jas88 said:

Pressing starts from the front, I love Nestory but he has alot of work to do improving his pressing game. Really hope Watford is working on this with him. He actually reminds me alot of Savinho at Man City, he really struggled last year with learning to press properly. Struggled to be a starter but had a little break out of the team and this year his pressing has improved dramatically.

Mo looks like he can do some intelligent pressing. Same with Boyle which is why I suppose he's still getting picked.

Gotta sort out that forward line press it will be one of our only real avenue's to score.

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Well said!

For someone so young, Iran is doing well in many ways for senior international football.

Toure is working well as our target striker now. Even if he isn’t scoring, he causes a lot of problems with physicality and pace.

JS96 said:

1:20: Metcalfe has it in our own half. Just a firm outside boot roll can make it to McGree in miles of space. Instead we go back.

1:49: We miss the ball and Colombia stumbles. Free shot otherwise.

2:06: First time ball by O'Neill is deflected through to Miller is miles of space. Exactly what we need.

2:45: Firm Miller ball goes through defensive line. Metcalfe couldn't connect. McGree in the middle so free and a firm square ball gets to him then the play opens up. Rowles nice and high. If it's Bos McGree probably puts him through.

Watching McGree shows he's great at lingering alone. We need to make an effort to get the ball to him as often as possible.

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Aus seem to be preferring to build up on the right flank in first 22mins.

I've done the entire first half against Colombia, quite slowly, as I've never compiled such a range of football data.

I know some forum members have strong opinions on some players, but as usual there are surprises.

Given the calibre of Colombia, the way they play and their FIFA 13 ranking, Aus has had a very good half against them - with an experienced side, bar Trewin and Toure.

* Compared to Ven, Kiwis and Canada, who often had 8-9 outfield players in the Aus defensive half, when the Roos were trying to build up from the back, Colombia often only had 5-6 players in the Aus defensive half. Consequently, the Aus DMs, O'Neill and Irvine, had a lot of ball, accruing about three times as many passes as O'N and Okon Jr did against Ven.
Ven and Colombia accrued about as many passes as each other in the defensive half, but notwithstanding pass accuracy, Ven had 20 - 25 more passes than Colombia in their attacking half, in the first halves of both games. I don't know why Colombia have eased off the Squeezing intensity applied by the other 3 opponents?

Instead of barely any passing lanes being available against Ven in build ups from the back, Aus was often able to have 1-4 passing lanes opened. This type of game that certainly suits O'Neill. He probably has more problems where he has greater space to cover as a single screener.

* Compared to passes when I used to do them, the defenders and DMs, are playing a huge number under pressure in terms of condensed time and space. Against a lot of past Asian teams, not in the last round of WCQs this year, these players had a lot of easy, uncontested ball as Asian teams defended deeper.

- Irvine out of 27 passes completed at 100% accuracy, which is outstanding, has played 21 under pressure in term of time and space.

-Trewin out of 37 passes attempted, mishitting only 1 pass, 13 of these passes were played under pressure. Degenek and Burgess weren't Squeezed as much by Colombia.

-O'Neill out of 42 passes attempted, was under pressure on 25 occasions.

-McGree shapes as a very handy defensive player, and had the most passes in the attacking line. He often tucked in centrally, leaving Rowles as the only wide player when the play was on the right flank. Ditto Irvine and Miller , when the play was on the left flank.

-Metcalfe out of 9 passes attempted, was under pressure for 8 passes. Hard work!

* 1v1s - Another surprise - after Aus dominated all opponents for months in 1v1s, apart from Japan A, despite still being in the ascendancy, Aus are only plus 6 up in the 1v1 ledger at half time.

-Another favourite G and G scapegoat, Lewis Miller has starred. He has a 1v1 ledger of plus 7! Most of the defenders and DMs are only neutral or plus 1 up in their individual 1v1 ledger.

-Another star is Mo Toure at central striker, a very difficult position to win 1v1s. He is plus 3 up.

* Aus has had 3 shots at goal. Colombia has had 5.

* Aus has played 3 balls into the box to Colombia's 8. Colombia have had 5. So essentially it has been a midfield battle.

- For mine, Trewin has had a good game thus far, but he coughed up the ball under pressure at times in his last City game playing DM in the ACL. Diaz only turned him inside out on 1 occasion. This occurred on 3 occasions off the top of my head with 3 different Aussies, when the 2nd Aus defender covered well and won the ball.

- Rowles has made 3 intercepts, which is outstanding, but he is only up by 1, with 4 won, to 3 lost, in the 1v1 ledger.

- McGree shapes as a very handy defensive player.

