NZ Ferns v USA | 18 Jan 2023 at 4.00pm Sky Stad | and 21 Jan 2023 at 4.00pm Eden Park

Our Keeper did well to get nowhere near that

Just thinking it would be nice if we could hold out at 1-0 till half time then boom.

Common Ferns someone snag a goal.

Fenix

Keeper did well to get nowhere near that

I'm not a fan of Nayler, from what I've seen... but the defender who moves towards the already marked player is mostly at fault there. Somehow turned 2 vs 2 into 2 vs 1.

Surely Sheaff second half?

Is Nayler the top choice keeper or is she there due to someone else been unavailable? Every time I watch a ferns game she has been in goal... is she really the best we have?

siac

Is Nayler the top choice keeper or is she there due to someone else been unavailable? Every time I watch a ferns game she has been in goal... is she really the best we have?

1. Esson
2. Leat
(Both not released by clubs)
3. Alfeld - injured

Would love to see Rebecca Lake get some time..given she's a specialist CB..

Are we playing with 10? Not sure why USA has so much space wtf

What’s the go with marking in football zone or man on?

I would like to see some different midfielders on if possible, constantly losing possession is painful to watch

What have we gained by playing Nayler?
Rennie should be doing athletics cos she ain't a footballer. 

Does Nayler not realise she is three goals down when she takes an age to get the ball back into play?

Feverish

Does Nayler not realise she is three goals down when she takes an age to get the ball back into play?

Based on reactions after the last game they will see losing 3-0 as a success.

We give away possession far too easily and another soft goal conceded.

Pretty sub par tbh I’m turning it off now.

Anna Green should have had multiple cards by now 

pickledmyself

I would like to see some different midfielders on if possible, constantly losing possession is painful to watch

Best midfielder in the commentary box

Green & ward dirty players cant beat them so foul  do this all day long, just embarrassing for NZ
Rennie does nothing, alot of running around, haven't seen her play decent for some time
Chase doing well as always
NZ selection is just ridiculous, cant wait till the other players back in action, certainly need them!

A record crowd, but a really poor performance...

Well, that was fun, makes you think what the score could've been had we had the likes of Stott, Percival, Longo, Bott, Bowen and more for these two games. US would still beat us reasonably comfortably in either game but we would've had a better chance at both keeping the score lower and getting a goal.

My world cup prediction:
3 points from Philippines
and 1 point from either Norway or Switzerland. We we just sneak in to the second round and obviously lose.

Wusty Wab

Well, that was fun, makes you think what the score could've been had we had the likes of Stott, Percival, Longo, Bott, Bowen and more for these two games. US would still beat us reasonably comfortably in either game but we would've had a better chance at both keeping the score lower and getting a goal.

Esson/Leat, Bunge, Moore, Steinmetz, Wilkinson.

Well people have been crying out for a long time, for younger players to come into the team, to replace the old guard. One of the takeaways from this series, is that the old guard are mostly still the best starting players the Ferns have.

And what's with midfielder Jana Radosavljević? Good enough to be playing in the Frau Bundesliga (one of the better women's leagues) with Werder Bremen a few years ago. But hasn't had a club since April 2021. Has she been injured since then? In the squad for these games, but no playing time.

watching_from_far

Is black our official home strip now???

Hopefully. Black looks way better and is the ‘proper’ NZ national team colours across basically every sport. The All Whites should too but for obvious reasons they can’t, but the women have no such hindrances.

5-0 tough against the World #1, but the women did well in patches, once again lacked a bit of ooomph up front. 9 goals conceded and we didnt even consider changing keeper??? Of the 9 goals I reckon Nayler could have done a lot more for at least 6. A couple of really good shots that noone would have really stopped. But several of the goals today she moved so late that the ball had dribbled passed her. 80 games as a Fern and you'd think she'd be stepping up and showing dominance with the back four and owning that space, but no, she is still on her heels backing away from being too far advanced and not talking. Surely edwards or Sheaf deserved a chance - even for a half. Instead they waste 2 weeks of their lives, miss games for their clubs and sit on the pine watching the encumbant struggle.

Radoslavljevic. She was out injured for a long period. When she came back she dropped to like a third tier team. To get minutes and build back I presume. Not sure what progress she is making. 

Don’t buy into the Nayler pile on. Almost every goal we conceded I think the defenders made greater errors than she did. 

Also to be brutally honest keeping overall in the women's game can look pretty average sometimes. I've watched a fair few Matildas games and Lydia Williams (was at Arsenal in WSL, now with PSG in France) has made some absolute howlers.

But yeah Leat or Esson will start the other Ferns games this year. Alfeld & Nayler probably in a battle for the 3rd keepers spot - but Alfeld will need to be playing for the Nix soon to give herself a good shot.

We were never going to win these games we know that but what gets me is the goals we give away are so so poor. And goals i believe we could easily give up against weaker opposition that's what worries me. I know our best players aren't here but previously we've given up soft goals. It could've been and should've been 10!! But today..

