Rogerson, Boxall and Waine increased their reputations. Cam Howieson didn’t do too badly.
The commentator talked a lot about Garbett, but I honestly thought he should have done better. We know he’s talented, but the last attack encapsulated it- got caught between a cross and a shot and the net result was no goal.
Was a bit disappointed in Old too, because I rate him. Seemed to get muscled out of it a bit.
Bit of a first game. Think we’ll see better from them.
Maybe Waine coming on late was a plan to run at a tired defense and not have him fouled out of the tournament early on?
Anyway PNG played well against us and we got the 3 points.
Yipe Old gave good energy but he was just muscled off the ball in promising situations about 3 times, looking to draw the foul at least twice (like Lewis did nicely often), but not getting the call.
But Waine did bloody well. I hope Hay trusts to give him a start against Fiji, and leaves Wood on the bench and then sees how game unfolds. It's a congested tourney. Keep the Woodsman fresh for knockout games.
But yeah in summary that was a B team, and only say 1-4 of them will start the big games later this year. N Boxall looked good, though he had very little pressure to deal with. Reid needs a club soon. Some of his passing was average.
Watching the highlights 1-0 flatters PNG, they didn’t really lay a glove besides the one header, and we were quite literally centimetres away from a 4/5-0. Felt tense during, but that’s just because of the lack of fortune. PNG fans on FB were blowing up at the referee because of the goal, but there didn’t seem anything wrong there.
I didn’t think De Jong had the disasterclass people are making it out to be. He was leading the line against a team that were happy to defend deep for a draw right from kick off, and he didn’t get much service except for one in the first half from Barbarouses which he was a bit slow on, and a second half one when he touched past the keeper and should’ve won a penalty.
Waine and Rogerson were good value off the bench, but it was more open as PNG tired which helped. It was good to see Rogerson played in a more natural role than in the Jordan game, and I thought he offered a greater goal/assist threat than Champness did. Really unlucky to hit the bar off the diving header, and have his run and layoff for Garbett hit the bar as well. I’d like to see Waine/Rogerson start vs Fiji if the reinforcements aren’t fully ready to start.
Garbett grew into the game well and Nikko Boxall was solid with Reid, especially as a guy we haven’t really seen much of in a white shirt. Makes it that Hay has played a unique central defensive pair in all seven internationals he’s had, as well as giving a debut in every one of those games too, though I expect those runs to end vs Fiji.
I don’t really get the nepotism claims, at this point only Sail and Howieson hadn’t played under him, so that could be claimed for anyone. The only pro strikers that could’ve been in the squad but aren’t are Myer Bevan and Max Mata, and Mata wouldn’t be available until the window opened anyway. Even those two have been in Hay squads/camps so could be considered nepotism.
I saw it mentioned that guys playing in the US would be better than those picked, but I’m not sure who. Only two guys are in MLS, Tuiloma and Michael Boxall and they were both selected, then in USL Championship there’s Collier (injured), Adams (backup defender), Musa (injured), Nikko Boxall (picked) and Wynne. Wynne fair enough I thought he probably would be close, especially as Wilkins is in 10th out of 12 Danish third tier.
At the end of the day, three points is three points, and that game was always going to be the tightest squad-wise. Fiji will probably be better, their striker Nalaubu looks good, he has 5 goals in 2 games in Qatar, and could’ve had a couple more today as well apparently, not to mention Krishna who seems to play closer to midfield than as a striker. Win that game and things will hopefully start to get on a roll.
Champness was pretty average, but then he’s barely played for his Turkish club in 2 months. Likely better for the run, however then again maybe is a good reason Giresunspor ain’t currently playing him. Fact they have agreed to release him early (they play on 20th), for whole OFC tourney indicates he ain't so important for them at the moment.
I’d give the guys from this game another go, but bring Wood, Just, McCowatt, Pijnaker and Stamenic onto the bench. Be nice to give the ALM guys a 2nd game before they head home, and helps give the wider playing pool game time, when injuries mean having depth could be important later this year
Champness was pretty average, but then he’s barely played for his Turkish club in 2 months. Likely better for the run, but then again maybe is a good reason his club ain’t playing him.
I’d give the guys from this game another go, but bring Wood, Just, McCowatt, Pijnaker and Stamenic onto the bench. Be nice to give the ALM guys a 2nd game before they head home, and helps give the wider playing pool game time, when injuries mean having depth could be important later this year
It's the sort of match/opponent I'd expect Lewis to be a standout and put himself in contention for a full team starting alongside Bell.
Including the Olympics though, he hasn't had a stand out game for NZ that I can remember. Whereas at times in the A League he looks quality... Something not quite clicking for him in Hay's system.
