Flying Kiwis – September 29
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
Away from home it seems the Hammers can beat anyone. At Upton Park, not so much. So while on paper a team that just beat Manchester City away oughta be able to roll Norwich at home, instead we got a thriller of a clash.
The first goal came early as Robbie Brady nicked a loose pass across the backline from Mark Noble, burying his goal before Winston or keeper Adrian could get across and close him down. Yet another defensive mistake that led to a goal, West Ham’s Premier League leading fourth of the season.
Soon after they were level though. Norwich’s goal had come against the run of play, but they’d gained a lot of confidence from that and when Diafra Sakho equalised from close range (lovely ball from Dimitri Payet), that one was against the run of play too. A series of fine saves kept the game level for a long time after that but, in the 83rd minute, Nathan Redmond cut inside from the left flank and his shot got through a crowd of players and into the bottom corner. It looked like that goal would steal it, except that it didn’t.
Into injury time and with players pushing forward, Winston Reid goes down softly for an attacking free kick. Payet swerves it in, Carroll gets in front of the goalie and the ball falls free. Right in the path of Cheik Kouyate. 2-2, dramatic stuff. Reidy had another strong game with 3 tackles, 2 interceptions, 8 clearances, a blocked shot and 7 aerial duels won. Just the one foul conceded, with 5 of them won (including that crucial late one).
Unfortunately their League Cup run came to an end midweek, WHU going down 2-1 after extra time to Leicester City. It was a mix of first teamers and depth players that played the game, Winnie only coming on in the 113th minute – right in time to see the winner go in. never nice to lose in these occasions, but it wasn’t really a trophy they were likely to win.
If you wanna hear Winston raving about manager Slaven Bilic, then this is for you. There are still those at Nichey HQ that think there mighta been bit of bad blood between Reidy and Fat Sam, so… ya know.
"Most importantly, the new manager came in with new ideas that are easily understood. He's a great communicator. He likes to get hands-on in training which is good. He's very engaging and the players like working for him."
Ooh, and how’s this for a stat: Only Sebastien Bassong of Norwich (67) has made more defensive clearances than Winston Reid has this season (63). Plus his 9 blocked shots are tied for 5th (Ashley Williams of Swansea leads with 13). He’s also one of 59 players left to have played every minute so far in 2015-16. It’s been a superb start to the season for Winnie.
Up Next: Away to Sunderland at 3am Sunday. Surely… (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Smithy’s lads continue to tick over the points but a draw against dead-last Bristol City wasn’t ideal. In fact it was a very frustrating game. The first half was pretty eventless but then only 45 seconds into the second half, Luke Chambers nodded in the opening goal. However when they needed to then take a hold of the game, Ipswich let it slip with two goals conceded in four minutes. The first was a big deflection through Smithy’s legs, where he really should have been lighter on his feet, while the second came from sloppy defending on the right edge. Yet they managed to salvage a draw out of the game with a late goal to Ryan Fraser. There was just enough time left for the chance to take all three points still but it didn’t happen and that was probably fair enough on the surface.
As well as that, they also tumbled out of the League Cup too, but the writing was on the wall there long before Mick McCarthy changed his entire starting XI for the game. They’d drawn Manchester United at Old Trafford, so you can kinda understand that they phoned it in a bit, going down 3-0 to goals from Wayne Rooney, Andreas Pereira and Anthony Martial. Smithy played no part.
Up Next: Blackburn vs Ipswich, 3am Sunday (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
Leeds travelled to Middlesbrough this weekend, with their own manager talking up Boro’s title credentials. The Whites actually have a really good record against last year’s playoff losers, not having lost to them in their last four meetings, but the bad vibes settled in long before the kick-off.
Most relevantly, it was the withdrawal of Chris Wood, Flying Kiwi, with an unspecified knock in training. He didn’t travel. Sounds like it’s not too bad of a deal, hopefully he’s back sooner rather than later. Leeds certainly hope so.
Without him they were fairly comprehensively beaten by Boro. Jordan Botaka started in Wood’s place and the Congolese striker/winger got a fair bit of praise for his debut Leeds performance, he was one of the few bright spots. David Nugent (a former Leicester teammate of Wood’s) gave Boro the lead in the third minute. Half an hour later it was 2-0 thanks to a Bellusci own goal.
Leeds thought they’d clawed back into things after the break but Mirco Antenucci’s goal was disallowed for offside. Uwe Rosler was not happy about that one, neither was Woody though he was at least optimistic about it.
