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Poppa Out

All the proof is there and everything has been laid out. I think some players hate being under him.
 
This loss was on Poppa.

Every man and his dog can see Irankunda needs to play out wide and get in behind the defence where there is space. Even the pundits were saying poppas position selections are questionable. Only time we scored in this world cup is when Irankunda was able to find space out wide and Poppa is so thick he doesn't see it.

His substitutions today were baffling. Takes off his two biggest goal threats early and at the same time. And don't get me started on the goalkeeping change.
 
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Could you imagine if after Metcalfe’s goal, someone told you that was as good as it would get for the next 3 games? Two good goals to start with and then 300 mins of crap for the rest of the tournament.

This is on par with the 2010 Socceroos in terms of how boring, dreary and unexciting they play.

Two goals down in the first half against USA, played for a draw against Paraguay and then an insipid, weak “play for penalties” effort against a beatable Egypt that included two of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen.

Ultimately this has been a very disappointing WC, but what’s most disappointing of all is how entirely predictable this was. Do the people who select our coach even follow football and the A-league? Everyone knew that Poppa was underskilled and overmatched (much like he was as a player at this level.)
 
Yep he needs to go, but he won't. We are stuck with him until Asian Cup.

We make average teams (US, Egypt) look like prime Brazil or the current French team. Its ridiculous. We are better than this.

Our only hope now is the players kick up a stink and get him marched, because the FA will do nothing.
 
Bbouy said:
"I don't regret any decision I make"

If that's not a coaching red flag, I don't know what is.

Bye Popa 👋
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That is akin to when Hodgson said "it's not my fault, I have resigned, why are you asking me questions?" After England got knocked out against Iceland in 2016 at the Euro.

Poppa is a good manager and the tactics worked against Turkiye, but he then showed no adaptability or tactical nous. He just had 1 style and never adapted to the games and the situation. Not to mention that subbing off Beach is such a bad decision
 
zimbos05 said:
Poppa is a good manager and the tactics worked against Turkiye, but he then showed no adaptability or tactical nous. He just had 1 style and never adapted to the games and the situation. Not to mention that subbing off Beach is such a bad decision
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The sad thing is any evolution of Poppa’s coaching style to be more attack focused will end up looking like Pim Verbeek’s teams. I hope he just heads off to China or something.

Fingers crossed someone like Muscat comes next, otherwise someone from overseas.
 
His made to many rookie coach blunders in the wc and you can't afford that in tournament football. Tactically and lineup wise, the use of players in positions, and the stubbornness of getting out of the Australian mentality especially with the socceroos that we cannot take the game to nations. Watch Cabo Verde attitude. Today we had all the momentum after scoring and we played it safe.
 
Quicky said:
Toure didn't look happy.
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I got that vibe as well. Looked totally disinterested today. Hopefully I'm wrong otherwise it's terrible, especially at this level. I'd be unhappy too, but damn you still gotta do your job.
 
Quicky said:
A lot rides on this game. If we beat Egypt I think this is a successful tournament. If we don't you could argue a pass mark but I wouldn't feel that way. I hope to see a positive XI on Saturday morning.
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I don't feel like this was a successful tournament.
 
Pub League Champion said:
The sad thing is any evolution of Poppa’s coaching style to be more attack focused will end up looking like Pim Verbeek’s teams. I hope he just heads off to China or something.

Fingers crossed someone like Muscat comes next, otherwise someone from overseas.
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There's a few good options available. The question is if the FA has the balls to want to go that way. I don't think they do.

The FA will obviously be sticking with him till after the Asia cup, then they'll look internal again
 
Quicky said:
Popovic's coaching performance has been excellent but flawed. He has gotten the absolute best out of our defensive players and their qualities. This is commendable.

Paradoxically we are sitting on the best group of attacking players we have had in 20 years. In contrast these players are being set up in a manner that it is incredibly difficult for them to perform.

The isolation, distance between midfield and attack, lack of progressive movement from central midfield, wide combinations, poor set pieces, setting up favourible conditions for forwards to impact all needs improvement.

There is a foundation there and Popovic needs to evolve our offence and fix these issues. Maintain our identity but find the balance which is lacking.

