Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

Sign Up Now!

The Australian National Football Team General Discussion*OFFICIAL*

Frankly Speaking said:
The equation is now very simple for Volpato: it is impossible to imagine him playing for Italy; he opts for Australia and he gets to play in this world cup and, all being well, 2 more. The wildcard is whether his intransigence has already ruled him out for Popovic.
Click to expand...
If it's true they've gone over to Italy to see him then his glass slipper routine doesn't seem to be bothered Okon & Popa.
 
Quicky said:
We don't have any standouts beyond Toure and maybe Sapsford at CF. And Sapsford has been playing mostly as a RF. I don't think there is a lot of risk in taking someone like Arena along as an impact sub. Potentially there is a lot to gain long term too.
Click to expand...
So for centre forwards should we call up all three? I do nevertheless agree though, we seem to be better at producing wingers than proper strikers.
 
patjennings said:
To me I would be bringing up to 35 players to the March camp. And that is without some of the stupid suggestions on some podcasts.

Simply put this is an opportunity to check players against players - whether they get game time or not. Is it Behich, Elder or Farrell to be coupled with Bos? inter camp training where Farrell gets under Irankunda's skin are essential to teach Irankunda not to respond. Every other country will know how emotional he gets. Popovic needs to get in his head that hard challenges are part of the game and reacting is exactly what the other teams wants. i.e. they are distracting you from your game and hoping to get you sent off.

Bringing in Volpato and Arena into a camp should be about familiarising with the set up and the rest of the squad. If they want to make a commitment then they can be picked (if warranted) for the World Cup or the Asian Cup.

TBH the only older player I would consider after the the World Cup would be Ryan. That means no Behich, Duke, Goodwin, Irvine, Burgess, Izzo. There are six players that immediately need to be replaced for the next cycle. If Ryan gets passed by 3 keepers he doesn't go to the 2030 World Cup. If he is still in the top 3 he goes as the veteran backup. TBH I am yet to see someone operating as well or better - and they are operating at a lower level.

There are problem 15-16 players that you can assume will be on the plane. Getting people in to train with and against each other in March will be as important as the games themselves
Click to expand...

Great post. Agree completely on the omission of the older players. Except maybe Izzo.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
Great post. Agree completely on the omission of the older players. Except maybe Izzo.
Click to expand...
To my mind Ryan is performing better than Izzo at a higher level. At 31 he has peaked and won't get better. i.e. his peak is lower than Ryan and he will be 35 by the time of the next world cup. We need to blood for the next World Cup cycle and to be honest I think physically Ryan strikes me as more disciplined in relation to keeping fitness a la Schwarzer than Izzo.
 
Remember when back in his playing days at CCM and him playing Belgium that Maty Ryan was more rated for his passing ability and his plays as a sweeper keeper? He's still good don't get me wrong. But kinda feels like since he left Belgium it was kinda stamped out of his game and he was tuned into a more pure shot stopper.
 
Socceroofan4life said:
Remember when back in his playing days at CCM and him playing Belgium that Maty Ryan was more rated for his passing ability and his plays as a sweeper keeper? He's still good don't get me wrong. But kinda feels like since he left Belgium it was kinda stamped out of his game and he was tuned into a more pure shot stopper.
Click to expand...

I think part of that is the team you play with. At CCM he always had an outlet. Whether it was Pedj or Josh wide or Patrick or Trent in front or even direct to McGlinchey, Sterjovski or McBreen or the HMs.

He had so many options at CCM - less so in the national team, which meant that the success rate was much higher. It really is an area that Popovic should target for improvement. The quicker you get out of your defensive area and start attacking the opposition the better. By just the backline usually being the outlets it just invites a strong press.

Balard and Irvine make themselves available. Teague, Brattan and Caceres all thought it was too hard. Can you imagine Mooy, Jedinak, Milligan, Culina or Grella doing that.
 
Last edited:
onedaywinners... said:
All I know is if that swarmy Volpato takes Sega's spot....no way.
Click to expand...
he definitely would

if volpato comes in your top 4 inside forwards are irankunda, mcgree, volpato and metcalf and you probably only take 5. So the 5th might be a fight between suto, boyle, vellupilay, sega and silvera. Silvera probably wins for me

so the anxiety about sega's allegiance would continue :D

Sega would be a long term prospect for a #10 role in a 4-3-3, so losing him in the current system wouldn't matter

but it could matter a lot if we change systems imo
 
grazorblade said:
he definitely would

if volpato comes in your top 4 inside forwards are irankunda, mcgree, volpato and metcalf and you probably only take 5. So the 5th might be a fight between suto, boyle, vellupilay, sega and silvera. Silvera probably wins for me

so the anxiety about sega's allegiance would continue :D

Sega would be a long term prospect for a #10 role in a 4-3-3, so losing him in the current system wouldn't matter

but it could matter a lot if we change systems imo
Click to expand...
We should probably take Sega either way. Martin and Nish shouldn’t be in the same conversation to be honest, Nish is still at Victory and Martin is 32. All I know is Croatia will be keen on capping Sega.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
We should probably take Sega either way. Martin and Nish shouldn’t be in the same conversation to be honest, Nish is still at Victory and Martin is 32. All I know is Croatia will be keen on capping Sega.
Click to expand...
Nish has the "worked with poppa" factor though which is why I include him

probably arzani as well
 
patjennings said:
To me I would be bringing up to 35 players to the March camp. And that is without some of the stupid suggestions on some podcasts.

