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2026 World Cup Squad

Decentric said:
I caution fans not to get sets against specific players. They often improve weaknesses, or regain form quickly in a different club setting.

I've thought Hrustic should not be a Socceroo player, but he has improved quite a few weaknesses in his game in recent times.

I also thought Mabil has had his Socceroo time, but he scored a really difficult goal against Curacao.

Also looking at Italiano in the Aus u23s, I thought he was the least talented in the squad. He has kicked on. Ditto Yazbek.

Conversely, players I thought were far more talented in that team - haven't - Farrell, the DM from WSW who went to Scotland, Courtney- P, Brook, Teague, Jake Hollman ( shocking club decision going to League 2), Jelacic. Natta has just kicked on recently.
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"I caution fans not to get sets against specific players." Good to hear this said. I'm guilty of it myelf - I have a set against Hrustic for example. As you say players can change and in some cases improve rapidly. It's always healthy to keep an open mind.
 
JS96 said:
Burgess is so weak at attacking set plays. Circati scored against Curacao while Souttar against Mexico was very satisfying.
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Socceroos Central: Balard & Karacic goals, Burgess 7/10 ...
Cameron Burgess has not scored any goals for the Socceroos. Since making his international debut, the defender has accumulated 25 caps and provided one assist, but he is still waiting to open his senior account for the Australian national team. [1]
While he hasn't found the back of the net in international colors, he has achieved some memorable goalscoring moments at the club level, notably scoring a dramatic late double (including the winner) for Swansea City against Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup
 
Quicky said:
I really like Burgess but have been wondering if Herrington should start. Our midfield struggles to progress the ball. Whereas Circati and Herrington excel at that. It may help us cover that weakness if our defence can step out and contribute. A big hit to our experience though.
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To be fair Burgess has a very good long pass to the left winger/ striker/ AM in his toolkit
 
socceroosmad said:
You're talking about the guy that got us to the Rd of 16 last WC with a brilliant solo goal against Denmark. Sure that was a one-off and not something he produced week in and out but to say he offered "nothing" is disrespectful IMHO
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78 caps and 14 goals. He kept getting chances and didn't deliver. One great moment shouldn't mask that he gatekept other good players out. No questioning his workmate and passion but he needed a benching or two to spark back into action.
 
socceroosmad said:
I've never seen Robertson play, why do you like him so much? He is in 3rd tier in England ...
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I've barely been able to get a look at him, but have seen some very good things.

He played about 25 mins in a friendly against Ecuador and he got 10 mins against Curacao.

Robertson appears to to have exceptionally fast handling speed for an Aussie. That is the speed to receive and pass the ball on to another player.

He configures correct body shape very quickly to receive hard hit balls close to him with his first touch, and pass under pressure with the quickly taken second touch. Or quickly get into effective body position to play a 1 touch pass in confined space.

In the 10 mins against Curacao, I'm not sure I've ever seen any Socceroo ever, quicker at this. I'd have to have another look at Bresc, Grella, Mooy and Culina.

Haven't seen enough in Robbo's 1v1 capabilities - yet. He contested 2 duels, winning 1 and losing 1, against Curacao. He could be hot-headed too.

In sports forums in general, some posters are guilty of vilifying some long term experienced players in national teams, and overly rate untried, inexperienced players.

Sadly, some posters don't change their views over time either, despite sometimes vast improvement, very quickly, in weaknesses, particularly from younger players. Sometimes in a few months young players can improve fast.
 
socceroosmad said:
To be fair Burgess has a very good long pass to the left winger/ striker/ AM in his toolkit
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Haven't seen it as much recently, but he has used it effectively against some of the slightly weaker Socceroo opponents.

Geria doesn't appear to have the long diagonal pass in his tool kit - like Souttar, Circati and Burgess. Might have seen Herrington play a few too? I'm not sure though?

Not sure I've seen you post before, SM? Welcome to the forum.
 
Decentric said:
As you start to look at O’Neill’s stats over time:

He makes more intercepts than any other central midfielders.

He causes more turnovers from this position.

He is the most proficient hard ball winner as a DM.

Three massive attribute
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The same 3 attributes can be found in many other DMs we have. We need someone in there who can pass the ball forwards more than 5m.
 
jas88 said:
The same 3 attributes can be found in many other DMs we have. We need someone in there who can pass the ball forwards more than 5m.
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Not to the same extent.

