You guys get in your own feedback bubble about Popa. He is hated, so any little thing is grabbed onto as hope it will finally see him sacked. That squad selection, that team selection, that performance in a friendly and on and on. Meanwhile at FA if you brought any of this up they would just...

I dislike the style and setup as well, for aesthetic reasons. But playing haramball isn't equal to accepting qualifying is good enough. It is as legitimate a way of playing. Opening up to go forward doesn't mean you tried harder. Cape Verde didn't win a match and were knocked out at the same...

Guus took Arnold but also had his own staff. Neeskens was one. From memory there was arguments from the FA about bringing on his his staff, thinking he would just come by himself. Sometimes small things show that some progress has been made over the years.

When I look at the WC I consider it match by match and ask who had the players playing at a higher level and who was expected to win. Only Paraguay would I say it maybe approached even. Expectations for that match were shifted because both sides needed the draw. All the other points can be true...

People in general seem pretty negative towards the NC. I haven't done anything coaching related in over 15 years, but when I had a look over the content it would have been really useful to me.

What about this take? It is clear evidence the national curriculum worked to provide better education at a grass roots level. This generations successes are attributed to the success of the NC and we are now reaping the benefits. Haha. Everyone who doubted it can post your apologies below. I...

If my post was unclear I pretty much agree with you. I don't even think it was about Okon senior being on staff. People just dislike Popa and wanted to slam him for whatever they could. He deserved it because he is better (at least according to the manager). All the things you mentioned are...

He hasn't played...yet. But if the WC performances didn't already, this transfer and playing Bundesliga will justify the original squad selection based on potential, prior to any real professional career. Thank god Popa is a manager so focused on youth development.

This is their transfers last season. Lower end of the fees paid. Probably undervalued a little but not drastically. The A league needs to get to a standard where players can make the transition and play first team football immediately. At the moment this is only happening for smaller...

It's good to even be able to have this type of conversation and it being close. It has been a pretty rough 20 years.

Loved your work through the WC.

I would disagree a little with you on this. The current defenders are not better than GG. They hopefully will be, the potential is there. But they clear level/s below. Lucas Neill was an EPL starter for 8 seasons. No one is close to that yet. Souttar and Burgess' careers are not dissimilar to...

Maybe BA knows more detail about what/how they are doing it. But if we are looking internally, it is hard to expect new programs/ideas that cost when they are hemorrhaging dollars. Even the WC, making it out of the groups stage means the FA might break even on the whole thing. There are...

I can't comment on that. But we know the FA ran a $15 million loss last year. Based on something like $120 million revenue. They aren't going to be putting on regular camps for kids, they aren't paying someone to do this as a job. It is a narrow focus with prioritising the major competitions...

I don't enjoy being the kill joy all the time. But the primary reason is always money. It's far easier to have vision and foresight if you can pay for it.

Aaron Chen is the job at the moment. This is the level of interest in the game currently.

My guess is people are just excited he scored for Roma. Which is fair enough. But hardly a sufficient argument to cap him this soon. He has less visibility because he is with Italy under 19s, not our under 20s. Which is unfortunate. Because (very surprisingly) Popa has shown he is happy to...

Surely one of you nerds watched him for the Italian junior teams one time? Capping him now would be Kewell levels.

Has anyone actually seen this kid play 90 minutes in any type of match? Just want to confirm I am getting worked up because of his age and having scored for Roma.

Usually you're right to be the spoilsport. But there are a lot of locks this time due to how young the guys are. Assuming fitness.

This was the biggest disappointment from last season. Off the top of my head we had: Waddingham - injured Stama - loan back to Aleague Iredale - transfer to K2 Carter - no minutes and transferred back to div 2 Botic - injured K Yengi - no minutes and loaned Goodwin - no minutes Only Toure...

I'm admittedly optimistic, but I think this WC will be a defining experience for this group. Despite the disappointment of how we went out, big picture is the youngest side in the competition achieved this. Had to get a result to progress and then extra time and penalties. Not many experience...

