I don’t think we benefit from playing two centre forwards. Wilkinson is a leaner, stronger faster player with a better first touch most of the time, compared to 4-5 years ago. So keep her up top. Jale deserves more chances and playing time. She played some good key passes. There are a number of starting ALW players on the Aussie team, so the ALW does provide the ability to compare how our players compete against Gorrie etc. Hassett plays best when she has space to create, so I think we play her as a 10 behind Wilkinson. Then two from Cleverly, Steinmetz and Bott and Percival as holding mid. We were often out numbered in centre mid tonight so dropping a forward would help that. Realistically we will never dominate teams on the world stage- asides from against Oceania teams. The fifa rankings aren’t a true reflection of where we are at. We are probably somewhere around 35-50 ranked. And set to drop further over time as the women’s game grows, even if we develop better players. Other countries have bigger numbers and more professional clubs so it’s easier for them to add a women’s team - even if their whole squad only earns the same as 3-4 male team players a week. I don’t think we have anything to lose by playing Sheaf and Edwards half a game each in the next game. It was interesting to hear the mics were a lot louder tonight- you could hear the players organising at corners and Naylor was more vocal tonight. She punched well. Yes could have done better with the goals. But did make a couple of good saves too. Moore was pretty good in the air- the anniversary to the day of the USA game! But was caught flat footed/square to the ball when the ball was played behind her a couple of times so was slower to turn and chase. Again like the Nix I don’t understand the obsession with playing out lots from the back. Anton got lots of hospital passes in the first half and our central mids got swarmed when they got the ball played to them out of defence. Cleverly did we there most of the time. Would be good to see some combination play dropping it back from the mids to then play vertical to Wilkinson with Hassett underneath her. Was a bit sad there wasn’t a big increase in urgency around 60minute mark onwards as they in theory should have been pushing to score to stay in the World Cup. Nice to see Foster on the field- thought she might have taken that last corner? We looked a few times at the end to get our fullbacks forward but the final passes weren’t there. The trouble with having Riley and for the Nix Knott as captains is that the coaches are very reluctant to drop them if they aren’t playing well. Bowen would be a great captain for the next cycle. Or maybe a group of 4? Bowen, Leat, Chance and Clegg? I think we really missed Bott tonight the most. In the next camp it would be cool to see Clegg, Whinham, Rood, Percival and Flea. A couple of key moments could have resulted in a different score line tonight. Bowen clears early the first goal. Chance buries her shot- like she did against Korea. Or Jales shot that hit Chance looked like it was going in too. This game was way less frustrating than the game against Portugal. So that is progress. Look forward to the next game. A score draw would be another step forward. This team would also have to learn how to defend a lead at the end of the if that comes to it. Fingers crossed!