I couldn't have said this a few months ago as did not have the data, but I've compiled comprehensive data. ATM nobody is reading the play faster in central midfield making timely intercepts, causing turnovers or as proficient at winning 1v1s.

These are 3 key performance factors in disturbing opposition build ups when they have the ball.

O'N is averaging as as many Intercepts per game, circa 3-4, , that Jedi, Milligan, Mooy, Grella, Culina made in the past. Not as good as Muscat 's late career average of 7 per game, at Melb Vic in the AL and ACL though.

In terms of causing Turnovers he is also making 4-5 a game, easily the best in our central midfield.

It is almost as good as McGree, and similar to Toure and Juric higher up the pitch. The forwards are in the best position to cause Turnovers.

1v1s there is no contest - O'N exceeding other Socceroo DMs Metcalfe, Irvine ( only 1 game), Okon, Yazbek, Robertson. He is Grella, Jedi or Milligan like as a 1v1 hard ball winner.

Also when the op presents itself, and more advanced players open viable passing lanes, O'N passes a few killer passes forward.

It is incumbent on players off the ball to support the ball carrier, by shaking markers a n d open viable passing lanes for him to pass to.
 
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Quicky said:
Robertson.
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Unlikely at his early stage of development - but have not seen him play club football.

In League 1, the opposition is very different from the calibre of Canada, USA, Venez, Colombia, Cameroon and Curacao, who Aus has played recently though. Particularly tactically.

I have no doubt Robertson will be a very good player in the imminent future for the Roos though. He has awesome technique on the ball.
 
patjennings said:
and Balard
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Most of the stats I have for Balard was in his toughest game against Colombia - Intercepts, Turnovers, 1v1s.

I have 1v1s from earlier games and Balard was doing almost as well as O'Neill. At the time I wasn't recording Intercepts and Turnovers until Colombia.

However, Balard was steamrolled a bit in 1v1s against Colombia. He contested 3 duels and won 0.
Meanwhile O'Neill had a ledger of plus 5, contesting 13 duels and winning 73%. If it hadn't been for Miller with plus 10, contesting 16, winning 81%, Colombia might have come out on top? Even the 3 Aus CBs were struggling to get into the plus ledger!

I also recorded that Balard was opening passing lanes well to support ball carriers, to provide forwards passing options in previous Roo games.

What has occurred at club level for Balard? I think his team, has been relegated from the Eredivisie to the Eerste, with a big drop in standard. In terms of games played and injuries what has happened to Balard since Colombia?

.
 
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One pleasant phenomenon seems that the English Championship and the American MLS are producing players with a better skill set for the Socceroos than in the past.

The Championship was a hoofball, high ball, second ball league - Pim's words! The MLS was overly physical, with coaches adopting a lot of gridiron practices.

Is the Championship, along with the mid and top ranks of the Dutch, Belgian and Portuguese elite leagues, almost UEFA Big Five in standard?
 
Decentric said:
Most of the stats I have for Balard was in his toughest game against Colombia - Intercepts, Turnovers, 1v1s.

I have 1v1s from earlier games and Balard was doing almost as well as O'Neill. At the time I wasn't recording Intercepts and Turnovers until Colombia.

However, Balard was steamrolled a bit in 1v1s against Colombia. He contested 3 duels and won 0.
Meanwhile O'Neill had a ledger of plus 5, contesting 13 duels and winning 73%. If it hadn't been for Miller with plus 10, contesting 16, winning 81%, Colombia might have come out on top? Even the 3 Aus CBs were struggling to get into the plus ledger!

I also recorded that Balard was opening passing lanes well to support ball carriers, to provide forwards passing options.

What has occurred at club level for Balard? I think his team, has been relegated from the Eredivisie to the Eerste, with a big drop in standard. In terms of games played and injuries what has happened to Balard since Colombia?

.
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He has consistently rated well in what was a poor team, basically a starter in 32 of 33 matches with high minutes. As I said the other day with Yazbek out and O'Neill and Irvine both under injury clouds do you take both of them. I wouldn't.

Edit: Even more of a worry after McGree (though not the same profile) with Mcgree tweaking his hamstring.
 
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