Colombia is a quality side, but Aus is holding its defensive shape well, and appears to have a much higher percentage of possession and territory than in some previous games. I know it is all going to go pear shaped when the subs are brought on and the scoring starts from 75 mins onwards.

At the half way mark against Colombia, I can't remember who gets subbed off when in the second half?

One interesting stat is how successful the attacking line has been in 1v1s against Colombia. So before any of them get subbed off, it might be time to shed light on the attacking Roo line.

Collectively McGree, Toure and Metcalfe, have a ledger of plus 2 for all the 1v1 duels amongst them at half time. I can't remember this happening in any of the last 14 matches of collating 1v1s?

With all other combinations we've had in the Roos, the attacking line has never even broken even against any opponent. Hrustic and Boyle, if playing, are nearly always in the negative ledger - by some margin. Duke and Borrello tend to hold their own though. Iran is more competitive than Boyle and Hrustic.

The other surprising phenomenon, is that apart from Miller, with a plus 7 ledger, no other Roo in the midfield line or defensive line is really dominant in 1v1s against Colombia either. All are on an even or neutral ledger, or only plus 1 up in their duels. Every other game they have been well up in the plus ledger collectively.

It is common that defences tend to dominate forward lines in football in 1v1s.

This must be really frustrating Colombia, the collective 1v1 effort of the attacking trio of McGree, Toure and Metcalfe, as they started standing on the ball, or standing right in front of Roos taking free kicks - to collectively delay and frustrate Aus. There was no sanction from the ref either.

Have done more painstaking stat compilation against Colombia with Paramount reinstating the full game replay recently.

*From 53 mins - 77 mins, Colombia have had a lot of ball. They have played many balls into the Aus pen box, but most of them have been instantly repelled by the Socceroo defence.
Izzo, Trewin, Degenek and Burgess have held firm and maintained defensive team shape very well under sustained pressure.

It has been quite frustrating watching the Socceroos with so little ball. On the credit side, Australia, before any substitutions, have been very good as an 11 person team unit in Ball Possession Opposition at maintaining whole team shape. This is despite creating little in terms of scoring chances and balls played into the box in Ball Possession.

There have been some of the best rapid fire passing exchanges in 1 and 2 touch passing I've ever seen for the Socceroos in midfield amongst Ballard (who replaced Irvine), O'Neill, McGree and Metcalfe.
However, they just haven't occurred often enough - and - the instances of this superb passing interplay has not resulted in playing the ball into the Colombian pen box. All of it has resulted in Aus turning the ball over to Colombia.

* 1v1s
We don't have the final figures for them, apart from the starting players being subbed. Colombia have been a tough opponent in 1v1s, despite a dubious pen being awarded at the 75 min mark. I thought Elder won a clear, fairly contested heading duel, not conceding a pen.
Also, regarding Elder, I don't know much about his game yet? I'm nor sure if he has been selected in the current Socceroo squad?

* Rowles - has a ledger of minus 1 as left WB when he was subbed off. This is surprising because he has been really dominant against Canada ( I think?) and the Kiwis.
Kye R has more than held his own in strength/body on body, heading and tackling duels, but he has lost 2 speed duels, being outpaced, whilst being dribbled around on 2 occasions.
The Colombian RW might be a world class opponent, I'm not sure? Full backs have a tough time, because if a winger manages a cross, it is considered a 1v1 loss by the FB in my 1v1 criteria.

* Irvine - had a 1v1 ledger of plus 1. This is quite good. I have to admit, I've overly focused on his 1 minor weakness - his slow handling speed and cumbersome footwork in 2 touch passing, BUT, his 1 touch passing and every other facet of his game was very good against Colombia. Irvine was very disciplined against Col.
He is a worthy Bundi player - even if he is getting long in the tooth for midfield.

* O'Neill - a popular scapegoat on this forum, had a ledger of plus 5 in 1v1 duels when he was subbed - which is very good. He won a lot of heading duels, made a lot of successful tackles and body on body duels. Often not having an advantageous body position against Colombia, like CBs often have in 1v1 duels.

O'N's passing was really good. For about 85 - 95% of the time he had to pass the ball under pressure, in limited time and space. This is very high. He also had a very high pass completion rate.

* A few might have heard me rave on about little discernible improvement in game performance criteria of many players in Scotland.
Gee, Riley McGree has improved in his Championship career in everything - technique, defensive duties, physical strength, use of the body, game sense. If injuries hadn't stuffed his career he would be a regular Socceroo starter.


* Colombia are exceptionally good on the ball. Along with Japan A, they are definitely the best team we've played for some time. They have such quick handling speed, and superb first touch, plus proficient running with the ball and dribbling.