Champness was pretty average, but then he’s barely played for his Turkish club in 2 months. Likely better for the run, but then again maybe is a good reason his club ain’t playing him.
I’d give the guys from this game another go, but bring Wood, Just, McCowatt, Pijnaker and Stamenic onto the bench. Be nice to give the ALM guys a 2nd game before they head home, and helps give the wider playing pool game time, when injuries mean having depth could be important later this year
When do Cacache and Bell join? The third game?
AWs play Fiji 21st. New Caledonia (3rd game) 24th.
Empoli (Cacace) play 20th Brøndby (Bell) also play 20th St Mirren (Greive) play 19th - but will be enough attackers in Qatar for Fiji game Hapoel Nof HaGalil (Marinovic) play 19th - hopefully Sail gets a 2nd cap against Fiji Portland (Tuiloma) play 19th - but it's late on 19th and a long way to Qatar from USA
I think Searle, Payne, Pijnaker, Stamenic, Just, McCowatt & Wood (so 7 more players) will be in Qatar in time for the Fiji game. Giving Hay a squad of 25, if everyone is fit??
de jong was horribly isolated. it really was 4-5-1 with a big gap between him and the midfield. dlivery to him was mixed. i liked the wide attackers providing width, i thought that was excellent, but if this is happening garbett, howieson and old need to get right up next to de jong. de jong is better at dropping in and playing in the wide guys. waine was the better option for this set up.
Have never rated Ingham tbh but he did well tonight. Defended well and was calm in possession with decent crosses.
I think the tactic was the bypass midfield and hit the wingers early to create 1v1. Midfield will have sore necks after that game but the early diagonal ball seems to be Hays go to.
Agree the ADJ was very isolated- with the wingers pushing wide he needed a 10 which Howeison and Garbett didn’t offer - they were just too far off him and playing closer to the wingers than centrally at times.
Issue with the 4 inverted triangle 3 shape is there’s generally only one guaranteed ball out from the back into midfield - ie Lewis. However - if the back 2 can find the advanced midfielders with a quick pass then we’ll open these guys up- that ball needs to be at pace to bet the line and enable to space to turn. We were simply too slow in transition so those options closed and we resorted to long diagonal balls.
The guys need to learn to push the button quickly and change the pace of the game. You could see what happened when we lifted the tempo at the back end.
Good chance we won't win the tournament if we play like this in the semi/final. The fact that a team of pros cannot maintain possession and control the game against mostly amateurs is pretty unforgivable. The amount of times we just hoofed the ball upfield and lost possession was incredible.
On to the positives - Waine looked sharp when he came on, Champness looked dangerous in the first 20 minutes but ran out of steam/support a bit, Wilkins looked surprisingly competent and composed on the ball considering the level he's playing at, Garbett showed glimpses of quality, and Rogerson offered something when he came on.
The rest were fairly average to be honest. I'd be pretty furious with the performance if I was Hay. Hoping for better in the next match/es..
I dont think we are at any risk of not winning the tourney, our B (maybe even C) squad controlled and beat the strongest PNG team available. Fiji may not be as strong as I though and NC arent going to trouble our better lineups. Only a few in this lineup will be pushing for places in the latter games. Boxall, Reid, Sail, Ingham (maybe), Garbett. Waine and Rogerson all made good impacts but they are not going to compete with the likes of Wood, Singh, Bell for a starting spot. Libby will come in at LB, Ingham may keeo the RB spot over Kirwan. Lewis will be benched for Bell and Howison is benched for Singh. Wood upfront with Champness and Kosta on the wings.
Hay sounds pretty content (at least openly). He knows they have to improve, but they will with more time together, plus he has the big guns now all starting to arrive. With better finishing today could have been 3 or 4 nil
Team by game 3 (NC) will be very different to today’s run on side.
I dont think we are at any risk of not winning the tourney, our B (maybe even C) squad controlled and beat the strongest PNG team available. Fiji may not be as strong as I though and NC arent going to trouble our better lineups. Only a few in this lineup will be pushing for places in the latter games. Boxall, Reid, Sail, Ingham (maybe), Garbett. Waine and Rogerson all made good impacts but they are not going to compete with the likes of Wood, Singh, Bell for a starting spot. Libby will come in at LB, Ingham may keeo the RB spot over Kirwan. Lewis will be benched for Bell and Howison is benched for Singh. Wood upfront with Champness and Kosta on the wings.
Singh is injured and suspect Payne will be starting RB for the big games.
