2 holding mids (when Tuiloma came on) made a big difference. Wood, WeeMac and Doyle had a poor games... Thomas needs to play more central and then we'll be more awesome...
All Whites v Northern Ireland | Sat 3rd June | 6:45am | Belfast | SS2
thought it wasn't a great audition for a PL club from Wood. There were a couple of things I saw him do that he should have done better.
Wish Smeltz was younger. He showed some class.
Had a look at the Herald report just now. Don't know where we get these guys(or girls) from.
Said that the team we played were ranked 26 in the world. Obviously does not know the difference between N.Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Well NI is 28 and Rep o I is 26 soooo
Yeah, and I think the rankings changed overnight on Thursday - Northern Ireland were 26th earlier in the week, probably a case of making notes in advance.
The commentator said that NI were 26 in the rankings but he also said that Wee Mac was born in Scotland and that the Confederations Cup starts later this month on 17 July.
You gotta love those " Paddys"
Lots of criticism here but I thought it was an OK, if not great performance. Considering that it was our first game for a while after only 3 days practice. We were playing away to a side ranking in the top 20. The fact that we adjusted our game and played a lot better in the second half was a bonus.
LOL...you have to love Anglophone football.....lots of huff and puff, lots of running, lots of effort, ball in the air quite a bit. They were a mirror
image side to us...except they were better at it.
Hudson would have learned quite a bit from this game. We look a lot better when we have a proper DM screening in front of the back 3. I thought Tuiloma was great. He is developing into quite a good footballer. Apart from some wayward long passes he had a good game. He broke up quite a few NI attacks but more importantly he was a good outlet in the transition from defense to attack.(come to the Nix Bill!!!)
We really need to work on our attack. At this level lobbing the ball forward to Wood is easy meat for most good international defenses. Not sure what the best combination would be but we have some good attackers...we just need to get the balance right and work out the right tactics.
I have been a Hudson critic but I think he is on the right track. But we will be under huge pressure against sides like Mexico and Portugal, both these sides have so many skilful players.....Ronaldo vs Durante....hmm!
Lots of criticism here but I thought it was an OK, if not great performance. Considering that it was our first game for a while after only 3 days practice. We were playing away to a side ranking in the top 20. The fact that we adjusted our game and played a lot better in the second half was a bonus.
LOL...you have to love Anglophone football.....lots of huff and puff, lots of running, lots of effort, ball in the air quite a bit. They were a mirror
image side to us...except they were better at it.
Hudson would have learned quite a bit from this game. We look a lot better when we have a proper DM screening in front of the back 3. I thought Tuiloma was great. He is developing into quite a good footballer. Apart from some wayward long passes he had a good game. He broke up quite a few NI attacks but more importantly he was a good outlet in the transition from defense to attack.(come to the Nix Bill!!!)
We really need to work on our attack. At this level lobbing the ball forward to Wood is easy meat for most good international defenses. Not sure what the best combination would be but we have some good attackers...we just need to get the balance right and work out the right tactics.
I have been a Hudson critic but I think he is on the right track. But we will be under huge pressure against sides like Mexico and Portugal, both these sides have so many skilful players.....Ronaldo vs Durante....hmm!
As I already mentioned earlier, they are not in the top 20 sides.
Can anyone tell me what Hudson sees in Colvey?
He strikes me as a player who is actually scared to be given the ball. Hardly the qualities of a wing back
LOL...you have to love Anglophone football.....lots of huff and puff, lots of running, lots of effort, ball in the air quite a bit. They were a mirror image side to us...except they were better at it.
I don't know the background of how this game came about (and beggars cant be choosers), but given who we're playing at Confeds, how is playing against NI style (as described by Austin above) a good build up for us?
Trying to match against 'style' is overrated. As long as NZ are playing teams better than them, they're getting what they need.
pregame coach interview said NI wanted to play that day and it seems we were the only or one of the few prepared to play then, so there we were.
