AWs V Japan Wed 5th March 11:30pm SS1

totally

I hate all the commentators we get, they just have a chat all game about irrelevant stuff. Just tell us whats happening, talk about all the other crap after the game

And he did. Scoring would have been the icing. Next game.

What a game. I had a blast watching last night. the first 20mins were horrific, but i was very impressed with how japan started, and even with a dodgy(ish) pen, and some poor defending by moss and co. They looked 4 goals better than us. but once we settled, and the lads got into the game it was fairly even. Boxall was very commanding and made dura look a lil 2nd rate. thomas and payne started freeing up space and picking good options when they were on the ball. Boyd was running hard as he always does, the kid just needs a finishing touch. kosta was positive but almost always seemed to take an extra touch or hold on to the ball just that second longer than needed. Wood was immense, real show of power and leadership i thought from him. and i think having an a guy who has been playing consistently in a professional environment in Europe come over and be in camp with the other guys just can only be good for him, as it develops his leadership skills and maturity but also the it give inspiration to the young guys(and hes only 22!).

I agree with most that Billy T looked a lil lost at LB, but I think he grew into his roll. Storm was solid without being spectacular.

and on that display, if Neil put his hat in the ring I would have no problem with it.

My main gripe with the game was the farking commentators, where can i complain? I know they are normally pretty horrid, but last night was a new low. Talking about Paston for 5mins? while some very interesting play was developing? no real knowledge of the players other than their clubs? fark offf.

and one last note, for some reason, I loved that the ref pulled a hammy, just hilarious to me.

Enjoyed the second half and I really believe that with the young guys coming through we will have a pretty decent side.

Spent the morning writing to sky about dewhurst

The new NZF CEO has got to get us some MORE MATCHES! You hearing this Andy?

Pissed off I went to bed at half time.

i really enjoyed the game. Like everyone else, thought after first 20 mins we were going to get tonked (although even then, there were some glimmers of hope). Japan were wonderful in that period, even if defensively we were making it easy on them. 

I thought Wood generally was excellent. Yeah, he "missed" a few chances- but that is going to happen. What I liked is that he kept going, and didn't let those turn into a nightmare for him. Really I can only remember on truly awful shot from him which went well high and wide- which happens at all levels of the game. The others were definite chances, but more just not quite getting the touch. His two goals were excellent, especially the volley at the end- amazing technique and confidence to pull that off. And while he was often used as a target man, and his strength and size is a definite advantage, his touch and control were pretty impressive too aka know as A Good Touch For a Big Man- GTFBM)

I don't think Japan appreciably eased off- we just settled down a bit, got a bit of the ball and started to use it better.

More games please!

Pleased now I stayed on for the second half.....some really positives signs for the future of NZ football. Thomas and Boyd were excellent. They both have stuff they need to improve on but they are only teenagers and if they keep developing they will be dynamite in a few years time.

I liked the way we created chances. Wood is a beast up front...loved his commitment. 

We got the mix wrong for the start...too many attackers. We needed someone holding beside Payne. On that point Tuiloma is NOT a LB.....can we ditch that idea. He's been groomed as a DM by one of the better clubs in Europe.......play him there NOW. Hopefully Fenton will push on and he and Roux can do the RB/LB jobs. 

Can we move to the Asian Confederation....please!!! WC qualifiers against teams like Japan will be the best way to develop this young team....and a damn site more interesting for us fans.

Emblem would have learnt some lessons as a coach from this match. I liked his approach. Maybe he would go better with some experianced technical backup.

Agree on Dewhurst......thats the first time I have had to endure his commentary. Why doesn't he just call the match instead of burbling on about shiite

One of the things I read about in the paper this morning was something from Emblen that really made me go 'I think this guy is a smart coach'

It was something about how he said that they started the game like this, he realised he got the formation wrong and changed it at half time to a 4-1-4-1 or whatever and that the 2nd half was a relatively even affair (I have not seen the game). That takes kudos when you are on trial. More importantly, it shows the guy has the ability to read the game and make in-game changes i.e. a Plan B. Since when did Ricki ever have a Plan B when fit hit the shan? Never. Ricki laid it out and the team was to stick with it for 90 and when it went wrong, there was no half time or in game adjustments/Plan B. The train wreck just kept happening.

