I think my attention span is fucked because I couldn't pay attention to the second half

JS96 said:

My 11 for next game:

Izzo/Beach half each.
Italiano
Herrington
Degenek
Burgess
Behich
Yazbek
Robertson
Mabil
Juric
Velupillay

Test the Italiano Mabil link for a half. What exactly is Suto's position? Juric needs another go.

No point risking the stars here. I wouldn't mind having Trewin and Herrington to see how they go with less leadership around.

If we could just change formation we could play Okon behind Yazbek and Robertson.

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I definitely agree, Bos and Circati should not play.

If we don’t beat Curacao by 5 goals questions have to be asked!. If we lose (wouldn’t surprise me at all) then Poppa has to go same with half the squad as playing for the shirt means nothing to them with there lacklustre performances and who cares attitude.

NoMates said:

If we don’t beat Curacao by 5 goals questions have to be asked!. If we lose (wouldn’t surprise me at all) then Poppa has to go same with half the squad as playing for the shirt means nothing to them with there lacklustre performances and who cares attitude.

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They’ve got Championship and Eredivisie players in there. I doubt we’re winning 5–0 but we should win at least 2–0 or 3–0.

Upon rewatching, as much as I love Mabil, he kept getting the ball stuck under his feet stopping the flow. Give him time against Curacao and if he continues to do that then the WC is not for him. Any free or penalty should be taken by Irankunda - Hrustic just failed and I am not willing to give him another chance this close to the WC. the combo between Irankunda and JBos at about the 75 minute mark was breathtaking.

It would be refreshing if we could score in the 1st half.

grazorblade said:

He big chance creation is near the top (also done well for the roos)

Its his shooting that is remedial

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Accept that it is there in the stats if you say do, grazor, but I'm not seeing it.

Quicky said:

We should probably rotate the squad more v Curacao but I would love to see this XI.

Robertson box-to-box with Okon defensive.

Although Robertson defensive with Yazbek box-to-box would be better for World Cup chances as an Irvine partner.

Would be happy with either pairing but Robertson must start.

I want to see what Suto offers.

I want to see Bos and McGree work on their left sided partnership more

McGree - Irankunda - Suto
Okon - Robertson
Bos---------------------------------------Italiano
Herrington - Burgess - Circati
Ryan
​

​

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Would be happy to see this.

I would like to see Metcalf in to start in place of Suto for what he offers off the ball and defensively, then give Suto a run second half.

USA hammered by Belgium. There is such a marked class divide in international football. You look at the our players and coach and it is clear we are second level at best. I am optimistic that this will change, but not for this World Cup.

Speaking personally, I find the team under Popovic close to unwatchable. If the definition of a good coach is having the team play as more than the sum of its parts, Popovic is falling well short.

Frankly Speaking said:

USA hammered by Belgium. There is such a marked class divide in international football. You look at the our players and coach and it is clear we are second level at best. I am optimistic that this will change, but not for this World Cup.

Speaking personally, I find the team under Popovic close to unwatchable. If the definition of a good coach is having the team play as more than the sum of its parts, Popovic is falling well short.

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A team loaded with such top level players like Australia should really do better.

NB: I also find Popovic's coaching style to be somewhat conservative and can lead to some boring matches for neutrals, but it seems to me that he generally gets decent results for the calibre of player he works with.

Frankly Speaking said:

With respect, D, Popas' problem is his own tactical negativity. He is a blunt axe of a coach.
I accept that we have him like it or not, but for the good of the code in this country our next coach must be someone who coaches a more expansive game.

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The question is ‘Do have the players to play a more expansive game and win against our recent opponents?’

I don’t think most of the players aged over 26, who have the requisite experience do?

I think we have a better Gen of younger players who can, but they aren’t experienced enough - yet.

ATM I would rather be more competitive and play the way Popa does with the cattle he has.

I’m also biased because I’ve spent a lot of time in coach education, appreciating a lot of different things now than before.

-Seeing players cover each other in Ball Possession Opposition, as one player closed down a Cam player.

- The number of times McGree, Bos, Iran tracked markers and stifled opposition attacks/runs whilst defending running towards their own goal.

- The movement off the ball to support the ball carrier by players ignored, hence creating a dummy run and drag an opposition defender wider and making their shape less compact in Aus’s Ball Possession.

