowatt, ADJ or even Garbett (I think he could really thrive there). 

I've said it before I'll say it again, the three 10s we play in this formation simply aren't offering enough to justify their existence, not just in terms of goals/assists but even in terms of general threateningness. I'd much rather take one of them away and add Bell to the mix, to make us more solid defensively and in terms of general midfield presence to enable the likes of Stamenic, Thomas and Cacace when he returns to get forward more. 

None of the subs had enough time to make an impression one way or the other. Other than it being not very nice to sub OPP on with Tuiloma & LKH, made him look like a child in comparison. 

FYI - Poland with a 2-0 WC qualifying win away in Vilnius.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360852342/faroe-islands-stun-czech-republic-keep-world-cup-hopes-alive-netherlands-and-scotland-win

Poland is three points behind (Netherlands) in second. Sebastian Szymanski scored directly from a corner and Robert Lewandowski got the other goal in Poland's 2-0 win against Lithuania.

A pathetic effort from Poland against the lowly Lithuania, despite the big guns on the field for Poland. But hey, they got the points to stay in touch with the Dutch. The Oranje look like they got it in the bag now.

Mainland FC

A pathetic effort from Poland against the lowly Lithuania, despite the big guns on the field for Poland. But hey, they got the points to stay in touch with the Dutch. The Oranje look like they got it in the bag now.

We lost to Lithuania, having been there it’s not the nicest place to play.

Yeh there’s been a bit of talk from Baze about how the squad want to play and keeping this formation. 

But at some point there has to be a conversation about trying to get McCowatt operating more centrally more often and imitating his club form. We’ve got 4 goal scorers at club level: Wood, McCowatt, Garbett and Tuiloma. Not including A league and below. We have to get more from them, somehow.