All Whites vs Fiji | Tue 28 Mar | 7:35pm | RoF

Jai Ingham has become 595th All Whites player.

Oh come on. Surely you've heard Harry Ngata's voice before?

Thomas & Rojas were outstanding. Nice to see improvement from Lewis - much better than he was v New Caledonia. And in 5 minutes Rufer was several levels above Dyer

Smeltz was a bit of a disappointment, think we should consider replacing him for July.

Hudson needs to find someone quick for the midfield, there is no way in hell Dyer is coming to the confederations cup.

Was impressed by Thomas and Lewis tonight. Thomas finally showed his class in an all whites jersey and Lewis had his best game for the All Whites. Marco was also good. Shane was disappointing, suspect Wood would have buried a couple of those chances.

Not sure if it has been covered already, and missed the start of the TV commentary. But can anyone shed any light on why the All Whites were playing with black arm bands?

first home game since Sumner passed away

Anthony has been through a hell of a lot of players in his years that hes been with us but we must admit we do have a lot of depth in a lot of positions. Tonight we had missing Kosta, Wood, Reid, Themi, Tuiloma, Wynne and Colvey, who all could have started if fit and available. Dont think we missed them this evening. 

Thought Doyle was immense and should hold down the LB roll. Got forward well.

D. Ingham was definitely the worst player on the pitch. I know he is only 17, but I to be honest, I don't care, invite him, give him 20min in a friendly, but as a starter? No! Brother J. brought some speed and spiced things up. Rojas best player, McGlinchey was good, but to deep in the first half. All in all game to one dimensional. And are we playing really with 5 in the back?

You saw a different game than me thats for sure.

For a 17 year old on debut he did a good job and certainly didnt disgrace himself.

let's not get carried away. That was a very ordinary Fiji side. Apart from Krishna majority of that side are probably Central league / NRFL standard

we played with three at the back with wider backs and had width you never saw from merricks teams. Doyle was good, particularly in second half. It was a stroll really, Fiji made the jets look good, we should have done more, Fiji midfield was like a sieve in the first half, they sat way too deep.

Id still take Roux and Graham over Ingham but he did well. U20s for now please. Interestly Roux dropped the AWs from his twitter bio

I maybe wrong here, but since Wynne was dropped because of eligibility, I think Roux was also dropped for the same reason.

Correct me if wrong, but I don't think Roux was ever called up again? or was he?

Is Roux actually eligible for NZ? I know he lived here as a kid but I am not sure how long etc.

Spoke about moving past that once sorted, and was listed as injured pre ONC last year.

NZ postmatch presser (Anthony Hudson, Ryan Thomas, Jai Ingham): 

https://soundcloud.com/yellow-fever-2/nz-postmatch...

Fiji postmatch presser (Christophe Gamel)

https://soundcloud.com/yellow-fever-2/fiji-postmat...

party at mine u bring the karva

Yeah, pretty sure we'd miss some of those guys - Reid and Wood especially - if we were playing decent opposition

We didn't get out of second gear last night and really didn't need to. Missed a lot of players but definitely showed off a bit of depth. I thought D. Ingham was a little off the pace and indecisive but that's exactly what you expect from a 17 year old and I can see why Hudson wanted to lock him in. 

Doyle, Thomas and McGlinchey were the highlights for me, and Smith and Boxall both left an impression as well. If Lewis plays ok at the Confeds Cup I can see him being picked up, he fitted in comfortably out there, as opposed to how Dyer looked despite playing at the same level.

Looking forward to playing (probably) Tahiti!

NZF said that everyone had a dispensation granted.

I take anything NZF says, especially about eligibility, with a very large pinch of salt

Okay if laboured by team.."double downs" played well.  Brothers>>sisters.

I'm not a fan of Dyer, but how are people seriously picking holes in what he did in three minutes last night, he made two passes out of two attempts.

Someone mentioned the gulf between Rufer and him... sorry, but I like Rufer and his passing was poor (gave it away numerous times) and he was quite stagnate off the ball.

Lewis has grown hugely as a footballer, had some nice touches, quick feet and possesses a powerful shot. If we lose Roly and a couple others.

