Flying Kiwis – September 15
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
Winnie and the Hammers finally managed to turn their away form into something tangible by beating a team worse than them, dumping Newcastle 2-0 thanks to a Dimitri Payet masterclass.
Payet joined West Ham from Olympique Marseille in the summer, which must make him one of Flying Kiwis’ honorary allied heroes. In fact, he was on the park when Bill Tuiloma made his Ligue 1 debut last season. And he scored the next week when Tui came off the bench for his home debut. That game ended 2-2, the other OM scorer was Andre Ayew (now of Swansea). Tui replaced Flaurin Thauvin in that game. Times have changed, aye? (For the record, the dude he replaced on debut was Lucas Ocampos, who actually still plays for OM).
Both Payet and Thauvin started this game, only on opposite sides. Payet for West Ham, Thauvin for Newcastle. Winston Reid started with Angelo Ogbonna at centre-back, James Tomkins on the right and Aaron Cresswell on the left. Victor Moses made his WHU debut, Andy Carrol, Nikica Jelavic and Michail Antonio were all on the bench.
A couple sides in transition, each with a new manager. And those managers know each other too: Slaven Bilic coached the Croatian team that beat England at Wembley to disastrously end Steve McClaren’s reign as national manager and ensure the Three Lions missed out on Euro 2008 qualification. This game wasn’t much fun for him either, the Newcastle team had to walk the last mile to the ground after their bus was caught in traffic, and the Premier League refused to delay the game meaning they got about 10 minutes to warm up.
And they were behind after 9 minutes of the match itself. Payet blasting in a pretty goal form the edge of the box following some nice work between Sakho and Noble. It wasn’t exactly commanding from the Hammers, they just sat back and soaked up the rubbish that Newcastle had to offer, then countered with pace and fluidity.
That was how it happened for their second goal. Winston gives up a foul on the left flank in a dangerous position (no card, but there probably shoulda been, tbh). But the cross is headed clear under no pressure - terrible delivery - and the ball finds its way to Moses on the break. He hit the crossbar and Payet followed it up with the decisive touch. That’s how it ended and as much as we wanna talk about Reid and his clean sheet, that foul was about all there was to say. He had a shot off target, did some nice defensive stuff and wasn’t really tested. He only had 30 touches in 90 minutes. And you know what? Pretty sure he’ll be perfectly happy with that. Andy Carroll even made a cameo at the end. West Ham move up to fifth.
Up Next: It gets much harder. They’re away to Manchester City, 4.30am Sunday (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
Wood was left behind for the All Whites latest match so that he’d be good to go for club team Leeds. Fair enough, and here he was, playing 90 mins against Brentford.
Despite the fact that Leeds started positively, they found themselves outplayed in the first half. Suspect errors were sneaking into their game and they didn’t seem to have any answer for the pacey Alan Judge. So, true to form, the visitors took the lead in the 29th min, Judge picking up a ball cleared down the side-line, running hard at the defence and slipping in Marco Djuricin, who cut inside and buried it. That’s how it stayed ‘til half time and even afterwards the Whites were made to sweat a few close calls. Djuricin hitting the post, for example.
But they responded to that scare. Chris Wood hit the post himself from a deflected stab at the near post, after a deflected cross from Mirco Antennuci. When Ante came on as a half-time sub, it changed the game. Leeds went 4-4-2 instead of 4-3-3 and that coincided with a more threatening spell of footy. And it was Antennuci who finally levelled things 14 mins from time. Brentford gave the ball away cheaply at the back, Chris Wood picked it up and fed in Ante, who slammed home on his left foot. Assist for Woody, 1-1 the final score. Leeds stay unbeaten in the Champo, albeit with only one win.
Wood and Antennuci each have three goals this season now, which is sparking calls for manager Uwe Rosler to adopt the two-striker formation more often. But in the meantime he’s playing it close to his chest. Either way, Woody’s probably gonna be starting. And next up he gets to tackle a former team of his…
Up Next: It’s the Flying Kiwis Championship Derby, Leeds vs Ipswich, 6.45m Wednesday. Then Leeds face MK Dons away, 2am on Sunday (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Ipswich’s hot start had them top of the table until they lost 3-1 to Brighton before the international break. Smithy’s lads came up against Reading on the weekend, in a televised game, which hasn’t always been the best omen for them recently. Before this game they’d failed to win their last 8 TV games, including the two playoff legs against Norwich last season, and… that record didn’t get any better.
5-1 they got pumped, and by a Reading team that hadn’t previously scored a goal at home since the start of April.
The troubles started early with Smith beaten to a header by Orlando Sa early on. 1-0. They were almost immediately level through Freddie Sears, running in a parried shot at the far post, but then they conceded again, and again it was Sa, ensuring the Tractor Boys trailed 2-1. All that happened inside 15 minutes of the kickoff.
