lolywhites vs Belgium (Match thread)

Dan Keat was inured, did hid Knee ligaments i think.

Good to see some of the guys who've had a sl*gging in these forums putting in good performances - Old, Hogg, Elliott (apart from his freekicks which were crap). Gee that red card was harsh. Definitely a yellow but no more. Thought Messam gave us a bit more punch when he came on.

Jesus!

Someone was telling me he trains alot with Liam, they get ultra competitive and thats why he is so fit. I think someone else also said he used to be into body sculpting ??? Yes/No?

Just watched the game now. Very frustrating long ball stuff, but thought Messam added a bit when he came on- got the ball into the players in the middle a couple of times. Elliott I think is looking good on the whole- kept running the whole game- good for an old man recovering from a major injury! Killen was better than the other games- seemed a bit more involved.Shame not to have scored again, and gotten a result- but it could have been way worse if the post hadn't saved us at least 3 times!

Performances of note for me:

Nelsen against China, he had a blinder, we missed him so much against Belgium even if he wasn't on his game against Brazil.

Brockie for obvious reasons. Fantastic goal, also looked to be one of the few players who was willing to try take on his man and do something creative, something we really lacked at times. Deserves a contract at a higher level than NZFC, no doubt about that. I would actually sign him for the 'Nix, could have something to offer with his pace.

Hendo, definitely our best technically. One of the things I noticed about our boys was how poor our first touch and technique was compared to the opposition, we looked like we were playing on mars with more gravity or something. Hendo actually looked ok though and played a nice pass to Brockie for the China goal.

Hogg, did ok for the youngest kid in the squad, got up and down the flank well even if his crossing wasn't really the best. Could be a decent prospect.

Old, looked the best of our defenders against Belgium and put in some solid tackles. Shame about the cards against China but I thought he did ok.

Elliott, seemed indefatigable and probably was the best passer of the ball for us. In the second half against Belgium we had a few moves where we actually started to pass the ball around on the floor and often it was Elliott who was orchestrating these. It actually looked like we could have got somewhere with this approach and it's sad that so often we resorted to route one when there was actually a shorter pass that could have been made. Hope he gets a decent contract somewhere, shouldn't be taking set-pieces though.

Oh and Messam did ok coming on at the end against Belgium. His fitness and strength proved valuable and he had a couple nice touches as well.
KTBW2008-08-14 13:01:58

While Cole is a good player, I think Dan would have started cos hes another Hendo technically and these two together have had a good understanding since days of Wests, U20s etc - Elliot would have been there for sure from the experience side of things. I would have to say, I was impressed with Brockie overall - seems like a bit of time and maturity does wonders as well....maybe in time, the same can be said about Draper and Costa....

After the China and Belguim games I did not think Spoonley could get any worse...

yeh I see there is a bit of criticism of Spoonley here. I would still like to know the reasons for his positioning in the China goal- was that an error or is it legitimate, just not effective in that case?

However I missed the game unfortunately, but in the match thread it looked like he put in 3-4 good saves, and I saw him make good saves against Brazil too.

There was some hinting Killen might be released. Do you think he might consent to a marquee or guest spot with Phoenix or will likely go elsewhere in the SPL or Europe?

Would he fit in with the club do you think?

Welcome to the real world dunnaz25. Politics always plays a part in everything we do. Glad to have you on board. Although I'm not sure that it has had the sinister effect in this case that you seem to be implying.

I wasn't impressed with Killen. I didn't see all of every game but from what I did see his work rate seemed a little low, especially as one of the senior members of the team. Ofcourse this might have something to do with quality of service, but at one stage he got the ball at the edge of the box and just stood there, doing a couple of ineffective fakes before losing the ball. Not what I was expecting from someone of his "calibre".