So only half the clubs want a *free kiwi player! The others would obviously prefer another import spot
It’s not a matter of going into the shop and picking up your free toaster oven. Not all players are created equally and squads are limited. Why pad your side with a free player who is not good enough when you have a better player you need to pay a few dollars for.
For me our striker is too isolated every week in possession and does to much needless running when we don't have it. Need to change shape asap. 3-5-2 0or 4-4-2.
I tend to agree, Pritchard needs help up there. At the moment see looks out of her depth, touches aren't there at all.
Perhaps bringing in a more experienced striker to help up front might be beneficial? If we could be more dangerous with the ball the defense would have way less to worry about.
Use more long ball with Pritchard and Foster up top would be worth trying. Agree Pritchard is having to do too much needless running.
Not sold on Foster all effort but no end product. But can whip in a set piece. I think shes a fullback. But yeah probably get to the point where they ask the players where they want to play....can't get any worse.
They could do worse than appoint Sam Wilkinson coach next season.
IMO they’ve fallen into the current trap doing the rounds in New Zealand - a fixation with over playing out from the back. With new sides, when the focus is so heavily placed on finding ways to play out from the back it becomes detrimental to the attacking side of the game.
He's 100% bang on. Huge fixation with any coach at any level. All whilst oppositions find ways to defend against it knowing what comes all the time. Definitely the case with this group.
Can't play a certain way if you simply do not have the players to do it/execute. That's very poor coaching and that is what is happening here with our team. Staggering really. Some one needs to step in and help this lot. NZF have enough now "highly qualified" coaches or so they keep telling us....
Always enjoy a good read of TNC. Love the statistical bits and pieces thrown in. Even if the author is prone to being a bit optimistic and could be a lot more critical... still a very informative read.
maybe her "attacking" style comes to the fore in the lower non-professional leagues. But junder the microscope of the a-league and better defenders her style and the players' abilities are being found wanting a little bit?
maybe her "attacking" style comes to the fore in the lower non-professional leagues. But junder the microscope of the a-league and better defenders her style and the players' abilities are being found wanting a little bit?
the quality of defending in the league is generally very poor. To have scored 3 goals is shocking.
Unfortunately for us fans Lawerence has painted herself into a corner with her repeated mantra of sticking to what to you believe in and you will succeed blah blah Rinse and repeat each week of the current defensive setup and predictable style of play 😞
It pains me to say this as I have a few friends the play in it, but our women's NL sucks. Most of the coaching at that level ends up being working on basic skills that should already be there. If a coach has only worked with players around that level before then it's no wonder that they get found out once they have to play in a proper competitive league. To me this is all on NZF for putting her in this position in the first place.
She does need the sack though, bring someone in who can actually coach and make sure you don't pick based on gender but on quality.
Always enjoy a good read of TNC. Love the statistical bits and pieces thrown in. Even if the author is prone to being a bit optimistic and could be a lot more critical... still a very informative read.
I do have to disagree with TNC at the end there saying that there's no point whining about the team, if no one whines then no one's watching. That to me is worse than complaints, at least complaining means we care.
It pains me to say this as I have a few friends the play in it, but our women's NL sucks. Most of the coaching at that level ends up being working on basic skills that should already be there. If a coach has only worked with players around that level before then it's no wonder that they get found out once they have to play in a proper competitive league. To me this is all on NZF for putting her in this position in the first place.
She does need the sack though, bring someone in who can actually coach and make sure you don't pick based on gender but on quality.
she may well be for the boot end of the season - at least she probably wont have the head coach role, whcih she only really has due to the late departue of the encumbant. She may well be a good assistant but I think it was a little too early for her to be running the show. It was a tough situation to be in for the club and she has to be commended for not running from the challenge. I'd highly doubt the club would sack her mid season, especially as I think it's only a 1 year gig.
It pains me to say this as I have a few friends the play in it, but our women's NL sucks. Most of the coaching at that level ends up being working on basic skills that should already be there. If a coach has only worked with players around that level before then it's no wonder that they get found out once they have to play in a proper competitive league. To me this is all on NZF for putting her in this position in the first place.
She does need the sack though, bring someone in who can actually coach and make sure you don't pick based on gender but on quality.
she may well be for the boot end of the season - at least she probably wont have the head coach role, whcih she only really has due to the late departue of the encumbant. She may well be a good assistant but I think it was a little too early for her to be running the show. It was a tough situation to be in for the club and she has to be commended for not running from the challenge. I'd highly doubt the club would sack her mid season, especially as I think it's only a 1 year gig.
