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Poppa Out

Quicky said:
I don't feel like this was a successful tournament.
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It was a par tournament. Could have been better, but it certainly could have been a lot worse. We made it out of the group in second place. Had a great win in the first game. Gave a number of young and promising players invaluable exposure. Those are achievements in themselves and shouldn’t be dismissed. The tournament clearly wasn’t a failure overall.

But far out, it was such a wasted opportunity. It was a unique chance to win a knockout game. It’s very rare to get such an eminently beatable opponent in a knockout round of the World Cup. It will normally be France, Argentina, Italy, Brazil. Look at what happened to poor Japan. It’s disappointing we failed to take advantage of our lucky draw.
 
DandyCasey said:
Heaps of changes, perhaps too many but I would say he didn't experiment enough in weak positions (like right wing back) including when Miller was fit.
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Popovic didn't experiment at all when Miller was fit. He featured more than any other player up to when he was injured, including O'Neill. He found Italiano pretty quickly after but not trying Strain or Borges-Rodrigues was a missed opportunity.
 
derider said:
It was a par tournament. Could have been better, but it certainly could have been a lot worse. We made it out of the group in second place. Had a great win in the first game. Gave a number of young and promising players invaluable exposure. Those are achievements in themselves annd shouldn’t be dismissed. The tournament clearly wasn’t a failure overall.

But far out, it was such a wasted opportunity. It was a unique chance to win a knockout game. It’s very rare to get such an eminently beatable opponent in a knockout round of the World Cup. It will normally be France, Argentina, Italy, Brazil. Look at what happened to poor Japan. It’s disappointing we failed to take advantage of our lucky draw.
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A par tournament is probably the best description I've heard.
 
JS96 said:
We have plenty of wing backs, they just weren't picked. Strain, Bennie, BRB, Overy.

Our qualification was rightly turned around. Nervy at times but we got there. I think it sometimes masked issues. The trouble is Popovic still kept making too many changes
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These options are hardly world cup material cmon
 
The case for Poppa is, the defense was pretty solid all tournament, well drilled and connected, with players working together, knowing their roles, and generally sticking to their roles.

If we change the coach, I hope he doesn't tinker too much with the defence.
 
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Pasquali said:
These options are hardly world cup material cmon
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A lot of sports fans are very unrealistic about the abilities of their teams players.

IMO the standard of the A-League is poor.

We need to be good at developing young A-League players and have talent scouts for EU clubs viewing A-League games and signing young players.

High ambition at the top of the tree requires high ambition from the bottom to the top.
 
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Watching the replay. Good positioning by Trewin to get the ball but his crosses and passes were horrible. His defence was fine.
 
Pasquali said:
Bennie has been playing a striker for his club
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He was fine as a RW or RWB at the U20 WC. His versatility would've been good for the squad.

I think Metcalfe slots in their nicely and roams around.
 
German commentary saying Popovic doesn't decide on emotion. They just make things up when they don't know.
 
The likes of Nagelsmann, Koeman, Bielsa and the South Korean head coach all resigned after their countries didn't get what they wanted at the World Cup, will Popa do the same? I doubt it but you can see the different standards these countries have for their national teams compared to us.
 
Barca4life said:
The likes of Nagelsmann, Koeman, Bielsa and the South Korean head coach all resigned after their countries didn't get what they wanted at the World Cup, will Popa do the same? I doubt it but you can see the different standards these countries have for their national teams compared to us.
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He's so stubborn. I've got a lot of laptop stuff to do so I'll be listening to all the interviews and press conferences. It'll be the same dry non accountability stuff.

He's just not right for the majority of games. Congrats for the Turkey win but we need consistency and ruthlessness.
 
I doubt Popa will resign. I doubt the FA will sack him.

We were always said to not be getting out of the group, and we did, So the FA will see that as a pass. We were not expected to beat Turkiye, and we did, so FA will see that as a pass. They will also look at the young age of the squad and see it as a pass.

However, three key things stick out for me.

1) His unwillingness to adapt his playing style even when the opportunity presented itself. When we had a chance to really press on, he made changes to the squad that ultimately cost us. Some might argue that shows his willingness to change, but it was actually the opposite. He tried to double down by bringing in Leckie - a player he favours - to be more defensive and hopefully counter the US more so. It failed. Not Leckies fault.
2) His bizarre tactics with this penalty shootout. Having 3 defenders listed in your 5 either shows that your attackers need to be doing more work, or that your penalty plan is shit. Also, having Matt Ryan only know with 15 minutes before is shocking. Beach had earned the right. Our best player all tournament and you take him off in such a big moment. Goes to show the inability to adapt to the situation.
3) The negative tactics. Even when in control in games, he didn't push that advantage home. We started strong against Paraguay, and then he just went limp. There's a reason that game was dubbed worst in the tournament. The stats also had us in the bottom 5 of many key things. You can't be expecting to progress with that kind of figures.

Like Barca4Life said, so many resigned after their failed campaign. Some top quality managers. The FA has an opportunity here. We have a young squad with so much potential. Do we want to waste years of their progress and talent on this drab negative crap football, or do we want to be progressive and get someone in who can actually develop these players. I know many say the money is not there, but honestly, I'd be going with an international option. I feel we do have the means and the ability to do so.
 
zimbos05 said:
I doubt Popa will resign. I doubt the FA will sack him.

We were always said to not be getting out of the group, and we did, So the FA will see that as a pass. We were not expected to beat Turkiye, and we did, so FA will see that as a pass. They will also look at the young age of the squad and see it as a pass.

However, three key things stick out for me.

1) His unwillingness to adapt his playing style even when the opportunity presented itself. When we had a chance to really press on, he made changes to the squad that ultimately cost us. Some might argue that shows his willingness to change, but it was actually the opposite. He tried to double down by bringing in Leckie - a player he favours - to be more defensive and hopefully counter the US more so. It failed. Not Leckies fault.
2) His bizarre tactics with this penalty shootout. Having 3 defenders listed in your 5 either shows that your attackers need to be doing more work, or that your penalty plan is shit. Also, having Matt Ryan only know with 15 minutes before is shocking. Beach had earned the right. Our best player all tournament and you take him off in such a big moment. Goes to show the inability to adapt to the situation.
3) The negative tactics. Even when in control in games, he didn't push that advantage home. We started strong against Paraguay, and then he just went limp. There's a reason that game was dubbed worst in the tournament. The stats also had us in the bottom 5 of many key things. You can't be expecting to progress with that kind of figures.

Like Barca4Life said, so many resigned after their failed campaign. Some top quality managers. The FA has an opportunity here. We have a young squad with so much potential. Do we want to waste years of their progress and talent on this drab negative crap football, or do we want to be progressive and get someone in who can actually develop these players. I know many say the money is not there, but honestly, I'd be going with an international option. I feel we do have the means and the ability to do so.
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I think its okay to hold out until the asian cup as its only a few months away. After then, we absolutely need a new coach to get the best of these young players imo
 
I can't see a new coach changing much unless it happens right away. The September window is big so that's the chance.

Popovic has been more effective in Asia so one Asian Cup is worth it. We shouldn't expect him to revolutionise things so we're going to try and scrape through.
 
Hounddog said:
The case for Poppa is, the defense was pretty solid all tournament, well drilled and connected, with players working together, knowing their roles, and generally sticking to their roles.

If we change the coach, I hope he doesn't tinker too much with the defence.
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How is that down to him - he replaced Miller with Italiano because of injury and brought in a generational talent in Herrington. The rest were in place and working well beforehand.
 
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