AW v Slovakia Tue 15th 11:30p (SS2, TV1)

Not that i am aware of.

Good, for a while there I thought that you might have some Aussie blood in you.

Carry on then.

Whats the chance the Rickie picks Vicilich as a holding midfielder?.Especially after trialling him there against Chile. TBH even though he is not as quick as he was he still would be a better option than Christie. He's only 33 and has played holding midfielder before.....both for NZ and often in Dutch Div 1. Playing Christie there realy worries me.....he is not international quality. Vicilich is very experianced, he would not let the side down. Especially against Slovakia, who won't be as quick as Paraguay and Italy.

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Dunno where to put this.

FIFA World Cup Preview has a replay (I think) of the episode about Serbia and NZ at 8:30pm on SS3.

Don't rate Christie at all:I'd play Ivan in CM;he's pretty slow,but his experience would be vital.Don't think he'd be overawed by the occasion,whereas I can see Plodder running about aimlessly,passing to the opposition...

I think that the 3-4(3-1)-3 starting lineup is beginning to look like this for NZ:

___________Paston____________

__Reid_____Nelsen_____Smith__

Bertos______Elliot_____Lochhead

___________Brown_____________

Smeltz_____Fallon________Killen

It's a risky tactic because we can't keep their attacking full backs in check. But we might as well get numbers forward and try scoring. The incumbent Sigmond and Vicelich would lost out to the young and more mobile players in Reid and Smith. Although Lochhead may lose out if Ricki thinks that Smith can go where he is at LWB/LM and that Vicelich slot back at LCB. Vicelich could still go DCM where Elliot is. However if Slovakia is using a 4-4-2, we are in for a good chance, but if they change up then we haven't practiced the 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 (Diamond) and so would drop to a 3-3-1-3/4-3-2-1 to compensate.

A 5-3-1-1 means we are shutting down, would be very defensive with a special focus on the wings defence. And I fear that we would go back to this like we did at the confederation cup and we all know what happen then. However, i don't think that would happen after see the warm-ups.



Although personallyI would prefer to see this in action: 4-4-2 (Diamond) /4-2-3-1

______________Paston_______________

Reid____Nelsen______Sigmond____Smith

_________Vicelich_____________________
_______________________Elliot___________
______Bertos_________________________
_____________McGlinchey______________
-------------------(Brown)
_________________________Smeltz______
___________Fallon_____________________
----------------(Killen)

I think that we just need to control as much as the centre of the field as we can by concentrating it a bit more and let go the wide midfield to the opposition because we don't have the speed to back track as much. But to isolate them for deep long crosses because we just cramp them by making a standing line at the defensive third mark. Both Elliot and Vicelich have experience at DCM and would do well as the two holding midfielders and both Bertos and McGlinchey/Brown have experience from the middle of the field in advanced attacking midfield. I can understand having three strikers up front but it damages the needs of the midfield as it is our weakest block, that we could have. I rather utilize Sigmond's experience in the CB along side with Nelsen and leave Reid in his normal RB position that he has experienced in. In fact the only player that has to adapt is Bertos by tucking him into the middle more. Both Bertos and Smeltz can keep any attacking full backs honest enough so there is not much to be worry about the attack down the sides.

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This is my quest
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cronus2010-06-13 12:40:39

I hope Fallon's play compensates for his having an opinion on everything in SA....talk about keeping his profile high.  Vicelich in defensive mid could work like Manny does for Nix...

Seems like Tim wont be on the park, needs more time to be fully healed, and get fit to play. And reading in the papers, only position up for grabs is his.

Christie or Ivan,  Christie or Ivan,  Christie or Ivan,  Christie or Ivan......

Ivan the Godfather for me, more experience at the top level, and sub Little Mac on later in the game

i think having ivan on would be to defensive maybe, we need goals to win

And Christie is more likely to score/create goals? I hoped to see Vicelich tried at CM as soon as Brown got injured, so glad it looks possible. (Will it be the oldest, slowest midfield pairing ever seen at a WC?)