A Sol Bamba slip let Diego Fabbrini in for a third with 10 minutes to play, a routine and convincing win for Middlesbrough for their seventh in a row in all competitions. Leeds did threaten, they had more shots than their opponents, but they couldn’t make anything count. Makes for fairly disappointing reading, really.
Woody also might not wanna read this lil expose, which suggests that All Whites' target man has the worst first touch in the Championship. This is where he chimes in, yelling: “Well play it to my bloody feet then!”
Up Next: Home to Birmingham, 3am Sunday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
Zwolle’s sweet start to the new season came to a crashing halt this week, and you can blame Feyenoord for that. They played them twice in four days, away both times, and lost by a combined score of 5-0.
Ryan Thomas sat out the first game, a midweek KNVB Cup clash, but Dirk Kuyt did not. The former Liverpool player was too good, scoring twice in a 3-0 win. A positive start against a team unbeaten at home so far wasn’t enough and when they fell behind they weren’t able to respond. Zwolle would never have been expected to beat one of the league’s top teams, but losing so soon in the KNCB Cup will be disappointing for a team that had made the final the previous two seasons, winning it in 2013-14 (thanks to a Ryan Thomas double).
Thommo played in the league game but it wasn’t much better and he was subbed off in injury time with the game all gone. A pretty poor game in which RT gave the ball up a little too easily and struggled to get involved as Feyenoord controlled the game. Dirk Kuyt scored again after half time and his fellow Dutch national teamer Eljero Elia (last year seen on loan at Southampton) capped it off in the 82nd. Although they were in range for most of the game, Zwolle rarely threatened and their unbeaten start comes to an end. Feyenoord, meanwhile, remain unbeaten and within range of leaders Ajax. Zwolle hold firm in fifth.
Up Next: Willem II vs PEC Zwolle, 6.45am (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
There are troubled times in Thun, this really hasn’t been a great week for Flying Kiwis. A 1-0 loss to Young Boys means they’ve only 7 points from 9 games and sit second to last on the table. At least Marco Rojas got 90 minutes in this time, finding himself involved in a few influential moves but alas nothing came of ‘em.
Thun were on the back foot from the start, forced to soak up pressure as the away team attacked. 11 mins in that paid off as Young Boys took the lead. Renato Steffen’s long range curler slipping past the crossover run of the striker and catching the keeper in two minds as it snuck past him too and into the goal. That really did stun the Thuners, however gradually they found their way back into the game and Rojas was a big part of that. A deep cross of his forced the YB goalie into action before it could get to a forward, and soon after Marco was off on one of his jinking runs, a foot-in at the last moment costing him a shot but still deflecting goalwards and forcing a save. They arguably should have scored on the follow up too.
Marco was able to find good space in this game and was a constant threat. He fizzed one just over the bar in the second half. Then he managed to get past a marker and one-on-one only for a late tackle to rob him as he lined up for the finish. Thun missed some golden efforts in this one, and to be fair they rode a bit of luck at times down the other end. They’ve now 7 losses from 10 but this was their best performance in a while, Marco’s too. Just need that little bit of luck sometimes…
Up Next: Set the clocks for 4.45am Sunday. Thun are away to FC Vaduz. (NZT)
BILL TUILOMA – RC STRASBOURG (FRENCH CHAMPIONNAT NATIONAL)
Tui’s still waiting for his first start with Strasbourg, but he had one heck of a home debut this weekend. Up against SR Colmar in what’s dubbed the Alsa Classico (as in, a derby between a couple of teams from the Eastern province of Alsace), RCS rode a late winner from Jérémy Blayac, beating the keeper to a loose ball and heading it past him. It was a game full of chances though, either team could have taken it or it could have finished 4-4 with better finishing. Tui came on just before the goal was scored and even if he only got 15 minutes, he was still well in the action, clearing one ball off the line in injury time to preserve a valuable win.
Up Next: It’s off to Chambly for a 7am kick-off on Saturday (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie & Michael Boxall – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
A quick update on a couple ex-Nix lads. Brox just grabbed his first goal in a month against Platinum Stars but it may as well have been a consolation, pulling the score back to 2-1 in the second half before they eventually lost 3-1 at home. Which makes it three losses in a row, SuperSport now languishing four points off the bottom through six games. On the bright side, Brockie has started every league game for them, this being his second goal, while Michael Boxall may have had his feet up on the bench against Platinum Stars but that was the first league match he’s missed.
Up Next: A Cup tie away at Polokwane City, 6.30am Thursday (NZT)