WCQ vs New Caledonia | Friday 25th Mar | 6:00am | SS7

Some great strikes in today’s shooting contest at training 🎯 pic.twitter.com/eGR6DYXA3A

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) March 22, 2022

… Alex and Jamie. #OceaniaQualifiers #WCQ pic.twitter.com/FeWRJa7ldN

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) March 22, 2022

coochiee

Some great strikes in today’s shooting contest at training 🎯 pic.twitter.com/eGR6DYXA3A

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) March 22, 2022

… Alex and Jamie. #OceaniaQualifiers #WCQ pic.twitter.com/FeWRJa7ldN

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) March 22, 2022

The cavalry have arrived!

Who was the one taking the second shot in the vid, with the left foot? It's bothering me I couldn't tell who it was.

Guessing 4 of the newcomers will start against NC.

Possible starting lineup -
Marinovic, Payne, Tuiloma, N Boxall, Cacace, Bell, Howieson, McCowatt (as a 10), Champness, De Jong/Rogerson, Greive

For a few guys, it is likely the last minutes they will get in the tourney, with a full strength side to play semi & hopefully final.

Bit of a nothing game really, with AWs already through to the last four, and doubt it matters much whether we play Solomons or Tahiti in the semi. Still of course Hay will want to continue the  winning momentum, and they will.

siac

Who was the one taking the second shot in the vid, with the left foot? It's bothering me I couldn't tell who it was.

 
Cacace

siac

Who was the one taking the second shot in the vid, with the left foot? It's bothering me I couldn't tell who it was.

Looks like Marko Stamenic to me.. Logan Rogerson maybe. But dont think he would be that good on his left.

Personally I think they should not play Libby and Bell. Those two are too important for the semi and hopefully final to risk an injury. Plus 3 games in I think 9 days is not ideal. They have been around the squad and the Olympics enough to just slot in.

coochiee

Guessing 4 of the newcomers will start against NC.

Possible starting lineup -
Marinovic, Payne, Tuiloma, N Boxall, Cacace, Bell, Howieson, McCowatt (as a 10), Champness, De Jong/Rogerson, Greive

For a few guys, it is likely the last minutes they will get in the tourney, with a full strength side to play semi & hopefully final.

Bit of a nothing game really, with AWs already through to the last four, and doubt it matters much whether we play Solomons or Tahiti in the semi. Still of course Hay will want to continue the  winning momentum, and they will.

AucklandPhoenix

Personally I think they should not play Libby and Bell. Those two are too important for the semi and hopefully final to risk an injury. Plus 3 games in I think 9 days is not ideal. They have been around the squad and the Olympics enough to just slot in.

coochiee

Guessing 4 of the newcomers will start against NC.

Possible starting lineup -
Marinovic, Payne, Tuiloma, N Boxall, Cacace, Bell, Howieson, McCowatt (as a 10), Champness, De Jong/Rogerson, Greive

For a few guys, it is likely the last minutes they will get in the tourney, with a full strength side to play semi & hopefully final.

Bit of a nothing game really, with AWs already through to the last four, and doubt it matters much whether we play Solomons or Tahiti in the semi. Still of course Hay will want to continue the  winning momentum, and they will.

Maybe but with their last club games, Bell was subbed off by Brondby at 57 mins and Cacace only had a 5 min cameo with Empoli. Just have them both play the first half verus NC, then come off. Same maybe Payne. 45 min stretch the leg exercises

coochiee

AucklandPhoenix

Personally I think they should not play Libby and Bell. Those two are too important for the semi and hopefully final to risk an injury. Plus 3 games in I think 9 days is not ideal. They have been around the squad and the Olympics enough to just slot in.

coochiee

Guessing 4 of the newcomers will start against NC.

Possible starting lineup -
Marinovic, Payne, Tuiloma, N Boxall, Cacace, Bell, Howieson, McCowatt (as a 10), Champness, De Jong/Rogerson, Greive

For a few guys, it is likely the last minutes they will get in the tourney, with a full strength side to play semi & hopefully final.

