Covs is right

Covs is right

At the moment he is the best foil for Smeltz up front.

I agree he was awesome at Newcastle but Kwasnik was good at CCM so...

Well, Covs has scored a grand total of 1 goal for the Nix. I admire his attitude and understand his frustration, but he's past his best and I'm not the least bit surprised that he was dropped from the squad.

And as for his comment for running himself into ground the previous game, I'm afraid that doesn't entitle you to expect to be in the squad every week. I mean I'd run myself into ground every week for the Nix if I had the opportunity, but doesn't mean that the team would be better because of it.

In fact it would be worse. Much, much worse, unfortunately...so maybe that's the flipside to focus on right now...

Coveny has won a few penalties to be fair and on current form I think he would be better then Kwasnik. Apart from missing a tap in opportunity what else has he done?

1 from memory. Neither can do a decent job at the moment, but we're stuck with them for the season.

Cov ran his ass off last week, he has proved that at 36 he can still work as hard as the rest. It's not the prob with the strikers, its the poor service they're getting!

I quite like Kwasnik actually, hes looked good so far

I think also in the midfield the All Whites combo of Smeltz, Covs, Brown, Lochead and Mulligan seemed to be stringing a few passes together at the end of the CCM game.

But everyone who comes on at the end of a game looks good I guess.

I'd hardly say Coveny "lashed out" in that article. That's just the usual tabloid bullsh*t cliche.

Be funnier if Covs hasn't said a thing and this was just a journalistic wind up!

Or it was taken out of context is more likely

Yeah I don't think there is too much drama in what Cov has said, if he could do a better job, I've not seen much from his last performance to say he can. "Ran himself into the ground", "gave it his all", etc, yes but for only the first 15 minutes or so. ForteanTimes2008-09-22 00:05:27

Hmm i did think covs was one of our best players on attack last week. Was surprised to see him left behind. Think having him on the bench would have been a good option.

after we conceded, we needed to boost our attacking options.  ricki only had brown and sigmund to turn to and was forced to stick with 4231.  kwasnik is nothing further forward than a winger, so where was our extra striking option on the bench?

im sensing a massive media beat up in an effort to sell papers

I think you hit the nail on the head Gings.

Leo on RS this morning saying the same thing...

Two players publicly speaking out against selections... not a good look... could be more to it...

What the hell is he thinkin?  

Anyone know what time the superleo interview was? Gangsta!2008-09-22 12:08:48

I completely disagree with you, I've covered this pretty comprehensively in another thread somewhere but I'll go over my argument again.

Basically Smeltz is your traditional 'big man', target forward. He isn't especially tall but he has plenty of strength and prefers to play with his back to goal. He has to play as the focal point of a team, laying off the ball and getting himself into goal scoring positions. He is also fantastic in the air, getting on the end of those crosses from the flanks to score all those great headers.

Covs has lost much of his pace, and since he is now taller than Smeltz he appears to be a more natural target for a direct pass or cross. He isn't actually as good in the air though, and since neither player really have the ability or pace to go beyond their markers what you end up with is a very static front two.

In the game against CCM when we played with both of them up front you would have one of the two forwards performing a knockdown, but since neither of them play in the hole (to collect a ball knocked backwards, think Heskey to Rooney) or have pace and hang off the defender's shoulder to run onto a knockon (think Heskey to young Owen) we just end up giving the ball away.

The two big men thing might work if we had somebody who was making lung-busting runs out of central midfield (think Lampard or Gerrard) to collect the balls that Covs/Smeltz are winning in the air.. However we don't have a single player like this in our squad either.

I think the best person to support Smeltz is actually Bertos, I really liked the way he played against CCM in preseason and his pace and skill got him into some very dangerous positions that Smeltz' hard grafting had set up.

I still think 4231 is our best shot. I would line up like this:

Moss
Sigmund Durante McKain Lochhead
Ferrante Brown
Gao Bertos Daniel
Smeltz

Bench:
Paston
Dodd
Hearfield
Mulligan/Kwasnik

Also, I would seriously consider signing Simon Elliott, I think he could give us some better distribution from central midfield that we are badly, badly lacking.

