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Poppa Out

riquelmes_laces said:
Today is not the day to dunk on Poppa. I’ll give him his flowers.

He gave an 18 year old his official cap in an important WC match and he set a very young side up to progress to the knock out round.

The USA match is regretful because of what might have been, but Poppa’s done ok.
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I agree. I think considering what we needed, and that a win or a draw left us in the same position. It’s not bad at all really. Job done
 
Popovic was asked for the rationale of his picks and he said he wasn't going to bait the media. Team was fine tonight but there are picks most of the time you just wonder what he's thinking.

Only 3 subs which seemed fine and maybe we had 2 on the side for the final 60 seconds to kill time.
 
riquelmes_laces said:
Today is not the day to dunk on Poppa. I’ll give him his flowers.

He gave an 18 year old his official cap in an important WC match and he set a very young side up to progress to the knock out round.

The USA match is regretful because of what might have been, but Poppa’s done ok.
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Popovic has done very well that's true. In qualification and getting us out of a tough group. Credit where its due. We're defensively rock solid and resilient. I'll keep my thoughts on our forward structures for another day.

We made it to the knockouts! Giddyup!
 
JS96 said:
Popovic was asked for the rationale of his picks and he said he wasn't going to bait the media. Team was fine tonight but there are picks most of the time you just wonder what he's thinking.

Only 3 subs which seemed fine and maybe we had 2 on the side for the final 60 seconds to kill time.
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Degenek looked like he was about to come on.
 
I wont be happy until we knock off Argentinian in the R16, then I will relax any negativity towards Poppa. I want that trophy!
 
Look, I'm really happy for Poppa, and congrats to him for getting us through this group. He will swing my opinion even more positive if he wins the r32.

The first half yesterday is what I hope our future is. Having more possession, control and shots on goal, all while maintaining a solid defensive shape. Paraguay hardly had a sniff in the first half. Not sure if Poppa has it in him to continue down that path though.

So I still maintain that Poppa is not the right coach moving forward for this group of players. Goaless in 2 matches with these players is worrying. But he has earned the right to take us to the Asian Cup now (even though that was already locked in, lucky we have had a good WC so far).
 
Bielsa was Argentina manager in 2002. Perhaps he's not suited to international football and needs his club role back.
 
zimbos05 said:
I get that, and it's not wrong. However, on a world cup, you can't just play to expectation. You get these moments maybe once in your life. You need to be more proactive. He has had time before the cup to develop plans and structures. World cups are for implementing and going for it.

At this level, you need to be adaptable and not just play to the expectation. Some of those stats are shocking for a nation ranked 27th in the world.


I don't think it's too high an expectation as opposed to a lack of frustration in stagnant progress. It's perfectly fine to be critical. Many of us have seen multiple world cups and tournaments. We work in the game. We want to see progress and positivity. We've seen this constant battler mentality for too long, and it's not good to have.
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Given we lost arguably our best player weeks before the WC and Volpato only signed up around the same time, I think Popa has been quite adaptable.
We haven’t seen what he’d do if we needed a win. Even against the US it was arguably more important to stem the flow and save goal difference, than try to win the game.
 
ClockworkOrange said:
Given we lost arguably our best player weeks before the WC and Volpato only signed up around the same time, I think Popa has been quite adaptable.
We haven’t seen what he’d do if we needed a win. Even against the US it was arguably more important to stem the flow and save goal difference, than try to win the game.
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The stakes weren't as high but we saw it against the US in our friendly. He went 2 up top with less than 10 to go. I can't see a Hiddink like dice roll ala Cahill, Aloisi, Kennedy v Japan.
 
Quicky said:
The stakes weren't as high but we saw it against the US in our friendly. He went 2 up top with less than 10 to go. I can't see a Hiddink like dice roll ala Cahill, Aloisi, Kennedy v Japan.
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The question should be why was a team with those quality players 1-0 down against Japan with 10 to go?😉
 
ClockworkOrange said:
Given we lost arguably our best player weeks before the WC and Volpato only signed up around the same time, I think Popa has been quite adaptable.
We haven’t seen what he’d do if we needed a win. Even against the US it was arguably more important to stem the flow and save goal difference, than try to win the game.
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Well no because goal difference doesn't matter. It was all about head to head. So wins are exactly what was needed.
 
ClockworkOrange said:
Why do you think we finished above Paraguay, even though we both had 4 points?
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It is literally:

Head to Head
Head to Head goal difference
Goal Difference

Had we beat USA, we would not even be worrying about what happening against Paraguay. You an defend this negative football all you want, but the reality is that Poppa is showing himself out of his depth. He's playing defensively to protect his job more than he is to go out and win games and tournaments.
 
zimbos05 said:
It is literally:

Head to Head
Head to Head goal difference
Goal Difference

Had we beat USA, we would not even be worrying about what happening against Paraguay. You a defend this negative football all you want, but the reality is that Poppa is showing himself out of his depth. He's playing defensively to protect his job more than he is to go out and win games and tournaments.
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Despite you stating “goal difference doesn’t matter”, the answer to my previous question is that we qualified ahead of Paraguay on GOAL DIFFERENCE.
 
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