OFC Nations Cup 2016 Final - vs PNG | Sat 11 Jun | 6pm | SS Popup

Firstly i dont believe theres been a protest and secondly if its not picked up by the ref then hes the one who should be punished

Don't think you could disqualify the goal... but really the ref should have told him to get his shin guards on before he took it. I think Fallon lost his head at the end there. His celebration after getting his goal was way over the top considering long way in shootout to go. If I was ref though and saw someone with no shinguards I'd probably regard giving them a kick in the shins an appropriate punishment.

You'd think god would have reminded him to wear his shin pads.

Im an athiest but why bash God. Who cares what he does after he got his pen

Ryan's clearly having a laugh, mate.

If we are (somehow) sanctioned/disqualified for Fallon not wearing shin pads when he took his pen (which would be nutty), then I thing Martin would be out, even though he had nothing to do with it. Any more blunders would be the last straw RE: the rep of NZF.

If this is the case, then hopefully we are kicked out of the confeds!

Regarding the penalties:

I am not a Brockie-hater simply because I have long ago reconciled myself to the fact that he is well past his best, no matter what he is currently achieving in South Africa. However, he has a poor scoring record over a long international career with the AWs, and embarrassingly missed a penalty against Mexico. Missed as in "missed", rather than "had it saved". 

Many on this forum were surprised when Hudson put Moses Dyer on (instead of the apparently favoured Hudson-Wihongi). From that I take we should expect that Dyer has a relatively low skill set, awareness, fitness, or confidence for the occasion. I was impressed with his penalty - it was strong and well placed.  And yet I would not be a hater if he had it saved by a keeper that guessed correctly - because I have lower expectation of Dyer as opposed to Brockie.

This brings me back to Brockie. After many years on the pitch nobody would accuse him of below-par skill set, or lack of experience at the sharp end. An experienced player should (arguably) always score from a penalty unless there is something not right with his mental disposition.  That is why my own feeling is that Hudson has not done his homework on Brockie (he should have excluded him).

Or perhaps he has, and decided to make him take the least sensitive penalty (not the first, not the last), just in case.

Dyer turned it over all but twice. He cannot read the game. Prevelic might be worse. No idea what Hudson sees in them

Seems like Brocks in NZ has a case of the yips in front of goal. Last 18 months with the 'Nix and the Mexico game. Seems like a good call on who to take penalties tbh. Fallon and McG had good pens. Dyer did well. Brocks bottled it, but at that point in time it didn't hurt us. 

I honestly don't think he's past his best. I reckon he could go on another scoring streak and with any luck for NZ too. But you are right- the expectations and pressures are there, his recent AW shooting efforts all pile up and the fact that without someone else- Fallon, Kosta, Wood, Patterson, Marco finding the net either, the pressure and spotlight stays on him. 

I think a creative manager would find a position for him to play. Given that squad he should be starting.

Penalty taking ability?

Sometimes I wonder how much Hudson's ego comes in here. He wants to show he's a great coach, so he doesn't pick the best players - he picks ones he can make better and take credit for - Prelevic, Dyer etc. That way, extra brownie points.

Until he eventually/inevitably loses in the islands and is sacked.

Incidentally, if Hudson wanted to see a team play long ball effectively - Russia did it today against England. Three chances, two on target - the first from a set piece on the right, second from a knock down to onrushing midfielders and the third from a cross from the left.

Noticed their was no Doyle during the celebrations. A bit odd? Or did he get injured?

Doyle came home early sick (after the Semi)

From a very good source who was talking to a very close source to Hudson. He hates it here in NZ. Has no relationship with Martin and wants to go back to the Middle East. 

bingo this guy is a fraud..and if NZF had done their do diligence they would also know...$400K per annum pissed up against the wall.

I would be very pissed if that coin is correct 

My sources say no way that is correct (the figure) but I have heard the same thing, he wants out to the Middle East and Martin wants a super Rugby job - both just passing through

let's be honest here, why would anyone want to coach a national team that plays three times a year. What would he do during his regular working week? Play FIFA?

Everyone goes on about what he promised and hasn't given... i'm pretty sure that he has the same gripes with NZF.

We'll give you a decent international programme, my balls my word!

I wish Martin and Hudson would just fudge right off.  Wonder how many people would sign a petition to get rid of these plonkers?

sauce?

400k you are having a laugh, If he is on low six figures I would consider that robbery enough

HOLY SHARK IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW! It's the plot of The Producers. Hudson is trying to get fired!!!

He came from middle east money though. He said he took a pay cut to be here, but it's got to be six figures.

That's why someone like Ramon is a good choice. The thing is when you hire a young coach he's got to be getting game time as much as the young players need to. How can he grow without playing? Ramon at least has a day job coaching. 

We're never going to be able to afford the likes of Gus Hiddick, and so we've got to either look at people like Farina or look at who's available domestically.

People say that Ramon is too inflexible to be able to coach a national team - we don't know that however, and he seemed to have done a good job with the Solomans. What he does have going for him is a knowledge of NZ Football, a knowledge of playing and winning with style in the islands, and a knowledge on how to perform against the odds on the world stage.

I too think that NZF promised Hudson more than they delivered, hence his rant around xmas about the lack of international fixtures and player attitude. So in a way I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt. And without his recent rants I would probably be rooting for him, but my patience is wearing thin.

None of this is doing anyone's career much good

Well he's got the motivation of the Confed Cup to look at now, especially if he's going to be in the window of somewhere else and NZF has got the aim of Confed Cup too so we should aim to get some decent friendlies before that. 

