I did most of my anti-jinx stuff- I haven’t had any Forest players in my fantasy league during this run.
I guess I fell asleep and didn’t watch? Seen a lot of live Forest goals recently!
The highlights seemed to show their defensive shape failing and too many players up field not getting back and covering? The highlights were very limited. Might have to try to follow a MbM.
Howe out coached Nuno? Nuno got too ambitious chasing the game as Coochie seems to be alluding to above?
Was a bit worried after how much media Woodsy had done of late and the awards on top of that for coach and player. Stay under the radar as long as possible…
All I’ve made out from reports is Yates put in some bad fouls, which probably means they were already up against it, and that Gibbs-White didn’t play that well. Gibbs-White was a bit off the pace last game coming back from injury.
Sounds like Newcastle defended stoutly and then unleashed their counter attackers who player for player are better than Forest, especially if Forest are having an off day. On their day, as they’ve shown they fear no one.
Tonali and Bruno is a strong midfield, with Isak, Barnes, Gordon and Joelinton also very talented players.
When I started this thread many many moons ago I knew he was something special (although not as special as he's turned out). As an AW tragic, I've wanted him for years to topple three records that were set when we often played clubs and scratch teams instead of full internationals. They were:
1. All time goal scorer 2. Most A International Appearances 3. Most Caps full stop.
Ivan should have achieved points 2 & 3 but a couple of years in retirement before coming back for the WC put paid to that.
Wood has completed point 1 and will soon achieve the most A Caps (point 2) but will he become our most capped international? I say this as I have a feeling he'll retire after the WC leaving him somewhere in the mid 90s.
Thoughts?
Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites
Well he has said he wants to play football as long as he can.
It looks like he has a further two year deal with forest in hand, so that takes him until he is 35. He has also said he wants to spend some time in NZ at some point so there is Auckland FC. So let’s say that’s for two years and a light schedule relative to England. His child will be two/three so not a bad time to kick around NZ.
I think he’s the type of guy who wants to give back to NZ, so I actually think that he will go to the World Cup after next!!
Yipe he’s said he going to try for the 2030 WC. Loves playing football, loves scoring goals, and his game ain’t built on speed unlike say a Kosta so why not. And you can see now he does take very good care of his body, the baby fat days well over
Wood's hatty against Samoa was the 18th national team he has scored against, spanning sides from four different confeds:
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Jordan, Oman, Japan, China, Malaysia, DR Congo, Gambia, Mexico, Curacao, Honduras, Jamaica.
Would love him to finish his career having banged one in against a UEFA and CONMEBOL team and complete the set. I guess if anyone is gonna score for us at the big dance, it'll be him.
Wood is also now only nine international goals from joining the 50 club which will put him level with Cahill, Van Persie, and Okazaki, as well as a few more well-known names from AFC.
It's an awesome feeling to know Woodsy has a chance to draw with or even overtake Cahill, as well as break Viduka's PL goal-scoring record, before the end of his career. Would add two more achievements to his already long and growing list of milestones and accolades.
Wood is also now only nine international goals from joining the 50 club which will put him level with Cahill, Van Persie, and Okazaki, as well as a few more well-known names from AFC.
It's an awesome feeling to know Woodsy has a chance to draw with or even overtake Cahill, as well as break Viduka's PL goal-scoring record, before the end of his career. Would add two more achievements to his already long and growing list of milestones and accolades.
Anything to have a better record than the Aussies!!
Wood is also now only nine international goals from joining the 50 club which will put him level with Cahill, Van Persie, and Okazaki, as well as a few more well-known names from AFC.
It's an awesome feeling to know Woodsy has a chance to draw with or even overtake Cahill, as well as break Viduka's PL goal-scoring record, before the end of his career. Would add two more achievements to his already long and growing list of milestones and accolades.
That international haul does include 26 goals against the fishermen & project managers of OFC. I wouldn't get too excited about him going past Van Persie.
He won't say it publicly, but I can see him getting the most satisfaction out of getting 100 EPL goals (if it happens) plus going past the likes of Viduka.
Wood is also now only nine international goals from joining the 50 club which will put him level with Cahill, Van Persie, and Okazaki, as well as a few more well-known names from AFC.
It's an awesome feeling to know Woodsy has a chance to draw with or even overtake Cahill, as well as break Viduka's PL goal-scoring record, before the end of his career. Would add two more achievements to his already long and growing list of milestones and accolades.
