Subject: [NT] Friendlies

i know his skills :P its just the charisma from coming from 11 Wise Men youth academy :D

Herbert did provide some spectactular service for Chadwick - could have easily had a few more assists.

Not at liberty to divulge his skills - but I can say Phoenixemperor is doing a fine job with both him and Tomlinson. :)

Booo! Sansom and Atkinson are better..

Heehee. It's kinda tough to compare them. Tomlinson and Herbert are (at this stage of their careers anyway) "specialists" at flank midfield. Both Atkinson and Sansom are more flexible in that they can play inside and outside.

Atkinson has been super - he's pretty much played Pritchett out of a job (guess Pritchett shouldn't have got injured).

Sansom is a breath-taking prospect. If he weren't in such terrible form, he'd be pushing for an A-squad spot. :) Too bad he only got 12 minutes on Saturday - hardly worth the warm-up stretches. Was supposed to get 20. Probably should have brought him in at 60, but I hate using all the subs with 1/3 of the match to go.

Superstitious? :)

Maybe a little. :D But there is some basis for Atkinson over Pritchett. Atkinson isn't very far behind in total skills, and has a nicer distribution (IMO). Add in the form discrepancy, and it's not much of a contest.

This week's match against South Africa has been booked.

Playing U21 with 2 22 year olds (if desired). Good for the main squad to get a little rest, as it's had a pretty tough time with injuries and cards the past few weeks.

I will post the line-up here early in the week.

This looks like the line-up for South Africa this weekend.

Jerry Anthopoulos, age: 20, West Auckland Warriors
Jake Dabner, age: 21, Unbelievers youth, playing in Poland
Gary Edwards, age: 21, AC Cikini youth, playing in Poland
Matt Gilbert, age: 21, Fiery Tigers youth, playing in Belgium
Matt Hawkey, age: 22, 11 Wise Men youth, playing in Romania
Darren Herbert, age: 21, 11 Wise Men youth, club: Hyperintelligent Shades of Blue
Rob Morcombe, age: 20, Fiery Tigers
Alex Richards, age: 21, Deathstrike youth, playing in Scotland
John Root, age: 19, Cashmere
Sam Sansom, age: 20, Deathstrike youth, club: Invincibles
Robert Smith, age: 21, Fiery Tigers youth, playing in Spain
Craig Sparrow, age: 22, St Patricks Blue youth, playing in Poland
Kaz Taylor, age: 19, 11 Wise Men youth, playing in USA
David Watts, age: 21, Deathstrike youth, playing in England
Alan Welford, age: 18, N_Z youth, playing in Romania

Leaves room for one more - likely to be Aaran Mair or Greg McGuiness.

Matt Gilbert, age: 21, Fiery Tigers youth, playing in Belgium

and yet another pop for him today :)

Underway vs. South Africa

Not sure how the tactic is going to work. :) Started with the players I wanted to use, and built the formation from there. Ended up with a 4-5-1 (something I would almost never contemplate with the senior squad). Includes a winger, tho it seems South Africa likes to play 5 wide and CA. Winger may not be very effective (have tried to get him into good spots). A player to watch is Sparrow - he’s quite interesting, and well suited to the role he’s in today.

Hawkey takes penalties, Sparrow takes freebies. Smith subbed for Sansom at half. Herbert for Root at 50, Mair for Dabner at 65.

Formation worked alright. Conventional wisdom suggests that a strong midfield with lots of crisp ball movement is a good remedy for a counter attack, and it seemed that way today.

That said, the main reason for heavy midfield today was to get alot of these nice middie prospects on the field.

I was very pleased with Sansom's ball movement (was unlucky not to get an assist on the first goal), and really look forward to seeing what he can do when he rounds into form.

Both Root and Herbert delivered some fine balls from the wing. Dabner looked pretty cool in his role. Smith didn't contribute much offensively, but was very responsible defensively and looked much more limber then in his last appearance.

Anthopoulos saw a fair bit of action on his flank, and held up well. Defense played pretty well all-round with minimal gaff-age.

I case any are wondering, I did intend for Sparrow to take shots. :) His striking is actually only 1 level below Hawkey. The offensive midfielder is a position that wasn't particularly beneficial under the last ME (relative to wing play), but has (IMO) seen increased importance under the current ME.

Back to qualifying and India next week.

It was a good game. I think SA are a bit underrated.
Kaz Taylor got his highest mark 79. he made some good saves.
I really liked the way David Watts played. His big punts down the field took alot of pressure off several times.
Interesting place to play Root. He almost scored his first goal :). But he wont pass unless the forwards are in position close to the goal. Cant wait to start training pace. His lack of speed shows up a bit more in bigger games.

I agree that South Africa is under-rated - their senior team especially is far better then their user total would indicate. :) The South African manager chose not to use any 22 year olds. Tilted the playing field a little, but the New Zealand quality would have shone through regardless.

I was hoping Root would squeeze off a shot or two. :) I had visualized him scoring one today. Long term I think Root could also be quite comfortable in the role Sparrow played today.

This weeks friendly with the Dominican Republic is booked. No official restrictions, but both sides have said they will be playing mostly youngsters.

This is the match the our NT Trivia winner gets to name a player to. :) Not sure if Barhilo has anyone picked out yet ...

hmmm thats true...

Decisions decisions.. i might give someone a go that not normally would =]

That was the idea. :)