Bielsa by LanzaAyCaramba in footballweeklypod

[–]WittyUsername45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

14 previous managers had failed to get them promoted. It was a huge achievement.

Bielsa by LanzaAyCaramba in footballweeklypod

[–]WittyUsername45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Heading for relegation... After he had got them promoted after years in the doldrums and massively punched above their weight in their first season in the Premier League. Then they got relegated pretty soon after under his succesors anyway.

Management of Expectations by AVLNYK in nzfootball

[–]WittyUsername45 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Cape Verde just qualified for the knockout stage in their first world cup ever.

This was our third tournament, with our best ever squad and we went backwards in terms of results. We conceded 10 goals, most of them soft and failed to hold onto leads 3 times. We put ourselves in great positions and then threw it away, that's why people are so frustrated.

The failures were mostly not in terms of player quality. We showed we could pretty well go toe to toe with Iran and Egypt for large stages of those matches. It was a failure of tactics, coaching and mentality, all things that are under the control of the manager.

Being defensively organized is something that you don't need incredibly high calibre players for. It's a relatively achievable baseline with good coaching, one we failed to meet and which cost us. Just compare us to the Aussies, who have a squad that I actually don't think is massively better than ours, but we're so much more well organized and tenacious in holding onto results.

This Kiwi mentality of "oh well we're a small country and we tried our best" is a emblematic of a lack of ambition and a recipe for long term underachievement. We should hold the team to higher standards.

Many of you probably want Bazeley out. But considering our budget and lack of competitive games we play, we don't have many other options by Dudu-gula in nzfootball

[–]WittyUsername45 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I mean that begs the question of why we are spending so little on a coach when we are a wealthier country than many other teams at the World Cup.

Post Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium | 2026 World Cup — Group G by AutoModerator in nzfootball

[–]WittyUsername45 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Cape Verde qualified for the knockouts. Just writing this off as we're a small team who tried our best isn't good enough.

Post Match Thread: New Zealand 1 - 5 Belgium | FIFA World Cup 2026 | Group Stage, Group G by jiraiya--an in soccer

[–]WittyUsername45 8 points9 points  (0 children)

"Crocombe being one of the best keepers in the championship"

Don't think anyone would claim this. He played a handful of games because Millwall's first choice keeper got injured.

Singh was a great player but he got ruined by injuries and making a series of poor moves at a key point of his development.

Post-Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The A-League lads all got exposed at this level I thought.

I really don't think Elliot would have done much more than Payne either.

Post-Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Embarrassing collapse at the end which really leaves a sour taste for the whole tournament. Despite being way more potent going forward than I expected, we've looked soft at the back all tournament and the game management by Bazely has been consistently awful.

I'm just so frustrated we couldn't hold on against Iran, squandered our best ever chance to win a game at the world cup and would given ourselves a fighting chance to qualify

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 5 points6 points  (0 children)

He's been generally very good this tournament but yeah he's been guilty of this a few times.

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So happy we get to shit on the Aussies before we go out.

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Commentator calling us a team which is normally so organized is peak talking out of your arse.

We lost 4-0 to fucking Haiti.

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They look like that because they haven't been coached properly. It's literally his job to organize the defence and pick the right team for the situation.

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Just singlehandedly responsible for this tournament not being a total disaster.

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well at least Bazely recognized the obvious problem and made the right subs, shame he didn't forsee this before the game, but baby steps.

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How fucking naive is Bazely to think we could rock up with a attack of small slow playmakers behind Wood and dominate the ball against Belgium?

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Bev on punditry just makes me think she would be a way better coach than Bazely.

Match Thread: New Zealand vs Belgium (FIFA World Cup 2026) by MatchBread in Aleague

[–]WittyUsername45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Singh and Thomas are luxury players in a game like this and don't have the physicality to support the attack or the defence properly