Just watched the game, very happy with the performance against a very well performed Northern Ireland. I'm expecting a victory v the White Russians
pregame coach interview said NI wanted to play that day and it seems we were the only or one of the few prepared to play then, so there we were.
Exactly. Stuff around trying to get the perfect oppo and you might have none.
Just watched the game, very happy with the performance against a very well performed Northern Ireland. I'm expecting a victory v the White Russians
Do the Black Russians still have Kahlua, Vodka, Coke and Raspberry juice in them?
Still a very good result, deflected goal too. If only Kostas shot had come back towards him, it would have hit a retreating defender for an own goal.
From being at the game, Durante's tackle was terrible, Wood wasn't keen to be involved, Smeltz and WeeMac invisible. Lewis and Colvey played headless chickens.
Was surprised to see that NI was the team with a player representing Unattached FC instead of us.
That aside the atmosphere was great, the Irish lads went out of their way to chat with us kiwis here. Also we are BBC headline news, above the Lions here.
Durantes tackle wasn't flash.
However Loved the way he talked the ref out of doing anything with a smile and holding two fingers close together
As a footballing public we should demand much more from Rojas as he shown what he is capable of. It is not acceptable to sleep through games.
Lewis, who can bring tempo to our play, from my take on his involvement, looked flat.
Hopefully Tzimopoulos is training back to full fitness and is in Hudson's first choice eleven.
I think there is the personnel in this squad to make a good team.
We improved in the second half and hopefully we build on that in the upcoming games.
The big take away today for the AWs today was that it's not just the set up and shape we adopt on a piece of paper that's important but we need a balanced side in terms of personnel. We sorely lacked any physicality until tuiloma came on. No only did he boss the midfield and win the ball he was composed when he had it unlike Lewis and WeeMac who looked very skittish on the ball.
The second thing is the 3-5-2 only works if the wing backs push on. If they are flat then we have a CB having a holiday as he's free but our midfield gets dragged wide and you leave one guy exposed in the middle and get payed through. That's what happened in the first half. With this shape we need to press high up (including the wing backs).
I actually thought Patterson showed a bit more today that in other matches. He did well. All subs mar a good impact and Hudson should be complimented for that.
The concern I have is our athleticism - we lack speed at the back (Smith was attractions today- an A League striker would destroy him) and physicality in the middle. Yes football is a technical sport but the successful sides still have that mongrel in the middle to wing it and the speed across the park is a given in today's game.
Was disappointed by wood who looked slow and soft on the ball. Not a performance of an EPL striker.
Was heartened by the second half. I probably think Hudson has enough gumption to gel the side over the next few weeks.
Reckon we will get destroyed if we rely on Tommy Smith replacing Reid. He should be on the bench.
Think Smith was rusty (hasn't played a lot), but will improve with more game time. Why wasnt Themi playing? Durante is past it.
Lewis and Colvey shouldnt play in confeds, will get destroyed, Roux and Bill gotta start
Our keeper and Boxall and Tuiloma had some mongrel. Rojas, Weemac, Colvey looked too lightweight against a big strong NI side, which I guess is what we will face v Russia. Weemac looked better when Tuiloma came on, he found some space for passing. Kosta more impact than Rojas. Smith will hopefully get more of a spring in his step, looked too slow on the ball. Doyle crossed aimlessly into the box far too often. Things to work on for Hudson, I guess that's exactly what he wants.
Our keeper and Boxall and Tuiloma had some mongrel. Rojas, Weemac, Colvey looked too lightweight against a big strong NI side, which I guess is what we will face v Russia. Weemac looked better when Tuiloma came on, he found some space for passing. Kosta more impact than Rojas. Smith will hopefully get more of a spring in his step, looked too slow on the ball. Doyle crossed aimlessly into the box far too often. Things to work on for Hudson, I guess that's exactly what he wants.
Mongrel, I.e. 100%, is what all of us should be showing when we play the Confeds. Anything less and the player should be dropped.
