Flying Kiwis – May 2
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
Captain Winston was there to play again, leading the lads out of the tunnel away to Stoke City as they looked to build on a 0-0 draw against Everton in his return. Build on it… how about repeat it exactly? At this stage of the season both Stoke and West Ham were pretty happy with a draw that edged each team ever closer to guaranteed Premier League footy again next season.
But unlike against Everton, here there were chances. Heaps of them and it was only eight minutes in when Winston had to be at his best to deny Saido Berahino with a stunning diving block from close range.
Stoke Sentinel: “There, with greater speed and anticipation than we have become accustomed to, was Berahino, but his control and quickfire effort was met with a superb block characteristic of Winston Reid's efforts in the heart of the Hammers defence.”
Stoke were welcoming Jack Butland back for his first home game in 413 days. Makes Winston’s comeback look minimal, which it is in comparison. And the effect that Winnie’s had on his team is one thing but Butland was brilliant, comfortably dealing with an early Manny Lanzini shot before later on making a fantastic save to deny Andre Ayew’s acrobatic bicycle kick from hitting up the headlines. Yeah, this was one of the good 0-0 draws.
West Ham also had a keeper out to make a point, with Adrian carrying on in goal after being recalled last week. The Hammers back three experiment continued as well. As for Reid’s work on Berahino, that was an entertaining watch as Winnie’s defensive guile tended to keep the young English striker frustrated but every now and then there was a chance to stretch his legs and Winston couldn’t keep up for pace, like when he shot across the goal in the second half drawing a great save outta Adrian.
Johnny Calleri had a shot or two that he coudla done better with, that rabona shot for one. Kouyate came close as well on an occasion. Andre Ayew was denied by a diving Butland also and with Adrian doing the business at the other end this was a potential high scorer that was ruined by two wonderful goalkeeping performances. Ah well, it was still a surprisingly good watch.
Slaven Bilic: “We defended as a team and limited them to a couple of chances. We created four or five chances but the problem is that we didn't score. The clean sheet is giving the defenders a big dose of self-confidence, but we created more than enough chances to score a goal.”
ESPN FC Player Ratings: “DF Winston Reid, 8 -- An impressive game from the New Zealand International; not least when he blocked a Saido Berahino shot in the first half. Reid won everything all afternoon.”
Big stuff from Winston, making a tackle and a block with four interceptions and three clearances. He used to be the go-to fella for defensive clearances but with this back three he’s taken more of a sweeper’s role allowing James Collins and Jase Fonte to get up and win those headers. They’ve got a good combination though. That’s two clean sheets on the run… shame about the lack of attack (Calleri won’t be first choice next season, to put it bluntly).
Nice little accolade here, the Daily Mail rag giving him a team of the week nod. Cheers to our Danish friends for the spot & shot here:
Dunno what to make of this rumour though…
“West Ham are considering a summer move for Leeds United striker Chris Wood as they look to strengthen their attacking options next season. Wood has scored 25 goal so far this season but it may not be enough to lead Leeds to the promised land of the Premier League as they currently sit three points outside the playoff places with just two games to go. The Hammers are one of several top-flight clubs said to be tracking Wood's availability, but they East Londoners have a secret weapon the rest do not - Winston Reid.
The pair know each other from their international duty, as they both hail from New Zealand. Reid is the captain of the All-Whites, and fellow Kiwi Wood is his vice-captain. And West Ham hope that the national connection can convince Wood to make the move to London as Everton and Stoke are also said to be interested. Leeds paid £3m to acquire Wood from Leicester two years ago, but are expected to demand around £15m from any suitors this summer.”
Presumably nothing, but it’s fun to see a couple kiwis linked together.
Up Next: Home to Spurs (good luck with that) at 7.00am Saturday (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
When you’re playing for your playoff life, it helps to get off to a good start. After a month of terrible footy pretty much ended Leeds’ hopes of the Premier League come August, they had to beat Norwich at Elland Road to have a chance. Early stages and they didn’t look half bad, to be fair. Woody was getting up for a couple headers, although tough ones and he couldn’t direct ‘em goalwards.
Decent start but nothing to show for it while Norwich were already teasing with the space they were getting in midfield. Ivo Pinto came close from distance but Steven Naismith showed him how to really do it in the 28th minute by crushing a shot into the top corner from distance. Ach, lad. Whatta strike!
