"...the brutalist 3-4-3 was a particular response to the strengths of the available players and a concentration of talent amongst central defenders and physical strikers..."
We still have that problem, as has been demonstrated in all of the recent AWs selections. We have a small number of competent defenders, and strikers, and no midfield.
Your contention that the 3-4-3 is "not replicable" doesn't really stack up. Ricki's successor will be faced with the same issue Ricki is now.
And in this is an insight into exactly the dilemma Ricki faces: "This is not a job for idealists or ideologues looking to impose a pre-conceived tactical framework, dreams of "combination play" and midfield rotation must be subservient to an element of pragmatism."
So on the one hand I think you've clearly stated the problem faced by the AWs manager. But in the next breath you've said we need something more (it's not clear what). You talk of how we "must dominate" the Islands, the "humiliation" in Dunedin and the "Honiara debacle".
I get the impression that you expect us to be the Bayern Munich of the South Pacific despite the limitations you've identified earlier.
We must "overcome the tyranny of low expectations" and in the next "we know our place in the football world".
I am confused.
On one point I think you are completely aligned with the views of NZF though. The coach of the AWs should take the Olympic team.
My roughy? Ricki won't retire when we fail to qualify. If the Board of NZF is still the same, it will put his vast experience to use coaching the Olympic team for Rio while his disciple Neil Emblem takes on the AWs rebuild.