This is quite believable and also not surprising. As much as the faith in Hudson from the public is probably worn out (he has just won so there would still be a little) I can believe he has been promised more than he was given so in that respects, I can very much sympathise with him. If you are promised a programme with 5/6 games a year and all the other bits and none of that happens, you would probably feel that as much as your PowerPoint skills were good, NZFs con job was better.

I have also heard that Martin is unrelatable and is gagging for a Super Rugby job but if he is honest with himself, why would NZR touch him with his performance as a national CEO to date? Surely he must see that under his watch, NZF would arguably have the lowest confidence in its performance as a national body from football supporters in the last 20 years. They have lurched from one crisis to another under him and they just never seem to learn. Now they can't get sponsors and have heard 1 high ranking employee say aloud 'it's no secret our brand is damaged and sponsors are not talking with us'. I have also heard they advertised for the financial controller role paying in the $130k territory and basically was told "you have to be on call to Martin 24/7". No FC would work for that much so I would very much doubt Hudson is getting $400k especially when Ricki was rumoured to be getting around $200k territory give or take between the make up of Phoenix and NZF salary. They even mentioned at the WC coverage on TV he was on about $50k but obviously the Phoenix did the rest. If he is on $400k, he should stick around and bank it cause it would be one of the cushier coaching roles in world sport. Get $400k a year for a couple of games and the odd tournament - money for nothing!

 I admit I got sucked in by Hudson in the beginning and I feel foolish because if it. I still hold a little faint thing that he might show us something close to what he promised but I can't help think that under Emblen and his temporary stint plus the Olympic team, we looked like a football team and players rated him. We would be in a far better position if he was still in charge even if he was not most people's 1st choice or was rated.

I think Ramn would be an OK coach for the AWs but our player base may not fit his style other than we have fast paced wingers. I don't think it's that Ramon is not flexible. It's that if you don't do as he says, he basically burns you and you get shuffled on very quick. Chris James would be perfect in his system cause he uses deep lying midfielders to pick up and distribute, not screen so that would cater to something that is a positional weakness of ours. However he does get results so what do I know...

What is a big concern for me now is that in 18 months time once South America tonk us, we are going to have a team that the next coach is probably going to have to scrap and start again with because this 'young talent' is not good enough to be picked under most coaches. How Fenton continues to be picked in a national or professional environment is just beyond me when it's obvious that his shoulder injuries have taken all the confidence out of him and he looks worse now than when he scored 'that goal'

I have been pretty critical of the negative tactics used by Hudson. The result got the tick but the performances didn't. In fact I'd go as far to say the route one, sit back strategy he employed played to our weaknesses (primarily that so few of our players are physically equipped to play that way) and the strengths of the island teams. Ask yourself would the Soccerros have done that. No they wouldn't have accepted anything less than 4-0 wins and would have gone out there to play other teams off the park while still being physical. Yes they are a better team but they also back themselves. 

That is the point I find hardest to accept is yes we won but would could have done it adopting a less risky strategy (ie keeping the ball and pressing) which is what we did relatively well against the Solomons and as Hudson said against Korea et al. 

But look the guy has passion, seems to have a squad that are together, has one of the worst administrations behind him, got the result so we have to cut him some slack.

I think he'll regret the comments he made about the media post the game but he was probably still fired up and on a high. He is, after all, in his mid thirties and as someone also that age I know that no matter your position or title guys our age are still prone to saying what we think a little too much.

I also think he grossly overstated the players he was missing and the impact on the paying style. Winston is massive but he still had all of his best attackers and midfielders except Thomas. Smeltz is not the man he was. And I doubt he would have played too much different with Wynne and Roux there (I think they were the players he mentioned). So our inept attacking was pretty much with our best mids and attackers...

So I was disgusted by the performance, happy with the result and am undecided about the future. The proof for me will be the October friendly and first stage WCQ's.

I want to see what he does when he has his A team. I actually agree with this high pressing strategy and quick transition to our pacy wingers. We need to be a team that's hard to break down and counter punches effectively. I can't stand Australia but the Socceros are not a bad team to TRY and model us on... 

So I'll try and get behind them and see what we look like with Winston and Ryan back. 

Too early for a confeds thread yet ?

I have to agree with Hudson.  We absolutely did make a statement in this tournament.

That statement is in our current state we are only just the best in Oceania so are probably exactly where we belong.

I know Hudson has discouraged any negativity from the media, but I wonder if he is self-reflective. Does he think this football is good enough for the Confederations Cup? Does he realise that if we play like this we're going to get our worst ever results in the Confeds? 

Being an All Whites supporter, I know reaching the knockout stages of the Confeds is unrealistic, but you have to dream of doing more than just reaching the group stage. In normal Confeds Cups we know we won't make it out of the group stage but in our last one we ended up getting one draw. I honestly reckon if nothing changes this time around we will lose every game by 3+ goals and be the embarrassment of the tournament. What I'm really not hoping for, but quite realistic, is being in the same group as Australia and losing 4–0. But it'll probably happen if we're in their group.

He said the style will now change to a more progressive firm of the game.

Nelsen is coming out of retirement?

Watch U12's train up and down the country, trying to find some kids to give out white shirts to?

Based on call-ups the only club in NZ he watches is Onehunga Sports.

Does he have an apartment near Waikaraka Park?

I think in the Premier League, Ryan and Sami Hyypia were the two CB I think are the true leaders in the team, which others just a good defender but can't say a "leader"!

But no need, we had Rory Fallon now!

Countdown or Super Value?