Vicelich as our defensive midfielder in the abscence of Tim Brown would be a smart move I think. He spent a career playing in that position in a league higher than most of our other midfielders. I dont see it as a defensive move at all, it means we dont tinker with our front three and Elliot is more than capable of being the creative midfielder. McGlinchey lacks the physical presence to be the holding midfielder and as yet doesnt show enough to take the creative job. Not sure what other options we have. Christie really didnt do enough to start and Mulligan hasnt had enough game time there in the lead up. Vicelich is the logical choice seeing how well Smith and Reid have done.

Having two guys over 33 play in central midfield may not be the best idea - there's a grave danger of us simply being steamrolled in the middle of the park as the game goes on. Plodder may not be a great player, but he'll run all day. That's a valuable thing to have in the middle of the park, and I'm not sure Ivan will be able to pull it off.

They run until they stop then we launch WeeMac and Plodder on them...

And how long is that going to take, 3 minutes?

48:30

that's probably how it'll play out until Timmo is available
but as an option it is a real test for the rosiness of my glasses

33 isnt that old, too much is put on the age factor, especially in this case, I would have Vicilch in there over Christie any day

Just because you're in your fifties.

SNAP

There is a difference between a 33-year old professional and a guy who currently plays in the NZFC.

Vicelich doesn't have the legs to play a holding midfield position at this kind of level. Especially when you consider that his midfield partner is even older, and can barely move by 70 minute mark.

Sorry i disagree, i think he does have the legs

Elliott seems to also have the legs... surely knowing hes playing in the last 3 games of his international career is adrenaline enough to run his legs off

Players who have played that long at a reasonable level like Elliot and Vicelich has, should have the fitness endurance to last well enough. The vital thing for our midfield is clean, tidy possession once we have the ball. Christie has given up too much balls in his passes and WeeMac is not as defensive in his play, which means that Vicelich should have the inside running as to what he can offer in a flat-lined midfield (something that Ricki seems to stick with).

Personally I am still not comfortable with Lochhead in a flat-lined midfield if we have Vicelich and Elliot who are also defensive in nature, leaving Bertos as the main attacking midfield outlet. Which makes me suspect that Ricki is altering his 3-4-3 formation that differs to what we have seen. I still think 4-2-3-1 is on the cards because we still have the players to pull it off. The question is whether we need to pull that out against this team. I somewhat think "not yet" maybe for the paraguay team which has the wingers to worry us greatly.

However we need to alter the formation for the Italy game since the Italians will definitely alter for our 3-4-3 and so our 3-4-3 is really old hat for that game.

Well it's all interesting until the kick off. One thing for sure is that it's going to a great few weeks or so.

Only 1 sleep to go!!! Draw is most likely result

Christie did pretty well against Serbia creating chances but didn't have the consistency and through ball nouse of Vicelich. One for the future may be sub him on. Elliot is now a 90 minute man. Solid. It's going to be tough but from what I saw of Slovakia, we will beat them.   

Mate, you can't be picking and choosing your games at this stage. By everyone's reckoning Slovakia are our best chance of getting a result and we need to do all we can to achieve that. When that has been put in the bank, we look to the next game. We aren't good enough to have the luxury of picking and choosing like you suggest.

Spot on. We need to treat every game like it is the game of our lives. Players, management, supporters, all of us.

I will be stoked if we get a draw.

Kinda nervous after the aussies thrashing. There's all this excitement around other games but I can't wait til tomorrow night!

Dirty tractor soup drinking Slovak swine...

yea me to... but we can do it.. have faith

HOW THE HELL HAS JEREMY CHRISTIE BECOME A BETTER CHOICE THAN MCGINCHEY??

and Vicelich for that matter. McGlinchy should start vs Slovakia

When we started playing 3 at the back and 3 up front. Thats when.

I wonder sometimes if we could play just the 2 up front and 1 attacking midfielder behind the front two, who could also connect with the 2 defensive midfielders (kinda like a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2) which would then give someone like McGlinchey more of a chance, and also get another man in the central midfield.

I agree and in my opinion suicide to put a player who has not been playing midfield on a regular basis over the last couple of years

I am not sure that Vicelich has the legs to hold the midfield.