OFC Nations Cup 2016 - vs Fiji | Sat 28 May | 6pm | SS Popup

Disgrace...My 85 yr old mother could teach this group to go route 1. What are we paying Hudson and his co Horts for.

I can totally understand why Dura, Smith, Reid and others don't want to be involved in this environment.

Except when that GK is Tamanisau, that man is complete crap. Is hard to believe he's been Fiji best keeper for 8 years or so

I'd love to see the Phoenix make a move for him

 A league in welly or Ligue 2 or 1 in France, good luck with that.

Remember when he went on about Bielsa, and pressing, combination play and all that crap? He's just a bloke who knows  a few people and is good with powerpoint

I am convinced if the players were being asked to play a shorter passing game with high ball speed we could put 6 or 7 past this Fijian side. 

man, sack the coach at 3-1 up in the first half of our first competitive game in two years

i can promise you that all those coaches he claims to know would have no idea who he is

It's quite uncertain for him there. Club is on the block, New coach, he's on loan... We could probably offer him decent money. 

exactly, couldn't agree more

I would if I could. Absolutely no excuse for us playing football that the rest of the world threw out 30 years ago. 

Question - even if we hired Bielsa himself, do you think anyone could get us playing like that with the players we have? We don't have one central midfielder who I'm confident in.

i think we can. i mean this is fiji ffs, they've never been so bad

Never say "erstwhile" if you don't know what it means, dingbat.

The point is we are going nowhere, he was brought in to change our play from the Herbert era and said he could but this is where we were years ago

On a pitch where you can't even pass properly because it's so slow and you can't turn without slipping over..

Our players are capable of moving the ball round with purpose and control. Sure we dont have players with amazing technique and a ton of flair but they are capable of so much more if asked to do it. I remember when we got thumped by Mexico a couple of years ago in the away game there was a moment where we moved the ball from one end of the pitch with a string of passes and movement that made us look seriously good. Sadly we only do this in breif moments. Its possible but those at the top are too scared to pursue this style of football.

You dont have to have a team of superstars to move the ball effectively. Just take a look at Icelands FIFA ranking.

the pitch is the same for both teams

kevin fallon used to play the best ball players on the worst pitch. his argument was that he needed players with technique to be able to cope

so, if the team was properly set up, your point becomes a contradiction

it's not a choice between playing like Pep's Barca or hoofing aimless long balls.

We could make the most of players like Rojas, Kosta and Thomas and counterattack at pace down the wings, for instance

I see people say this often but I have never seen it from the All Whites in any game ever

I go back to how we played at the Olympics under Emblen in 2012. It was not perfect but it was progressive, proper football and with a bunch of no names against far better opposition than this. So yes, of course we can do far, far better

are the lights pretty crap?

i have

under emblen at the olympics

also under marshall a few years back

great minds think alike eh normo

that was the first thing that popped into my mind

Don't know, mate. Are you using Eco bulbs?

the key to good midfield play comes from asking your defenders to defend and not have the midfielders do it for you

the way we are set up today is with 3 centre backs dropping off and the midfield sitting right on top of them

at the olympics we had payne and mcglinchey playing as midfielders, not defensive shields

makes all the difference

Nice to see a young player back himself there

I was at the first game against Belarus I think in Coventry and half way through the first half the bunch of us who were there turned to each other almost in shock! We drew with Egypt. And now we're stuck with this kidder, another 4years wasted

That one little moment from Rogerson is what needs to be encouraged. Keep asking for players to be brave enough to try things and in the long term we would improve.

Presumably they'll be turned off next Sunday for the matches on World Environment Day.

Sorry, Emblem isn't 'aligned'.  

handball there?

every single fudgeing long ball we lose possession, either from it not hitting his man or the Fijians winning the second ball. Every single time

Great play but horrid ball in the end

All this Hudson bagging is sooooooo boring. 

First game, they are playing in sauna conditions which will take them all time to get used too, pitch apparently spongy,  missing best midfield etc etc etc

I even read some fool here say Fiji have never been this weak/bad. A 13-0 slackening back in 1981 by Stevie Sumner and his amateur AW mates would suggest otherwise

All you want to see is improvements through ever pool game - so like All Blacks last year, you are peaking when the knockout games start. When Weemac, Rojas, Kosta are starting will see less route 1 stuff. Still if it works...................

Rogerson again being brave and in the end creating a good overlap. Much better than a long ball that Fiji ends up winning

The one Pom on the outer. Probably didn't prepare his powerpoint properly. Anyone know any other Intel about that? 

such low expectations

Whats boring is a coach who is asking us to play a style of football that was thrown out 30 years ago. Thats whats boring. 

fool?

nice to meet you dickhead

i must admit, that that 13 nil is a glaring exception and i'll also admit that fiji have had a couple of decent years at age grade level, but they are in the process of pulling themselves out of what is by their standards a fairly significant funk