Thirty-Three Thoughts From The All Whites Games vs Ireland & Lithuania
Two losses in a row isn’t the prettiest sight in the world but after 525 days between games, and even longer since our top players all featured, any result’s a good result because it means the All Whites actually did something. And it’s important to keep all that in mind: this team has basically been inactive for two years and they’d had two training sessions with their new coach leading into the Ireland game and then for the second game it was an entirely different starting eleven as Danny Hay sought to expand the playing group by indulging in some of these young lads that have conveniently emerged in the two years since the All Whites were last a relevant entity.
Lots of mitigating factors there that stood between the hobbits that are the All Whites being able to deliver the One Ring that is Victories to the Mount Doom that is Reality. So I’m not really worried about those results at all. There was talk about the potential to upset an inexperienced Irish team or that relatively weak Lithuania side but expecting the All Whites to be able to capitalise was probably a bit much... and that’s the way it unfolded. Even a weakened Irish team still had plenty of Premier League talent. Hence rather than writing individual match reports from this tour, here are a bunch of scattered notes instead which more accurately reflect the scattered nature of these two performances...
1) Scattered is an accurate word. A lot of the chat leading up to this new era of the All Whites was about how Danny Hay was going to unleash these talented young players with a more open style of play that allows the All Whites to take some initiative in games. All the players raved about that freedom and there were definite and tantalising glimpses at what they’re capable of. But only glimpses. They started poor against Ireland as they were pegged back trying to deal with the energetic front line of the hosts and were guilty of overplaying it or lingering on the ball more than a couple times – a problem against Lithuania too. They did grow into the game and took a beautiful lead through Callum McCowatt but they weren’t able to maintain those levels and faded in the second half as Ireland ran out some serious depth off the bench. As you’d expect, most of that quality came when the ball was at the feet of Sarpreet Singh or Ryan Thomas and even fewer surprises that Thommo was heavily involved in the build up for the goal. Scattered glimpses.
2) The Lithuania game had fewer of those scattered glimpses because instead of having a midfield included PSV and Bayern Munich players, it was an all A-League affair (Rufer, Ridenton & McGlinchey). And Lithuania didn’t play like an A-League team. No real physical stuff here, they were more about pressing quickly and nipping the ball away. Which they did on the regular. Both Rufer and Ridenton were subbed off at the break and if you didn’t already think that Joe Bell had elevated himself to First XI status after the first game then you probably do after that. At least from this crew of midfielders, anyway.
3) It was a similar story with the front three where you had Andre De Jong, Elliot Collier, and Marco Rojas who all play their club stuff in different continents to each other. Only Marco Rojas really looked like he know how to create something himself but he just didn’t have the support until the second half when Sarpreet Singh arrived on the scene. But that was kind of the point, Danny Hay was chucking these fresh fellas out so they can see what it takes. As long as the All Whites can keep scheduling semi-regular games then soon enough we should see things start to make more sense as this team is able to embrace some kind of consistent identity that different players can slip in and out of.
4) Even then, the scattered glimpses could still be frustrating. There was an over-reliance in that first game on playing the early ball forwards when we really needed to settle into possession and not be so impatient while other times good runs were ignored. Like you could see what they were trying to do but the decision making or the combinations or whatever it was weren’t there yet. Combinations will come as guys play more football with each other. Arguably the guy with the most adapting to do is Chris Wood, who only featured in the first game having had a few little injury niggles in recent times.
5) The lineups were:
IRELAND – Marinovic / Roux, Reid, Boxall, Cacace / Bell, Thomas, Singh / Just, Wood, McCowatt
LITHUANIA – Woud / Payne, Tuiloma, Smith, McGarry / Rufer, Ridenton, McGlinchey / Rojas, De Jong, Collier
Both Max Mata and Nando Pijnaker also got time off the bench, ensuring that every single player in this 24-man squad got a run out there and 22 of them made starts. Seven players made their senior international debuts (Bell, Just, McCowatt, Collier, McGarry, Mata & Pijnaker) and McCowatt scored his first international goal.
6) Joe Bell is really bloody good. It won’t be long before he’s a crucial member of this team if he isn’t already. His ability to get himself in the right positions is so impressive and his awareness and distribution are right up there too. What’s more is he’s got a massive engine on him as well. It shouldn’t be a shocker to see him stepping up to this level and looking this comfortable but he’s definitely legitimised himself to a wider audience now.