Simply put this is an opportunity to check players against players - whether they get game time or not. Is it Behich, Elder or Farrell to be coupled with Bos? inter camp training where Farrell gets under Irankunda's skin are essential to teach Irankunda not to respond. Every other country will know how emotional he gets. Popovic needs to get in his head that hard challenges are part of the game and reacting is exactly what the other teams wants. i.e. they are distracting you from your game and hoping to get you sent off.

Bringing in Volpato and Arena into a camp should be about familiarising with the set up and the rest of the squad. If they want to make a commitment then they can be picked (if warranted) for the World Cup or the Asian Cup.

TBH the only older player I would consider after the the World Cup would be Ryan. That means no Behich, Duke, Goodwin, Irvine, Burgess, Izzo. There are six players that immediately need to be replaced for the next cycle. If Ryan gets passed by 3 keepers he doesn't go to the 2030 World Cup. If he is still in the top 3 he goes as the veteran backup. TBH I am yet to see someone operating as well or better - and they are operating at a lower level.

There are problem 15-16 players that you can assume will be on the plane. Getting people in to train with and against each other in March will be as important as the games themselves
Click to expand...
Do you think players playing for European clubs particularly will want to return for a training camp with no chance of game time ?Their clubs may be going for honours,promotion or involved in relegation battles and they will want to have that down time to recuperate and rest.So players like Ryan,Bos,Balard who are locks should stay with their clubs .However your idea about using Farrell to resume his physical battles with Irankunda is spot on.Otherwise he will be a liability in the finals if he reacts to physical challenges and the dark arts.
 
Waste of FA's money flying coaching staff to Italy imho. The margins at the top are very fine. I'd rather a motivated proud Aussie playing championship wearing the green and gold, than a born/raised Sydneysider who thinks they're Italian sell sword bench player from SerieA.
 
grazorblade said:
he definitely would

if volpato comes in your top 4 inside forwards are irankunda, mcgree, volpato and metcalf and you probably only take 5. So the 5th might be a fight between suto, boyle, vellupilay, sega and silvera. Silvera probably wins for me

so the anxiety about sega's allegiance would continue :D

Sega would be a long term prospect for a #10 role in a 4-3-3, so losing him in the current system wouldn't matter

but it could matter a lot if we change systems imo
Click to expand...
I'd pick Segecic over Volpato. Much better form and production.
 
Quicky said:
I'd pick Segecic over Volpato. Much better form and production.
Click to expand...
I disagree
Volpato is just coming back from injury and playing for a side 8th in seri a and has made 5 goal contributions in 14 appearances. This is after getting a goal contribution roughly 1 time every 100 minutes in seri b last season and getting 25 appearances the season before in seri a

also when watching him play pretty often, I'd put him slightly ahead of mcgree as our best inside forward to be honest. He is athletic, technical, creative and busy (though his defensive contribution could improve he is quite mobile). He is fast enough and good enough at difficult shots that he gives you most of the positives of irankunda without the negatives of still learning how to combine well in general play. We don't have another player in that category yet

I think perceptions of him has been skewed by every time he is an unused sub people talk about him not making italy. He is the perfect level for us, probably just too weak to peak at italian national team quality but good enough to raise our ceiling. I suspect he will be similar quality to bresciano
 
booney52 said:
Do you think players playing for European clubs particularly will want to return for a training camp with no chance of game time ?Their clubs may be going for honours,promotion or involved in relegation battles and they will want to have that down time to recuperate and rest.So players like Ryan,Bos,Balard who are locks should stay with their clubs .However your idea about using Farrell to resume his physical battles with Irankunda is spot on.Otherwise he will be a liability in the finals if he reacts to physical challenges and the dark arts.
Click to expand...
Maybe a case by case. But if you are Balard or even Ryan do you want to make a case for the starting XI over others by outperforming them in camp
 
grazorblade said:
I disagree
Volpato is just coming back from injury and playing for a side 8th in seri a and has made 5 goal contributions in 14 appearances. This is after getting a goal contribution roughly 1 time every 100 minutes in seri b last season and getting 25 appearances the season before in seri a

also when watching him play pretty often, I'd put him slightly ahead of mcgree as our best inside forward to be honest. He is athletic, technical, creative and busy (though his defensive contribution could improve he is quite mobile). He is fast enough and good enough at difficult shots that he gives you most of the positives of irankunda without the negatives of still learning how to combine well in general play. We don't have another player in that category yet

I think perceptions of him has been skewed by every time he is an unused sub people talk about him not making italy. He is the perfect level for us, probably just too weak to peak at italian national team quality but good enough to raise our ceiling. I suspect he will be similar quality to bresciano
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with any of that. I do think Segecic's goal scoring threat puts him ahead of most of our options at inside forward. We don't have many players sinking goals at that level. My top 4 inside forwards if Volpato is an option are McGree, Irankunda, Segecic and Volpato. Metcalfe can still be selected as a utility.
 
Quicky said:
I don't disagree with any of that. I do think Segecic's goal scoring threat puts him ahead of most of our options at inside forward. We don't have many players sinking goals at that level. My top 4 inside forwards if Volpato is an option are McGree, Irankunda, Segecic and Volpato. Metcalfe can still be selected as a utility.
Click to expand...
Metcalf is interesting

he is very creative and combines well with bos, toure and irankunda

but also combines so well defensively with his fullback/wingback

if you watch games with him, almost no chances come down the side he defends on

so I think you have to have him in a squad if you want to go through a phase in the game shoring up defense (either protecting a lead or stopping a team conceding early, the latter seems likely with poppa)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top