That international haul does include 26 goals against the fishermen & project managers of OFC. I wouldn't get too excited about him going past Van Persie.
He won't say it publicly, but I can see him getting the most satisfaction out of getting 100 EPL goals (if it happens) plus going past the likes of Viduka.
Fair enough. My post was primarily focusing on feeling excited about Wood having the chance to break two big Oceania milestones which are obviously currently held by two Aussies, Cahill and Viduka, regardless of the fact that the majority of Wood’s international goals have come against OFC opposition.
I also decided that if I’m going to mention that Cahill has 50 goals, I should also mention the other big names like Van Persie who are in that club with him.
Wood is also now only nine international goals from joining the 50 club which will put him level with Cahill, Van Persie, and Okazaki, as well as a few more well-known names from AFC.
It's an awesome feeling to know Woodsy has a chance to draw with or even overtake Cahill, as well as break Viduka's PL goal-scoring record, before the end of his career. Would add two more achievements to his already long and growing list of milestones and accolades.
And he’s 17 international goals away from cracking the top 50 male international goalscorers of all time (58’s the mark) - light work for him, I reckon!
Aside from goals against Mexico and Japan, most have been against middling teams at best. He really needs some against top Euro and SA sides. So annoying his goal in Doha was scrubbed off in a highly suspect fashion. That would have been the biggest goal of his career so far.
He also needs one against the auld enemy. Just had a look at Cahill’s list, 33 of his were against average sides too.
In relation to discussions above, I decided to create a comparison to see how Wood compares to Smeltz, Killen, Coveny, Rufer, and McClennan, the five other highest scoring Kiwi international strikers, when it comes to scoring against non-OFC opposition.
You’ll notice that I’ve done this in order from most recent to earliest in terms of when the player started and finished (Wood obviously not finished) featuring for the AWs, except for McClennan and Rufer, just because they both scored 12 goals.
Wood – 41 total international goals
CONCACAF: Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Curacao x2
CAF: The Gambia, DR Congo
AFC: China in 2012 and 2014, Japan in 2014 and 2017 x3, Oman, Jordan, Malaysia
11 non-OFC nations, 12 if his Costa Rica goal stood.
Smeltz – 24 total international goals
UEFA: Wales x2, Italy in 2009 and WC, Serbia – WC build-up match
CONMEBOL: Chile
CONCACAF: Honduras
CAF: Tanzania
AFC: Jordan x2, Myanmar
Total: 8 non-OFC nations
Killen – 16 total international goals
UEFA: Georgia, Italy x2 in 2009
CONCACAF: Jamaica
AFC: S Arabia, Australia
Total: 5 non-OFC nations
Coveny – 29 total international goals
UEFA: Turkey, Georgia x2
CONCACAF: US,
AFC: S Korea, Singapore, Australia (still in OFC when he scored against them)
Total: 5 non-OFC nations
Rufer – 12 total international goals
UEFA: Hungary, Israel (In OFC when he scored against them)
AFC: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar
Total: 5 non-OFC nations
McClennan - 12 total international goals
AFC: Chinese Taipei both in 1988 x4 (In OFC when he scored against them), Singapore, Lebanon
Going by that list, our most successful striker at scoring against top sides was Smeltzy. I saw a number of those goals live and will not forget the feeling of being at the Wales, Italy and Serbia games.
He was lucky in that he had Elliott, Fallon, Killen, Nelsen and Vicelich around him.
Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites
I stand by my claim in another thread Smeltz was the kind of secret weapon you need and we had in international football- a player who plays up to the level of his opposition but otherwise flies under their radar.
It’s a pity he never really tested himself overseas but from the Wales game and his time in the A league he was mustard.
Those two games against Italy, the Serbia game and the Slovenia game are some of the best results we’ll see in a long time.
Wood can put it to bed definitively by longevity and results in 2026.
I think without Smeltz there is no 2009. At the point of that Wales game Rory, Smith, Reid and Wee Mac had yet to join us. Smeltz’s goals gave us credibility and results.
He was a clutch player at the heart of the Nix and the All Whites results of that era, as well as a prolific scorer of goals.
We’ve lost every competitive non-OFC game since, right?
Competitive games against non OFC nations since 2010 WC is a small sample though. Mexico 2013 x2, 2017 Confeds Cup x3, Peru 2017 x2 and Costa Rica 2022 x1.
