But also a major caveat comparing Boxall to Surman over the 2 games.
Boxy smashed Boyle out of Game 1. Irankunda and Toure, two guys half his age and built strong a different proposition. I do remember Nestroy and Boxy going shoulder to shoulder late in Game 1, and I think the older man game off worst.
Boxy smashed Boyle out of Game 1. Irankunda and Toure, two guys half his age and built strong a different proposition. I do remember Nestroy and Boxy going shoulder to shoulder late in Game 1, and I think the older man game off worst.
Yep! I made a note of that. At one point Boxall took out 3-4 Socceroos defenders in their box.
Then later he decided to go out wide to get the ball and bloody well get us a shooting chance. Irankunda not only matched him for strength, but also managed to back heel into him to win a throw and kill a series of promising All Whites attacks.
These are good Championship players dueling at that level.
The other thing I’ll say, which is disappointing, I don’t feel like they sat down and thought after the first game, what do we have to do to win this. What could Aussie throw at us? How can we counter it? What advantages do we have? How did they approach those in the first game? This was an intense mini-competition and the most meaningful game we’ve had at home since the playoffs. More so even as we had a sniff at only 1-0.
We thought, it seemed, we’ve gotta play these guys like this because of the agreements with their clubs or that they haven’t had any minutes although we’ve called them up etc etc. We telegraphed things tactically.
Aussie obviously had that plan with their best attacking players coming in late in the first game and starting the second.
We felt very sedentary tactically.
If they want to double mark Wood, it would be great to have Mata to come on to start wide, but also get into the box. Second game we got bullied and needed more defensive cover either from our DM or our FBs.
Passing thought- could Rogerson do a job at RB? Bit late to learn to defend in the air, but when I saw Elliot get out jumped…well, I like him, but he’s not Cannavaro. He’s a RWB at Championship level and above, not a RB. We need cover/competition for Payne there.
I like Elliot but I’m convinced he shouldn’t be RB for the AWs. I’m wavering on De Vries. Would Jimmy McGarry be better at LB? The least that can be said is that he’s quicker, though in the past he’s not always been the best defender and at CCM he was an LWB scoring goals and joining the attack.
Anyway, I feel if we want to win more we need to be able to respond tactically and have greater options.