Ernie does it too through subs and also half time changes. I see a similar kinda of coach.

I thought the back four was a waste, Even though goals were scored against us through mistakes - the extra man in midfield would have helped if we played a 3 at the back.

It was a great game in the 2nd half and things look good for the future.

For those who've had a chance to watch it all, how did the CB pairing of Dura and Boxall compare to Dura and Siggy?

Not as strong tho that would be expected given amount of game time dura and siggy play together, boxy out shined dura in the pairing. I think my backline would be roux smith reid boxy if all available. Boxy for me is really becoming a solid wing back.

solid is an understatement for what Boxall is.

Fixed

*edit - strikethrough didn't work originally

Dont like Tuiloma as a LB either. Needs to play that DM role. Alongside Payne is fine but Payne needs to be playing with men week in week out not boys in the U21s for Blackburn. Howieson also for that matter. Thomas is leaps and bounds ahead of them now

Excited about the future but i hope for a few things

1. return of reid and smith

2. fitzgerald going to europe (making him available)

3. senior football for payne and howieson

4. marco marco marco

Getting his NZ passport back by handing in his Japanese one I assume.

He can have both as many do but since he playing in jleague it would be openly flaunting the rules which state you can't.

If was playing in Europe I don't think there would be a problem holding both even though against the law in japan.

Even though the defence was poor in the first half Moss should have saved two and would be dissapointed he didnt save the pen. Is there any pressure on his position at international level?

And the Oxford player, still young

I liked the way we played, however it took a while for us to settle.

Japan plays at such a high pace our guys didn't know what was going on. i think Tuiloma is getting a raw deal. When he got caught out of position it tended to be because he was trying to cover a 2 on 1 scenario because or mids weren't doing enough.

Thought Payne looked a much improved player than on previous occassions. However I was most impressed with Thomas, nice touches and control. PLays with confidence.

Him and Marco on the wings would be awesome with Woods and either Kosta or Boyd up top.

I think the 4-2-3-1 is the way to go forwards. You have 4 out the 5 Kosta, McGlinchey, Marco, Wood, Thomas up front and you find another DM to play along side Payne. Keat? James? The two CBs pick themselves, you just need to find FBs

These are nice headaches to have and when you think about it, when was the last time we put out our best 11 available. There will always be "injuries" that prevent that.

Little Mac, Wood, Marco and Thomas looks like a potentially great front 4 to me.

The Japanese guy I buy sushi off down in Willis street told me at lunch time that the Japanese team "go easy on kiwis after half hour".  Something about not wanting us to "lose face" by being smashed. Watching it half asleep at 1 a.m its hard for me to tell...but they certainly were not  pressing to the same extent after half time. We did play really well in the last hour....probably a combination of us getting used to the pace of the game and upping our effort and maybe them slacking off a bit.

Probably parlty true; doesn't mean we can't take something away from how we played, though.

I don't think japan backed off much if at all. It's their last chance to put name forward for World Cup almost. They also had a good period of pressure in the second half

I think Mossy needs to give the public an explanation for that horrendous fourth goal. It was that bad 

If that had been me in goal, then yes. Come on, he was woeful on the day. A Peter Schmiechel or a Sepp Maier could have stopped all four on his day

Watching the replay now, how many sitters did Wood have? Could've won it for us single handed. Such a shame, shows how important a strong start is at this level. 

Are they sitters?

He lunged for a couple and didn't get there, almost but not quite. The one at the start he should have buried, but other than that i think he did well to get in between the defenders and almost on to the ball.

I don't think any of the Jap players would have gone easy on us, not with starting pots for the WC up for grabs. Too much to play for on a personal level.

Nice to see us being able to pass the ball around, just need to get use to the higher tempo though and to find a better FB / DM combo.

Thomas did look good.

Thought McGlinchey was overshadowed by Payne to be fair.