Goal 1 - Ally Green originally presses a pass then doesn't drop off back into her full back position. i was yelling at the tv saw it a mile away. It's defending 101. I don't know what's more astonishing the fact that this happened directly in front of the ferns bench containing 27 personal who had to communicate this to her or the fact that once she was dragged after 28 minutes Jason Pine proceeded to say she had a good game!!

Goal 2 - Anton at fault she tracks the same run as Riley and leaves USA player unmarked. Also the problem at not having a natural CB who would always tell their fullback to watch their right shoulder. Could blame both. Such a poor goal to give away. 

Goal 3 - Our defensive line was a mess! Anna Green just jogging back if you can call it that! The ball eventually hits Ward in the shins and falls to USA player but if Green got back and defended the space earlier it would've all been different. Greens days are done, fair play she's has contributed in the past.

Goal 4 - We had a weak midfield by this stage that couldn't press a toasted sandwich and allowed a ball to be knocked over the top. Barry got caught on her heels and had to chase...all over red rover. Barry not quite ready at this level needs to learn game but some say potential for future. hmm.

Goal 5 - Team DJ Ava Collins decides the player shes marking is too tall and runs in pretending to miss flight of the ball and leaves her with a free header!! Anyone who has played the game knows you get a player like this from time to time. If she doesnt want to do it get her up the pitch. Probably the worst goal for me because as a team mate thats not what you want to see.

So 21 shots to zero? Not sure who to blame. But that's a shocking stat. But  Gabbie Rennie could be out there for 365 days and not score..im sure of it.

For me one player who could be of some threat to weaker sides - Paige Satchel. Technically weak but showed she can press without ball and force odd mistake and in possession gives it a fair crack with her pace - awkward on the eye but does enough to warrant a deeper look up top. 

Anyone else have question marks of coach Jitka Klimkova? I thinks she's falling under Ali Rileys spell.

morgenstern12

My world cup prediction:
3 points from Philippines
and 1 point from either Norway or Switzerland. We we just sneak in to the second round and obviously lose.

Cheers, can save myself watching it now

Decent summary. Piney praising someone getting dragged for having a shocker wtf. Someone on far post for the corner would have been wise.

I pretty much didn't agree with anything SN put in the Talay thread, but that is a fairly honest decent summary.

Hopefully all the first choice players (bar the injured) are back for the 3 home friendlies in the February FIFA window (Portugal & Argentina x2). Ferns need to be getting some wins against those sort of teams.

Klimkova's spread the net far & wide (hand was forced for these 2 games), but it's time to settle on a first choice squad & style. Needs results in Feb. No more excuses.

I've watched some more of the highlights from both games. Defensively, a lot of ball watching going on. I don't understand how the midfield are setting up a lot of the time. They seemed to often be quite high,and were in front of the usa players. Quite often players like Lavelle for goodness sake were just allowed to sit untracked behind the midfield, who were just ballwatching in no man's land ,stopping nothing, shutting down noone. 

The football ferns have got much worse than when they were under the control of Tony readings between 2011-2017 when they beat Brazil twice, once even in  Brazil. They also had much closer score lines against USA and Australia as well. I think its great to have a woman in charge of a women's team but really I don't see what Klimkova is bringing to the table that a NZ coach couldnt.

Best moment was a full on rugby tackle by our left back on their striker, started just outside the box, that the ref decided wasn't a foul at all.
Kudos to those players that played chase the ball for 90 minutes. I'm sure some of them hardly touched the ball all game. Did Rolston touch the ball?

Klimkova, if she was a male would have been fired by now, arguably the Female NIX coach too.

I'm all for Women coaching, whether it's a women's team or a men's team, but how either of these two still have a job still is beggar's belief.

Kimkova is killing the Ferns publicly - who wants to watch a team that can't score/win and continues to look disjointed and painfully average under her guidance?

Jitka Klimkova has fallin under Ali Rileys spell. She's become a parrot. I would like her to take more control and show us her personality on the team. When she first came into the set up she spoke well and evaluated performance with some credibility. Im confused in where shes at to be honest. Is she scared to get sacked by speaking home truths? Worried she might upset Riley n co? 

I'm happy to give her the benefit of the doubt and happy to see how she goes with next few lead up games and world cup. But im not liking what im seeing and hearing. Shes changed her tune...that inconsistency worries me alone.

We've lost a level of professionalism both on and off the pitch.

I don't mind male or female coach that's irrelevant. Just someone that leads and owns it all like all the top sides.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Best moment was a full on rugby tackle by our left back on their striker, started just outside the box, that the ref decided wasn't a foul at all.
Kudos to those players that played chase the ball for 90 minutes. I'm sure some of them hardly touched the ball all game. Did Rolston touch the ball?

Rolston, Rennie , Jackson and OBrian. probably had about 6 touches between them in the whole game.

To be fair, Rennie probably broke the world record for distance covered per touch.

Jitka needs to go.  Nayler too.

Just doing a Coochee and posting a link :)

https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/ferns-coach-talks-preparations-philosophy-and-euro-inspiration