- An easier thing to see is how many young players Popa has trialed - and seems to have no set starting eleven.

- The number of hard balls O’Neill wins in midfield - and - makes timely intercepts anticipating and reading the play before it unfolds, when they have the ball.

- Metcalfe’s vision and game sense. Plus his ability to get a foot in at the last instance to win a 1v1.

- Ryan’s superb anticipation to intercept tricky balls with his timely runs off his line.

- Popa, Foxe and Okon Sr hugging each other when Bos scored after an Okon Jr assist. How much the Socceroos mean to the coaching staff. All the imported coaches and their assistants mooted by disgruntled G and G posters, won't have it. It is just a job for them, and they won't care about the Aus football milieu in general - like Tony G for the Matildas.

- Even if they aren't top notch players in terms of skill sets on the ball, these Roos are very intelligent and play well as part of a team unit - Behich, Goodwin, Irvine, Ryan, O'Neill, Rowles, Metcalfe, Geria, Degenek.

-Team unit and cohesion - new players Circati, Iran, Herrington, and recently veterans in videos, Degenek, Behich, Ryan - just love the Socceroo team unit. The nationals who've gone elsewhere probably don't have the team spirit and enjoy the Socceroo team unit.

* The second part of this post is that international coaches have limited time with the team on the coaching track compared to club coaches.

It is where Ange lost the plot in away WCQ Socceroo games trying to implement his unusual, and experimental with a few big UEFA clubs at the time, 3- 6 -1. The Socceroo players hadn't played it at club level. The Socceroos were confused. The Socceroos went backwards under Ange at the end. He is a far better club and tournament coach - WC and Asian Cup, when he has time to coach the team new methodology.

Conversely, the Roos ATM have a clear organisational structure under Popa. The 3-4-3 ( flat 4 in midfield ), 5-2-3, 5-4-1, depending on the phase of play and part of the pitch, is an eminently sensible strategy.

The team is improving under Popa, given we are still blooding young players. Teams we've played in the last rounds of games, like Japan A, Japan B, Saudi in Saudi, Indonesia ( filled with Eredivisie and other UEFA players), Canada, USA, Ven, Colombia ( very impressive) and Cameroon ( even if they not qualified, it shows how strong African football is), these are high quality teams and demonstrates the depth in world football.

I like the fact that Popa has had no favourite starting eleven and has rotated players. I'm astonished at how many young players are now almost pushing as starters as part of a best eleven, even if they are inexperienced.

I disagree with his selection of Boyle and Hrustic though. Over a protracted period their numbers are poor in stats, particularly against better teams. They are both very good against weaker teams.
I'd love to pose questions to Popa about where they fall down - compared to he rest the squad I've had a close look at. I also realise they are stars in their club scenarios ATM, but it isn't extrapolating to the Socceroo international scenarios.

Alex M said:

A team loaded with such top level players like Australia should really do better.

NB: I also find Popovic's coaching style to be somewhat conservative and can lead to some boring matches for neutrals, but it seems to me that he generally gets decent results for the calibre of player he works with.

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Others would know better than me, but I'd argue that most countries we have played against in recent times, have better cattle than us - if one looks at the clubs their players play at in Europe or South America, or their domestic leagues?

We don't have many starting players in the UEFA Big Five, then Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland usually ranked 6-9, or the high quality Brazilian or leagues. We don't have players in the big 2 South Americn leagues either - Brazil and Argentina.

Or we have very few starting players in the big 30-40 clubs who regularly play in weaker UEFA leagues, but feature in UEFA Champ League or Europa League - Celtic, Rangers, Dynamo Zagreb, Hadjuk Split, Shaktar Donesk, Dynamo Kiev, FC Copenhagen, Grasshoppers, Locomotiv Moscow, Red Star Belgrade, Ajax, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Feyenoorde, Standard Liege, Sporting Lisbon, Porto, etc.

Cameroon, Canada, USA, Colombia, Japan A , Japan B, with Saudi being harder to appraise with few of their players playing overseas, and even Indonesia have 4 Eredivisie players and a Serie A player, possibly all have superior club cattle to us. Even China is probably a better league than the AL to select their players from.