I agree, no chance she goes this season. And I definitely don't really think it's her fault either, she's stepped up and had a crack, that should be commended at least. Nz football need to do a bit better though I think.
It pains me to say this as I have a few friends the play in it, but our women's NL sucks. Most of the coaching at that level ends up being working on basic skills that should already be there. If a coach has only worked with players around that level before then it's no wonder that they get found out once they have to play in a proper competitive league. To me this is all on NZF for putting her in this position in the first place.
She does need the sack though, bring someone in who can actually coach and make sure you don't pick based on gender but on quality.
she may well be for the boot end of the season - at least she probably wont have the head coach role, whcih she only really has due to the late departue of the encumbant. She may well be a good assistant but I think it was a little too early for her to be running the show. It was a tough situation to be in for the club and she has to be commended for not running from the challenge. I'd highly doubt the club would sack her mid season, especially as I think it's only a 1 year gig.
I agree, no chance she goes this season. And I definitely don't really think it's her fault either, she's stepped up and had a crack, that should be commended at least. Nz football need to do a bit better though I think.
Very much this. She is a caretaker that was lumped with a whole season.
Respect her for giving it her all, but yea we defo need a new coach and I hope she gets to stay on as assistant or in another role to develop.
There's one or two teams that are not as bad as us but still bad that i think we could manage a win against. We have a pretty good cross come shot tool in our locker...we are due for one to fly in. Maybe odd set piece too that is whipped into danger. Again maybe being overly optimistic.
We are so poor to watch it becomes quite funny after a point, sad really but it is what it is. Passing technique from most is u7s level. we are so inept technically forget everything else. If we manage to keep a ball from a throw in this week i will be happy.
Again, I can't claim to be an expert because I've only watched 4 or 5 of their games this season. But the most glaringly obvious shortcoming of the team is the style, and that is down to the the manager. You can't play out from the back and play a possession based game if the team you put out have 65-70% passing accuracy on a good day. The passing is woeful. I'd rather see a turgid style of football played well, than a nice style poorly executed.
against Perth we tried to win the ball back quickly when we lost it highish up the field (which is a good tactic given the quality of league defenders), but we didn't execute it well amongst those pressing, allowing them to play out. Coaching in this area would help us get them sweet goals.
Did anyone see/hear this - that Michaela Foster is now on a full contract. How does it work does anyone know? I thought they were full? Also - does anyone know much about Lily's injury? Depending on the seriousness would it possibly open up an additional spot in our squad?
Did anyone see/hear this - that Michaela Foster is now on a full contract. How does it work does anyone know? I thought they were full? Also - does anyone know much about Lily's injury? Depending on the seriousness would it possibly open up an additional spot in our squad?
Yes mentioned in this article now on a full contract.
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
if you hadn't noticed that this is a trend globally in all sports! Professional athletes are speaking about mental health and how constant focus on high performance is burning them out. 10 year ago noone focussed on this, and it was all about winning and athletes quietly disappeared or did something stupid which we all piled onto them because WTF? Turns out these people could well have been struggling with mental health issues, the pressue is massive and to have it constantly on you is tougher than most fans could ever conceive.
Whist its a massive change I think going back to what sport is all about (fun) is key, yes we want our team to be competitive, yes we want them to be passionate about the team/club, but do we want that at the cost of someone's own personal wellbeing? hell no! Coaches/managers being aware of their players well being is crucial, I love seeing teams enjoying themselves at training - you can guarantee that this "fun" which gets filmed isnt the only thing they are doing. I say let the players enjoy themselves, let them find the love of the game and enjoyment that brought them to the sport, because without that we as fans have nothing to support.
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.
But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm.
Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.
But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm.
Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message
Yea anyone should be open to criticism but it should be constructive and informative.
Sports stars get hit with some nasty criticism, and the usual defence is they get paid well for it. If the average is 16k that is at best a part time job (less than half a living wage).
I would call them well paid sem-pro's. A pro should be able to live off the money paid for the thing they are a pro at. A lot of these women will have some of their days filled with doing another job or something so they can pay their rent etc.
So the pay is very relevant to the expectations of output. You underpay someone, expect them to A) look elsewhere and B) have other priorities. If I was making 16k then there would be no expectation that it was my profession. I would be studying or working elsewhere or something, and that would be the focus.
Honestly, I don't think if you're getting paid $16K / season you're "pro" in a meaningful sense.
According to the PFA, the ALW minimum contract for 22/23 is au$20,608 for a 29 week period. So they are semi-pros, none of them are making a living from football at this level.
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.
But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm.
Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.
But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm.
Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message
Precisely, being constructive is always the nicer approach. But for that article to suggest not criticizing at all is just weird.
If that is the minimum what is the budget for the whole team? There must be some levels to differentiate an established internal like Hasset and Satchell and Rolston and a captain like Alfeld should expect to be on more money than that. What is the minimum for alm? Surely the minimum for them should be the same?
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.
But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm.
Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message
That fans perspective/opinion is social football mindset. At amateur level you could argue thats acceptable but we all know even at that level there are people throwing money at a game. You have to understand and be aware of what you're entering or else youre doing yourself a injustice to lead to bigger problems
Doesn't matter if you're a professional coach or a chief exec at a company....you are accountable for performance and results. No ones saying they don't work there tails off....the questioning is around are they good enough for the club or business to be successful?
Mental health a big issue no doubt and resources should always be put in at a club or a business to help a player, coach or employee. But at some point they will have to ask themselves if the job that they find themselves in is really for me? Unfortunately the idea of a role in something we enjoy isn't always the best one.
I feel the club/ NZF needs to uphold better practise though to ensure their employees are the right people for the job. They may think they are doing the person good when really they are not.
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
if you hadn't noticed that this is a trend globally in all sports! Professional athletes are speaking about mental health and how constant focus on high performance is burning them out. 10 year ago noone focussed on this, and it was all about winning and athletes quietly disappeared or did something stupid which we all piled onto them because WTF? Turns out these people could well have been struggling with mental health issues, the pressue is massive and to have it constantly on you is tougher than most fans could ever conceive.
Whist its a massive change I think going back to what sport is all about (fun) is key, yes we want our team to be competitive, yes we want them to be passionate about the team/club, but do we want that at the cost of someone's own personal wellbeing? hell no! Coaches/managers being aware of their players well being is crucial, I love seeing teams enjoying themselves at training - you can guarantee that this "fun" which gets filmed isnt the only thing they are doing. I say let the players enjoy themselves, let them find the love of the game and enjoyment that brought them to the sport, because without that we as fans have nothing to support.
Gonna have to completely disagree with you about the fun thing there. If it only becomes about fun you can kiss goodbye to being competitive. Now this isn't to say that you can't have some fun while being competitive but the focus must always be on winning.
If the only point of these women playing is so they can play for "the love of the game" then why should anyone give a shark about them? What's the difference between them and some Sunday socal team? They're just playing for fun too.
Sports are inherently competitive, the world as a whole tbh, there are winners and there are losers and more often then not those that take it seriously are the ones that come out on top. Winning is everything, otherwise what's what's point in being there.
Yes mental health matters but if you can't hack scrutiny then maybe you will have to reassess whether or not you want to be playing at that level. If it's too much perhaps go back to your local club and play for the love of the game. I'm not trying to be an arse by saying that either, they won't be spared criticism regardless of what pie in the sky ideals we have about being nice. People won't be nice, they never have been and that's never going to change.
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.
But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm.
Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message
"These are not people who are not getting paid much money. These A-League women are making on average about 16k. The men are making approximately 9.4 times this. Female athletes don’t have teams of people protecting their brand and sanity. They are not rolling in the dough either. Be a decent human being and keep perspective on this.
" Calling for anyone’s job mid-season is not the way to go. Coaches and GM’s are professionals. They work their tails off. Unless they are abusive to the players, back off and let them do their job. They have already created immense pressure for themselves."
I dunno, the sentiment of that article is nice enough but it really seems to boil down to treating pro athletes like children rather than pro athletes. Regardless of pay no one is immune from criticism, if I do poorly at my job I'll cop it, and if you want to do a job like being a footballer you have to expect it. With that said all criticism should be fair and measured.
Also the part about not calling for the coaches head because they're professionals is just weird, the fact that they are professionals should mean more scrutiny.
Criticism is part of sports, without it you can't have any expectations or want better.
I agree here, its part of being a professional is critisicm.
But its what encouraging is sensible critisicm.
Is it the players fault? The systems? The boards fault? Is it an off day or a systematic problem in the team. Most athletes can handle a bad game but lets do it in a way that actually helps the athlete long term. They are peoples friends and family too, theres always a good way to deliver the message
Precisely, being constructive is always the nicer approach. But for that article to suggest not criticizing at all is just weird.
It doesn't say that. Just had a read of the article and it says:
"Be constructive. Engage with other fans on the subject of how to get their first win of the season. Don’t be a jerk when times are tough and make degrading comments. When Ella Mastrantonio got a horrible comment in her DM she was brave enough to call it out publicly. How many women on teams particularly with losing records have endured these types of terrible comments?"
