The WaiBOP United Thread

Neil, your team got humped again and every man and their dog can look at the team sheet and the substitution patterns to see whats going on. Why can't you?

Waikato, what a rubbish game plan they have.
It's not about keep ball if when you get to half way you look to go back ALL the time.
Edge can wax on all he likes about making better passing players but that display will turn spectators away.

It took 41 minutes for the first attack/shot by Waikato and only two others in the 2nd half, one being a well struck free kick on about 90 mins.
Every time Canterbury wanted to press and win the ball back around the half way in the first half they did win it and created clear chances that should have been finished off.
A nice win by the Dragons all the same, but we should have gone after the throat a lot more and pushed Waikato back into their own 20 metre area.
Once we had got 3 goals, there was plenty of times when the Waikato full backs had the ball turning back towards the GK thats the times when we should have gone Man to Man and forced the mistakes around the pen.
Still happy to see us end up on top of the table with clean sheet, GD could come into the final 2 places with so few games.

No one down here will be surprised if Waitakere put 10 or more past Waikato on the 27th.

anonymity is a forum right, but i do respect those who don't post under a cloak because it's too easy to slag off when no one knows who you are.

just a tip, if you click on the forum nicknames, you can view who the actual person is if they have chosen to make their name public.

good on you for posting on here neil.

Declan Edge and his staff have to go. If Waikato are serious about their football they have got to act quickly, not enough rounds in this competition to 'wait n see'. 

Its all very well have footballing philosphies, but when you essentially have a youth team playing against seasoned players, its not going to work.

 Alright Canty player coming in peace here. Firstly I have to say that possession wise you guys are topclass some of the interplay between the midfiled and strikers was really good but sooner or later you guys have to take a chance and try and get into the final third. I can't comment to much on the team selection  as I'm not to familiar with your players. I will say that I was surprised about the substitution of Hicks as he was the only player who looked like he was trying to get at us (infact at that stage he was the only Waikato player who had had a crack at goal). Initially we tried high pressure to try and get the ball but as it became obvious that the ball was always going to go backwards we were happy to let you have it, apply light pressure and pounce when you guys made a bad touch or pass. When you guys lost the ball you all charged out making it difficult to play any keepball ourselves but also made the ball over the top a simple option and with a linesman older than the 12 year old we had I think the score could have been higher. I understand Waikato has a long term plan that goes beyond this season and indeed beyond this standard of football, one which I fully respect as I would love to see more kiwis playing in leagues around the world but losing can become a nasty habit and not something we want to be teaching our young kids that its ok as long as you got 53 touches on the ball. Anyway I don't think this game was a real indication of how our season is going to go as we were rarely tested in our final third. Scoring in the first minute of two games means we've been able to settle early. Ironically after we scored you had long periods of possession and moved us around quite well untill we realised that we didn't have to apply high pressure and just wait. Just like against Auckland you had a shout for a peno and whilst I didn't think it was I have seen them given. Had that been given then it could have been 1-1. Anyway despite the league table its not all doom and gloom but as the old adage goes if you don't shoot you don't score. See you in January.

Spot on Joe, it was the great Wayne Gretzky who said he missed every shot he never took.
I thought Waikato played good footy for periods in the first half but the "plan" as such seemed to fall apart once the first 3 or 4 passes had been made and they got no go forward, as you say it made it easy to defend against. It looked more like training drills gone mad from Waikato to me with no idea how to deal with the smother defence of the Dragons.
It will be interesting to see now that Waikato have appointed a coaching team that so obviously is going down the path of development whether they can stomach the results that can come with it. I know that when the Dragons tried the same thing a few years ago with Korouch Monsef the board soon turned turtle once the results became embarrassing. There is also a catch 22 situation that arises in situations like this where the results can undo any technical development that occurs as the pressure of playing in a stressed environment takes its toll on young players. What Waikato needed yesterday was leadership on and off the park, I'm not sure if you can get that from a team with a captain who is only 20 years of age at this level. It also surprised me that after 1/2 time nothing changed in the game plan, it was almost as if they played like the scoreline was irrelevant. Then they took one of their better performing players off as the first substitution. Bizarre stuff. Could easily have been 8 - 0. I understand and support what Waikato tried to do, not sure they have the balance of players right in the team. Still, they contributed to an entertaining game.

Thank you, Canterbury people, for posting your impressions of the game (without resorting to name-calling,  invective, or personal insults). Some of your points are well made.