One simply has to admire how good they are. It is depressing to think they are only ranked 13th in the world and there are 12 teams considered better by FIFA! I don't know the final team aggregates yet, but Col are quite physical too. Not sure of the team aggregate 1v1 ledger at the 77 min mark?

I should have more stats - with final match stats soon.

JS96 said:

Key moments

0:45: Good flat cross by Italiano blocked by defence. Killer ball by Circati and a cut back to McGree wasn't impossible.

2:11: Already you can see O'Neill gets the ball and passes all the way across the Herrington when McGree was available in the pocket. He just needed to dribble right of two pressers and put it down the wing.

2:50: Great run by Bos to show intent. Boyle with weak first touch but tenaciously retains possession. Decent space presenting itself.

3min in and you can already see we'll be fine once Degenek retires and we won't need Miller ever again as Italiano is just so much smoother in attack.

3:55: Bos world class beating the man, passing and running on. Boyle with a tidy lob for Italiano where his first tough and marker get the better of him but wonderful play.

4:55: Nice link ups by O'Neill and Juri rushes his first time pass for a ball loss. Probably his first tough of the game. Something big to notice. Bos is on the halfway line as Ryn gathers it. He rolls it to Herrington and Bos is already in good spaces way up. Behich would be so much deeper already stifling any attack

5:40: Bit of play down the right. Nice run by Boyle who can then pass it to Italiano whose first touch isn't the strongest there and it's a goal kick. Boyle with a highly involved first 5min and linking well with Italiano.

7:20 Bad habit of O'Neill and Metcalfe is to face their own defenders with backs to the opponent which really only gives them one passing option. Our defenders are great and need to spread the ball and width so our mids can find spaces to receive while facing forward. Robertson and Yazbek would be preferable

7:30: What looks to be a good ball by Circati is nicked and Cameroon play the best passing sequence of the game to break our lines. So much more innate than ourselves. Herrington nicely heads the cross down the Metcalfe aims for Bos but it's way off. It's almost as if he expected Bos to be further down like earlier. Juric presses bac and wins the ball.

8:20: Very nice triangle passing. Geria to Italiano to Juric who first times it too far ahead of a late running Boyle but it's the right idea. Juric could hold it up too and go left to McGree and Bos so he needs to be instructed to pick the side the better side.

9:40: Geria sturggles with a long ball and shielding and concedes a corner. He also got a lot of slack from teammates for letting the Saudi player outmuscle him for their goal in Jeddah.

12:15: Ryan with tidy distribution so far. Bos goes for a run and unfortunately the pass is blocked when 2 others were further right in more space.

12:35: Metcalfe gets it and slows and goes back. He's skilled and should be passing forward or out wide.

13:40: Geria long ball misses the mark but a good start for Australia with a mix of patience but lots of movement and forward runs. Occasionally mistimed but players are lining up for their turn.

18:10: Metcalfe roams forward and a nice ball over the top for Juric is only lost due to robust defending and Juric stays down.

22:15: Good interception by Italiano and McGree's shot is blocked.

26:50: Nice play from the back. Boyle with accurate short balls and Juric can turn and Bos draws a foul.

37:50: 10min gap of very little and stop start play. Not to say Australia's defence aren't roaming forward with the ball.

40:52: Mix up by Cameroon sees Italiano latch onto it as farthest player ahead. McGree to Juric whose cutback is woeful right to a defender. Geria wins a couple of ensuing duels and has some firm ground passes. O'Neill passes short then goes on a rare run into the corner space but he isn't fed. Australia run out of ideas and go back but Circati takes the initiative with fast passes forward. Some short passes by a few sees Bos final get tackled.

Final minute sees Cameroon roam forward and a clear dive in box with no contact by Bos ends the half.

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JS96 said:

Key moments

0:45: Good flat cross by Italiano blocked by defence. Killer ball by Circati and a cut back to McGree wasn't impossible.

2:11: Already you can see O'Neill gets the ball and passes all the way across the Herrington when McGree was available in the pocket. He just needed to dribble right of two pressers and put it down the wing.

2:50: Great run by Bos to show intent. Boyle with weak first touch but tenaciously retains possession. Decent space presenting itself.

3min in and you can already see we'll be fine once Degenek retires and we won't need Miller ever again as Italiano is just so much smoother in attack.

3:55: Bos world class beating the man, passing and running on. Boyle with a tidy lob for Italiano where his first tough and marker get the better of him but wonderful play.

