All Whites v Uzbekistan | Tuesday 9 Sept 2am | SKY Sport 3

Did we miss Tommy Smiff?

I think we did.... But he wouldn't have stopped them running rings around our midfield 

#bringbackrichie

#sackhudson

Yeah its tough to say how much he would have given us over Dura but would not have materially impacted the result I think.

Pretty disappointed with the result but not able to comment as to how we played as I have not seen the game. Judging from what I have read we were pants. 

I have watched Uzbekistan play a couple of times over the past year or so and I am not surprised at the result as I thought they were a pretty decent side.

Smith is faster than Durante, so maybe we might have been able to play a higher line if he was there. Then our midfield might not have been covering so much space and we might have been able to defend more compactly and retain possession more too. A lot of might haves in that though... If Hudson really wasn't comfortable playing a high line with Dura he could have either played Boxall instead or adjusted his tactics to help the midfield out more too, so that can't all be blamed on Smith's absence anyway.

A big part of the problem was the aimless high pressing against a decent team. The amount of times we pressed but they still had out-balls was very frustrating.

Also the wingers provided fuck all defensive cover - staying high and narrow. Was definitely a 4-3-3 rather than 4-5-1 which may have been more suitable against a pretty impressive Uzbekistan team.

And in possession it really bugged me how deep all three central midfields were dropping to get the ball. Tuiloma should've been the only picking the ball up off his CBs but James and McGlinchey also did it and it left no one higher up which would've helped in actually going forward with purpose, which is what we needed when on the ball. Sure, there were some encouraging signs, but there was also some naivety with the way we approached the match. We have a fair way to go until we can go toe-to-toe with overly positive football against decent opposition.

Individually, Wood was very disappointing in at least two one-on-one situations where you'd expect a Premier League striker to be far more decisive.

energy and conan have both hit the nail of the head when they talk about the aimless pressing and deep back line

that was one of the most ridiculous pressing performances that i have ever seen; we pressed in three straight lines that were miles apart from each other. the back four sat as deep as they did under ricki.  only chris james showed any understanding of how to manipulate the opposition when not in possession..

i thought roux, doyle and tuiloma were all poor individually, but the system screwed them equally as much.  reid was able to provide cover, but durante is a couple of pegs below our skipper and was exposed. 

uzbekistan were good, but i expected to see us well organised after a week or so in camp

guess if it was home and away we would take the 3-1 loss into the home leg with confidence...

Wood isn't really a EPL striker...

Well they are almost 50 places above us in the current rankings so it is a result you would expect.

I think Hudson would have learnt a huge lesson from this match. I don't want to bag him because he will learn but it is almost like he had preselected his tactics months ago. He had articulated his footballing philosophy in the weeks after his appointment. He was into a Chile style attacking 433 with the players pressing high to win the ball high up the pitch. Its all very well to have this sort of philosophy but its horses for courses. We don't have too many players with the technical skill, the agility and pace and know how of the teams that Hudson admires.

As it turned out in this game the tactics were completely inadequate to combat a team that were far more technically superior. Our front three pressed high but were easily passed around. That left acres of space for the agile Uzbecks to flood into. Our defense midfield was overwhelmed. Tuiloma is a rookie, Weemac has had no match play for months. 

What surprised me was there was little reaction to what was happening on the field. At 60 minutes Payne came on for James who had run himself into the ground and Brockie came on for Boyd.......so it was like for like.....no reaction to what was happening tactically. Ditto at the 80 minute mark....Howie for Tuiloma and Stevens for Costa. It looked like Hudson had decided on his substitutions pre match.

On the flight back Hudson will well ponder what happens next. Because IMO he will probably have to rethink some of his plans. The problem is he will most probably have to do it with the players he has. Rojas and Thomas are good players but are similar in style to Costa and Boyd.....they don't change things much. If we could get Fitzgerald out of Japan he could play in front of the defenders...but he won't be leaving Japan. The only other options are to have another look at Keat. We need someone who has at least some idea of the basic requirements of a DM.

LOL at least Hudson realises now that he is going to earn every cent of his meagre salary......good luck mate!!!!

From what I've seen of Tommy in white in the last 12 months I'd have to say no personally, and hey, even though Dura is a crap AW, he at least is keen as to play for us.  Might be time for Boxall to be made a starter.

I see that after the loss the new coach once again brought up these kiwis playing in Asia. I really wish he woud name them, because if it is the only ones I can name then my faith in him is fading fast

Maybe he is going to check the lineage of every Aussie footballer with kiwi connections as OZ is part of AFC

In the UK, an Pakistani is an Asian as well..... (god knows why)

Yeah I just don't see who these players are going to be?

Michael Fitzgerald would be great, but we know that can't happen.

Wasn't one of the U20s playing over there?

I'll give Hudson kudos for being honest in the post match comments. He was not exactly endorsing what his team put on display.

He may be talking about Paul Cunningham who plays in Singapore and is a Defender/DM but yeah can't think of anyone else that might be good enough (not even sure if Cunningham is, although he seems to be consistently rated as one of the best in the S-League)

Chris 'retired sports agent' Killen?

Steven 'too slow and' Old?

Kayne 'fat passport' Vincent?

Leo 'great coffee' Bertos?

Ricky 'root one' Herbert?

Michael 'I told you I am Japanese already' Fitzgerald?

Greg 'actually Wales is in Asia' Draper?

does gareth morgan have 11 secret love children secretly hiding in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea training in Pyongyang under the watchful gaze of Kim Jong Un?

The cookie bear knows something no one else does, dum de doo....he does know it is too late to bring Archie T. home doesn't he?

jake butler (singapore)

http://tampinesroversfc.com/player/jacob-butler/

One of the other threads has this post from last year.

So, Michael den Heijer has signed for J-League Kashiwa Reysol u-18's.

Identified as so in the NZ u-20 squad announced for the Panda Cup in Chengdu, China next month.

Michael was a member of the NZ u-17 team at the FIFA u-17 World Cup last year.

Also was at WYNRS and toured Japan with WYNRS previously including games against his new side.

surely there is a better barrel to scrape than the AFC for NZ passport eligible random Maradonas??

"My idol is Steven Gerrard." - Michael dH. Just who we need mate.

^ He'd fit in nicely.

Daniel?

Jeremy Brockie reply to my tweet of celebrate his first goal of All Whites, top man. Hope it's more to come.

How's this for a side of should have been in the squad/compications/injured if everything had come together. Have tried to fit in as many Asians as possible. Stefan Fenton, Smith, Old, Lochead Henderson, Fitzgerald, Keat Rojas, Smeltz, Thomas May have beaten us

Lochead LOL

I must admit I was thinking of putting leo there ;)

Er, because Asia goes as far west as Istanbul and central Russia?

He's travelling tonight on a plane.

I can see the red tail light heading for Spain, and I can see Daniel waving goodbye.

(seriously, no.)

The fever is NZ footballs scouting machine.  

If we on here are not aware of anyone in Asia apart from Fitzgerald who is good enough but not in the squad, I'd been incredibly surprised (noting that NZ is still not in Asia yet no matter how much we want it!!!)

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 5:00a.m.

LiveSPORT football correspondent Riccardo Ball joins the team to review this morning’s match between the All Whites and Uzbekistan.

http://www.radiolivesport.co.nz/Riccardo-Ball/tabid/454/articleID/20251/Default.aspx