The Road To Brazil 2014 via Wellington feat. Mexico

Yeah, but Mulligan and Coombes had their chance in the sun and failed. Besides, Butler's probably not averse to taking steroids - and, like him, Clapham would jump at taking anything that might get him into the team.

 Has Mulligan been given a chance in the AWs mids, and did he fail when he did? Did all right against China.

I mean desperate times and all, but the guy can pass the ball and I'm not seeing a lot of fantastic options being suggested here. Payne has potential for sure.

So you advocate giving Jake Butler a chance even though he is not the best midfielder in his team because 'the two that were better than him tried and failed' 

Can you see how silly that sounds?

Funny how Butler keeps his place in the team even when surrounded by these tried and failed internationals. And is even their captain to boot. Obviously Emblen rated him. And now it seems Marshall is making the same mistake. You were asking for potential Kiwi mids. Ain't none left at Auckland City bar Feneridis, and he's also been tried and found wanting. Or do you disagree? And once you've taken Clapham out of the picture, where in NZ are you going to look next? Waibop? Manawatu? Otago? Of course I suppose we can continue trawling the US colleges and the Okker State leagues ... and India...

Considering this is Mulligan and Coombes 1st year at Waitakere.... They both start and so does he so I'm not sure how your point is valid. Can you tell me the midfielders that were tried and failed last year at Waitakere? Oh that would be Bale and Bullock, good Kiwi eligible midfielders...

Clapham is really the only one playing domestically. Feneridis? Well as least we agree on wanting.

I would ask you, in defence of your position, what he would bring to the team. He is not a DM or an AM, he is not a noted ball winner or distributor  His noted aspect is that he has a good solid motor and can go all day. Box to box without being spectacular.

Sounds like another Tim Brown. And yes, he scores spectacular goals too, from time to time.

For RB what about Bill Tuiloma??

Signed with Galaxy, is a great athlete with good technical ability.

Perhaps give him a run and see how he goes??

Also what about Michael Fitzgerald the forgotten man of NZ football. Had one good game and one shite game. Has done really well in the midfield role this year (albeit being loaned out to a lower league team in Japan) winning promotion.

Coming from a Japanese football background, technically and athletically he should be competative with everyone else we have.

Just watched the World Cup highlight video for the 10000th time.

Anyone heard anything about the March round of qualifiers? Asked NZF on twitter but no response.

i have watched Bill play a bit for Birko and he is quality - dosn't mean he will make it at international level but worth a punt - def worth a look.

I agree about Fitzgerald - thought he looked like someone we could see again - too early to never try him again.

I also think Mulligan could do a job in the middle of the park short term - alongside Mac?

What ever happened to Chris James - he was meant to be quality??

Long term is has to be Payne or another promising young kid, but in the meantime i don't think it would be the worst thing to revisit some of the guys who have already been tried.

Good news! Phoenix matches been rescheduled. http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/wellingtonphoenix/news-display/FFA%20Reschedule%20March%2023%20Fixture%20v%20Jets/58324

Herbert talking about Durante as potential captain but does he make this side?  I would have thought that the best centre back combination now is Winston and Smith - I guess I'm assuming we play a back 4.

I can get my head around selecting him but I really don't think he should be captain.

I think Ricki would put himself offside with a few folk including ex team mates if he did. Dura being 30, is not long term. I see Reid wore the arm band the other day. Not overly charismatic though (just thinking PR). Also thought that Smith has probably spent as much time in NZ as Dura... I must admit captain would take me some time getting use to. Although if he is the best leader in a team that gets picked in... Mind you Wee Mac had lived here for 2 mins and he is embraced. Does it make a difference or is it because its our traditional rival then great Australian? I feel like Gollum talking with myself.

In saying the above, Hesson did it to Rosco.

Leggy

If you are the AW international (as was mentioned elsewhere) how do you feel as a former international seeing an Australian come in as captain?

I thought about this last night and the people touted have not necessarily been in NZ as long/longer than Durante with the exception of Reid who was born here and stayed till 10. Smith was born in the UK and spent a good part of his teen years here (also played youth football for England), Wee-Mac was born here then left after a year. All these players are embraced and are potential captains.

Is the issue more of coming straight in and assuming the captaincy without doing some sort of time in the mix? If thats the case (just speaking out aloud) then is this a case the heart ruling the head (as you mentioned, emotion) ?

I'm interested in some real thoughts on this.

