That is a terrible result, getting bossed and losing to a very poor Lithuanian team, second string or not.
It’s a poor result but not terrible. The starting midfield are currently 3 of the worst midfielders in the A League let alone international football. If this same starting 11 fronted up in Lisbon against Ronaldo and his mates, they’d easily concede 6 or more.
Don't see the point of that comparison? The point is we were playing one of the poorest European sides, minnows includee, with a team full of professional players, including the likes of Rojas, Smith, and Tuiloma, with Singh and Bell getting big minutes too. We barely threatened, and they could have got more. It's all good and well to say Wood, Reid, and Thomas were not there, but they may not be there for Oceania qualifying games either. Let's not pretend that this team was some sort of rabble that will never get on the park together ever again.
You yourself mentioned the 6-0 thrashing that Lithuania got the other day as a benchmark of their ability. I’m just saying that this AW ‘B’ is probably of a similar ability ie would be a poor Euro side. Esp when they are mostly strangers to each other at the moment.
They need to improve and hopefully they do, but honestly some will just drop off the radar. For example I think Lewis will come in once his fitness is up, and maybe Steneness (spp). Don’t see much of a future for Ridenton and Weemac.
Well, yes, because they're a poor side. And we're not great either, but getting outplayed by that team, even with our three best players out, was exceedingly poor. Lithuania really isn't too far off the standard of someone like New Caledonia, and if we lost to them, there'd be an absolute riot here.
Also, are Lewis and Stenseness really such big upgrades? And a couple may well drop out, but like I said, most of those guys will be involved, and may well carry a lot of the burden, in OFC qualifying over the next couple of years. We need these guys to be much better than they were.