I'll give Popovic his due but he won't win me over until he successfully addresses these issues and evolves the team.
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I stand by this comment. I'm very angry and frustrated with Popovic today but he does have us very strong defensively. This tournament he failed to strike a balance with offence. We're stuck with him. We need to hope he finds that balance by the Asian Cup.

Adjustments are needed if we keep the system. Imo these should include a progressive midfielder (I'd pick Robertson), better squad balance with offensive options, improved set pieces including set piece takers and structures (new assistant to focus on this), a more settled XI or core team so combinations can form especially wide, Irankunda wide, more risks from our wing backs, wide forwards and centre mids.

We need more aggressive triggers to press or attack so we can generate situations where our forwards can isolate defenders, get them facing back, so that there is support from the team behind them and our attacking structure keeps good distance between our lines like our defence does.

I'd prefer a formation change but that's wishful thinking.
 
derider said:
We’ve had a few bad ones. Verbeek was shocking and wasted the end of the golden generation. Van Marwijk was abysmal and I actually think even worse than Popa, but he at least had the decency to fuck off straight after the World Cup.

Popa’s really bad though. He’s exactly the opposite of what we need going forward.

Arnie was good somehow. He understood his team very well.
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Pim was a very good coach and did quite well with us. Van Marwijk "fucked off" because he was an interum coach who was available after being sacked by Saudi Arabia and the FFA didn't want to or couldn't afford to pay out the rest of Arnie's contract with Sydney FC. Popa has a pretty good understanding of the team and also did quite well with them, although with the talent we have emerging I think we should look at other better options after the Asian Cup. Even if we win the bloody thing I think it's better for both Popa and the national team if we did that. We can go a slightly different direction with the new blood and Popa should be able to get a good job elsewhere.
 
HappyGuus said:
I got that vibe as well. Looked totally disinterested today. Hopefully I'm wrong otherwise it's terrible, especially at this level. I'd be unhappy too, but damn you still gotta do your job.
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I wonder if Toure wasn't playing at 100%. It may have been fitness/injury restricting him not effort.
 
Quicky said:
I wonder if Toure wasn't playing at 100%. It may have been fitness/injury restricting him not effort.
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Yeah I heard that earlier in the tournament after the USA match. If he still has niggles then Yengi should've been the man up front.
 
Villa Dan said:
His made to many rookie coach blunders in the wc and you can't afford that in tournament football. Tactically and lineup wise, the use of players in positions, and the stubbornness of getting out of the Australian mentality especially with the socceroos that we cannot take the game to nations. Watch Cabo Verde attitude. Today we had all the momentum after scoring and we played it safe.
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The most frustrating thing is that we played the right attacking formation against Turkey (with Ira wide) - it worked and then we never played it again. 😳
To be fair Cabo Verde only attacked when they went behind. They too were playing for pens. But against the Argies that is more understandable.
 
Wolfman said:
Yeah it's a tight list and may be recency bias but I can't remember being this angry (and able to pinpoint almost every reason for the result on the coach) since the Holger days. Verbeek made a huge fuck up for the Germany game in 2010, Popa basically did the same for the US game and then one upped himself today. BvM was very disappointing but in his defence he only had a handful of games to prepare and as you say he had the decency to fuck off afterwards, meanwhile we've had to suffer through horrible Popaball for near 2 years now and we all know he's an egomaniacal c*nt who won't have the decency to resign or take all the blame.

Fully agree that Arnie was good and is definitely looked at very positively now. He will be seen even better as of today, he's in the upper tier of managers we've had, and his achievement last world cup is much better than what we did this tournament. Guus, Ange, and Arnie are clear at the top for sure, and Popa is a fucking disgrace.
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Jim Shoulder says “hold my glass”.
 
Quicky said:
I don't feel like this was a successful tournament.
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This was objectively a successful tournament in terms of results. Every team we played was a clear favourite to win. Was it a missed opportunity in terms of implementing a more proactive style to take the group forward?

It's a shame because we were close to a result this morning and the potential seems to be there. But setting aside what they might become, this is where this group is at the moment.
 
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