Leeds continued to give up way too much space in their own half and a complete lack of awareness and marking allowed Josh Murphy to get in behind the defence and square one over to Ricardo Oliveira who wasn’t gonna miss from there. Although maybe he could have because he missed a similar one from a metre or two further out when Alex Pritchard played him in minutes later. Eh, they blew that one but the Canaries got their 3-0 lead before the break as Oliveira made amends, curling a beaut inside the right post amidst more shambolic defending.
So that was more or less Leeds’ season over. At the same time Fulham were tied 1-1 with Brentford, which would end up the final score, but for Leeds to make up any ground they had to score four goals in a little over a half after scoring two in their last 270 minutes. Can’t be done… right?
Don’t tell that to Woody. Right before the break he made a slick run to the near post to latch onto Stuart Dallas’ cross and his left knee did the rest with an awkward finish to make it 3-1 at half-time. Let’s not lose sight that this was his 26th league goal of the season, giving him a three-goal lead in the golden boot stakes with one game left.
Five minute after the break it was 3-2, Kyle Bartley getting the last touch on one hell of a goalmouth scramble from a corner. The word ‘bundle’ was used in relation to the goal. It was very appropriate. That gave the Whites a chance to get back into this and they sure went for it. Which… meant lots of room at the back and while Kemar Roofe was a save away from an equaliser, Leeds needed Rob Green at his best to keep from going 4-2 down. As he’s been all season, Green was up to the task. Then Pablo Hernandez scored a free kick with 12 minutes to go and you’d better put the kids to bed coz this is about to get messy.
Frantic footy, mate. Wood almost got through but the ref called it back for an earlier foul. Rob Green kept making saves. Bartley had a chance which he couldn’t direct on goal after Naismith was sent off for Norwich, making everything ever crazier. It all made for six minutes of injury time in which one last opportunity ended the way of Woody but it got on him too fast and bounced away from him like Leeds’ season. Ah well, they gave it a good go in the end.
YEP Player Ratings: “Chris Wood - Only once were Leeds able to lay a chance at his feet and true to form, he buried it. His lack of chances was symptomatic of the past month. 6/10”
Garry Monk: “It's difficult to be critical of the group as we've said for so long how much they've given to the club. The reality is, the majority of the group were not quite ready for this situation. They were not ready. And that's not a criticism, it's just a fact.”
Yorkshire Evening Press: “Wood created an improbable, sensational spectacle on Saturday in the midst of Leeds’ implosion by scoring his 29th in first-half injury-time, tapping home a cross from Stuart Dallas with United’s only shot on target at that stage. Norwich’s caretaker boss, Alan Irvine, was furious. “I describe it as unprofessional,” he said, having seen a thoroughly dominant half end with Leeds 3-1 down and in the game. “We had players out of position from the kick-off (after Oliveira’s second goal). That’s not acceptable to me.”’
Of course it wouldn’t be a 2017 Flying Kiwis if we didn’t have another Chris Wood award update to bring ya. This time around it was the official club awards and Woody came out with a few more decoratives.
And with the awards still coming, there were even a couple personal features chucked out there and this piece on Woody and his family from Yorkshire Evening Press is worth a good read. An excerpt:
“New Zealand is rugby country, at least to those on the outside, and Wood’s physique – the physique that Garry Monk sought to make more of at Leeds this season – seemed perfect for it. Football drew his attention instead, largely because his father played the game for Onehunga Sports, a local-league club: “I watched him every week and that’s where my passion for football came from. It’s a bit of a stereotype, the idea that everyone in New Zealand plays rugby. For kids, football’s the biggest sport there. It’s massively well supported. People would say ‘you’ve got the right physique for rugby’ and I did play a bit but it wasn’t for me. Football I loved.”
Up Next: Away to relegated Wigan, 11.00pm Sunday (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie & Michael Boxall – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
Two games this week, both league matches as SSU make sure they don’t go falling behind there. In a couple of ways too – their continental and cup exploits have meant a busy schedule but they’d also gone and lost three straight PSL games to slump from near the top down to fifth.
Luckily there were no more defeats last week and SSU have steadied themselves in fifth place. Decent achievement that, what with playing a pair of teams above them on the table. First off it was a trip to Bidvest Wits where Brockie and Boxall each played a solid 90 minutes of footy. However it was Thuso Phala who scored the only goal of the game as SuperSport came away with a 1-0 victory in an impressive outing. Created plenty of opportunities to score against a strong side, Brockie placed a header straight at the goalie while it was still 0-0 and late on both NZers came close to getting their names on the scoresheet.
Kickoff.com: “Josephs then had to be at his best to prevent Brockie from doubling the visitors’ lead after the New Zealand international had been played clean through on goal before the keeper was again at it moments later to keep out Michael Boxall from close-range.”