From then it was actually a pretty even game until half time. Ipswich spurned a few chances and Reading struggled to find that final pass. But after the break the home side came out and blew the game open. Keeper Dean Gerken had a ‘mare as he for some reason didn’t come and claim a loose ball that his centre mid was shielding for him, then after it was poked away to the Reading winger, Gerken allowed the shot to fire inside him and his near post. The crossbar kept Ipswich from pulling back into the game, and then more sloppy defending pushed them further out of it. Nick Blackman ran past Christophe Berra far too easily and as Tommy Smith came across to cover he left his man wide open for an easy tap in. Orlando Sa completing his hat-trick.
Then, for luck or good measure, Reading made it five before the end. At least this final blow wasn’t such a culpable one. Sure, Ollie Norwood got too much space to shot but he also crushed it into the top corner from distance, credit for that.
“I’m dumbstruck by that. It hurts me a lot. I’m sure it hurts all the fans and all the players too. That’s the worst it’s been since the dark ages of Crystal Palace away (when Ipswich lost 5-0) and Leicester away (lost 6-0) almost three years ago. I thought we’d banished all that.” – Mick McCarthy
It’s still very early days yet but it seems the added attacking emphasis this year is really stretching Ipswich at the back. There’s a balance in there somewhere, up to Slick Mick to figure it out.
Up Next: That Leeds game, followed by a televised (eek!) 6.45am game on Saturday morn vs Birmingham (NZT)
Bill Tuiloma – RC Strasbourg Alsace (French Championnat National)
It was a frustrating game for RC Strasbourg this week, another in a season full of them. They were off the pace and spurned a bunch of chances (including two – rightly – disallowed for offside) as they drew 1-1 with Fréjus Saint-Raphaël which means they’re still without a win at home this season. 7 points from 6 games, they sit 12th on the table.
But there’s help to come. Bill Tuiloma didn’t play this game after flying off to Myanmar with the All Whites before he could get to work with his new team so obviously it would’ve been a bit much to chuck him in so soon. Not to mention with the hamstring niggle he picked up with the NZ side. However he’s deep in training now and could make his debut on the weekend. Tui will wear the number 4 jersey with RCS.
Up Next: SAS Epinal vs RC Strasbourg… 6am Saturday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
A big win over Excelsior means Thomas and Zwolle are one of only three teams left unbeaten in the Eredivise this season through five rounds. Not quite as big as PSV’s 6-0 win away at Cambuur, but still pretty big.
Lars Veldwijk was the hero, bagging a hat-trick in the 3-0 win. Ryan Thomas played 85 minutes before being subbed off with the result long since secured. Even if it wasn’t, Excelsior went and picked up a couple of late red cards (one before Thommo was subbed, one after) just to be sure of it.
Zwolle had a couple of early sighters, before Veldwijk broke through the defence a couple of time, once in the 12th minute and again in the 25th, beautifully beating the keeper on each occasion. He netted this third from a free header after the break. Zwolle actually should have scored a fourth too but Stefan Nijland missed a penalty (which was the source of red card #1).
A good solid game for Thomas too, as he gets back into the rhythm. No shots but a few key passes. He also picked up a yellow in the first half.
Un-embeddable highlights are here.
Up Next: 5.45am Sunday at home to ADO Den Haag (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
For the first time this season, Marco Rojas was an unused sub for FC Thun. With their fixture congestion to begin the season, that’s pretty impressive. But, yeah, that streak’s over now. Probably in no small matter to do with flying to Myanmar and back.
And Thun’s disappointing league form continued without him (he was on the bench, to be fair). Away to FC Zurich, they were down 2-0 at half time having missed a couple early efforts and then found themselves on the back foot. It seems like injury time goals and set pieces are becoming a big issues for Thun, so naturally they conceded that second goal from a direct free kick in injury time.
Yet in the second half they found the spirit to fight back. Roman Buess pulled one back from a superb Gonzalo Zarate pass, and thy were level through a rebounded Nelson Ferreira finish after Sandro Weiser’s free kick had hit the post. With 12 minutes to play, though, they conceded again and it looked like it may all be for nothing. Until in stoppage time, up popped Simone Rapp to nod in a dramatic equaliser. 3-3 the final score. Thun hold on to 7th on the table.
Up Next: It’s Swiss Cup time, and Thun travel to in-form second division side Lausanne on Saturday (NZT)
Tyler Boyd - Vitória S.C. (Portuguese Primeira Liga)
Another 90 for Boyd with the Vitoria reserves. They drew 1-1 with Leixões, falling behind in the second half before equalising from the penalty spot in the 73rd min. A controversial spot kick decision too but probably a fair result. It means Vitoria B now have 4 draws from their 6 games, with a win and a loss. Boyd’s started 5 of them and came off the bench in the other, with one goal to his name.
Up Next: Vitoria de Guimaraes B vs Atletico, 3am Thursday (NZT)