Though yes Kirwan is coming off a stellar Serie C match for Padova, this week
But yeah otherwise your points are on the money. Expect a good strong upswing in way AWs play as tourney moves on, though who fills Singh’s 10 spot will be a problem
I dont think we are at any risk of not winning the tourney, our B (maybe even C) squad controlled and beat the strongest PNG team available. Fiji may not be as strong as I though and NC arent going to trouble our better lineups. Only a few in this lineup will be pushing for places in the latter games. Boxall, Reid, Sail, Ingham (maybe), Garbett. Waine and Rogerson all made good impacts but they are not going to compete with the likes of Wood, Singh, Bell for a starting spot. Libby will come in at LB, Ingham may keeo the RB spot over Kirwan. Lewis will be benched for Bell and Howison is benched for Singh. Wood upfront with Champness and Kosta on the wings.
Singh is injured and suspect Payne will be starting RB for the big games.
Though yes Kirwan is coming off a stellar Serie C match for Padova, this week
But yeah otherwise your points are on the money. Expect a good strong upswing in way AWs play as tourney moves on, though who fills Singh’s 10 spot will be a problem
didnt realise Singh was injured, that will be an issue, Payne (shoulder) might also be on the injured list after last night. Champness could fill Singh's 10 spot, might see him on the ball more often and give him the central spot to run at defenders.
Worth pointing out that our goal was only allowed due to a shocking refereeing error. If you give a yellow card, which he did, the game can't be restarted with a quick freekick. It has to be restarted with the refs whistle.
So, while we dominated and would've scored more another day, PNG also have some right to feel aggrieved. They were better than I had expected, both Komolongs solid, the keeper was everywhere but not a lot offered going forward. Well organised defense though, especially the offside trap.
Looking for a much more clinical performance second time round.
Actually thought those Komolong brothers might be worth a look at by a low budget ALM club, like CCM or even the Nix.
German ancestry I heard commentator say. Surprised they don’t play low level stuff in Deutschland somewhere. See younger one was with Canty Utd in Handy Prem 6 yrs ago
Is it just me that thinks this but when the PNG keeper went to grab the loose ball and took De Jong out shouldn't that be a penalty didn't seem to make first contact with the ball nor hold onto it after?
Actually thought those Komolong brothers might be worth a look at by a low budget ALM club, like CCM or even the Nix.
German ancestry I heard commentator say. Surprised they don’t play low level stuff in Deutschland somewhere.
Alwin did, was a regular in the 4th tier with Stuttgarter Kickers and signed for Fortuna Koeln in the 3. Liga a couple years ago. Only played a couple games iirc then came back to PNG with his brother. The Komolongs are probably the best CB pairing in the tourney besides NZ (Lautoa/Bearune for NCL would be better, but not sure why Lautoa didn't play vs. Fiji).
Is it just me that thinks this but when the PNG keeper went to grab the loose ball and took De Jong out shouldn't that be a penalty didn't seem to make first contact with the ball nor hold onto it after?
Yipe think it should have been a pen, and if there was VAR likely would have been.
Actually thought those Komolong brothers might be worth a look at by a low budget ALM club, like CCM or even the Nix.
German ancestry I heard commentator say. Surprised they don’t play low level stuff in Deutschland somewhere.
Alwin did, was a regular in the 4th tier with Stuttgarter Kickers and signed for Fortuna Koeln in the 3. Liga a couple years ago. Only played a couple games iirc then came back to PNG with his brother. The Komolongs are probably the best CB pairing in the tourney besides NZ
Well that was pretty scrappy and a bit of a frustrating watch. Prob not surprising considering the mixed up squad. Thought PNG were good value. Didn’t create a huge amount but were physical and pretty well structured. Showed a bit of composure on the ball at times too.
Agree with the above comments the 2 CBs for PNG were impressive and very much marshalled De Jong particularly out of the game.
Still we got the win and looked strong defensively. Looking forward to the reinforcements arriving.
Actually thought those Komolong brothers might be worth a look at by a low budget ALM club, like CCM or even the Nix.
German ancestry I heard commentator say. Surprised they don’t play low level stuff in Deutschland somewhere.
Alwin did, was a regular in the 4th tier with Stuttgarter Kickers and signed for Fortuna Koeln in the 3. Liga a couple years ago. Only played a couple games iirc then came back to PNG with his brother. The Komolongs are probably the best CB pairing in the tourney besides NZ
With FFA no longer running the ALM, I really hope the Nix lobby the APL to allow OFC players to be non visa/local players. Say max 1 per club.
Same reason we haven’t seen a lot of ABs games in Samoa- they’re thinking about money. ALM is thinking about sponsorships and people turning up for games and they’re thinking Asian second tier nations with populations in Australia.