7) Having said that... even though a lot of Bell’s best work here was done on the defensive side of things I still wonder if he’d be even better with a specialist defensive mid alongside him. That way we’d also get him driving forward, playing box to box like he did with the U20s where he had Gianni Stensness to cover him. James Musa would be the ideal candidate for that role, neither he nor Stensness was in this squad (Stensness is uncapped). Something to think about anyway... it’s tough to single out individual performances over a two-game tour where the minutes were so evenly split but the two standouts were Joe Bell and Sarpreet Singh.
8) Singh’s already showing the evidence of Bayern Munich and it’s an utter delight. Between the end of the last Phoenix season and now (there’s also an U20 World Cup in there) he’s looking to pull the strings so much more, dropping in and finding pockets of space and really demanding the ball. Then once he’s got it he’s so much better at rolling either way to avoid the challenge and knowing when to pass and when to charge forward and all these things. Singh has six caps. He’s the only player to feature in each of the last six All Whites games, all six of them since the Peru contests. And already he’s one of the four or five absolute guarantees in a first choice team (Wood, Reid, Thomas, and Singh? Anyone else? Cacace perhaps... Boxall and Smith are interchangeable... probably Stefan Marinovic too, to be fair).
9) I’m torn about how that relates to Joe Bell. A few months back he turned down the chance to join a Norwegian top division team in favour of getting another year at uni over in Virginia (same uni that kiwi basketballer Jack Salt won an NCAA national championship with). American university footy has been a common pathway for a lot of players but seeing the refinements Singh has already made in these early days at Bayern you wonder how Bell would respond as a pro at a top level because he’s equally as good a prospect as Singh was before Bayern came calling (would suggest McCowatt is in that tier too). He won’t develop as much in a year at university as he would have playing top flight in Norway... but maybe waiting it out means he ends up at an even bigger club?
10) Winston Reid only played 45 minutes and that was all he was ever going to play considering how long it’s been since he last played ninety minutes – which was an extremely long time ago, as even before he was injured he wasn’t regularly starting for West Ham so you’ve gotta go back to a 1-1 draw with Spurs on 5 January 2018 for that one. He’s only played an hour of U23s action and some early preseason minutes this season. But you know what? He looked just like the fella we know and love at the back there. Strong leadership, flawless positioning, winning every header... the only indication that he was still feeling his way back was when he was fouled late by Tottenham’s 17 year old forward Troy Parrott and then almost murdered the teenager with the look he gave him before unleashing a few coarse words. It literally looked like a high school teacher yelling at a cheeky student.
11) Ryan Thomas also needed some extended treatment in the second half versus Ireland which was a worry. Thommo is much further along in his recovery from his own serious injury but he looks brittle even at the best of times so that was a frightening one for a minute or two before he was thankfully able to continue.
12) Glad to see Bill Tuiloma now being considered a proper centreback, which is where he’s pretty much begun to specialise now for the Portland Timbers, subbing on for Winston Reid in the first game and then starting the second game. Those minutes against Ireland didn’t really help his case in a crowded CB depth chart as he played exactly like a dude whose season ended a month ago. Plenty too many stray touches and general sloppiness... but he was much, much, much better in the second game.
13) Nothing drastic or anything... but this is a good time to point out that the All Whites’ new approach might have some casualties. Tui won’t be one of those, he’s fine, but yeah there’s more pressure on defenders to be able to play with the ball at their feet now and we saw similar stresses from the goalies as well. And while it’s a style that should suit most of the attackers and midfielders in this squad as they adjust to the challenges of international footy, there are a few folks in particular who didn’t get picked for this tour who are going to find it hard to get back in.
14) Shout out to Tommy Smith who captained the side in the second game and kept himself fit by training with his old mates at Ipswich beforehand. Not a good look for the All Whites to concede as soon as he came off the bench in the Ireland game... although that was more about general confusion after a sub than anything Smithy did wrong. This is a fella who has had his ups and downs in and out of the All Whites jersey but he’s clearly still one of our best defenders and has plenty more to offer to this team.
15) Ah but also on the topic of defenders: Michael Boxall starting alongside Winston Reid in the first game is pretty big hint that he’s nudged his way up to second on the CB Depth Chart ahead of Tommy Smith... might have to whip up that depth chart in the coming days... but gimme a chance to finish the weekly footy coverage first. Support TNC on Patreon if you appreciate the hustle.
