Southern Football (incl Southern United)

Otago United have a match against youth team this weekend...with Tristan signed team looks solid now. Conte that is a quality line up but why would you play 3 at the back? think about playing 3 at the back against Auckland City...hiding

 Well 3 at the back is actually 5 at the back on defence anyway? Formation probably doesn't matter too much, Murray just needs to make sure he gets his best 11 players on the park somehow?

XFactor your a muppet who knows nothing

 Bit harsh Jazz, just expressing my thoughts not having a crack at you, won't matter anyway cos Otago will be 4 at back for sure.
I reckon,
                      Little
Connor, Joy, Prattley, Ferguson
Stephens, Mepham, Da Costa, Coldicott
            Burgess, Hancock

Bench: Ridden, Horner, Day, Morrison, Evans

The word I'm hearing on Burgess is he won't travel for family reasons but will start home games and play for 60-65min.  And the word on Horner is he won't feature unless the squad has injuries/suspensions because he is pretty short on game time.  Xfactor's lineup might be close though, but perhaps with Cunningham and Fitz on the bench for the first game not Horner and Morrison since I'm told they really want to give the younger guys game time, especially against weaker teams like YHM.

The Green Island brothers Scotty Gannon and D-Mac will be battling for the last two remaining spots left won't they???

No... Donnie is not very good. Quite poor really. Some might say he wasn't starting material at GI.

No idea on Scotty, it may be money? On the field I thought he would have been in the team, Mr Murray could have a concern about his physical presence and mobility. 

Thought i would comment on this topic now as i actually spoke with Scotty over the weekend. He hasn't signed yet as he feels he's not fit enough and wants to make sure he is fully recovered from his broken ankle. The kids clearly been in some good setups and just want to be professional about the situation and not put himself first before the team. Hope it does sign, from what i saw with a couple of games for GI he can play, great passer of the ball and his vision is amazing, this can only be a bonus for our speedy players outside. 

Credit to Scotty i thought he seemed arrogant, but after chatting to him he seems like a decent bloke! 

Donnie however has run out of chances in this City.. Good luck to him tho!

 Not really any better than what's already available in midfield and would rather see them develop local guys for the future..............Morgy Day, Sammy Mepham etc. These guys are also better defensively and in the air.

Sheesh Conte - kick a poor Aussie when he's down why don't ya?  But, regardless of who footballfannz is, he makes an interesting point that Gannon 'hasn't signed yet as he feels he's not fit enough etc' - so he was asked to sign and said no????

Conte: We will have to agree to disagree, Scotty's vision and pass execution would add considerably to the team performance. I like the way Sam plays but Scotty going forward adds more.

That's right Conte stick it to him.  Now I have some info on Gannon right out of the horse's mouth.  In other words a Roslyn mate who is pals with Malc.  Seems Gannon is in Dunners cos he has a local woman.  He is still pursuing the Footy dream though, and I'm told if he works hard he has the talent to play A-league for Dunedin Phoenix one day.  So let's be nice to the young Aussie.  You never know he may also breed and have wee ones that turn out for Otago one day.  We could even get another Mike Cunningham yet.

And by the way...post now if you are not a player - they have training right now!  So I'm not a player; didn't get picked when Otago Utd came into being, but I was too old by then anyway.  Sigh...would have been nice to have played National League.  To the young guys today-  enjoy every minute.

D Mac just needs more game time, his problem is that he's too injury prone. Have heard that both he and Scotty moving to Caversham next season.

Good to see Tristan has signed for us, that is a boost for Rich and Andy

For me it's a big problem when the Otago coach is also a local club coach.  Nothing against RM cos I think he's a decent bloke, but where does it leave other clubs when good players have the National League coach as their best buddy?

 Richie is standing down as cavy coach,Horner/Duncan as new coaches (rumour). Steve Brook has stood down from Northern and all the rest is the same.

