Martinb i agree re Woods he's a battler against nations outside of the pacific or these last minute countries we get. He's not a genuine footballer he's definitely hard to watch sometimes. Plays he best football when teams launch it long or bang crosses into the box. But at the end of the day to his credit he does put NZ first and has a reputation that he holds a lot of power inside the camp. Fair play he's made a more than decent career being a bang average footballer.
Re your comment on TALAY....you'd hope every coach wanted to try score...that's not the issue...the issue is he struggles to win games and his teams leak like a seive.
Re your comment on TALAY....you'd hope every coach wanted to try score...that's not the issue...the issue is he struggles to win games and his teams leak like a seive.
Definitely not what I said. He’s a gold standard number 9.
I think the point I was making was that our midfield attack hadn’t scored. They’d blazed from distance, but low percentage shots. And yeh we’d have done better with Rojas- he’d have created more space for Wood. I think one of our best chances against Peru was his crossing…the point I was making too, is that Wood doesn’t usually drag defenders deep and try and create for someone else. But that really shouldn’t be his responsibility.
The goal we did score (which got chalked off) was a Wood finish. Once described as a poacher in a targetman’s body (which I disagree with, I think he’s got a bit more than just that) I think Wood thrives with interplay around the box and accurate set piece service. As well as pouncing on scraps. But scraps come from others competing and winning the ball.
The other way we could score of course is to use him as a distraction while a less heralded player delivers the coup de grace. But again, waiting on the player…