NZ 'A' vs Jordan

Jeez JV can you Stop being a bully to NUFC!

Your overly strong opinions are starting to wear thin.

I enjoyed the game, NZ Football is always great to watch!

(Is that better, 2nd Best?)

Cut out the name calling

 Remember guys

Rule 5. Thread domination. Do not try to bully someone into submission or disparage every comment they make, simply because their views may differ from your own. Write a coherent reply setting out your views and then let others have their say.

This applies here to a lot of people I think.

Next time he plays, you count the number of times he gives the ball to his own keeper. Then you will apologize to me.

What has that got to do with being composed? Passing back to the keeper has ZERO to do with whether he is a composed footballer. Many an EPL footballer do this, does that make them all 'not composed' ?

Being composed is the ability to react under pressure by either not making silly mistakes, choosing good options and not giving the ball away cheaply. Just because he passes to the keeper does not mean he is not composed. You can argue that he choses not to take risks by playing backwards but then thats just another indicator that in not taking risks, he plays percentage football, something a composed footballer does.

Patterson touched the ball probably twice..... how can he look good. He and Ridenton were just included for experience and it was obvious Patterson only came on for a few minutes coz Howieson got a knock

Musa - Composed tonight

Vicelich - Always composed

Are we done here?

I was impressed with Boyd up top. He made some decent runs and drew a lot of fouls... if he could get a better first touch he would be that much more of a threat.

Other than that i thought all the CB's did well, I thought Musa looked controlled as mentioned, but I was more impressed by his increased voice, you often saw him yelling at someone to do this or that. I also think he has a decent passing range missing in some other options.

Hogg and Lowe were both poor, particularly Rowe... but I did like the fact he tended to look for a pass rather than hoof or simply go backwards. Given better options he may of looked a different player.

Howieson is an attacking midfielder, please stop playing him on the wing and give him a chance through the middle.

Fenton needs to lift his head.

Clapham and Christie are too error prone.

Butler I liked when i saw him. Looked strong and generally made good options.

Lindsey got 20 mins... did he touch the ball?

Both keepers were good.

Tried to play a little more, but the transition and movement in the center of the park is limited, too often we went backwards because there was nothing going forward... which ends up in long ball hoofs by the keeper to Boyd whose not huge in the air to win it up top all alone.

I fell asleep twice watching this game, sadly, I'd been looking forward to it. I hope Ernie Merrick was watching it would sort out a number of non-possibilities for him.

Why hasn't any coach told Hogg that you don't give a winger ten metres every time to control a ball before you decide to put pressure on him??

Could Vicelich done more to stop the goal, put a block in, won the second phase?

Other than that I saw nothing too wrong with how he played.... but i don't think we need him anymore. Reid, Smith, Durante are all capable and better CB's and i think in Siggy and Musa we have decent cover.

In the Midfield he just doesn't have the legs anymore.

Not that any of this would have mattered... Ricki has already picked his squad for the qualifiers, any changes to that would have required a minor miracle. Vicelich will be there.

Maybe Ivan could have done more to stop it, but Aaron Scott was the main culprit in my mind. His man was allowd to waltz in unopposed.

Didn't he play more CM for the U20s.

1-Scott BASALAJ (7.4)
17-Tyler BOYD (7.0)
7-Cameron HOWIESON (7.0)
15-Ivan VICELICH (7.0)
10-Aaron CLAPHAM (6.6)
8-Cameron LINDSAY (6.0)
6-Ian HOGG (5.9)
16-Louis FENTON (5.9)
4-Tim MYERS (5.9)
9-Luke ROWE (5.9)
2-Andrew DURANTE (5.8)
12-Jacob SPOONLEY (5.1)
3-Aaron SCOTT (5.0)
5-Monty PATTERSON (5.0)
11-Jake BUTLER (5.0)
14-Jeremy CHRISTIE (4.9)

Was actually pleasantly surprised by the side's performance tonight against a Jordan side of similar ability to Bahrain in 2009 (not the best side in the world but one of the better Asian ones currently after Japan, South Korea and Australia). Don't forget it was just a training game for Jordan and they'd not been in Auckland for long after a long flight from Jordan where they played Libya last week (1-0 win) and from Middle East summer heat to NZ cold. 

This was after all a starting line-up of six ASB Premiership players, one Phoenix veteran, three Nix youths and an English Championship youth team player.

The game probably confirmed Vicelich as the only potential All White starter from this group, with Durante a likely bench-warmer.

Boyd certainly showed a lot of potential and is looking good for the u-20 World Cup.

Fenton and Howieson disappointed though out wide, as did Hogg and Scott as fullbacks and Christie  -well he's not so much yesterday's man as last decade's man...

Thought Clapham was okay, and a bit harshly criticised by some on this thread, considering it's a few months since he last played or trained and he's just back from swanning around SE Asia on holiday.

Basalaj > Spoonley on the night.

Really good display relatively-speaking from a team of mostly amateurs and youths against a side potentially not far off World Cup qualification.

We've got some good talent to go forward with methinks...though we seem to struggle for decent fullbacks and have an over-abundance of capable centre-backs...not a lot of decent creative midfielders either...

Almost correct. I actually got this information based on the Burnley website where I can pretty much guarantee you I have read every article on him over the last two years including match reports from the reserve and academy games including other tibets on forums (both Burnley and othe clubs).

I also have had the fortune to watch the occassional game, admittedly not a huge amount but i'd bet more than most..

And what do you base you expert opinion on, the fact he played there, albeit limitedly from the bench at the u17 comp (he may of started one game through suspension)... or have you seen him play over the last few years.

Afterall Ricki plays Brockie as a RB sometimes so he is known not to play people in their position... like Howieson out wide.

Now go crawl into your little hole, whilst i print your last 6 months of comments and proceed to wipe my arse with them as thats how much value they have.

Yeah surprised to see Christie still in the frame to be honest

My thoughts on players:

CB's were all good - Musa looks like he is still improving - impressed me last year - big aerial prescense and not a bad backup for the future

Fullbacks were not so good. Hoggy did not win himself any credit - always stands off his man. Rowe didnt have as much of a chance

Thought Butler looked okay actually - seemed to have a good head on him

Fenton was good but fell out of the game a little - as did Howieson. Both 'wide' players who like to come inside so we didnt get as much width out of the team - but both were good when they did find time on the ball

Clapham had a few nice touches but quite a few horrible ones - needs to do the basics right rather than attempt slick flicks that don't come off.

Boyd had a tough night - but starting to show a lot of promise. His ball control has improved amazingly over this year - especially moving at pace and taking balls down. Unlucky to be so isolated and given a few balls in the air.

Thoughts on Tactics:

Emblen made the right call in playing a back 4, and the 4231 formation probably suited the personnel we had.
However when you play a 4231, you really need more from your 2 deeper midfielders.

Christie and Butler did alright, but ideally these two spots need to be the engine of the side that can push the ball forward, whether it be by carrying it or  passing it up.

What ended up happening is we saw Clapham and Howieson dropping back a lot to pick up the ball from the back 4 - probably too much when those are 2 of the 4 players we need on attack. As a result when we did move into attack we had very limited numbers.

Boyd did well with ball to feet and managed to hold it up surprisingly well for his size and strength, but really what he needed was Clapham further forward and playing off his shoulder for support.

Hogg & Scott were positionally poor and allowed their men a lot of space to get time on the ball. This meant Durante & Vicelich were often stretched which caused Jordan to have a few chances

A relatively entertaining game to watch last night and before we started making all those substitutions at the hour mark, we actually played some nice football. Probably the biggest standout of the night was confirmation that Hogg is not the answer at Left back for the Nix. 

I think one thing that is overlooked is Emblem.

When you consider the manner in which is was praised for the Olympic teams play and having had this team for 2 training sessions and conceding early, I think they actually acquitted themselves better than anyone would have picked. I thought it would be a thrashing and the generally feeling I am getting from reading other posts is that no one would have predicted a 1-0 scoreline. Jordan did not exactly put the foot to the throat I have to say but there were times when the A side held their own and played good football.

