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.
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