Oh so the All Whites don’t have a manager? Big deal, the Footy Ferns’ manager left way before. Plus it was way more unexpected and only a few weeks out from their next games. (Both were Englishmen called Tony, granted). Anyway, Gareth Turnbull and Andreas Heraf are filling in for the interim as the Fernies went to Thailand for a couple friendlies. Ain’t no rest for the best.

It was only a two-game friendly tour against a team they expected to be able to beat… but the circumstances around the manager made this pretty interesting. We’ve already written about the Tony Readings thing, about how he was at the helm to guide this team into the professional era, about how there was always a bit of a feeling that Readings didn’t have the tactical ideas to take this team to the next level. Can’t argue with what he achieved but the Ferns need to start getting results at the big tourneys. Readings left of his own accord, fair play to him. The Football Ferns now need to look at this as an opportunity to grow even further.

By the look of the squad that’s exactly what they were planning on doing. Four players were picked for the first time: Hannah Blake, Maggie Jenkins, Elise Mamanu-Gray and Jana Radosavljevic. The first three of those are playing in New Zealand (EMG’s absolutely dominating for Southern United right now) while Rado plays in Germany for BV Cloppenburg and was born in Serbia but lived in Wellington as a teenager. Steph Skilton and Grace Jale each get recalls too after going head to head in the poorly named Women’s Knockout Cup for Glenfield and Eastern Suburbs a few months back. Malia Steinmetz and Liz Anton were late additions to the travelling squad as well.

Clearly a look towards the future… although there were a few inexperienced players on the tour of USA the other month too and very little sign of them getting valuable minutes. With a few key retirements over the last year there are spots open now and an injury to Rosie White meant an additional chance for someone new to impress. Daisy Cleverley (injured) and Marty Puketapu (college) were also unavailable, but all the usual names were still there. Ali Riley, Ria Percival, Erin Nayler, Amber Hearn, Katie Bowen, etc.

It was pretty fascinating to figure out the state the XI on the Thai live stream of the game, Heraf and Turnbull clearly had some ideas about things. Most notable was the decision to play Ria Percival in midfield alongside Katie Bowen, despite her being NZ’s first choice right back for a long time. However you could argue that she hasn’t been at her best for the Ferns for a while and it was beginning to get frustrating that someone like CJ Bott wasn’t getting an opportunity – particularly after a poor couple games from Percy in America.

Well, here was that chance. Bott got the nod at right back and Percy was given some big props in going from fullback to midfield. Olivia Chance and Annalie Longo played in front of the holding mids, ostensibly as wingers but really as roaming playmakers and Hannah Wilkinson partnered the returning Amber Hearn up front. Call it a 4-2-2-2 formation, some Football Manager thinking right there.

Hey and in the interests of continuity from the Readings Regime, it’s nice to see that there’s been no end to the creative free kick routines as well. This was not a one-off:

You can forgive the Ferns for being a little off their game with a new shape, a couple new managers and some new players in there. Playing away in Thailand isn’t the easiest either, this is not a weak Thai team. These was their ninth and tenth home games of 2017 and they hadn’t lost in their own conditions since Vietnam got them 2-0 in July 2016.

You could see a team in transition best of all through Katie Bowen barking instructions to players around her. She wasn’t the only one either. Bowen has fast become one of the most dependable, most important players in this team. Partly through other midfield retirements but mostly because of her own rise with Kansas City (soon to be Real Salt Lake). She’s the best distributor in the team and always one of the hardest working too. Often a presence on the edge of the box on attack yet regularly sitting in between the defenders in possession too.

Crucial point, there. When Bowen sits deep it allows the central defenders (Stott and Moore have established themselves as the no-doubt first-choicers since Abby Erceg retired) to stretch wider which in turn provides cover for the fullbacks to push forward. Getting Ali Riley overlapping is one of the biggest weapons this team has. We saw a couple times here that Bott can whip in a mean cross herself from the other flank as well.

Except we didn’t get a lot of that. The formation was stacked through the centre and that didn’t provide a lot of passing lanes in a crowded midfield. Hence a few too many long balls were sent forward and despite the obvious abilities of Hearn and Wilkinson they didn’t really make the most of that. Wilko especially, she just hasn’t quite figured out how to turn her strength and height into goals. Chris Wood went through the same thing and now look at him. Wilko can get there but she was bad in this first game, losing possession way too often. She was subbed off at half-time.