16) Thomas feeds it forward to Wood. Wood takes one touch to lay it square for Thomas to run onto. Three defenders close in on him. Thomas squeezes it between those three to latch on to the run of Cacace, who had taken off as soon as Wood’s lay-off was made. Cacace then squares it across to where McCowatt is hovering. Goal, New Zealand. Beautifully done and of all the tasters for what this team is trying to build towards, this was far and away the best of them. The one time it really clicked... but one time is enough because one time proves it’s possible.
17) Ryan Thomas played at least four gorgeous crossfield switches to Storm Roux at right back. Sarpreet Singh was also pretty keen to stretch his passing range and when he came on in the second game the All Whites were immediately more expansive simply from Singh trying to access the space out wide with a big switch. Rufer and Ridenton and especially McGlinchey seemed to play in their own little pockets while Thomas and Singh had the entire field to work with. It makes a big difference, keeping the defence nice and stretched.
18) They were both fantastic strikes but the similarities between Sean Maguire’s goal for Ireland (their second) and Arvydas Novikovas’ goal for Lithuania is eerie at best, concerning at worst. Also in both games the All Whites conceded in final minutes of the first half and that’s one that had better not become a habit.
19) It’s always good clean fun when Mick McCarthy is standing close to the pitchside microphones. Long time manager of Tommy Smith at Ipswich, of course, and he also worked with Chris Wood there on loan for a brief while. Woody played against a few of his Burnley teammates in that game too.
20) Presented without comment...
Debutants under Anthony Hudson (27 games):
Tom Doyle, Joel Stevens, Deklan Wynne, Kayne Vincent, Stefan Marinovic, Themi Tzimopoulos, Clayton Lewis, Ryan De Vries, Moses Dyer, Ben van den Broek, Alex Rufer, Harshae Raniga, Liam Higgins, Sam Brotherton, Henry Cameron, Logan Rogerson, Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Kip Colvey, Luke Adams, Monty Patterson, Luka Prelevic, Liam Graham, Dane Ingham, Jai Ingham, Myer Bevan.
Debutants under Fritz Schmid (4 games):
Max Crocombe, Adam Mitchell, Andre De Jong, Sarpreet Singh, Nikko Boxall, Justin Gulley, Noah Billingsley, Nik Tzanev, Liberato Cacace, Michael Woud.
Debutants under Danny Hay (2 games):
Joe Bell, Elijah Just, Callum McCowatt, Elliot Collier, James McGarry, Max Mata, Nando Pijnaker.
21) On second thought, I shall make a comment. Huddo dubbed 25 new All Whites in his time, 21 of them coming in his first seven games. Schmiddy brought in 10 of them. Danny Hay has already capped seven. But how many from each pool would you currently have in a top choice squad of 23? Yeah, ponder that one a sec.
22) Big few days for Eastern Suburbs. They got a good win down in Dunedin which is always nice but they also saw five of their grand final winning team from last Premiership season getting strong minutes here under the guidance of their old coach. What’s more is that for the last quarter of an hour against Ireland we saw a throwback to the Suburbs Three up front, as Eli Just, Callum McCowatt, and Andre De Jong got the old band back together. With all three having gone their separate ways at club level All Whites games are probably the only situation we’ll ever see them all playing together again.
23) On that note, this is really interesting (and detailed) from The Haymaker about Tim Payne, who has really flourished the last couple of Premiership seasons after embracing more of a defensive swiss-army-knife role which has seen him recalled to the All Whites and signed by the Wellington Phoenix. And at the Nix... dunno, I’ve been wondering lately if Louis Fenton wasn’t the incumbent then would Tim Payne maybe be a more suitable right back for the club? There’s give and take both ways, as Fenton offers you more in pushing forwards but Payne is a better defender both man to man and within the system and his passing range and delivery into the box is superb. There’s no wrong answer. Remember Fenton was initially named in this squad but his injury saw Payne replace him.
24) The last time the All Whites beat a European team was against Serbia in 2010. Shane Smeltz scored the only goal in the World Cup warmup and from memory there was almost a riot from the home fans. Pretty sure Nemanja Vidic had to take a microphone out onto the field to tell everyone to chill.