Competitive games against non OFC nations since 2010 WC is a small sample though. Mexico 2013 x2, 2017 Confeds Cup x3, Peru 2017 x2 and Costa Rica 2022 x1.
Jaysus was I there for that?
Draw, but loss over two legs? Thomas did his best to create something at the end?
Small sample size, but the meaningful one, though all tougher than Bahrain, to be fair, outside maybe Costa Rica and disallowed goals.
Ah and do the 3 games at the Intercontinental Cup tourney in India in 2018, count as competitive games? I guess they do. There was a final to make. Results 2 wins & a loss.
Competitive games against non OFC nations since 2010 WC is a small sample though. Mexico 2013 x2, 2017 Confeds Cup x3, Peru 2017 x2 and Costa Rica 2022 x1.
Jaysus was I there for that?
Draw, but loss over two legs? Thomas did his best to create something at the end?
Small sample size, but the meaningful one, though all tougher than Bahrain, to be fair, outside maybe Costa Rica and disallowed goals.
37,000 plus yelled then groaned as Thomas put it wide with 5 mins to go. I fell into the row in front of me.
Ah and do the 3 games at the Intercontinental Cup tourney in India in 2018, count as competitive games? I guess they do. There was a final to make. Results 2 wins & a loss.
How anticipated were they? How upset was everyone at our loss and happy with our wins? There was one more little cup competition too. With one AFC nation and one European nation iirc?
So study the heck out of Forest and Burnley and figure how we get the ball to Woodsy, and chuck in Bindon and a couple of other potential goal scorers for when we miss him…
Though Forest has had plenty of ball to feet and rebounds too.
So study the heck out of Forest and Burnley and figure how we get the ball to Woodsy, and chuck in Bindon and a couple of other potential goal scorers for when we miss him…
Though Forest has had plenty of ball to feet and rebounds too.
In theory, while still accounting for the overall quality of our talent pool, the makeup of our strongest squads does kind of bear resemblance to how forest set up.
At Nottingham, Wood is surrounded by technical, agile, creative players - Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Elanga, Anderson, Jota, etc - all feeding him chances, and when that doesn't work they've got marauding fullbacks like Aina and Williams to whip in crosses for him.
The potential talent of the attacking midfield and creative players in the current crop of All Whites players is arguably our strongest area - Old, Garbett, Singh, Just, and obviously Libby as a threat from fullback.
The two recent games showed the vast gap in the quality of crosses Wood gets at the City Ground compared to at Mount Smart with our boys, but it's definitely something we could try to emulate going into the world cup, surely?
I think Old now looms as a key player going forward for the AWs, to create anywhere near the quality chances that Wood gets at Forest. That and Singh rediscovering his mojo.
I remember in late 2021, when the AWs reformed post Covid and were playing those friendlies in Qatar - Singh and Wood combining for a few nice goals. It's been a real shame they have hardly played together since.
Watching Singh in the Samoa game, he looks miles away from that form of late 2021. He also scored 5 goals for Jahn Regensburg in Liga 2 between July-Dec 2021. It was that form that saw Werder Bremen almost sign him in 2022, only for that ongoing pubis injury to scupper that.
But Singh can get back to that form. The underlying class is there, and it's not like he's coming back from a bad ACL or something. That pubis injury (Old recovered from the same), some bad club choices, and ongoing low confidence.
But until Old & Singh are both fit and firing, it might be a frustrating time for the Woodsman in a white shirt against the bigger teams. The crossing/corners in the Samoa game were awful standard. Maybe we can get Ishige nationalised 5 years from now. That man is pinpoint.
Lost a long post agreeing with most of the above. Seem to have lost it to the website funkiness.
Wood’s scored a variety of goals for Forest. I think trying to move the ball quickly, get in behind and square it is best. FBs go deep and fizz it across flat or cut back. Balls to feet for him to lay off or turn and shoot.
Still the occasional early cross, but not so many.
Old, Garbett, Singh, Just and maybe Waineo drifting in from a wider role. Any of those players have the skills. And most of them have a reasonable shot from the top of the box too. A deflected shot or a blocked/rebounded shot slotted home is all bread and butter for a quality 9.
I also liked Waineo’s square to him in the last game. A low percentage shot chance passed turned good goal.
Ah and do the 3 games at the Intercontinental Cup tourney in India in 2018, count as competitive games? I guess they do. There was a final to make. Results 2 wins & a loss.
NO. And I was there for that. That was no more then a kick about.
Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites