Herbert Doing Fine

Not a bad point.... a thing that both Guss & Pim have had help with was  appointing people to study and analyse the teams they will be playing and a player by player breakdown of each player in the other team...

He's doing okay, but pretty average to be fair.

Well I see that he is actually improving in a number of areas. He has overestimated and underestimated on certain things tactically wise but as the story is, he is restricted on the options on the bench due to lack of quality and injuries and also unavailability. Remember when we drew with Wales and beat Georgia, we did not have any 16 frontline players and was practically our second team. It can't be easy not having the best players for the Europe tour. On hindsight, it gave us a good idea of the new players that were coming through. Because there was a number of experienced players that retired. Although in any squad you always in state of rebuilding with different players, he had to rebuild with more than the usual set of new players.

I think that as people have said, his tactical substitutions are quite slow and he does become the match apologist when the players themselves should maybe take the blame rather than him on certain aspects. However people tend to forget that some players who didn't get as much match time as they like are not ready to be in the starring line-up against top quality teams with plenty of gas and that such players need to come on as a sub as fresh legs against tired opposition legs. This has somewhat distort the fans perspective.

Some of the subs were looking better when they came on, but really they were not chuck into the deep end as those on the starring line-up.

We didn't have anyone ready for RB at this level and have to go to our third pick in the form of David Mulligan. Arron Scott for an example was not up to fitness, Ben Sigmund was the same and there was quite a shift along the back line because Vicelich swapped for Nelson. That weakness in the RB had left gaps as Vicelich was forced to cover leaving Boylens to mark two attackers in the centre. Ricki's selection seems to be lost but did he had much choice on the bench? Of course not, He had few real options to replaced players who on the overall would have not really improved and in some cases would be worse, so substitutions was reluctant. Some tactical options was very limited for the team for Ricki, and so I feel we are a bit harsh on Ricki.

I do recommend that we get an oversea coach (if we win the play-offs) with the right zest and decent tactical astueness, then I can see why he would be called to work with Ricki in improving how we represent Oceania and NZ in the biggest stage in the world.

David Mulligan hasn't played any first team football for almost 1 year (more or less). As much as he looked/played crap at the Confed Cup, There where moments where he looked great. Although he didn't score with a free kick, He did come close and takes them better then any one on the team.
You would think with the way some of them games paned out that the mentalities of these guys would be in limbo, Come play off time I hope they keep it together.

Here is a good interview from FIFA with Ricki.Read it hereconvict2009-06-23 03:00:58

Hard to make a case for Mulli just for his dead balls though, he needs to improve.  Problem is there doesn't seem to be anyone really who can relace him (although we could poddibly use one of the CBs there in the away leg)

Who would replace Ricki from within NZ??

John Herdman has been touted but he celebrated as bad as Ricki did but at half time in a womens World Cup game (0-0 at half time, he celbrated with players as they walked off, then lost 4-0!!)

Stu Jacobs?? He failed to get the U20 boys past Tahiti in their qualifiers...

Steve Cain has got the U17s to their world cup but with everything in his favour..qualifiers at home etc...

Rufers have been mentioned... no chance lovely blokes but loose units..

NZFC coaches; Paul Marshall (Dentist), Chris Milicich (not deemed good enough for Waitakere), Stu Jacobs already mentioned, Bob Sova (no chance..) Jon Gould (Ricki's assistant at Phoenix)??, Dave Edmonson (too young but did very well with no money at WFC), Kourech Monsief and Terry Phelan both unlikely..

Just a quick thought though... Bobby Gould?? He has managed the Welsh NAtional team before and has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the NZ game!!! (A BOLTER?)
<!-- bmi_SafeAddOnload(bmi_load,"bmi_orig_img",0);//--> MrWaikato2009-06-23 10:26:20

Is Paul Marshall a Dentist?. Are you sure?

Paul Posa is the Dentist, Marshall is definitely not. In Sales/Management i believe.

Well, if we had the Rufers coaching we'd definately play a more attacking type of game, probaly score more goals to, but definatley conceed more.

He is a complete clown way out of his depth!!!
The Iraqi team was pretty ordinary but had a coach who knew how to get the best out of his players
Herbert on the other hand tried to play 4-4-2 v Spain instead of shutting up shop and being defense
like Iraq did only losing 1-0
Then there was the inspired substitution that brought Duncan Oughton onto  the field when 2-0 down in a game we had to get something out of leaving James and Wood on the bench
thank god he will still be coaching the Phoenix next year!!!  

Well, I feel MUCH better knowing you think that MD.

Thanks.

PS.  How about a little punctuation next time.  Cheers.

You lost me right there

Bob Sova, this is a wind up. I would not let him coach a midget team.

Bob Sova, this is a wind up. I would not let him coach a midget team.[/QUOTE]

wasnt a wind up, was just going through possibilities, Sova only mentioned because he coaches in the NZFC... I agree would not let him anywhere near a side, especially after his ridiculous comments after losing to Waikato FC last season.. reckoned his side were fitter, faster, stronger, better coached blah blah blah but lost because the pitch wasnt wide enough for him??


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I agree, someone should see what Bobby Gould is doing.

I'll show you punctuation if i ever see you right in your fat smug gut!!!
 

Real mature.

Plonker.

A bit harsh on Bob. He had an very young side, coached very well but just most of the players lack experience at that level and and there is a lack of depth in the squad. Considering that it is a change of coaching staff from Shane Rufer and was within reach for the top until the last round, that is a decent first season at Younghearts.

Anyway what coach hasn't said a few off the mark comments?

I love an internet warrior... they're just the best fun.

Bob Sova has always had a caustic and abrasive personality but he runs intelligent sessions and is a deep thinker when it comes to the hands-on tracksuit approach to the game.

He's not alone in that category - Clive Campbell is another coach fans and football people love to give stick too because he is very single-minded and won't win any personality competitions anytime soon.

If anything these guys add colour and good fun to the landscape - where would we be without heroes and villains..?

As for the coaching role with the national team, well, I would have enjoyed a bold approach with a man like Bora Milutinovic, Guss Hiddink, or some other world reknowned globetrotter coach with a track record of getting underdogs to punch above their weight.

That's the fan inside me going off on a fantasy trip about knocking over Italy 1-0 and scraping through to the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup.

The realist says congratulations to NZF for sticking by their main man through thick and thin, giving a Kiwi coach the opportunity to develop over time, gain exposure in the A-League, and then giving him ample time to pull a group together to qualify for South Africa.

Global restructure and the departure of Australia to the AFC has smiled on Ricki Herbert to a certain extent - he isn't shaping up for a no-hope playoff with Argentina this time around - New Zealand are two matches away from their second World Cup appearance.

The team is what it is. We all saw what they could do when the world champions turned up and put in a lazy effort in Rustenberg; and we saw the flip side of the coin when the european champions turned up and switched the heat up to maximum.

My only criticism of Herbert would be his preference for 4-4-2 when maybe 4-5-1 might give us added protection when we're defending. That means chopping one of Killen or Smeltz. Can you imagine handling that issue?

Having said that, if we draw Bahrain, that match is winnable? The fifth placed AFC team almost always struggles to pull together a decent performance at the finals themselves which suggests we have a decent chance of progressing.

I'm less convinced about that if we draw Saudi Arabia.

Ricki has done a decent job and deserves to see it through to conclusion. What happens afterwards is another question - will he want to continue through to 2014 or will it be time for a change?

Apparently MD doesn't .  The mention of it is enough for him to start threatening to get punchy.

Internet Warriors, FTW.