A great result all round for the team. A 6-nil hammering would have shattered their confidence. A 1-1 draw would have stopped them working hard for a win in the next games and masked Northerns dominance.
NI have beaten Euro sides like Norway by multiple goals. First up game away from home. Not bad. More possession than I have seen from the AW vs a major team for awhile but a lot of heavy touches. Even from Wood.
Hope Hudson starts his confeds starters for the next two games. How else will they gel? Tinkering on the whiteboard must be over now.
Goodluck AWs.
I don't get the Wood criticism and comments about him showing himself to be below EPL standard. He had no service and a lack of support, it's a little unfair.
Any good striker would of struggled.
I agree. Our delivery forward was poor.
I like it when we try to play forward into areas around the 18 yard box and midfielders and wing backs make forward runs into dangerous areas. Hopefully we see more of that in the next couple of games. Even from a defensive POV, there's a lot of benefit in our wide players pushing defenders further back
Anyway, encouraging performance from a rapidly improving team (and coach)
I get the argument that a 1-0 loss against a team like NI is pretty creditable, and in terms of pure result I agree. But I do think that there was a lot wrong with that performance and a combination of them not finishing more chances and then their structure getting disrupted by making a triple substitution at halftime meant that the score flattered us. We couldn't get a shot off in the first half, and only 3 in the whole game, and we were just giving them possession and space in our own half constantly. We weren't pressing but we weren't dropping back into a solid defensive shape either. When we had the ball we just hoofed it away. We could have been 3 or 4 down at half time the way we were going.The second half performance was an improvement in patches.
Hopefully we take some confidence and lessons from that and play a bit more compactly and try to use our pace on the break a bit more at the Confeds because that's easily when we look our best.
Tommy, why aren't you singing the national anthem??
Tommy, why aren't you singing the national anthem??
He's too busy trying to work out how to put his hand over his silver fern heart
I think he's preoccupied with regret at losing the #5 shirt to Boxall.
I get the argument that a 1-0 loss against a team like NI is pretty creditable, and in terms of pure result I agree. But I do think that there was a lot wrong with that performance and a combination of them not finishing more chances and then their structure getting disrupted by making a triple substitution at halftime meant that the score flattered us. We couldn't get a shot off in the first half, and only 3 in the whole game, and we were just giving them possession and space in our own half constantly. We weren't pressing but we weren't dropping back into a solid defensive shape either. When we had the ball we just hoofed it away. We could have been 3 or 4 down at half time the way we were going.The second half performance was an improvement in patches.
Hopefully we take some confidence and lessons from that and play a bit more compactly and try to use our pace on the break a bit more at the Confeds because that's easily when we look our best.
For me this is just preperation and the proof will be in how we play at the Confeds. I don't expect to win any of the games - lets be honest, every team there is far better than us - but I want us to compete and play football.
>> Tommy, why aren't you singing the national anthem?? <<
He's trying to learn the words ??
who cares! he's a football player, not a soldier
I get the argument that a 1-0 loss against a team like NI is pretty creditable, and in terms of pure result I agree. But I do think that there was a lot wrong with that performance and a combination of them not finishing more chances and then their structure getting disrupted by making a triple substitution at halftime meant that the score flattered us. We couldn't get a shot off in the first half, and only 3 in the whole game, and we were just giving them possession and space in our own half constantly. We weren't pressing but we weren't dropping back into a solid defensive shape either. When we had the ball we just hoofed it away. We could have been 3 or 4 down at half time the way we were going.The second half performance was an improvement in patches.
Hopefully we take some confidence and lessons from that and play a bit more compactly and try to use our pace on the break a bit more at the Confeds because that's easily when we look our best.
For me this is just preperation and the proof will be in how we play at the Confeds. I don't expect to win any of the games - lets be honest, every team there is far better than us - but I want us to compete and play football.