Bit of a nothing game really, with AWs already through to the last four, and doubt it matters much whether we play Solomons or Tahiti in the semi. Still of course Hay will want to continue the  winning momentum, and they will.

Maybe but with their last club games, Bell was subbed off by Brondby at 57 mins and Cacace only had a 5 min cameo with Empoli. Just have them both play the first half verus NC, then come off. Same maybe Payne. 45 min stretch the leg exercises

 Agreed; they both need game time.

Libby for the shooting.

New Zealand Football @NZ_Football 8h

Yesterday’s winning team at training
#OceaniaQualifiers #WCQ

 

https://twitter.com/mikeburgess99/status/1506514759554056197?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email

Michael Burgess @mikeburgess99

Coach Danny Hay said that Winston Reid will be rested for the game against New Caledonia.

He also confirmed, thanks to the gentle persistence of A.Voerman, that Tommy Smith will captain the All Whites on Friday morning.
@NZ_Football
@nzheraldsport


Jeremy Ruane

@Scousek1w1

Replying to
@mikeburgess99
@NZ_Football and @nzheraldsport

Fitting, given it'll be Tommy's 50th appearance for NZ in all matches. Costa Barbarouses is one game away from 50 'A' internationals too.
https://ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/caps_and_goals.htm

AWs debut for Jamie Searle. Whakatane boy. Oi Oi Edgecumbe will be proud. Does that mean for every game Hay has been in charge to date, has been a debutant?

New arrivals Bell, Tuiloma & Cacace all on the bench. Presumably all to get some game time in the 2nd half. Keen to see how Greive goes starting. Payne also gets a start, which may mean Kirwan is favourite to start in the semi.

McCowatt in the 10 role?  Alongside Garbett & Howieson.

Overall very much a B team look about the run on side.

Here is how we start for our 3rd Group B game v New Caledonia 🇳🇿🇳🇨#OceaniaQualifiers #WCQ pic.twitter.com/76lKWGjI9k

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) March 24, 2022

🏟 Welcome back to the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha for our final #OceaniaQualifiers Group B game 🇳🇿🇳🇨 pic.twitter.com/5LeTQERuDS

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) March 24, 2022

🥇 Today's winning team*

*excluding Libby who snuck into the photo and is being told to get out by Winston.

They really need to turn the sideline microphones down, or move them. Way too loud relative to the commentary. 

Take a bow Alex Grieve. Hopefully there's at least 30 more of those to come in his career!

First goal conceded in the tourney. Pretty handy header as well for Saiko. 

What a bore... Smith and Boxall trying to break record of passes to each other in a game. 1 of them needs to step forward with the ball and start something off.

Smith.... to Boxall... back to Smith.... who sends back to...Boxall... Smith again. They're having a tutu out wide and it hasn't worked.... back to Boxall... to Smith...

Greive is going to be one of those players who draws a lot of pens in his career. Smart movement in the box. Already drawn a few at St Mirren.

And that Saiko goal was very well taken. But Bell, Cacace & Tuiloma come on 2nd half & AWs should run away with this.

A striker Not messing up the one on one. You love to see it. You're the bomb Alex Grieve. Gives us some breathing space on the scoreboard especially with how fiesty New Caledonia's counter attack and set pieces have been. 

After 45 mins Greive has now scored more international goals for NZ than Jeremy Brockie got in 50 matches.

Watch out Woodsie. He's coming for ya record!

20 minutes to go and here comes the cavalry! 

6-1! Turning into a bit of a rout now. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/128153917/alex-greive-strikes-twice-as-all-whites-set-up-world-cup-qualifying-semifinal-against-tahiti

Tuiloma and Wood – twice – then scored themselves as the All Whites’ secured their biggest win in Oceania since Australia’s departure from the region in 2006.

It was their largest full stop since they beat Tahiti 10-0 in 2004.

