Southern Football (incl Southern United)

haha, what does the poor lad have to do

where's Mike Still these days? 

 What the bloody hell was Matt Joy doing in invercargill today! My mate saw him down there, is he not playing this weekend???

Haha nice post...he was getting some oysters to make his gonads strong for the first game...he will be there or thereabouts don't fret.

When is the team named

Manawatu will be way too classy for otago I'm predicting at least 4 or 5. Cheers

My ideal otago united starting 11 

Glen tocher (gk)

Greg cook, Marty mcorkindale, Andy smart, Shea Evans 

Regan freeman, David bainbridge, Andy brooks, kit Collinz 

Donnie magregor, newton rewi

.... Thoughts???? Swaps or changes ????

need some jesse wright in there

Straight swap for bainbridge?

 http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/football/232905/football-da-costa-keen-guide-otago

Wonder who he played for in France.

Ah that explains his quality.  Great addition.

Go Otago fly the flag for the Mainland in the opening round 

Just got in and saw we lost 3-0.  So the flag's well and truly at half mast.  What happended - or what didn't happen?  Didn't expect us to be hammered by Manawatu.

manawatu are very well coached and have been preparing intensely and professionally for some time.  this has obviously had a big impact as well as the return of cowan.

even more worryingly for otago was that they did this to you without cooksley and kennedy

out of interest, was andy frampton any good?

There attack was well primed for the counter attack. All credit to them.

Very disappointing - No attack from United and leaked through 3 sloppy goals (should have been closed down)

Players that stood out to me for Otago were - Day, Joy, Burgess was ok, Little is class couldn't do much about those goals

Auckland City next...ouch

We were hit of the counter 3 times?  Counter attacking at pace is one of our strengths usually.  That's as much about bad midfield tracking as poor defence.  Need a defensive midfielder in there to sit in front of the back 4 maybe - Horner or Mepham would do it.  Day and da Costa, nice energy and attacking thrust, but perhaps not the best pairing.  And what was new boy Morrison like?  Ferguson was suspended I know, but is he a better option?  Clearly the defence wasn't right somehow.

haha, it was much more than three times. Every time they broke the audience was in the 'uh oh' mind set. If it is a strenght usually, it definitely wasn't today.

S**t really?  Just looked at the bench we had today.  Evans is a no brainer.  Ridden and Stevens are no brainers also (Academy).  But both Ryder and Mepham together is dumb IMO.  Need a lad like Govan on the bench - good at set piece time, has a strong physical presence.  Just a sensible option really.

I live in Palmy btw and know a couple of their lads.  Will ask their opinion and report back.

It does seem a little inappropriate to have 7/8 (if we include joel) midfielders in there without another defender or attacker.......

Just got off the phone to a couple of lads.  They think the score-line flattered them a bit but they still deserved to win.  They think their own Stu Jacobs is a genius and that he identified a bit of defensive frailty early on - they focussed on that and it worked.  I'm not going to mention names because I don't like to put our players down.  They reckon we were pretty under-prepared and need to lift our intensity quite a bit even to just not finish last - which is depressing.  They thought Little was the one quality player and overall that our players were 'unfit and lazy off the ball'.  They couldn't understand why Stevens didn't start - the thought he was really good when he came on.  It all sounded a bit terrible to be honest.

Only caught the 2nd half, very average team against a well organised side.

Third goal was directly due to the left back floundering and not tracking the free man. Who is the Mumford and Son winger for Otago?

 Ridiculous not to have Joel starting! causes absolute chaos!!!!!!!!!! And why did we not change things up after they were clearly very dangerous on the break.

I'm back bitches!!!!

Like a vulture circling the weekend corpses I guess.

Not surprised with the result considering the lack of pre-season built-up games for Otago (the same up here in Christchurch for The Dragons) but was surprised that YHM were paying $4.50 for the win, the TAB seem to give good odds in the early stage of the season, I also felt Auckland at $1.90 for the win against Canterbury was generous odds as well. 

$1.01 for the Auckland win this weekend then?

Managed to get away from work and down to the game on Sunday arvo. Otago looked really good for the first 15 minutes and were definitely unlucky not to take the lead and had some poor calls against them in the opening stages (thought that bearded lad on the wing was taken down when through on goal and Burgess was onside for the disallowed goal). The referee was terrible the whole game in both directions and his AR's were just as bad. All 3 goals conceded on the break which will be a hard pill to swallow. Manawatu to their credit were well drilled, and knew the jobs they were to carry out. Hoping to get down to the game this weekend if I'm back in town. The boys just need to keep their heads up or Auckland will take the points very easily.

Welcome to the forum Why Always Me - and true to your name, it's a nice Why Always Me post.  Poor us.  Soooo unlucky it seems. Bloody useless refs and all.  But really, the boys need to find their testicles this weekend - show some southern pride.  We are gonna lose, but at least we can go down fighting.  That Scot will make a difference I think.

Yeah the result is most likely beyond doubt but the testicles you mention are most definitely needed. There was a lack of fight in the side in the second half and it looked as if they just gave up any hope of grabbing a result. I would say there will be a number of changes. Stevens looked lively when he came off the bench and Ferguson back should add a bit more stability at the back. Not sure if 2 forwards is the way to go this week as they were overloaded in the middle at times and could have done with an extra body in there.

Not trying to be Mr Positive here, but i don't believe that for one second such certainty should be professed. I recognise you are trying to be realistic in your sentiment, but a loss is far from garaunteed. Every bit in me believes we can get a win.

Good job Mr Yellow Beaver - sorry bout that; forgot myself for a mo.  Yeah, me too I'm with you - I truly think we can win too.  That's what it is to be a Dunedin boy I guess.  Get out there and belt the Jaffas lads.

I mean beat the Spanish gits....

Yeah it was a weird game, it felt as if Manawatu were going to score every time they attacked the otago goal. I don't think i have ever seen Prattley play so badly but he looks out of place at centre back?? Makes no sense to have one of the best left backs in NZ in the middle. Cunningham was out of his depth, no pace at all shouldnt get anywhere near the field. Coldicott too lazy didnt defend at all. Its amazing how much of the formation or lack there of from the top of that stand, you can see all the gaps appearing. I thought hancock looked unfit and out of shape, I expected that from Burgess but he looked pretty good. In fact either Burgess and Liam Little were easily the best for Otago. Burgess held the ball well and brought others into the game and Little saved it from being 5 or 6.
I guess it can only get better from here. At least i didnt pay to get in, just snuck through the markets lol

*American lad, *Cunningham, Coldicott & Hancock should all be dropped although Coldicott will probably survive due to not having many wide players but he was the worst player on the park by a long long way.

The Yank should've started at centre back & Prattley at LB, no point playing a right footed left back when Prattley is solid there, Cunningham also didn't play in natural position, could've started in a 3 in the middle, i thought he did alright there last year but not a wide player & Otago could've exposed their right back cause he was awful!

Burgess played 90mins which was a top effort considering he just joined the squad, Hancock looked like he hadn't trained for a few months, might be better swapping these two instead of starting both?

little

Connor, Joy, Prattley, Ferguson

Stevens, Day, Da Costa, *not sure, Coldicott

Burgess

I don't think you are ever that far off Conte.  Stick Sam Mepham in the middle for a bit of biff I reckon.  And Ryder on the wing not Regan.  I like Regan, but he is lazy and the guys have to be a lot fitter at this level - use him for impact.  And get Govan and Jude on the bench at least - they won't take any shit from anyone.

Wee clip coach Murray pre-season interview - minus the hoodie this year.

Channel 9 interview