My stating line up for first game is

Little

Ferg/Joy/Trist/Tommy

Stevens/Da Costa/Sammy/Regan

Ants/Aaron

Bench Jude/Day/Ryder/Goven/Evans

Predicted first lineup:

Little

Connor, Joy, Prattley, Ferg

Stevens, Day, Mepham, Da Costa

Hancock, Burgess

Bench: Evans, Fitzpatrick, Coldicott, Ridden, Govan.

Think Fitzpatrick and Ridden will get a lot of gametime this season, as Murray seems to rate them very highly. 15 or 16 pretty handy players really. Strengthened a lot by retaining Prattley and reacquiring Burgess. 

We are on the same page frazz; that's just what I've heard about lineup and bench.

Gannon is superb at hitting long balls. If you're going to have an attacking minded midfield, which is personally what i think Otago need, then you'd have to have either Stevens, Da Costa, or Gannon in central mid. Aajay's attributes, i think, are his composure and ability to distribute back and wide. Sam mepham is a powerhouse in mid, being aggressive and an incredibly useful all rounder. With Aaron and Ant up top, and presumably Stevens in the attack too, you want/need balls going forward regularly, and hence have to have people who are capable of doing so. Not saying these latter players do not, just that on average the former spend more time making decisions about the ball going forward. Additionally, with both Ant and Burg being good target men, you want to have pacey midfielders running off them, which is where i would see Stevens or Da Costa as excellent options!

NatPevin did bring up a very good point about a club coach also being the United Coach. Whatever way you look at it and no matter who the coach is they are always gonig to be influenced by the guys that they have been coaching all year and understand how they operate.

I reckon that the whole united set up could be a lot different. Training and trials only started a couple of weeks ago and it is only a couple of weeks until their first against Manawatu. 

If they had a coach with no direct affiliation to a club then they could have been and should have been training for months. Even if it was only on a Wednesday night in between club trainings.

I hate to do it, but i would like to compare this to the Otago rugby set up this year. I know they get compared too much, but in a year of financial strife and off field dramas they relised their team had to work harder than every other team. From January those guys were doing 4 mornings a week in the gym as well as Monday and Wednesday nights field based trainings. Then all the way through the club season they also had their Tuesday and Thursday night club trainings and game on Saturday. Now they had absolutley no money and the majority of those involved were not getting paid a penny until they got selected, thats if they did get selected.

I really do not understand why in a region that does not have the same talent as else where in the country they are not starting up earlier and having a training squad operating. It costs absolutley nothing to get a group of guys down to Logan Park to train a couple of extra times a week.

Get Up United!

There is no coach in dunedin willing to put there time into coaching during the winter league even if it is n a wednesday. its sad but theres not

Good point that Jazz there is nothing stopping the OU set up doing extra training during the winter season. I would like to see more gym work done with each player given specific weights programme, it's only going to help us get more competitive.

Can't wait for the fist game this is where you want to play your strongest team and take the points, will be there for sure!!!!!!!

Not sure of the point, Football is an amateur sport, people have jobs, study or schooling. There is also a benefit to having a rest. 

OU is run on a volunteer basis.

hey guys,, just an outsider's POV on Richard Murray holding two posts

there are obviously really strong local rivalries down there, but it has always appeared to me that there is a strong sense of community in your football compared to most cities around new zealand, which i think decreases the impression of bias towards one's own players at the expense of other good prospects

also, any good coach would relish the opportunity to pick players from a wider group in order to build a better team. remember that RM will also be aware of the weaknesses of his club players.

i have no idea if RM is a full time coach or not, but perhaps in order for coaches like him to commit fully to the sport it is not realistic for them to hold just the one position.  Especially when Otago only get 14-16 games. 

I know that Stu Jacobs at Youngheart has to supplement his coaching time with his coaching academy, as does Chris Zoricich at Central, Declan Edge at Waikato and also the obvious example if Mr Herbert at the Phoenix. Without the ability to do so, they may be lost to the game.

We sometimes have to be flexible in order to keep good coaches in the sport and if RM needs these two jobs to keep him in the game, and he is the best coach available for Otago United, then so be it.