Hard News2008-09-22 12:24:09

During last nights game I was very impressed with Dadi and his ability to get the ball when being challenged by our defenders, and thought that is the type of player we need up front, I could imagine Smeltz working around him. I thought that Coveny might be able to do that also but he hasnt shown the same skills. Dadi did get quite accurate service from his midfielders, and ours dont look accurate enough to me

Covs was rubbish against CCM.

Here 'tis...

Also noted when referring to the Nix last year he talks about 'they'.... whilst factually correct, still doesn't sound good...

I wouldnt say he had much of a go

I dont think there is anything in that interview to get upset about. Except that Leo isnt available this week

I don't think anybody's upset... though it strikes me that there doesn't seem to be much drive either on the pitch or off it...

If anybody's upset it should be the team... and the only person who seems upset is Covs because he didn't get a run this week... so his solution is to bugger off????

Poor.

Agreed
He didn't say any thing wrong in the interview but disappointing that he is not playing this week

I saw this guy for the first time last week and my opinion at the time was that he didn't even look like a footballer. Sorry, but I thought Covney was garbage and never looked like scoring.

Jeepers, you kidding right? Statistcally compared to Kwasnik, Cov hardly much in the way of Goal assist so I doubt he can set up others. Whereas Kwasnik has a few more Goal assist and more goal attempts and more shots on goal with less playing time than Cov or Smeltz. He's the one you should chance your arm with. A much more team player and better goal returns. Cov is really ranked behind Smeltz and Kwasnik, so just because he's a New Zealander, he gets some sympathy from the posters here?

Oh come on, he should be grateful that he is in the picture. The other A-League teams are not going to look at him especially with an outburst like that at his age. Everyone knows that the more senior players can get single-minded and won't do anything new that the coach is trying to do.

It seems that he does not like the role he is given. Too long in the tooth, maybe with a bit of frustration. He lost that desire I think, once you think you are not really for internationals, it a slow road downhill in the domestic scene after the first year out. Only if he was more committed like David Beckham with his heart on his sleeve, then he wouldn't be so stubborn. That outburst might actually revealed that stubborn attitude that may not go well with management. He should be stubborn for the club (or even country) and not for himself. Somehow I think he thinks that the country and club still owes him. But that time has been and gone.

but then again. . .

I am amazed that he last this long because he wasn't naturally that special in the school days but worked mighty hard to get above the rest. If he gets a couple of years of playing, I'll salute him but at the moment it seems that he did his best but his best does not seem to be enough and he is so mad at using up more work than he needs to.

I understand where he comes from. You pull finger at training and score the most training goals and in the ideal striker position but you still don't get selected, despite running into a good patch of form. The fact you are much older than the rest annoys the heck out of you and you realise that you were not going to be selected as a player but seen as the old guy you are. Then you realise, that it maybe time to go. What do you do? Outburst how annoyed you are or wait until another opportunity comes in the form of injuries and other factors. Being older, the second option is a frustration option and patience gets the best out of you, the outburst is the cry of attention.

I don't know but he still should have the club first above himself and just work hard in training. He should know that he is still an option because of the role he could change into. Also selection is not soley based on the other nights performance but rather on the whole picture. So not to be selected is not a black mark on the performance or the player. He must understand this. However maybe Ricki has to inform him first before the team selection is announced as consideration. But then that may not do any difference. . .

I'm getting bored of laying out and agreeing to the formation KTBW layed out, Coveny is too far past it to expect to be a consistent fixture in the squad, he should realise a lot of the reason he's here is that he's a local boy.

Hopefully Covs isn't immature enough to speak out like this at his age, and this has simply been blown out of context, but I think that if he has the sense, he should retire at the end of this season, not try and keep playing until he has to simply drop out of the picture like it seems he plans to with his comments about looking at the new clubs coming in.

Cov's looing at the new clubs coming in next year?

Coveny is out of line i believe, runing for a whole game whilst not doing much with the ball does not mean he should be auto picked, he will find it the same at any other club, its a black mark on him unfortunately

Brewer2008-09-23 13:16:20

Your right, the new clubs would have to be very desperate if they went for covs, but what I was trying to say is that the fact he said he was interested in the prospect of joining a new side suggests he doesn't want to retire with a bit of dignity and would rather keep playing until he simply won't be wanted by anyone at all, think a Kiwi Romario, bouncing around signing for anyone who'll pay and play him