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Was great to see Bell and Libby back in black.

theprof

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Bit harsh on Howieson, though yes he was wasteful with some of his passing. I thought he was a good sound selection for this tourney, but in hindsight Hay would have been better to plug for the youth of Oli Whyte. Still Danny would have been a bit nervous going into this tourney (with limited/no intel on the Island teams), so can see why he plugged for an experienced head.

Greive already I think has a high 'football IQ'. Champness less so, but yes the raw talent is there. Hopefully he can find the right club/coach to harness it.

For the semi final can see Wood, Barba & Just starting upfront with Garbett in the 10 role. But Greive will be making Hay think hard.

Rest - Marinovic, Cacace, Pijnaker, Reid, Kirwan, Bell & Stamenic. Don't think you need 5 at the back against Tahiti. 

But if Hay is trying to already entrench a game plan with his first team for Intercontinental Playoff, can understand why he may setup that way with Tuiloma coming into the backline.

coochiee

theprof

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Bit harsh on Howieson, though yes he was wasteful with some of his passing. I thought he was a good sound selection for this tourney, but in hindsight Hay would have been better to plug for the youth of Oli Whyte. Still Danny would have been a bit nervous going into this tourney (with limited/no intel on the Island teams), so can see why he plugged for an experienced head.

Greive already I think has a high 'football IQ'. Champness less so, but yes the raw talent is there. Hopefully he can find the right club/coach to harness it.

For the semi final can see Wood, Barba & Just starting upfront with Garbett in the 10 role. But Greive will be making Hay think hard.

Rest - Marinovic, Cacace, Pijnaker, Reid, Kirwan, Bell & Stamenic. Don't think you need 5 at the back against Tahiti. 

But if Hay is trying to already entrench a game plan with his first team for Intercontinental Playoff, can understand why he may setup that way with Tuiloma coming into the backline.

I mostly agree, although I do think I'd like to see a back 5 for two reasons. Firstly, we realistically have a handful of games before the intercontinental playoffs. I'd rather nail down a starting 11 and a system that those 11 know as well as they can in the limited game time. Secondly I don't think a back 5 is necessarily more defensive for us. I honestly think Libby is one of our most talented players going forward, he's genuinely more dangerous to opposition fullbacks than Rogerson or Champness in my opinion, and that's not me knocking those boys. Kirwan too is a pretty attacking fullback, and if they are in a back 4 they can't bomb up the wings as much. The more license Libby has to whip crosses in to wood or cut it back to the top of the box, the better we are as a team

My take..
The final score was a little deceiving in the end.

It's fairly clear there is a gap between our A and B teams, as the play was smoother with the 'big bois' coming on. It might sound critical. However, we genuinely have a competitive side to put up against a good CONCAF team and would like us to follow through on the potential.

Grieve makes an interesting point of difference, more of a ball to feet striker. Well-finished goals.
Garbett did well overall but had some disappointing moments. Fatigue? 
McCowatt was present but unimpressive, really lacked the confidence until the big boys were subbed in, then he seemed to perk up.
Champness tried a few things, succeeded in some, not in others, will get better. I welcome his positive play any day.
Payne was good in bursts, but he and the whole defence seem to lack the confidence to make forward plays in less than ideal scenarios hence back and forth horizontal passing.

Howieson was alright in anchoring, but him alongside our defence today would not hold up against a faster and more cunning CONCAF side. I could see the defence still had trouble getting into good positions to clear balls into the box. I think this will be a key area when facing stronger sides.

Jazzy Jeff

coochiee

theprof

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Bit harsh on Howieson, though yes he was wasteful with some of his passing. I thought he was a good sound selection for this tourney, but in hindsight Hay would have been better to plug for the youth of Oli Whyte. Still Danny would have been a bit nervous going into this tourney (with limited/no intel on the Island teams), so can see why he plugged for an experienced head.

Greive already I think has a high 'football IQ'. Champness less so, but yes the raw talent is there. Hopefully he can find the right club/coach to harness it.

For the semi final can see Wood, Barba & Just starting upfront with Garbett in the 10 role. But Greive will be making Hay think hard.

Rest - Marinovic, Cacace, Pijnaker, Reid, Kirwan, Bell & Stamenic. Don't think you need 5 at the back against Tahiti. 

But if Hay is trying to already entrench a game plan with his first team for Intercontinental Playoff, can understand why he may setup that way with Tuiloma coming into the backline.

I mostly agree, although I do think I'd like to see a back 5 for two reasons. Firstly, we realistically have a handful of games before the intercontinental playoffs. I'd rather nail down a starting 11 and a system that those 11 know as well as they can in the limited game time. Secondly I don't think a back 5 is necessarily more defensive for us. I honestly think Libby is one of our most talented players going forward, he's genuinely more dangerous to opposition fullbacks than Rogerson or Champness in my opinion, and that's not me knocking those boys. Kirwan too is a pretty attacking fullback, and if they are in a back 4 they can't bomb up the wings as much. The more license Libby has to whip crosses in to wood or cut it back to the top of the box, the better we are as a team

Yipe that makes a lot of sense. In a full strength (or close to) 23 man squad Rogerson drops out anyway. As does De Jong. As does Howieson. And Champness isn't a starter. I'd rather have any 1-2 of Barba, Greive, Just, McCowatt, Waine or Rojas starting alongside Wood.

What Hay will be mindful of, is keeping the CONCACAF opponent guessing, pre the big playoff game. So mixing up a back 4/back 5 over the semi & final. Just making it a bit harder for Panama, Costa Rica or whoever to do their analysis.

The AWs should coast this OFC tourney from here, so giving Hay some flexibility to mix it up, and not reveal his hand too much for now.

He can then lock in a setup/game plan in 1 or 2 behind closed doors friendlies,  in late May/early June pre the Playoff game

coochiee

theprof

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Bit harsh on Howieson, though yes he was wasteful with some of his passing. I thought he was a good sound selection for this tourney, but in hindsight Hay would have been better to plug for the youth of Oli Whyte. Still Danny would have been a bit nervous going into this tourney (with limited/no intel on the Island teams), so can see why he plugged for an experienced head.

Greive already I think has a high 'football IQ'. Champness less so, but yes the raw talent is there. Hopefully he can find the right club/coach to harness it.

For the semi final can see Wood, Barba & Just starting upfront with Garbett in the 10 role. But Greive will be making Hay think hard.

Rest - Marinovic, Cacace, Pijnaker, Reid, Kirwan, Bell & Stamenic. Don't think you need 5 at the back against Tahiti. 

But if Hay is trying to already entrench a game plan with his first team for Intercontinental Playoff, can understand why he may setup that way with Tuiloma coming into the backline.

Barbarouses is in Sydney and the All Whites haven't played with a 10 at any stage of this tournament (or a back five for that matter)

Ah forgot Barba had returned. But they started with 3 CBs against Fiji, so for the sake of discussing different setups see that as a back 5 - call it a back 3 if you like. Semantics.

Pretty sure that was McCowatt’s first ever game against an island nation, despite going to 3 youth World Cup’s, an Olympics and having half a dozen senior caps.

New Caledonia were pretty disappointing, I hadn’t watched them play their other games, but I had high hopes for them on paper. Doesn’t seem any of their pros came down except for Gope-Fenepej, and he didn’t play today. Fitness/belief seems to be a problem, it felt we could score every time we went forward at the end. Almost felt unfair having a quadruple sub of Wood, Cacace, Bell and Tuiloma.

It’s a bit funny that the most dominant scoreline came with the fully rotated team. Rogerson deserved his start after two runs off the bench, and I thought no one played badly, though it’s almost impossible to when you win 7-1.

Happy for De Jong, he copped a lot of undeserved flak after PNG for not being Chris Wood, and to come on and get a goal and two assists is a good effort. Given guys like Rojas, Brockie and Barbarouses have 141 caps between them for 10 goals, his 2 in 8 aren’t bad (and that doesn’t even count his goal vs Algeria A).