Hey Reg.  I raised a bit of a concern about it because of an earlier thread, which mentioned Scott Gannon possibly transferring to Cavy next year.  Would he be transferring if Murray wasn't the Otago coach?  Murray picked up four decent players at the start of the last winter season: Liam Little, Craig Ferguson, Jude Fitzpatrick and Andrew Ridden.  Little had decent NL experience, Ferguson had got good game time with Otago in 2011/12, and Fitzpatrick and Ridden were just 20 yrs or so and embarking on their NL careers - they both had very good winter seasons and were key (along with Little and Ferguson) in Cavy winning the league.  Would any of those players ahve gone to Cavy if RM wasn't the Otago coach?  That's all I'm saying.  All credit to RM for putting himself out there and probably getting diddley squat in return, but his club team is certainly benefiting.  Perhaps I just sound like a sour old Roslyn supporter that's tired of Cavy winning the league again.

Easy to criticise Murray because of the possible Caversham bias. However: 

1. He will pick the best Otago team because if he does not it will reflect badly on the team and himself. 

2. Yes he gets to see players like Ridden, Fitz and Ferg playing every week, however he also sees them struggle against top opposition (eg. Lower Hutt loss in the Chatham cup). He knows their strengths but also more importantly their weaknesses at a higher level. 

3. If a player is good enough they will play for Otago. 

4. Is hard to argue against the inclusion of all the Caversham players in the side. They won the league (were unbeaten). Reached the semi's of the Chatham cup also. They clearly have a top squad and all of their players in the Otago side deserve to be there.

pat, you're right about the possibility of player poaching, this would not be good and i'm not sure what measures could be put in place to ensure this conflict is negated

incidentally, i also have a problem with coaches using their position to satisfy pet projects, like the whole steven old / ricki herbert thing from a few years back, but i guess coaches do this at their own peril

Agreed, he isn't any better in a lot of ways, but would add something in the attacking third. If he signs its then up to RM to decide. From all accounts he wasnt a bad player, hopefully OU get the best out of him.

Bring on the 4th!! 

Liam was playing for Cavvy before he left so i dont think you're right on that one Nat.Also there are many players over the last 8-9 years that have gone to Cavvy not because Steve Fleming was the national league coach but because they wanted to play for him and the best team in the South Island and challenge for the Spl and the Chatham Cup.

Rylie Webster,Wheeler,Deeley,Henderson,Wild,Duncan,Overton,Chang,Okane,Cam Howilson,Ryder,Tommy Jackson,Rodeka all went to the club at either 18 or before with no guarantee or any national league but went on to do so.So i think you might just be a sour old Roslyn supporter

But that's exactly my point dud - the draw of the legendary Steve Fleming is something we all well understand.  The draw of Murray at Cavy is not easy for me to understand in relation to someone like Scott Gannon.  And if Malc was still Otago coach what's the bet Gannon wouldn't be going anywhere?  And that's no slight on Murray by the way - not many coaches can have such a good CV early in their career.  And it's no slight on Cavy either - it's a great club and I've never said otherwise.

Ok got you.I havent seen Tim horner play in a long time but surely a 85% Horner just for his class and experience would get a start?Good to see Burgess having a run as well

just on the whole season preparation thing, waitak have been training 5 nights a week for about 2 months now, plus games.  auckland probably something similar.  the other teams really do have to raise the bar if they want to compete, especially with comparatively little player and financial resources.

Re conflict issue I know Keith Braithwhaite was taken OUT of Woolston Technical by Canterbury United last year to address this issue in part; also to be able to scout other games during the winter season. However Danny Halligan is doing the Reserves at Technical AND the Canterbury Youth team this year - so go figure! And yes, the question of perceived bias still remains. Danny has just picked 11 Tech players in his Youth squad and there is a perception that "playing for Tech will help" Canterbury selection.

another reason Gannon isn't there, they've signed Zidane instead http://alicenow.com.au/news/article/kris-cross 

So quiet.  Do the boys have a game this weekend?  Surely, something is going on.

Boys won 6-0 against the youth today

6-0?  I don't know whether that's good or not.  To not concede is good.  But 6 doesn't seem enough against kids.

Poor display of football from what ive heard

Heard they were average on attack at times, defensively no troubles