Subject: [NT] Friendlies

The comment wasn't meant as criticism. If anything, it was a compliment for doing a nice job with the NT.

In fact, keeping a fairly static tactic with one's club team might be seen as beneficial for the NT, as one's tendancies are obscured by the uniformity.

well yeah, it was mainly since I didn't have the depth to constantly keep switching, but I also knew that if I didn't vary it too much at least initially when I took over the NT job it would make it hard to give anything away to fellow managers in our qualification group.

Mainly it was due to a lack of depth and the change in the engine towards crosses kind of stopped me from playing wingers due to my midfielder skills, so I had to focus centrally.

With the Australian NT there's so much variety so I can be quite flexible. It's in such a good position compared to 3-4 seasons ago, when we had 30-40 users.

I didn't take it as a criticism when I read it either and looking forward to the game in around 90minutes :). I'm still scared of what this surprise is though :s.

it will be fun =]

The surprise is that Bodger will score 20 goals!

really, I thought maybe the pitch would be so slippery that Bodger slipped and got injured for 28 days :p.

eeek

Enough bodger injuryness... i want to do well this season to finally knock bball off his throne!

Bodger deserves an injury.

Underway.

Today’s tactic may look like I’m getting lazy. Not necessarily true. :P This wasn’t what I had originally planned for this match. I’d hoped that the wings would impress last week, and maybe force Australia to open up a little. Then New Zealand could focus centrally (with a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3). But since the wings were quiet last week, I don’t think Australia will feel compelled to defend them. So there should be some space out there. Long story short, I thought the biggest surprise this week would be a repeat of the same tactic.

Though the formation is the same (some small tweaks), the “look” should be a lot different. Hird drops back into the attacking midfield role. Hopefully he can generate some offense - the Australia defense sometimes backs in, which might give him some room. Gilbert slides into the wide forward spot with hopes of “second chance” opportunities.

Will need a better match out of Atkinson, who was uncharacteristically “off” last week. I’m a little worried about Richards - he doesn’t have as much grit as I’m used to in the defensive midfield, but I’m hoping he can make up for it with a little more creativity. Back line should be stronger this week - Dawkins replaces tragic form Edwards, and Watts slides back from the defensive midfield.

Hird takes freebies, Bodger penalties. Herbert on for Atkinson ~62. Chadwick for Gilbert ~75.

After last week, my record as an NT manager during election time is 2 wins, 1 loss and 4 draws. Unspectacular to say the least. :D

Good game, I thought we were getting on top until Widera got sent off :(. Then you lot had extra space to work with and scored the winner.

indeed, a good win. will have more commentary later on, was pretty horrified when Bodger missed the shoe-in pass..

WD though Seca

Game went much as expected. Australia controlled the ball pretty well with their midfield, New Zealand counter attacked when possible. Match could have gone either way.

Taylor had a very nice day (both keepers played well).

New Zealand kicked the ball out of play 15 times (compared to Australia's 3). Many of these were "panic" kicks by the defense, but a number were failed attempts to get the ball to the wing. 15 is far too many. I try to put an easy outlet pass in for every player, but it doesn't seem to be working (at least not in this match). Will have to take another look and make sure I'm not asking too much.

Not a single cross from the wingers in this match. Add in the turnovers trying to get the ball to the winger, and it's not good cost-benefit. (Tho one of the other perceived advantages of playing a winger - additional cards - was in evidence). May be some re-evaluation. :S

Bodger and Gilbert both had nice games. Dawkins and Watts did a pretty good job too. Kilkenny did a little too much wandering at times for a central defender.

Given the election, no plans have been made for next week. :)

Even if the wings were successful last week, you wouldn't have seen me cover them anymore then I did. My aim was to control the centre of the pitch and set up strikers that way. One of the few things I noticed that seem to be nearly always the same was the width placement of your midfielders so I decided to put ours just a fraction wider and in behind them. Almost worked out, but I hadn't covered for the red card case to our defensive mid, and that really hurt.

Good luck in your elections, and whoever ends up with NZ good luck in the world cup as well.

That's a good observation about the midfielders. I liked the positioning of the Australian midfield. The ball movement was quite free and fluid. The red card affected that somewhat.

I'm not very flexible about the lateral positioning of the two defensive midfielders because one of their main jobs is to cover the gaps in the back line (to block through balls).

Even if the opponent puts middies outside the DMs, often the DM can push him wide and the full back can deal with him. Australia was pretty effective either using the great support built into the formation, or making quick crosses before the fullback engaged. New Zealand did quite a bit of chasing in this one. But you are right, I should look for ways to change that up. :)

Nice win seca,its always good to beat your rivals,

I didn't take it as a form of criticism, tbh. I apologise if it came out sounding wrong.

If Howarth was playing it would have been a draw, plus Bodger would have been injured :P.

i thought Watts was going to injure him?

or are they both part of the mongrel mob?? ;]