Side note: it’ll be interesting to see how Wilkinson goes next season in Sweden. This was her first year as a pro after finishing up at her American college and in 18 games she only scored twice for Vittsjö – although that second goal was a late ripper that guaranteed top flight footy for 2018. There was always gonna be a leap, the Swedish league is strong. It’s where Ali Riley has made her name. She’s got a platform to build from now.

Direct passing also doesn’t give your fullbacks very much time to get forward and help out. Here’s an example of Annalie Longo (playing at left mid) bringing the ball forward out of the back. The space is all to her left but Ali Riley’s back on defence and nobody else is there to help. So she punts it through the crowded middle and gives it away.

That was kind of the story of that first game. Some close chances, usually involving Amber Hearn, but ultimately the kiwi side had the better of the game without really being able to break down the Thailand resistance. Cool to see 17 year old Hannah Blake getting a debut with plenty of time to run around. Elise Mamanu-Gray also got her first cap near the end of things. First game ended 0-0.

Andreas Heraf: “The performance of the girls was really good and they did everything to win this game. A problem of the team in the last period has been that we haven’t scored that many goals but today was good because we kept a clean sheet and the opposition had no real opportunities. We’re happy about that and we did have a few chances to score so we’ll take this nil-nil and build towards the next game. But we need to score goals so we will have to work on attacking patterns to do that. It’s the most difficult thing to do in football but I’m confident the girls will be able to.”

That there is a quote worth highlighting. Heraf is not wrong – scoring goals has been a serious problem for the Ferns and it isn’t a new thing. Breaking down better teams is tough to do. It’s also necessary to do and if we couldn’t do it against Thailand then we sure ain’t doing it against America.

However what that quote also highlights is a desire to tweak things, to keep pushing for improvements. The team that lined up for the second game was considerably different. It was more of a 4-4-1-1 shape, with Longo playing behind Hearn. Wilkinson dropped to the bench while Anna Green came in at left back with Riley playing further forward in left mid. Same deal on the other side with Chance on the right. Anna Leat got the start in goal for her third international cap.

And here’s the thing: they were fantastic, winning 5-0 in one of the better performances this team has given us in a fair while. Damn, they were good. It was sustained attack for ninety minutes, the Ferns were in complete control. Then you look at the first goal they scored and… maaaate.

This is just a great move and a great goal. Liv Chance presses onto the defender there to force a pass to a midfielder who, sure she was open… but she didn’t exactly have any options. Quick pass around the corner is picked off by Bott and she exchanges a couple passes with Percival. Bott plays the inlet pass to Longo who gives it back to her into the space created by Chance’s run. Pinpoint cross and Hearn does the rest with a nice guided touch into the net, count it and that’s Ferns goal #54 for Amber.

Katie Bowen’s goal was a bit lucky, the keeper spilled a free kick right at her feet, but you get those moments when you’re making all the play. Add in a couple penalties and a rocket from Longo after Hearn had dropped it down for her and this was a really fun, enjoyable game.

So much of the success came directly from things that were changed after the stalemate in game one too. That opening goal is the best example, that’s a couple midfielders and a winger and fullback defending as a team and then attacking together as well. Movement off the ball and vision on it. Even the fourth goal is similar, with a lot of congestion in the middle third of the pitch allowing Betsy Hassett to slip the ball wide to Riley on the run. In comes the cross and bingo.

It’s not just about putting the ball into the box, it’s about getting it there from good areas where you can unsettle the defence. These were things the Ferns couldn’t manage in the first game and which they excelled at in the second after a couple little alterations. That, right there, is rather outstanding to see.

Tell you what else, when CJ Bott is playing that well it’s pretty hard to see how Ria Percival gets back in at right back. So good thing then that she also happens to be a mighty solid midfielder, working really well alongside Katie Bowen. Plenty of tenacity between the two of them. Bigger tests will emerge for that midfield pairing but it looks like we’ve found something to work with there.

Say and would ya look at this? Plenty of minutes for everyone to go around.

Thailand aren’t the toughest team but they’re a decent one and although it was a pain that they didn’t make the most of that initial game, the way the Fernies responded in the second suggests that they’re heading in the right direction. Now… about that new manager…

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