4:55: Nice link ups by O'Neill and Juri rushes his first time pass for a ball loss. Probably his first tough of the game. Something big to notice. Bos is on the halfway line as Ryn gathers it. He rolls it to Herrington and Bos is already in good spaces way up. Behich would be so much deeper already stifling any attack

5:40: Bit of play down the right. Nice run by Boyle who can then pass it to Italiano whose first touch isn't the strongest there and it's a goal kick. Boyle with a highly involved first 5min and linking well with Italiano.

7:20 Bad habit of O'Neill and Metcalfe is to face their own defenders with backs to the opponent which really only gives them one passing option. Our defenders are great and need to spread the ball and width so our mids can find spaces to receive while facing forward. Robertson and Yazbek would be preferable

7:30: What looks to be a good ball by Circati is nicked and Cameroon play the best passing sequence of the game to break our lines. So much more innate than ourselves. Herrington nicely heads the cross down the Metcalfe aims for Bos but it's way off. It's almost as if he expected Bos to be further down like earlier. Juric presses bac and wins the ball.

8:20: Very nice triangle passing. Geria to Italiano to Juric who first times it too far ahead of a late running Boyle but it's the right idea. Juric could hold it up too and go left to McGree and Bos so he needs to be instructed to pick the side the better side.

9:40: Geria sturggles with a long ball and shielding and concedes a corner. He also got a lot of slack from teammates for letting the Saudi player outmuscle him for their goal in Jeddah.

12:15: Ryan with tidy distribution so far. Bos goes for a run and unfortunately the pass is blocked when 2 others were further right in more space.

12:35: Metcalfe gets it and slows and goes back. He's skilled and should be passing forward or out wide.

13:40: Geria long ball misses the mark but a good start for Australia with a mix of patience but lots of movement and forward runs. Occasionally mistimed but players are lining up for their turn.

18:10: Metcalfe roams forward and a nice ball over the top for Juric is only lost due to robust defending and Juric stays down.

22:15: Good interception by Italiano and McGree's shot is blocked.

26:50: Nice play from the back. Boyle with accurate short balls and Juric can turn and Bos draws a foul.

37:50: 10min gap of very little and stop start play. Not to say Australia's defence aren't roaming forward with the ball.

40:52: Mix up by Cameroon sees Italiano latch onto it as farthest player ahead. McGree to Juric whose cutback is woeful right to a defender. Geria wins a couple of ensuing duels and has some firm ground passes. O'Neill passes short then goes on a rare run into the corner space but he isn't fed. Australia run out of ideas and go back but Circati takes the initiative with fast passes forward. Some short passes by a few sees Bos final get tackled.

Final minute sees Cameroon roam forward and a clear dive in box with no contact by Bos ends the half.

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Fantastic detail, JS.

It can be so painstaking, that I'm wondering whether to go through a replay twice and do different stats - like split passing stats from 1v1s.

Gee, it takes some concentration - but I always value the info at the end.

*At 13.40, and Grazor saw this beofre me, re Geria in general, he struggles to play the long diagonal balls that Souttar, Circati and Burgess can play.

So opposition teams tend to target him to close him down. Having said this, Geria was close to our most consistent player for quite a few games when Popa first brought him into the Socceroo set up.

As you know I'm not particularly critical of national team coaches, compared to most, but this was a major flaw of Arnie's not selecting Geria , whilst playing Geraint Jones. Arnie overlooked him for years, when he should have been our first choice RB.

JS96 said:

Chat GPT summary from above with player description

Alessandro Circati
Progressive passer, attempted line-breaking balls; mixed execution but showed initiative and composure stepping forward.


Jordan Bos
Outstanding attacking intent, constant width and runs; beat defenders regularly, key outlet, occasionally unsupported or misfound.


Martin Boyle
Highly involved early, linked well, retained possession under pressure; inconsistent first touch but strong work rate.


Jacob Italiano
Promising positioning and movement; first touch inconsistent, struggled to convert good service into end product.


Riley McGree
Found pockets well, involved in chances; lacked service at times, shot blocked, generally intelligent positioning.


Aiden O'Neill
Safe passer, often negative orientation; missed forward options, limited progression despite occasional forward runs.


Connor Metcalfe
Technically capable but slowed play; defaulted backward too often, occasional good forward ball and positioning errors.


Dani Juric
Active pressing, some good link play; rushed decisions, inconsistent hold-up, missed better attacking choices.


Jason Geria
Defensively mixed; struggled physically at times but contributed with duels and short passing sequences.


Lucas Herrington
Solid aerially and composed; supported buildup, generally reliable in defensive actions and distribution.


Mat Ryan
Clean distribution and calm presence; minimal defensive workload, helped maintain structured buildup from the back.


Milos Degenek
Not directly involved; implied declining fit relative to others, particularly compared to smoother attacking defenders.