What really frustrates me is not that we a behind most teams in terms of skill and experience, but some of the basic stuff we seem always to get wrong. Watching this game ( and the under 20s) it is amazing how many times the ball is passed just behind the player. So even a simple square pass, with neither play u der pressure, moves us slightly backwards. Seldom does the ball seem to go directly to feet, or a meter in front to run onto it. It looks like a nervousness thing- fear of putting the ball into a space that might mean a challenge is made or something. But looking at better quality teams, it is not often players have to take a step or two back each time to get the ball.
I get the argument that a 1-0 loss against a team like NI is pretty creditable, and in terms of pure result I agree. But I do think that there was a lot wrong with that performance and a combination of them not finishing more chances and then their structure getting disrupted by making a triple substitution at halftime meant that the score flattered us. We couldn't get a shot off in the first half, and only 3 in the whole game, and we were just giving them possession and space in our own half constantly. We weren't pressing but we weren't dropping back into a solid defensive shape either. When we had the ball we just hoofed it away. We could have been 3 or 4 down at half time the way we were going.The second half performance was an improvement in patches.
Hopefully we take some confidence and lessons from that and play a bit more compactly and try to use our pace on the break a bit more at the Confeds because that's easily when we look our best.
For me this is just preperation and the proof will be in how we play at the Confeds. I don't expect to win any of the games - lets be honest, every team there is far better than us - but I want us to compete and play football.
What really frustrates me is not that we a behind most teams in terms of skill and experience, but some of the basic stuff we seem always to get wrong. Watching this game ( and the under 20s) it is amazing how many times the ball is passed just behind the player. So even a simple square pass, with neither play u der pressure, moves us slightly backwards. Seldom does the ball seem to go directly to feet, or a meter in front to run onto it. It looks like a nervousness thing- fear of putting the ball into a space that might mean a challenge is made or something. But looking at better quality teams, it is not often players have to take a step or two back each time to get the ball.
This is NZ your talking about haha, you sound like a world class coach
I get the argument that a 1-0 loss against a team like NI is pretty creditable, and in terms of pure result I agree. But I do think that there was a lot wrong with that performance and a combination of them not finishing more chances and then their structure getting disrupted by making a triple substitution at halftime meant that the score flattered us. We couldn't get a shot off in the first half, and only 3 in the whole game, and we were just giving them possession and space in our own half constantly. We weren't pressing but we weren't dropping back into a solid defensive shape either. When we had the ball we just hoofed it away. We could have been 3 or 4 down at half time the way we were going.The second half performance was an improvement in patches.
Hopefully we take some confidence and lessons from that and play a bit more compactly and try to use our pace on the break a bit more at the Confeds because that's easily when we look our best.
For me this is just preperation and the proof will be in how we play at the Confeds. I don't expect to win any of the games - lets be honest, every team there is far better than us - but I want us to compete and play football.
What really frustrates me is not that we a behind most teams in terms of skill and experience, but some of the basic stuff we seem always to get wrong. Watching this game ( and the under 20s) it is amazing how many times the ball is passed just behind the player. So even a simple square pass, with neither play u der pressure, moves us slightly backwards. Seldom does the ball seem to go directly to feet, or a meter in front to run onto it. It looks like a nervousness thing- fear of putting the ball into a space that might mean a challenge is made or something. But looking at better quality teams, it is not often players have to take a step or two back each time to get the ball.
This is NZ your talking about haha, you sound like a world class coach
What a weirdly snarky response. I was just giving my observation on a part of the game- which is what I thought the forum was for. And no, I don't sound like any sort of coach, nor trying to.
That can just be a gelling thing, or a result of not gelling/knowing where each other's movements will be. It happens at all levels but I wouldn't expect it to keep happenening for too long after these guys have been in camp for a couple of weeks.
The match commentator touched on it by saying NI were just a notch better all over the park and it was a reflection of where the players were plying their trade. Makes a great deal of sense.
I don't give a rats how we play long ball or sloppy passes just go and get the results.
That's what the special one gets his Manc team to do so if it's good enough for them it will do me.
Football is not entertainment if I want that I'll go and watch Jimmy Tarbuck or some crass American sport like the NBA all gloss and no defence.