Following that it was a home match against Kaizer Chiefs and we had full games for both New Zealanders once more, despite only a four day break. It was only a couple weeks ago that these teams went to penalties in the Nedbank Cup (Brockie scoring the decisive spottie there) and SSU’s plight was enhanced with manager Stuart Baxter missing with illness.
After Clayton Daniels had a shot cleared off the line, the Chiefs went and hit the frame of the goal through Bernard Parker and both teams felt they could have been in front. It was Siphiwe Tshabalala who really did open the scoring in the 13th minute as the KC player scored a gorgeous chip from the edge of the penalty area. Mandla Masango levelled the game after some nice SSU passing but they were back in deficit by half time and it was that man Tshabalala again. Even the guy’s flippin’ kids were on the bandwagon!
Waiting for Brox or Box to get that equaliser was a pointless cause as neither managed to make the difference and it looked like a fourth defeat in five for SuperSport… until Aubrey Modiba’s injury time shot took a huge deflection for an own goal and they scraped a 2-2 draw out of the game. How’s that?
Some more stuff, on a lighter note:
Up Next: SSU v Bloemfontein Celtic on Weds at 5.30am (NZT)
Sam Brotherton – Sunderland AFC (English Premier League)
English Premier League but not for much longer. The Black Cats leaked a late winner to Bournemouth on the weekend which officially condemned them to relegation, a fate that was gonna be confirmed sooner or later but it’s always a kick when it happens.
When Brotho signed with them in January, though, he had to know that the first team was likely to go down. This won’t be a shock and right now he’s not that close to the firsts anyway. But sell off a few players and drop to a lower level and he might be so this isn’t the worst thing that could happen to him at this stage of his career. Might wanna given Davie Moyes the flick first but still. Winston Reid used a spell in the Championship to establish himself as a West Ham player, remember.
Sammy’s been a regular in squads for Sunderland’s under-23 side but after making five starts in a row around March he’s dropped back to the bench where he’s been an unused sub in their last two PL2 games, against Chelsea and Arsenal.
Up Next: Sunderland U23 vs Reading U23, 8.00am Next Tuesday (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Naturally Town went down to Sheffield Wednesday, who are in hot form entering the playoffs right now, but they gave it a big effort. A 77th minute winner to Keiran Lee the difference at Portman Road. It wasn’t much of a game but at least they managed to frustrate one of the better teams in the division for three quarters of the match, although this season is really stuttering to a close for Ipswich. Can’t be relegated though, no worries.
With nothing to play for, Smith was nowhere to be seen. Umm, not exactly. A quick twitter search and you can find a few fan selfies with him in his suit as the All White was deemed surplus to the first XI and, with Mick McCarthy having promised to play a few kiddos, left off the bench as well. Not too much else to say on him then. Luke Chambers is the only Championship outfield player to have played every minute of every game this season and he plays in the same position as Smith, so yeah.
By the way, Jake Gleeson’s still injured over in Portland which explains his absence lately. If you were wondering.
Up Next: Away to Notts Forest, 11.00pm Sunday (NZT)
Bill Tuiloma – Olympique de Marseille (French Ligue 1)
It’s hard to say much about Bill Tuiloma these days, so he’s become absent in the FKs. He’s playing regularly for the reserves at Marseille but with no visible prospect of making the first team and this column isn’t really about tracking exploits in the French lower leagues. We might have reached the time when it’s best for Tui to leave and find his way elsewhere, he’s easily still young enough. And probably good enough too. Turning down a loan deal earlier in the season might have been a mistake (although it ain’t like he was about to join a Ligue 1 club).
On Le Phoceen they’re asking the same damn question about turning down the loan to GS Consolat across town. Both Tuiloma and also Gaël Andonian. This one’s for you if you speak French:
“At the last transfer window, Bill Tuiloma and Gaël Andonian were reportedly close to committing themselves to loans with Consolat, in the National division. But eventually the former stayed in the CFA with the reserve team and the second left to FC Veria in Greece, last in the championship. Amazing choices.
Jean-Luc Mingallon, president of Consolat, returns in this episode in a part of the Talk Show devoted to the state of relations between the club, in the northern districts of Marseille, and OM, castigating the choice of players and their agents and regretting in passing that the Marseille staff didn’t impose itself at the time. You can find his words in the video.”
Tui played centre back on the weekend. Interesting that. He’s been a midfielder all season but we already know he has defensive capabilities too. Good on him.
Up Next: More of the same
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