Rogerson vs Champness in a full strength 23 is pretty tight in my opinion. I’ve felt Rogerson has been better and offers a greater threat, but there’s a decent debate there. Turkish league is much stronger than Finnish, so that helps Champness, but regardless of that, game time is paramount and Champness has only played 25 minutes this year for a team battling relegation. If Rogerson hits the ground running for Haka then his case will be very much strengthened.

As for Tahiti, I have no real ideas what to expect, as they’ve only played once and lost 3-1 to the Solomons. Would be happy with either a 3-4-2-1 or a 4-3-3, but either way I’d expect to see Tahiti sit very deep, and gain more confidence the longer it stays 0-0.

If we run 3-4-2-1 I’d like to see:

Marinovic;
Tuiloma, Reid, Pijnaker;
Kirwan, Bell, Stamenic, Cacace;
Just, Grieve;
Wood

Though realistically any of the front line bar Wood are very interchangeable, so any combination could start.

andrewvoerman

coochiee

theprof

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Bit harsh on Howieson, though yes he was wasteful with some of his passing. I thought he was a good sound selection for this tourney, but in hindsight Hay would have been better to plug for the youth of Oli Whyte. Still Danny would have been a bit nervous going into this tourney (with limited/no intel on the Island teams), so can see why he plugged for an experienced head.

Greive already I think has a high 'football IQ'. Champness less so, but yes the raw talent is there. Hopefully he can find the right club/coach to harness it.

For the semi final can see Wood, Barba & Just starting upfront with Garbett in the 10 role. But Greive will be making Hay think hard.

Rest - Marinovic, Cacace, Pijnaker, Reid, Kirwan, Bell & Stamenic. Don't think you need 5 at the back against Tahiti. 

But if Hay is trying to already entrench a game plan with his first team for Intercontinental Playoff, can understand why he may setup that way with Tuiloma coming into the backline.

Barbarouses is in Sydney and the All Whites haven't played with a 10 at any stage of this tournament (or a back five for that matter)

they've played with 3 CB's and wingbacks for (ie back5) the first 2 games, back 4 was employed today for the fist time.

theprof

andrewvoerman

coochiee

theprof

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Bit harsh on Howieson, though yes he was wasteful with some of his passing. I thought he was a good sound selection for this tourney, but in hindsight Hay would have been better to plug for the youth of Oli Whyte. Still Danny would have been a bit nervous going into this tourney (with limited/no intel on the Island teams), so can see why he plugged for an experienced head.

Greive already I think has a high 'football IQ'. Champness less so, but yes the raw talent is there. Hopefully he can find the right club/coach to harness it.

For the semi final can see Wood, Barba & Just starting upfront with Garbett in the 10 role. But Greive will be making Hay think hard.

Rest - Marinovic, Cacace, Pijnaker, Reid, Kirwan, Bell & Stamenic. Don't think you need 5 at the back against Tahiti. 

But if Hay is trying to already entrench a game plan with his first team for Intercontinental Playoff, can understand why he may setup that way with Tuiloma coming into the backline.

Barbarouses is in Sydney and the All Whites haven't played with a 10 at any stage of this tournament (or a back five for that matter)

they've played with 3 CB's and wingbacks for (ie back5) the first 2 games, back 4 was employed today for the fist time.

In the first match they played 4-3-3, in the second match 3-4-3, third match 4-3-3. 

I don't agree that it's semantic whether you call it a back three or a back five. 

Back five suggests a focus on having a line of five at the back, back three suggests a focus on wingbacks being in the front line in attack, and the latter was certainly the case v Papua New Guinea. 

Coochie's far from the only All Whites fan/follower to suggest a back three/five is more defensive than a back four ("you don't need five at the back against Tahiti"), so I feel bad for singling him out, but it's not inherently more attacking or more defensive, it's simply a different arrangement.

andrewvoerman

theprof

andrewvoerman

coochiee

theprof

job done so far.
Grieve did a great job as a poacher, showed he could lead the line, but differently to Wood.
Garbett put in another solid effort, Howieson not so much, he is aweful.
JC is an odd one for me, so much talent on the ball but it just looks like his head is six steps ahead of the ball and he ends up rushing things. Raw talent - needs time.
Thought McCowatt did ok in the 10 spot.
Back four did a solid job, except for the defending of the one set piece NC had. Searle did ok apart from that one shot, which he looked like he wasnt expecting.

