Oh well, here I'm about to post some positives about players most G and G posters love to vilify, and, some critiques of the Socceroo poster boys that identify a few flaws.
Team wise, it was very disappointing from the Roos in the first half.
However, the commentators, Robbie T and Andy H, didn't identify a few aspects of the game.
The Kiwis, like most of our recent opponents, played a high risk, high reward strategy of intensive Squeezing in our defensive half. Also, known as gegenpressing or Full Pressing and Intensive Squeezing. The aim was to force turnovers close to our defensive goal. It worked. The risk was if Aus played through the attacking and midfield lines there was a fair bit of space ceded in midfield - that could be exploited.
Bos's ball carrying and dribbling was effective at times at exploiting this space in accelerated attacks. There was too much in between the Kiwi defensive line and midfield line, or, the Kiwi defensive line was too high.
Most of the time with the relatively inexperienced Socceroos, the Kiwis game plan worked.
There were some interesting experiments by Popa.
Boyle - playing as a central striker, he has virtually no physical strength whatsoever, to contest body on body duels and hold the ball up - like Borello, Duke, Yengi and Mo Toure do.
Poor bloke is virtually useless as a central striker, apart from his diagonal runs and dummy runs to open viable passing lanes to support the the Aus ball carrier in possession. He needs to play wider on the flanks, where his tracking back and closing down of space is better in Ball Possession Opposition. Scoring regularly in the Scottish hoofball league doesn't extrapolate to international success. I think Hibs have had an early European exit.
Hrustic - in Ball Possession Opposition, he must be one of the weakest players we have had in the last decade in terms of causing turnovers from closing down space and winning body on body 1v1 duels.
On the ball shows flashes of brilliance. Despite him playing in the Eredivisie, he just doesn't work hard off the ball like fellow Dutch league players Bos and Balard.
Silvera - another quality technician, like Hrustic on the ball, but not a great ball winner in BPO. If he hadn't been injured I would have preferred Popa to play Silvera in the front three and taken Hrustic off. So to have both Hrustic on the right side of the front three and Silvera as a right wing back, gave us little ball winning impetus.
Defensive midfield - both Yazbek and Teague are inexperienced at international football. O'Neill ( inexplicably a scapegoat on this forum), as usual showed on the ball solidity in his metronomic both sides of the body proficiency two touch passing - receive with the left foot, pass with the right - receive with the right foot, pass with the left. His quick handling speed enables more security in possession.
Yazbek won some difficult hard balls, but he and Teague are too inexperienced and unfamiliar with each other, despite playing a bit at Aus U 23s, to have chemistry.
O'Neill organised players around him to assume better team defensive shape. O'Neill is also improving as a ball winner - where he is becoming dominant in 1v1s. A midfield enforcer.
As someone else has mentioned, TSF I think, Teague is a good technician on the ball, but is more one foot dominant than O'N - Teague's left.
Getting back to what Andy H and Robbie T did not identify. Usually, when teams commit to intensive Squeezing with Full Pressing, they run out of gas at the 60 min mark. They hope to have won the game by this point, then bring on a few subs.
Kiwis have improved immeasurably. Singh was excellent! My better half looked him up and he is playing in Serbia. Fast handling speed, neat on the ball, with good vision and execution.
The big Kiwi LB, De Vries, bullied Hrustic, Boyle and Silvera. Was too strong for them. It all changed when the bustling Mr Miller came on. Miller loves physical battles and has been developed in the very rugged and physical Scottish league!
Yes, Lewis commits the odd foul in dangerous places, but also wins plenty of hard balls against the opposition's best ball winners. Last night was no different. De Vries had a real battle on his hands against the rugged Miller.
The Kiwi CBs bullied Boyle. It all changed when Mo Toure came on and was a physical presence in 1v1s.
New G and G poster boy, Jordi Bos, made some superb runs on occasions. Brilliant! The only issue is what he does in between those runs? He makes more positional mistakes than JS96's idol, Aziz Behich.
Also, whereas Behich is more adept at playing to a teammates ' favourite foot, Bos often played to them, where they had to adjust so they were receiving with less than preferred ideal body shape.
Behich still has vastly superior game sense, but doesn't have Bos's ball carrying brilliance and athleticism. I almost wonder if Bos should be moved further forwards as a winger? Instead a player like Farrell could be the designated left back?
Circati - already probably Aus's best player - even with all fit and available. Could he be shifted centrally? A 3 person CB line of Geria- Circati- Souttar?
Izzo - have watched him a lot at club level, but can't remember which AL clubs he played for? Great shot stopping! Incredible saves against Wood, with two more fingertip saves. Not as good as distributor with ball on the deck as Ryan. Good debut.
Metcalfe - will have to have a good look on the stats collecting replay. Did good things, but watching live was not involved much. I'll no doubt see little things on the replay.
Aus - off the ball in BPO. Not sure why, but Popa never goes for the intensive Squeezing over a sustained period? He might apply it for short periods? It seems paramount for him for the team to hold team shape at all times in BPO.
Aus uses a Half Press with only moderate Squeezing. He uses the 3-4-3, 5-2-3, 5-4-1, formation in different parts of the pitch and whether Aus has possession or not. This means not swarming, with 2-3 players sprinting at 1 opponent to close him down and force a turnover, like our opposition has been doing to us. It gives them a lot of easy ball.
Yet again, Aus dominated in the last 20 mins and won the game. Aus finished over the top of the Kiwis.
Subs;
Unpopular G and G scapegoat, Miller, much more rugged than Silvera. Want the latter to play in the attacking line.
Unpopular G and G scapegoat, O'Neill, really strengthened the centre of midfield and won a lot of hard balls. Aus shape was better in attack and defence.
Toure - much better as central striker than Boyle. Physical presence. Notwithstanding, goal scoring ops. Provided assist to Balard (thanks Keeper).
Iran - G and G current media poster boy made some horrible defensive mistakes, but good on the ball. As many know, I love shorter players with low centre of gravity and who are nimble and quick on the turn. This is Iran in spades.
Milanovic - more effective than Hrustic. Better ball winner and more consistent on the ball, devoid of Hrustic's occasional brilliance.
Balard - looking forwards to replay to have a better look. Played one superb one touch pass under pressure to a teammate in a more defensive position.
Hope Pat J is reading this, because he thinks CCM players are hard done by from Socceroo coaches, but Balard's first touch in receiving from Iran's assist with what our former state TD calls a pivot turn, and Archie T calls a swivel turn, was brilliant - taking the ball away from his opponents and neatly slotting home that goal in the corner.
Max B looks pretty puny in the upper body ATM.
Love his attitude! MB said no matter how well he plays, he is determined to improve further at club level!
In 9 games, Popa now has 6 wins and 3 draws.
Kiwis were the better side for the first 70 mins. Just on those match stats, they deserved to win.
