Thoughts On The All Whites vs China
Anthony Hudson’s got a plan for this team. He has a style of play he wants to extract from them and he has a path designed to get there. The match against Uzbekistan a couple months ago was the first phase in the process, but that was with Neil Emblen’s squad and without the time for Hudson’s ideas to take root. That was the starting point, this was the first step.
A 1-1 draw away in China, against a team ranked well above us in the FIFA rankings (not that the FIFA rankings count for a single thing beyond the top 50). That’s a good result, and a promising sign. What’s even more promising is that we could have – even should have – won it.
We’ll start with the team selection. A 4-2-3-1 formation, with stand in captain Chris Wood up front alone with the attacking trio of Ryan Thomas, Marco Rojas and Kosta Barbarouses in support. Michael McGlinchey and Bill Tuiloma were the midfield anchors, while Michael Boxall filled in for Winston Reid alongside the returning Tommy Smith with Storm Roux on the right of defence and Deklan Wynne getting his debut at left back. Jacob Gleeson, that hulking man, was in goal.
Only five players remained in the starting XI from the Uzbekistan game. Rojas and Thomas missed that one with injury, while Tom Doyle was injured and Andrew Durante and Glen Moss left with the Phoenix.
The new style of play was evident from the start, which is a good sign of a tactical coach. We were physical and dangerous from set pieces, as was the case in the Herbert days too, but here we showed a real urgency to win the ball back, closing down opposition players all over the field... which caused the Chinese defence and keeper some nervy moments.
Bill Tuiloma’s role was the most interesting. He started national team life as a fullback but a ball winning midfielder is harder to find and he did a solid job there in what is probably his preferred position. With three attacking midfielders, his role on the attacking side of things was lessened, but it also meant he had to cover more ground (along with Mike McGlinchey, playing much deeper than he has been for the Nix lately). He picked up a booking early on for a completely excessive tackle on half way; after that he was pretty faultless. Winning a few tackles, distributing the ball better than expected. He had a good game until he was forced off with injury in the second half.
The one aspect where the midfield duo got found wanting was in possession at the back. The All Whites had trouble passing the ball out of defence, often getting stuck having to lump a long ball towards Chris Wood (which given his size advantage, was never a pointless option). You want your midfielders to be able to find space to receive the ball, dropping into pockets and giving options or whatever, though at least part of that was due to a very structured Chinese team playing the angles and isolating guys like Tommy Smith much wider than he wanted to be. The important thing is that we didn’t aimlessly give it away, the ball still ended up in the middle of an aerial challenge. Perhaps we moved the ball too slowly at the back, too casually?
There’s a lot to like about Jake Gleeson. He was good. His distribution was found wanting a couple times; let’s be honest though, who in our team are you gonna aim a goal kick at? Our undersized attacking mid trio? It’s basically Chris Wood. Or Tuiloma, maybe. As far as the goal went, Gleeson had no chance, and he made a couple of great saves. One right on the brink of half time to tip an attempted chip over the bar and one in the second half rushing out to smother a one on one. Gleeson’s done some positive things in the MLS with the Portland Timbers, but he’s really struggled for game time for the most part. This was promising. Glen Moss is still number one, but it looks like we have a confident backup.
Our best chances in the first half came from set pieces. Bill Tuiloma headed a free kick off the post and back into the keeper’s grateful arms and a few corners were close things. China’s best ones came from passing moves down out right side. Storm Roux got pretty messed up as he was drawn out then had the ball passing inside and/or behind him. They did it several times in the first half, creating at least one chance that should have resulted in a goal. Their goal was a wonderful volley from outside the box, however it came after a spell in which they made a couple of great chances and really had us on the back foot.
Both defences looked breakable, though. The All Whites did well in tight spaces by crowding the wings, Wood and Rojas coming across to help Thomas and create a few 3 v 2 situations. Wood was the only guy likely to score from an old fashioned cross anyway (though it’d be nice if they’d tried that option before the 86th minute…).
The first half was pretty level, China probably had the better of it. It was a different case in the second. The All Whites mostly dominated and created at least three opportunities that should have been goals under any circumstances. Chris Wood couldn’t turn in an awkward deflected knee-high ball with the goal before him, Kosta Barbarouses showed great pace to steal a pass across the defence but then inexplicably hit his shot straight at the keeper, then Tim Payne also poked one at the GK from a couple yards out. F.I.N.I.S.H.I.N.G.!!! Gotta score those.
Our midfield formation really did call for hassling from the front four. When the ball got past them, China felt like a counter attack threat all night. Tuiloma did a brave job mopping and covering but it’s really not Wee Mike’s best position. We definitely underestimated Simon Elliott while we had him. Blond curls and all.
Marco Rojas showed some flashes of brilliance, and Ryan Thomas can link up well. Kosta looks superb until he gets on the ball, while Chris Wood is great – you just have to accept a certain amount of heavy touches. He’s a subtler player than he looks though.
Eventually the goal did come. Debutant Deklan Wynne crosses one onto the head of Captian Woody and he nods a lovely finish into the bottom corner. A deserved goal. We really should have taken better advantage of Wood’s size and ability in the air.
A nice, assured debut from Wynne. They didn’t attack down his side often so he was protected but he also didn’t do much wrong.
A major thumbs down for the telly coverage. Several times it cut out to stock crowd footage during the action, including as the Chinese goal was scored. Why is it so hard to get a decent live feed from a world superpower? At least it was great quality. The Uzbekistan coverage looked like it was shot on VHS tape. Still, listening to Dewhurst and De Jong squirm was fun. “We understand there are some issues with the live pictures…” Yeah, no kidding. Since you’re commentating from a studio in Auckland watching the same images.
Also, lasers. Sharks with friggin’ laser beams. They were getting shone on the field and on players from the crowd a few times. Tommy Smith got the first enlightening after he tussled furiously with an opponent, and you could see them here or there whenever McGlinchey took a free kick or corner (his set pieces were on point this game). It’s frustrating to see, but it’s also kinda pointless. This isn’t a match winning rugby conversion, a footballer could hit a kick like that in his sleep.
A draw away from home is a fine result, especially given the chances we did create. In the future we can probably expect this unit to win that game though for now this’ll do. A solid result from a much improved performance.
Here are Hudson’s views:
“This is a big step forward. Overall I am very proud of them. They were really excellent tonight. What they gave in terms of intensity, effort and all the things we lacked against Uzbekistan, we got the opposite tonight. I thought we were absolutely outstanding as a team. One thing we wanted to address was us being competitive. Against Uzbekistan we were very much off the pace and played a soft game. Tonight we were the opposite. We came to a very difficult place and tried to play as much as possible in the opposition half. We were aggressive, we were positive. In terms of commitment of the players they were excellent especially for such a young squad.”
The young squad thing is the key. The average age was about 21, with three teenagers starting. This is a group building for the future.
The immediate future is a game in Thailand. That one kicks off Wednesday 12.30am (NZT), which is really Tuesday night for us. Call in sick Wednesday?