I was keen on not jumping to conclusions after the loss to Auckland, but after this one I'm getting a bit concerned. No good having 85% possession if opponents can score 5 with 15%. However, lets see how we go in the next 2 games, if no points after 4 games then it'll be a big worry

Car crash eeerrrrr train wreck

Not again! I feel sorry for the boys. I heard that they train very hard, 5 days a week. If their coach keep exposing them like this, it will destroy their confidence and desire to play football. Surely, he need to re-assess what he achieved so far, and definitively balance this team by adding a few older players who can calm down youngsters and provide necessary bust of confidence.

In addition, it looks like that this competition is to strong for some of the youngsters, who would be much better off playing youth league...

The experiment is teetering on disaster

Great way to engage the New Zealand footballing public... yank a team out of a major population centre and stick it in Auckland which is hardly a poster-boy for community engagement itself.

To be fair, Waikato have had a long time to make a go of it and always seem to be in turmoil of some variety.

and Chris Wood

Did Wood ever play for Waikato FC?

According to Wiki he did. 5 games no goals Stefan2011-11-14 13:34:53

Utting got chipped from 60 yards once for Waikato. Would of been first or second season. Remember seeing it on the old highlights show.

Waikato are a waste of space, can't wait until you come to auckland, guaranteed 3 points. Cheers Declan. Surely the board must step in, Declan is making Waikato FC the laughing stock of NZ football. The guy must be on drugs if he thinks Waikato are going to play like Barcelona. How was this team picked? Did no senior players put their hand up when they found out who the coach was? or did they not get the chance because they don't wear nappies? The problem is too many people in Hamilton have their own agenda instead of looking at the big picture. Aye Declan, can't wait to see the excuses "we have a young team".

Why do I keep thinking of Brisbane when ange took over when I read this thread?

Ange a little different to Declan.

Every year we hear a different excuse come out of Waikato for their poor showing etc. They've had long enough. Waste of time. Another Auckland team would result in better players, better support and better standard for the league. If any one in the Waikato region is good enough then they can drive up the Bombays similar to what Arron Scott does for Waitak. Waikato have to go. 

hey guys, no one should be surprised, this is what you get when you establish an invitation only franchise league at the expense of promotion relegation, eventually the standard just gets watered down because of the lack of fear of relegation (for better or for worse)

This. Has the league really improved the std of amatuer football in the country? Bring back the old national league , the current set up/format is rubbish.

Yay 10 Auckland teams. Nzfc > old 'national' league.

Bollocks

I'm not saying the nzfc is perfect. But surely in principle a national league that actually includes the whole country,and the best players (theoretically) from each region has a better chance at catching talent than the old club based league.

It has more potential anyway. If the knitting circle want the competitionto eventually get the national headlines as much asthey claim they do,they'd agree. But the grumblings I've heard are for another Auckland team. Funny that.

Considering how many Auckland players currently play for other franchises, how many of them can't be bothered to relocate/travel, and the quality of some of the franchises, the addition of the Auckland third team and the Phoenix A may be the answer to stop City and Waitakere dominating the league and make league more interesting.

Doesn't the license for each franchise come up for renewal at the end of the current league? I will be surprised if all the current teams re-apply. Every year teams are struggling financially and it seems to be getting worse. Maybe time to scrap the league. Although I'm not sure what alternative there is as any league that has ever been started seems to end in tears.

one recent edition of the old national league had 2 dunedin sides, cavvy and tech.

you couldn't even say that auckland dominated the old league.  they certainly have dominated this one.

Auckland always dominated the old league in team numbers which diluted the player quality

i wouldn't say they 'dominated'.  they were well represented, but possibly not even in accordance with the balance of population.  mt wellington, north shore, etc were always there or there abouts, but they could expect a good game from any other team in the league.

regional teams held their own and had the odd gun side, napier city rovers, gisborne city, etc, miramar were always up there, wellington united won with the first all kiwi team and christchurch united were a force.

Ok have a pop at Auckland City for being spanish...however why dont you call Waitakere Pommy United? Auckland City on the weekend had 3 Spanish players on the field. I know of atleast 3 Englishman on the pitch for Waitak and there couldve been more. So you want to declare we have no Kiwi auckland team?

Waitakere fans don't come on here whining about how the Phoenix are allegedly destroying football.

Waitakere fans dont sing Anti Phoenix chants at Waitak v. Welly games either.

why is this spanish thing such a problem for some people? too many teams have been laced with poms and scottys at the expense of kiwis in the past as a result of the incredibly stupid 6-month naturalisation rule that nzf have and there was little noise about that

i'm sure if phoenix fans had a chip on their shoulders about waitak, they'd do the same

i'm just happy to hear that there are asb premiership fans chanting

rivalry is what our sport thrives on, no matter how petty you may think it is