Subject: [NT] News

Things are kind of quiet around here this week. :)

Good match against Ecuador. New Zealand tactic was more conservative then I expected, but still generated a good number of shots.

Interesting use of Gilbert. It's good to get him on the field somewhere, though where is always a question. :)

No real stand-out player performances IMO - Atkinson had a decent match.

yea 4 defs and 2 def mids were too conservative. I wasn't really happy about the tactic. Throw ins still aren't what i want them to be. Should have been more shots and more goals, but we won. Next match will be more offensive :) And gilbert, well, maybe it wasn't the best role for him there :) 0 chances for them, that's nice to see i think, defending was rocksolid, but bodger and hawkins missed some easy chances, i was hitting the table :)) Well, 3 points are in, that's good

Hrmm..

It could be that its 1:38am, or that i watched this match after watching the great tactic by cometer but that one didn't impress me much..

As you already said, 2 def mids was far too conservative. Against a team like Ecuador i'd like to see those guys up the field a lot more, involved and controlling the midfield. Saw a few times where their mids had far too much running space. Our tactic was for a team with great mids and strikers.

Which brings me to throw ins... I still dont get why you dont listen to me on these. They are brilliant goal chance opportunities but closer to the opponent goal they just go to custard. At corner time, Bodger is positioned to be the receiver in the throw in which makes him practically useless with his high striking ability and form, and if he does receive the ball from an offensive throw in, having to weave through the mounds of defenders stacked to defend. Also, when the ball gets close to the goal when being controlled by a winger or such, Bodger runs away from the goal which makes him a worse target to pass to.

Hawkey still hasn't impressed me which i'm not happy about. Gilbert's position i though was odd at first, but he seemed to be effective in this situation which i liked. Defenders didn't have much to do but would've liked to see 3 of them against newbie-ish team level striker(s).

Dunno what else more i can say other than it probably wouldn't be expected to score as many goals when they play such a compact defensive formation.

yes i know, 4 defs and 2 defensive mids arent needed against teams like this, but i had no chance to scout the opponent, due to the engine being down and such. I chose to play safe and put 4 defs on the pitch. If i would have been able to scout, i would have played an entirely diffirent game, believe me.

I listen to you, the tactics of the match versus cymru were much better, i would like to see those throw ins in our next match versus malaysia.

Hawkey, I had to put hawkey in the selection because of injuries of our other strikers (Hird in perticular)

Gilbert behind the strikers is for only one reason. when makes the action, and he shoots, the ball might go in, if it doesnt go in and it bounces off the keeper, then the other strikers can jump in and score. For that reason only i've put gilbert on that spot..

Cerb

I agree with what you are saying about the throw-ins. The worst thing about moving Bodger out for that throw is that your best ball striker is no longer a threat on corner kicks.

It's great to get Gilbert on the pitch somewhere. He makes things happen. :) I don't mind him in this role - the more he runs around with the ball, the more likely the opponent gets into trouble with the referee. Tho I would still be more inclined to put him up front (especially with Hird and Chadwick out) and use Sansom - Root - Matthews - Tomlinson in the OM role.

Did we win the World Cup yet..?

>_>

*whistle* we had a match just before!

Bodger is back in divine form! yay! Loved the long shot goals, take note bball =p

Throw ins improved which is good.. But could still be better. Good to see three defenders used, nice level to catch them in an offside trap but might have been getter to use a better paced pack for it (turns out it wasn't needed but still)

Would've liked to see one of the strikers back to help control in midfield, if not, one of the wingers pulled inward, otherwise a reasonable scored match.

i think it was a good match, they only scored form penalty so thats not a shame.

I payed extra attention on the throw ins but they can still be better. lots of work there.

I chose those defenders because they are the defenders with the highest lvl of defending. so they can still take the ball from behind if needed.
The Offside trap worked perfectly :-)

i've seen loads of great goals today, but still some incredible misses. one time, hawkey missed from an inch away... only thing that needs improvement there is the luck :)

Cerb

btw, on some points on throw ins i thought, what the hell?? we didn't putt those players there :s maybe it's a bug coz i was really surprised. for the rest, we shouldve used a def mid who stayed lower to be able to better pass to the wings because those were a little hard to reach. On the other side, i think it wasn't really necessary in this match to let 1 striker play a little lower because we wanted to score as much as possible :) unfortunately we didn't reach 10. unlucky :( i saw a great bodger, sansom did great too. Still can improve much more tho, that's true.

G

You would have won 6-0 if Watts played :P

who asked you anyways... LOL

What if Watts had played up front?

12-0, need you ask?

I haven't watched the match, but it appears that Gilbert was dreadful. Sorry for giving you bad advice! :(

I was surprised to see Lynch in the starting line-up. This isn't criticism - was wondering why you started Lynch and subbed Sansom rather then the other way round?

i chose Lynch because he has the same amount of passing but more defending.

thats the only reason.. in other games sansom could be more usefull with his higher playmaking :)

we only need a good bodger to win these matches, not a good sansom, we need him in the bigger matches :)