Aziz Behich
Compared unfavourably for depth; less advanced positioning than Bos, potentially limiting attacking width and progression.

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Interesting to read this, JS.

Agree with some of it and disagree with other parts from general knowledge of the experienced Roos over time, but after I've compiled stats will add parts AI doesn't know about. I will have more data on this game specifically.

*I think Geria was better than what AI said as part of a defensive line team unit, and communication to players playing in front of him. He organised team defensive shape.

Ryan - I think AI got him pretty well, but his reading of play was decisive in terms of making timely intercepts.

Herrington - looks to be accurate by AI.

Juric - AI way off the mark . No consideration to how closely he was marked, and how much he was fouled and roughed up.

O'Neill - AI way off.

JS96 said:

It's enjoyable to look under a microscope. The first half was actually very interesting.

The game on FIFA plus has a 10 second skip button but it's not as seamless as YouTube and a keyboard.

I'm sure our national team has some kind of analytical software for such passing and ball retention. This is where AI will hopefully advance. At the same time sating a centre back has excellent passing if it's just short side to side takes out the human view of things.

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I have found the entire game very interesting, JS, as Cameroon play differently from other teams we've played recently.

I started a third look and stopped at 26 mins. Without taking the time to record, time goes very quickly in a game, and one misses a lot.

I have decided to split my stats and have 2 separate looks at the game, instead of having to look at so much detail in one hit.

1. Compile passing stats alone. I record whether a pass is made under time and space pressure or not. As you suggest, JS96, it means nothing when a CB passes a ball a short distance in plenty of space.

2. Compile 1v1s, balls played into the box, keeper saves, keeper intercepts and difficulty of them, turnovers caused, outfield player intercepts, 15 metre plus ball carries, good/bad first touches, clever decision making, etc.

I'm now 10 minutes in compiling passing stats Cameroon v Aus.

*Grazor made the ob that Metcalfe passed the ball forwards 4 times in the first 15 mins. Like O'Neill he has passed the ball about 15 times already - in just 10 mins.

*At this stage of the game, Cameroon have sat back a bit in their team Squeezing. Whereas I recollected from a period soon in the game from 10 -15 min onwards, they Squeezed intensively, as a cohesive team unit and Aus had little time to play in defence and midfield.

*In the first 10 mins, Cameroon have barely touched the ball in the Aus half. Unlike many Popa games, Aus have absolutely dominated possession and territory at the 10 min mark. ATM Aus has played some decent balls into the pen box too.

* Both Boyle and and Circati have played superb long, diagonal passes to Italiano, who has made great use of them on the right flank. Jacob I also anticpated them superbly, and made proactive runs to open passing lanes to receive difficult long passes to execute. At this stage, and I've seen it before in his previous games, Italiano is a more skilful attacking outlet as RWB than Miller is.

* Boyle has just had his best period of play I've seen for years, since the last 10 game home and away Asian WCQs in the last stage and games since. He has used a La Croqueta dribbling technique to beat 2 Cameroon players in succession!

* Juric is too far away from other players when we regain the ball in Attacking Transitions.

* Aus is attacking a lot down the right flank, with Boyle and McGree swapping flanks a bit, and both tucking inside when Italiano overlaps.

Up to 25 mins of compiling passing stats, before getting the rest of them with another viewing replay.

Anyway, as soon as 10 mins elapsed Cameroon have increased their Squeezing intensity.

Hence, they disturbed more Aus build ups more quickly, and have had a lot more possession and territory, plus played more balls into our box and had more shots.

At this stage very impressed with Herrington. Winning every 1v1 aerial duel, plus he has so much composure on the ball under pressure.

Metcalfe has had a lot of play going through him as Left DM.

I’m quite frustrated. I’m champing at the bit to finish stats for the Cameroon game, and haven’t started the Curaçao game.

Paramount have taken them off the replay section! Frustrating!

A few posters from the second game, live, have posted some interesting observations. I’m keen to check them out.

Enjoyed both opponents immensely.

patjennings said:

someone said they are on 10 play

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Embarrassingly, haven't quite worked Ten Play out yet.

Thanks though, PJ.

Maybe Grazor got me in a while back, but they should be on Paramount full replays. Cameroon was on replay for 2 days.

They took down the Colombia game for months, but it returned recently.

grazorblade said:

new players not on the same wavelength

need to be watching, if one goes back do you need to follow to keep the space between the lines?

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grazorblade said:

new players not on the same wavelength

need to be watching, if one goes back do you need to follow to keep the space between the lines?

Click to expand...

If the 9 ( Juric) tracks too far back there is no depth in the team shape when they win the ball back in the Attacking Transition.