25) Michael Woud is a top notch goalkeeping prospect but he didn’t do his chances of stealing Big Stef’s starter’s gloves any good by struggling in the main area that Marinovic struggles in, thus negating the difference. That area is distribution and in trying to kickstart some positive possession footy in his own half, Woudy must’ve given the ball away in dangerous areas like four separate times against Lithuania. The top saves were there, particularly a couple of those one on ones, but the little inconsistencies that he’s shown in his club games as well were also there. And my phone just started beeping which means it’s right about time to add that 20 years old is extremely raw for a goalkeeper and there’s nothing whatsoever to freak out about there... however with Marinovic’s strong start to his Phoenix career combined with these two games he’s clearly re-established himself as numero uno.
26) A couple times James McGarry, making his debut against Lithuania, got caught out at the back as those blokes were always keen to make that run through the channels but JMG also flexed a notable ability to dribble forward into the opposition half when things opened up. Liberato Cacace is the first choice left back and Deklan Wynne and Tommy Doyle remain on the fringes so McGarry’s got his work cut out to stay here for sure, funky times for left backs from Aotearoa. Cacace set up the goal versus Ireland but was also well beaten in the air for the equaliser.
27) Glad to see Elliot Collier getting involved, having emerged as one of those hipster underground picks to make his debut after playing a run of games in the MLS last season before going out on loan. Not really sure that’s enough to guarantee him regular squadie status quite yet though. Collier could have scored against Ireland but wasn’t able to finish past the keeper. He then had a quiet game against Lithuania. Funny thing with him is that he’s tall and lanky so you figure centre-forward when you look at him but until he’s sharpened up his game bit more he’s gonna mostly have to hang out on the wing. His best attribute seems to be his ability to run at defenders. But having followed him a lot for Memphis 901 this year in the USL he’s got some work to do still in getting all aspects of his game up to the baseline. Will be very interesting to see if he can push for a Chicago Fire first team role in 2020 or if he’s back out on loan again.
28) Danny Hay going with the tracksuit look, s’pose that’s to be expected.
29) This may sound like a frivolous point but it was maybe four or five minutes into the second half against Ireland when I realised that this All Whites team was fun. Like, not just because they’re representing Aotearoa and not just because they’d actually scored a goal but fun in their own rights. Most of it wasn’t working but you could see indications of the style they’re trying to develop and there were players in there, the likes of Sarpreet Singh and Ryan Thomas, who are just enjoyable footballers to watch do their thing. We’ve had players like that in the past but they’ve often been stifled by overly defensive systems and watching a team cling on for 0-0 so they can pump a few long balls into the box in the last ten minutes is not fun, it’s the complete opposite of fun. Even if this doesn’t make them any more successful, this revelation alone justifies the approach. Hell, we didn’t make the World Cup playing Hudsonball either so it ain’t like there’s anything to lose.
30) Alex Rufer hasn’t been as good with the Welly Nix yet this season and he’s never been a regular squad member for the All Whites. Considering that Joe Bell kinda does what he does only better, with the exception of Rufer’s delicious ability to get stuck in with a crunching tackle, it’s only getting more complicated for him at a time when he should be pushing for regular squadie status. But Roof just needs a couple assertive games to get his confidence up is all, proving to himself and others that he can do it without Mark Rudan’s arm around his shoulder. He can start by finally getting that first A-League goal this weekend.
31) The headlines on NZF’s website from these two games...
BRAVE ALL WHITES FALL TO IRELAND
ALL WHITES EDGED OUT BY LITHUANIA
I always chuckle at how the PR crews have to tow that line between being positive and being dull.
32) Apparently this was Lithuania’s first win since March 2018. Thing is, this was also their twentieth game since then... we’ve played three in that time (and won two of them), plus the two games this weekend.
33) Ultimately this tour was all about getting the ball rolling again. We got our first ever glimpse of an All Whites team that has both Chris Wood and Sarpreet Singh in it as well as bringing Ryan Thomas and Winston Reid back into things after long term injuries. Seven debutants were blooded plus a bunch more who had only played in those Fritz Schmid B-teams. Worrying about results under those circumstances is missing the point. Danny Hay’s now talking about getting some more games scheduled in March of next year and the more games the merrier, because as we saw here you don’t suddenly start playing lovely flowing football just because you decide that you want to. It takes trust and familiarity and that takes time. So ignore the results and focus on the scattered glimpses because that’s the holy territory right there.
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