I think captains for any team should be someone who's either been in the setup for a while or is just such a natural leader that they can command respect straightaway. The latter type are  very rare, although Nelsen would probably count as one. Dura is definitely captaincy material but I don't think he's got that extra bit of presence to justify being named captain when he's never played with the side before. 

Not sure about Smith as captain either though, Reid is a maybe but sometimes seems a bit of a loose cannon (thinking his red card vs Paraguay). Vicelich could do it but he's 108 years old so not exactly  a long-termer. I'm don't think any of our attacking players really seem like the type either. It's a tough call.

Is it that bigger deal who wears the armband and goes up for the toss?

Which is what?

Danny Hay thinks  Winston Reid should be captain for choosing to play for NZ over Belgium (?)

 ...and someone was on here advocating him to replace Ricki?

What is winston reida statistics when it comes to winning the coin toss? Is it over 50%?

Will be interesting who Ricki selects for his squad given the form of some of his NZ players for Wellington.

Lochead, Siggy and Smeltz all look out of form at the moment, and bar Siggy almost always start.

If Nelsen doesn't play and Durante isn't available I hope we go to a back four and move away from having three at the back.

Bertos Smith Reid Hogg

Thats my pick... but given Hogg has barely played, does he deserve to be there starting, is there anyone else??

there are so many holes in our squad which is inexcusable since a lot of them have existed since before the last world cup

we still have no right back

we haven't yet replaced elliott, or come up with a playing style adjustment to reduce the impact of his departure

bertos and lochhead have regressed

fallon has ended up being of no use to us

nelly's gone

on the positive side of the ledger...

reid is now a lot better, as is mcglinchey

payne has emerged and is probably already our best holding midfielder

my team

paston - reid, vicelich, smith, lochhead - mcglinchey, payne, keat - rojas - smeltz - wood

i'd prefer to have played reid at right back in a back four until nelsen retired, but we may need him in the middle now

sigmund is too slow for right back.  if nelsen was there i'd have him in the middle with him, with reid and smith out wide, but with nelsen gone siggy gets benched

if we play deep, vicelich could cope at centre back with a good holder in front of him

so i can now start reid on the right

i'd prefer to select smith at left back, but once again with reid out wide and nelsen gone, we need him in the middle and if we want to play our from the back we need a left-footed left-sided centre back

which means we're stuck with lochhead at left back unless hogg can really blitz it at the phoenix

payne could be a right back option, but i'd have him holding the middle

mcglinchey is a support player.  we have been using out of position as a central pivot and it's cost our defensive shape.  i'd play him on the right of a middle three.

the left sided central midfielder is up for grabs - probably keat because he has two pegs and works well around the pitch.  i'm suspicious of him however because i really thought he would have done better for himself professionally by now.

rojas will work the flanks

smeltz can play off the front man and play narrower on the opposite side of rojas

wood up the guts

no Kosta?  Is he injured, or just not being picked as he hasn't been playing?

I think that we have to keep picking the team to suit the best players we have - we did that in the world cup going three at the back, and I think we now have to say that our best players are our attacking quartet.  That means we go 4-4-2 with 2 proper wingers (Kosta and Marco) and we play both Smeltz and Wood up front.  It will leave the centre of our midfield pretty weak (some combination of Wee Mac, Payne, Keat and Vicelich) but we will have two solid centre backs (Reid and Smith), 2 good wingers and 2 decent strikers. 

I am just going to ignore the full back situation and just hope that it goes away

ha ha, good call frankie

i personally think that 4-4-2 is too open, especially with 2 wingers

barbarouses is out of my1st XI due to horrible distribution, and my desire to have three in the middle of the park

i think you're probably right jimmy dean, but who would you have at right back?

durante would be my pick, but i didn't want to assume he'd get through the red tape

I have a general aversion to centre backs moving wide.  I prefer midfielders, centre backs I think are used to defending in a different way, often tend to want to go towards the ball where midfielders I think defend better wider as they're more used to jockeying rather than looking to make a tackle.  So I'd exclude Boxhall, who I'm not sure is actually that good anyway, Old and Boyens.  And I'd prefer not to use Durante or Sigmund, but then when you look at the other options I don't think anyone else is up to it really...

Reid's just done a solid job of hanging out to dry for doing not a heck of a lot during the WC, confirming Nelsen and Elliott's input and pretty much their control of the team. Not something new, but interesting to come from a possible captain so publicly.

Something like this might finally put an end to the persistent "jokes" about Nelsen coaching at the WC.

Actually, I think it will take a joint press conference between Nelsen and Herbert admitting this before most of these people take this scenario as a possibility