Yeah it's easy to talk about how much it means at the WC. It's much harder to be a dream come true when it means missing half the season and losing your starting place or having to travel 20 hours and playing Bangladesh on a cow paddock

Maybe Sassuolo try to cash in Berardi if they trust Volpato to fill that gap. It is a big couple of years for him. As good as he is, you would think there is more potential there given his age. Leaving for a month for the AC won't help his chances...

Probably, doesn't seem likely he will get past Berardi at this stage.

Elder should come into contention, would be great if K Bos had a strong year. But Behich performed at the WC and is a walk up start at the moment.

The idea WS would still view not making top 2 as a failure is pretty funny. I take the point though. Even under that standard he holds up. Both MVC and Glory he came in a very low point (WSW he came in from nothing). The turnaround was immediate. 6/10 seasons he contended for the title, 1st x 2...

It's four trophies. Brisbane finish second and lose the grand final this year, no one could sit there and say with a straight face this wasn't a success.

Al Hilal were the best side. They got very unlucky. The rest of the matches were about even.

Missing the finals, getting relegated, finishing bottom half etc is a failure. Making the grand final is a good season with a disappointing end.

This is only in the bubble of football losers we exist in. And people here have been saying he has been embarrassing us since qualification. This isn't the real world. For normies he did a good job and it was an unlucky what could have been. We care way more about this than normal people. The...

For some reason people treat losing a grand final as some huge negative. It is better to win, but the point is he makes the grand final. Which means he puts teams into the position to be successful. 10 years. Missed finals on two occasions. Two times premiers, one cup win, one continental win. 5...

I appreciate consistency if you don't let results cloud what you want in terms of style. For the most people it doesn't happen. Popa is a perennial winner at Aleague level. There is not a single club he has been to that has not turned around and been successful.

More than that. What would everyone be saying if we won the coin flip and progressed? God forbid we haramed Messi. All of a sudden results are stratospheric. But it is still Popaball. My frustration with the conversation is most of it is short term and short sighted. Before the WC he was an...

I agree with all of this. My disagreement would be about changing the style, system and expectations for Egypt with one week to prepare. Others have mentioned changing what we did mid match when we had the momentum. The best example I can think of is Germany v Paraguay. Germany played their...

There are two points here. What we as a country should aim for being ambitious. There shouldn't be limits on this, but pushing further to win a knock out match is a good next step. The second is what is reasonably expected to play out. For this you follow the money. This tells you what people...

I don't understand the desire to change the system he has spent the past two years implementing with the group and that got them to this point with one week notice. I think the difficulties implementing this type of overhaul within a week far outweigh any likely benefit. Particularly when Egypt...

He has already beaten Japan with his selections and tactics. Others said similar things about the group stage at the WC and all through qualifying. Popaball gets results. So did Arnieball. I don't understand the idea that we can't beat better sides. The pens go the other way and these these...

The individual results should not be what we use to judge. It should be progressing the style of the side. Even if he wins the AC. If he isn't planning to evolve the style of play over the subsequent cycle then I would prefer someone else.

Yeah I have read articles about it now. Seems odd

I'm using a bit of licence with the word. But all the money was on us losing. Every neutral picked us to lose. We have all seen the stuff about the value of the sides. The experience of our side is 3-4 years younger than the other sides. This was true for every match. Getting out of the group...

Some extra context re pens This seems like a lot of recent experience in this situation.

re the pens. Is this a coaching decision? Don't the player usually put their hands up for it. Seems to be more on the senior guys / forwards. Behich, Hrustic, Toure

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...

Your mate from soccernomics has analysed the home ground stuff. I would need to go back and reread, but it is a meaningful advantage. Ange had a relatively weak squad in 2015 (no Rogic or Mooy at this stage) and being at home made up for a lot of these flaws. Would a home and away youth league...