Bit harsh on Howieson, though yes he was wasteful with some of his passing. I thought he was a good sound selection for this tourney, but in hindsight Hay would have been better to plug for the youth of Oli Whyte. Still Danny would have been a bit nervous going into this tourney (with limited/no intel on the Island teams), so can see why he plugged for an experienced head.

Greive already I think has a high 'football IQ'. Champness less so, but yes the raw talent is there. Hopefully he can find the right club/coach to harness it.

For the semi final can see Wood, Barba & Just starting upfront with Garbett in the 10 role. But Greive will be making Hay think hard.

Rest - Marinovic, Cacace, Pijnaker, Reid, Kirwan, Bell & Stamenic. Don't think you need 5 at the back against Tahiti. 

But if Hay is trying to already entrench a game plan with his first team for Intercontinental Playoff, can understand why he may setup that way with Tuiloma coming into the backline.

Barbarouses is in Sydney and the All Whites haven't played with a 10 at any stage of this tournament (or a back five for that matter)

they've played with 3 CB's and wingbacks for (ie back5) the first 2 games, back 4 was employed today for the fist time.

In the first match they played 4-3-3, in the second match 3-4-3, third match 4-3-3. 

I don't agree that it's semantic whether you call it a back three or a back five. 

Back five suggests a focus on having a line of five at the back, back three suggests a focus on wingbacks being in the front line in attack, and the latter was certainly the case v Papua New Guinea. 

Coochie's far from the only All Whites fan/follower to suggest a back three/five is more defensive than a back four ("you don't need five at the back against Tahiti"), so I feel bad for singling him out, but it's not inherently more attacking or more defensive, it's simply a different arrangement.

Having 3 CBs and 2 wing-backs can very easily morph into a back 5, especially against better opposition where the wing-backs get forced into the back line. It can become a very defensive lineup, and typically is a more defensive than attacking set up.

Main thing is I hope Hay keeps mixing it up, because the CONCACAF opponent whoever it is, will be using these games as their main video analysis. Plus maybe a chat to the Curaçao coaches, and watching a video of that game

No harm trying to keep them in the dark as much as possible for June. And of course everything changes if Singh is fit come the Playoff. So in a way no harm he is missing at the moment, because way AWs setup with Sarpreet hopefully come June, will be different again

coochiee

Main thing is I hope Hay keeps mixing it up, because the CONCACAF opponent whoever it is, will be using these games as their main video analysis. Plus maybe a chat to the Curaçao coaches, and watching a video of that game

No harm trying to keep them in the dark as much as possible for June. And of course everything changes if Singh is fit come the Playoff. So in a way no harm he is missing at the moment, because way AWs setup with Sarpreet hopefully come June, will be different again

On the other side of the coin we barely have any time together and getting some sort of a settled lineup will be important.

coochiee

Main thing is I hope Hay keeps mixing it up, because the CONCACAF opponent whoever it is, will be using these games as their main video analysis. Plus maybe a chat to the Curaçao coaches, and watching a video of that game

No harm trying to keep them in the dark as much as possible for June. And of course everything changes if Singh is fit come the Playoff. So in a way no harm he is missing at the moment, because way AWs setup with Sarpreet hopefully come June, will be different again

How good is it to see the young guns in our squad doing well too. Not up against the strongest opposition in these WCQ's mind you, but you feel there are some very good and productive years ahead for the AW's.

How good is Alex Greive? Going to be some player and will continue to grow in the professional environment as he progresses playing over in Scotland. He was quality, and a nightmare for New Caledonia in that first half.

Good to see a barrage from us too. Feels like everything is clicking in to place nicely as this tournament progresses.

Next up, an underdone Tahiti.