Subject: [NT] New Zealand - Australia

In this hectic week it was a difficult task to find an opponent. Beggars can’t be chosers, that’s why we play Australia once again.

Due to this, we won't be having a preview this week.. sorry guys :)

Now, because of the WC approaching, we want to make sure we won't be having any critical injuries so it'll be the same squad as last week with just some minor changes :)

LINE UP

1 Alan Welford
2 Simon Williams
3 Matt Gilbert
4 Jerry Anthopoulos
5 Matt Graham
6 Robert Smith
7 Gavin Lynch
8 Alex Richards
9 Jacob Priorie
10 John Root
11 Greg Lachlan

Bench:

12 Stuart Grove
13 Jason Chadwick
14 Corey Matthews
15 Nigel Pollock
16 Rob Morcombe


GO NEW ZEALAND!

Wow you weren't kidding, beggars really can't be choosers!! =p

Go Matthews!

well .. i guess it's a deserved win this time! :) starting to look at both their individual ratings and overall ratings their team was pretty much stronger.

On our side priorie wasn't so good, if lynch has 2 seconds time he can give good passes, especially to root today. Root played good, williams also. Gilbert i wasn't surprised he took red card and giving them 2 penalty's. Smith simply played bad .. Lachlan is great prospect although his manager doesn't react to us so we don't know his stats.

If anyone else want to add something ..

deserved win this time!

*double blinks to make sure I'm not seeing things*

Seriously how can you call that deserved? You had more possession due to having a winger and keeping us offside, but it didn't really lead to much. Credit to the offside trap which worked a bit better than last time, but really I think a draw would have been fairer, considering we blew so many good chances. Also a very soft penalty given away by one of our better defenders, so I'm guessing that NZ player had a lot of tech and it must have been higher than magical, otherwise something is bizarre :p.

Meh, was a good match still so congrats on the win.
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It was because Corey Matthews was on that NZ won, NZ had 1 11 Wise Men player playing (and at least one 11WM youth) and Australia had 0 !!WM players playing. Unlucky, cometer, i thought you would've learnt that from the 1st teamer game.

Byers ain't exactly 2nd string though and he's the only aussie you have :p

I thought Australia deserved better. They really didn't take their chances very well. Welford was good.

That said, I also thought this was a very solid tactic from New Zealand. The defensive line placement was highly effective. The winger and striker positioning was good. Even the throw-ins weren't half bad. :) I liked how Root got in front of the net when the ball was on the weak-side. Optimal use of resources.

Australia's chance in the 16th minute was gorgeous.

The 16th minute play was awesome, was such a let down not to finish it off with a goal.

You should've been expecting a loss form the start then ;]

magical technique? don't let me laugh, little lower! ;-) (lower then excellent :P) you got 7 chances whom 2 penalty's .. :) maybe you didn't also see very good because we also got a few 1 on 1's with the keeper but ok .. i don't blame you ;-) in any case, we won. also you had a few great chances, thanks for the match, it was fun to see :) very tensed

It was a good match. The offsides were the big let down for Aussie. On the other hand hand I think our strikers looked a bit slow to get into the penalty box. All good really nice tactic.
I might have to think about working on Roots pace a bit this season too. ;) Although it wont do him any good if the strikers cant get into position faster

we played with B-squad to prevent injuries.. i can tell you that priorie is really slow, lachlan was faster but priorie played as far striker, maybe a small tactical error :)

allthough lachlan's second goal was a beauty, also nice assist from root ;-) and yes please train him on pace, technique and passing and he'll be a regular soon =)
(edited)

Haha ok then, I'm very surprised we gave away a penalty then considering our defender who fouled would be at least 5 levels defender higher than that.

maybe you didn't also see very good because we also got a few 1 on 1's with the keeper but ok

From my memory I'll go back and check but you had a grand total of 1 one on one (56th minute to be precise), so i think you shouldn't have made that statement :p.

Major difference was we didn't take our chances whereas you did so that was pretty much where the game was won ;).

The offside trap of NZ though was really well constructed and prevented us from creating more chances so well done on that.

All the best for the world cup campaign ahead, I believe if you can fix up the throw ins and not always make them 45 degrees or straight down the line NZ has a good chance of causing some problems in their group. That would be my biggest concern about NZ tactics over the past season as quite often the throw ins are wasted, although you had a few nice positions against us, so that's a positive ;).
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