I think when you look at the line up with hindsight, having Tyler Boyd as your striker and seeing he really played everywhere but striker, they were probably never going to score. Would a recognised striker perhaps prompted a more long ball into that striker? Who knows but I think Emblem comes away from this with a lot of respect for the way in which his team tried to play. Granted they fell away when the subs came on but that generally happens. I think the main thing is that they tried to play football for the most part and only long when they needed to clear the lines.

A surprising amount of common sense in here today :)

M2cw: the youngsters were good - Fenton, Boyd, Basalaj and Howieson. I'd have liked to seen Howieson and Fenton in the middle of the park where they (imho) are at their best. I thought we were pretty limp down the left where Howieson was, but I put that down to him not being a left wing. Fenton produced our best chances of the night.

I thought Clapham and Butler were okay. Not bad, but they did nothing to encourage me that they were the future of an AW's midfield. Christie demonstrated clearly that he is at the back end of his career and shouldn't be in the AW's frame any more. Which is a shame because I always quite liked him but age will do that to you in the end. 

I thought Spoonley and Scotty B showed that you could pick either of them as backup to Moss. I thought Scotty was slightly better on the night, and he's younger, so that might give him the edge over Spoons.

Dura and Ivan did a capable job, not assisted in the slightest by any of the defenders outside them. It's not often I'll condemn a player, but I can't see any way back for Tim Myers. And Hogg proved (again) that he is not better than Tony Lochhead. 

I always die inside a wee bit when I see Musa come on. But that's because I remember him when he started with TW after Jonathan Gould plucked him out of Wanganui. He has come on a long way though, and at some point I might have to buy Gouldy a beer and say "okay, I'll give you that one." He definitely looks like a centre back, and the older he gets the more competent he appears. I'm still not convinced though. If he picks up a professional contract in England and continues to develop, then maybe one day.

And Emblem is worth a mention. I agree that they played well. Knocked the ball around etc. Disappointed by some of the position choices, and the lack of meaningful game time given to some youngsters. Why persist with Christie and Hogg for example? I'd much rather see Lindsay and Rowe for 45 minutes.

And this is my picture.

Smithy I know you are a big fan of Fenton so I have to ask if you are being objective. You are the first person to talk up Fentons performance. Its not a personal attack against him or you, just asking the question because you are the only person to say he was good and that's against a sea of posts that thought he was not.

I think he is much better than he showed and am puzzled as to why he played so poorly. He got the ball lost under his feet frequently and I think he decided to try and out run their LB on the outside every time and it was easy to see early on that he was not going to beat him for pace. Also as someone else said, he needed to get his head up and thats been labelled at him in the past. I just did not see a performance which is is capable of and has produced in Phoenix colours this year. I do agree that I don't really see Fenton as a wide man so perhaps it was positional.

The team tried to play football which was good. Went quite a bit better than I expected and quite excited to see Boyd looks like he has improved quite a bit, especially the confidence.

Not quite as impressed with Musa as many people here, he played one good ball but every other time he just hoofed it away and we didn't have the team for that. There was a noticeable drop in possession as soon as he came on. I still think he has potential but am just surprised that people are praising him for that performance.

Hogg was quite easily better than Rowe although his positioning doesn't seem that great.

Thought Buttler looked decent. First time I recall seeing him. Won a lot of ball and looked comfortable when in possession. A little bit slow to distribute though and a bit negative. Not really what we need at the phoenix but could see him in an extended AW squad.

Claphams free kicks were good, he should have been taking them from the start, but the range on his passes were disappointing  he was continuously overhitting them.

Football is a wonderful thing innit. Lots of opinions.

I thought Fenton was sharp last night. He gets on the ball and does something. He tries to take players on, and has a fair degree of success. You can contrast him strongly with Butler and Christie who move the ball around but never break pressure or create. Fenton is a creator. He whipped in that fantastic ball to the near post that Clapham almost got onto, and he delivered a bunch of dangerous ball in that didn't turn into chances.

For me, he did his chances no harm last night at all. And while I rate him I'm not a fanboy.

If I'm the only one talking him up (which I'm not by the way, have a look at @Andrew_Gourdie on twitter, or Playwithfire above) then I'm happy in a minority of one.

Is that you Stuart Hogg?

Haha