Asunto: National Team

you were supposed to keep that quiet :p.

Seriously though Bravo's an awesome striker and Mexico have a pretty awesome squad.

What really hurt was the slight misplacements of the defensive wingbacks, particularly from the corner throw ins where they were able to generate the awesome crosses.

Also the central defense sometimes shifted back just a fraction too quickly allowing Bravo the chance to run through for a shot from the edge of the box.

Other than that, seemed to work well but couldn't come up trumps, just wasn't meant to be today but we've still got a rematch against them to get the result we were seeking today :).
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I think only thing that with hindsight I would have liked to have different was the positioning of the wingbacks to cover their wingers front on, rather than semi-front on.

Also the central defenders dropped back a little too quickly and it wasn't intended to drop back to allow them to get a shot off.

Other than that, I thought the plan that was approached worked, just that on the day we called tails and the coin came up heads. Not much you can do about that.

thanks Cometer...
my question didnt mean to be cheeky after the loss, it's just nice that I can learn something from this.

No problem :).

A very nice effort. :) Some fantastic crossing by Australia (primarily Willis). As Barhilo said, both keepers had sensational matches.

I think you are bang on with the post-game assessment - a little more width from the wing backs would have made things much more difficult for the Mexican wingers.

I was curious about Widera's positioning - a little unconventional to play him off-set like that. What was the thinking behind it? (This isn't criticism - he was often in a good spot to make the play).

Mainly, it was decided that Mexico were likely to use two wingers, and I had been observing how the wingers had been performing in past games and came to the conclusion they were too dangerous to leave alone so I needed to cover them.

As a result of heavily focusing the attack down the left side of the pitch chances were if they got the ball down our right side it would give their winger a chance and that appeared to be our most vulnerable side as at least on our left side we had players capable of intercepting passes so 1 def wing was sufficient there.

So really Widera was used there to support Nohra in trying to prevent their winger causing damage.

That at least is the impression I got and what I also believed when generating this tactic when I was discussing the choice of tactic with Achmid as it was largely Achmid's idea to try something like this against them and I saw the reasoning behind his plan and believed although it looked odd, might actually work if they were to play with the 2 wingers.

Yeh what cometer said was spot on, although his other (equally important) function was to attempt to stop crosses from our right side to the strikers in the middle. if he wasnt there, then an easy pass to set up a striker was inevitable.

And as cometer previously mentioned, we had so many players on the left side that we had a high chance of intercepting passes

On the back of the amount of contributions made by Achmid to the national team over the duration of the season, I have decided to appoint them as an assistant manager. If there are any serious objections let myself know as soon as possible via skmail with the reasoning behind it or even questions if you have them which you might want explained.

My reasoning behind it, is that it will in my opinion strengthen our performances not only now but in the future. This will allow different angles of things as well as potentially generating new ideas for the national team which users might find interesting, hopefully giving users a clearer indication of where the NT is at, now and for future seasons.

At the same time, it also is a way of giving my experience to another Australian manager, with the various methods I have used in running the NT which might then interest them in wanting to become an NT manager in the future and if that happens at some stage they have a platform already there to build upon.

I object to this appointment because Achmid is obviously a rubbish tactician!!!

In a related matter, congrats Achmid! =]

haha thanks mate, I will try to work on my tactics just to live up to your standards :P

But on a more serious note, I am extremely grateful of this opportunity to help the National Team in a more official manner, and have a few ideas that will make the NT just that little bit more interesting and informative for users.

I also can't wait to use my tactical ideas on a more regular basis, but would love for anyone who has ideas about playing certain teams, to come forward and send either cometer or myself an sk-mail explaining your ideas.

If anyone has any major objections to me becoming an assistant coach for the NT please come forward and cometer and myself will do our best to settle the problem to whatever extent is necessary
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Good stuff. :)

I'm sure you'll make a great team.

the more the merrier...
do you need an orange slicer for half-time?? :)

Oh my God, watching that live was incredible.

Im so glad that worked

Ando has a brilliant game, and Byers shot at goal was fantastic. Willis was cut-off tonight and I thinkit shows he need more pace, but I jsut had a feeling when Leiger came on things were going to change. And I believe that he may have jsut gained him self some brownie points.

The defenders had great poitns and not so great points but overall did fairly well.

Must not forget the efforts by Oliveria and Baveas tho, who also had outstanding games.

Well done, that one point will help us out hugely

It's days like these I enjoy so much. The defense held firm, we conceded off a fk when we had them pretty much marked but those things happen, then we were able to steal a goal ourselves through the help of a name we've been hearing all too often lately, Byers :). Although Ando had another exceptional game in goals.

I think that justifies my belief in the assistant as once again they had a major contribution towards this so once again thanks for the work done Achmid, appreciate it.

Ha no problem mate. I definitely believe the teamwork used in the tactics this season has played a huge impact on how well the Aus team is going.

Certainly although it's teamwork all round really because these players have been trained up to where they are now as well which gives a lot more variety in tactic approaches.