He'd be worth a contract at the NIX, assuming he'd be happy to take a pay cut : )

I enjoyed that, and it was a good night overall for NZ football.  Good crowd and this is a very young group who will hopefully go through this cycle and the next one together

Hudson's selections over the two games look pretty inspired in hindsight. Big, strong, defensively sound side in Fiji, and then changing it up to deal with the deeper defence the home tie would bring - no DM needed, just Weemac at the base spraying balls around. Worked a treat. 

I was very surprised that despite such a tight knot of Fijian defenders in the box, we still managed to play right through the middle a few times with clever touches as well. 

I thought both fullbacks did very well getting forward so often, pity about some of the crossing. 

Rojas and Thomas together on the pitch is very exciting. Smeltz' lay-off for the first was classy, but overall he wasn't enough of a presence in the box. Yes crosses were often poor, but when they were good, he wasn't able to get himself on the end of them. 

I think we'll go up another level with Rojas, Wood and Thomas as the front 3, which also gives us the luxury of someone like Smeltz off the bench. 

Hassle Hudson all you want about the 54 players or whatever it is, but for me, it has worked. It does actually feel like we have depth now which was the whole point of that exercise. 

Guys like Lewis, Wynne, Graham, Colvey, etc look quite comfortable in the shirt now, yet most would never have got a look in under Herbert and many other Managers. 

Overall my biggest take away from last night was that I've never seen an All Whites team with an attacking game plan look that cohesive, no matter the relative strength of the opposition. 

Imagine if instead of young Ingram we had had Kosta in the wide right position.  His direct running and pace would have made a big difference and I suspect we would have scored a hatful.  It's selection decisions like this, and picking Rufer ahead of Ridenton, that have me wondering about Hudson's judgement.  As a Nix fan I'm happy that the two guys weren't in the All Whites squad but as an All Whites fan I hope this doesn't indicate how he is going to play the remaining World Cup qualifiers.

Think he's already lined up a Euro gig.

That Smeltz 'offside' goal didn't look offside to me. Anyone seen a replay of that?

Didn't mean to "this" you. It was off, fractionally. From memory.

Kosta isn't going to play as a wing-back. He's competing for spots with Rojas and Thomas, not D Ingham.

With a three man defence modern teams regularly play an attacking midfielder in the right wing back position.  Think of Victor Moses at Chelsea and Antonio Valencia at Manchester United.  Rojas was much more central last night so there was definitely room for Kosta in that role.  Maybe for a tougher opposition you need a back four and the options change.

Valencia is defensively sound, trained a lot in the position under Ferguson, and plays RB in a back four regularly. He's really no longer a winger at all, but a specialist RB.

Moses is a decent example, but lets face it, he's failed as a winger at that level, and has been re-purposed successfully by Conte. He had the ingredients though - big defensive desire, strong, a real athlete. 

Kosta doesn't possess those attributes in my opinion. 

Valencia has been a fullback for the last few years and United have only played about 3 games with a back 3 under Mourinho. Kosta would not suit the wing back role in the slightest. If you want to put a winger there its going to be Thomas over Barbarouses every day of the week. I don't follow Chelsea closely but I was under the impression that Moses is something of a utility player who has blossomed in an RWB role this year.

There's a reason our wingbacks under Hudson are fullbacks when they play in a back 4 - the defensive responsibilities of the position are as important, if not moreso, than the attacking. Ingham had a free license to get forward last night because we were playing Fiji but Kosta isn't going to do the defensive job necessary vs Colombia/Chile/Ecuador/Paraguay, should we make it that far. Would much rather Roux/Colvey there.

He was just off-side

I think my point is that for a wide right player Barbarouses would have been a much better option.  Play a back four of Doyle-Smith-Durante-Boxall, Lewis and McGlinchey as your central two, Thomas-Rojas-Barbarouses, and Smeltz up front.  Sitting behind the Fiji goal in the first half was frustrating as we watched Ingham in acres of space bearing down on the penalty area and then...cut back to Lewis and let the Fijian defenders reset.  We needed to hit them fast while they were on the turn.  That's what Doyle did so well in the second half.  I'm not interested in whether he is only 17 and playing his first game, this is a World Cup qualifier that we needed a result in.  The balls behind the Fiji defence were perfect for a direct run into the box.

But the ball was played at by the first defender when it deflected off him. Doesn't that put Smeltz onside?

Not if he was already offside when the initial ball was played