As I get to the 60 min mark compiling stats for the first Kiwi game in Canberra, it may look as though O'Neill and Miller did quite well when they came on, but it was because the NZ intensity had declined in the Kiwi team Squeezing.

So Silvera as the Right WB and Yazbek as the DM, had to contend with less time and space on the ball throughout the entire first 45 mins. They weren't able to shake Kiwi markers, who used up a lot of gas in the first 45 mins.

However, even with more time and space on the ball for the Aus team as a whole, Hrustic has struggled to impose himself on the game. Unusually, he has won a few more 1v1s though.

Moreover, after claiming Bos made mistakes watching the game live, at the 60 min mark, he still hasn't made any! Plus he is winning heading duels.

Boyle is still struggling as the central striker too.

Furthermore, Aus seems to be better in the replay already in the second half, than I thought watching the game live. O'N and Miller have added confidence. Both have been good in body on body contact 1v1s. De Vries has run into a brick wall, Miller, on the left Kiwi flank. He had it easy against Hrustic and Silvera in the first 45 mins. Silvera tracked back quite well in the first 45 mins, but Miller is winning hard balls.

I've reached the 91 min mark of Ashes game 1.

Observations and stat compilation:

I like to think I'm as objective as possible and just analyse what I see and record.

* Hrustic - just seemed to struggle to have any influence. Some good touches on the ball, but far too infrequent. Astonishingly, he won more tackles and hard balls than usual. Haven't tallied them up yet.
How is this guy a solid performer for Heracles in the Eredivisie? Again I reiterate, he will star against teams who play Deep Defensive Blocks / Partial Pressing, but against teams who proactively Squeeze intensively - Kiwis, Japan, Saudi ( at times), Indo, he will continue to be a peripheral figure.

* Boyle - as central striker struggled. Physically overpowered. When he plays wider he tracks back superbly when the other team has the ball, despite not winning body on body 1v1s. He also struggled to get shots at goal. Often wins cunning free kicks, but the ref seemed to know about him.

* Kiwis backed off the Squeezing intensity ( out of gas), which made it easier for all Aus subs in second half. The entire team lifted, as O'Neill and Miller won lots of hard balls. Yazbek had less opportunity than O'N. O'N distributed well too.

* Toure- chalk and cheese with Boyle. Not only a strong physical presence who possibly outmuscled the Kiwi CBs, but his pace also worried them. A few times showed superb composure and skill under pressure of time and space in receiving and shielding the ball. I'm not sure he had any shots, but created a constant target and made a real nuisance of himself physically. I'm very impressed!

* Iran - love his low centre of gravity! On the ball his nimbleness worried Kiwi defenders. He beat players 1v1. Like Toure was assisted by a slowing Kiwi defence. Nearly scored a headed goal. Impressive! That is not to take anything away from Metcalfe, who had quite a number of superb first touches.

* Milanovic - didn't get as much ball as Toure and Iran, but did some good things. Was a vast improvement on Hrustic.

* Bos - brilliant! Saw little of the mistakes I thought he made from watching live. The obvious things everybody sees are the wonderful ball carrying runs and beating more than 1 opponent were on show. He is also quite a lot better aerially than Behich, winning heading duels all over the pitch. Won plenty of hard balls too, which may not have been as noticeable watching live in real time.

* Izzo - very good shot stopper, but way behind Ryan as a sweeper. Gave a lot of balls away sweeping, but under pressure in terms of time and space too.

* Teague - after his China debut, I was disappointed. Won enough hard balls, but didn't see the high quality pass and move sequences in tight spaces and longer left foot passing. IMO Teague has been in the shadow of his MV teammate, Valadon, as a technician. Teague won quite a few heading 1v1 duels, but haven't tallied them yet. Wasn't making the intercepts and blocks that O'N did from good reading of play, which tends to come with experience - improved defensive positioning.

* O'Neill - excellent game, albeit it being easier with less off the ball pressure than Silvera and Yazbek copped in the first half.

* Miller - provided the brick wall against De Vries that was badly needed.

* Deg - struggled in 1v1s against Wood, who overpowered him. Did well well when he wasn't directly marking Wood, as a free defender with effective defensive positioning. H e usually organised the defence as a compact unit in BPO.

* Circati - superb shift! It was probably pretty obvious what he did, but slowing replays down, won virtually everything in 1v1s, apart from being outpaced by speedy wingers. Was composed on ball, despite mishitting a few longer passes.

* Wish Silvera had a go at RW instead of Hrustic, with Miller playing Right WB.

* Metcalfe - did a lot of little things that were good, not easily seen live. Made an incredibly high number of quality first touches under pressure. Of the starting up was easily the most combative in 1v1s compared to Boyle, Hrustic and Silvera in more attacking positions. He also created Kiwi turnovers from the front. Metcalfe has a good engine too and can play a number of positions, like RWB.

I’m now doing the Kiwi/ Aus Ashes game in Auckland. I’m only 18 minutes in.

I’ve been doing this stat compilation since 2008, with a big break for 5-6 years from the late 2010 - 2020 decade.

Anyway playing against Japan away in the Pim Asian WCQ campaign, Vince Grella won an extraordinary number of tackles in a half - about 8.

In the 18 mins of the Auckland fixture, Kye Rowles has won 8 out of 9 unique 1v1 contests! He was dribbled around on 1 occasion, and has won every other tackling or heading duel since, playing Left Wing Back! This is incredible - and unprecedented!

I had no idea watching it live!

I’m now at the 30 min mark.

I’ve noted a number of us haven’t posted in this thread recently. Some who really have it in for Popa and a few established Socceroos.

At the same time some of the younger players who’ve been lauded are really coming on and displaying a skill level and game sense exceeding previous gens of Roos.

Circati, Bos, Iran, Toure are making fast progress, early in their careers.

Metcalfe and Balard, who I’ve barely looked at closely, are also doing good things. Based on what Balard has done against the Kiwis, I agree, he should have played Socceroo minutes already. He is a pretty decent technician on the ball, and is competent at winning 1v1s. He also makes good decisions off the ball with defensive running and supports the ball carrier to pass to.

This game also illustrates how O’Neill, disliked by many G and G posters, is a key figure in midfield. He is now comfortable at international level. He wins heaps of 1v1s and makes timely intercepts and blocks. O’N is very two sided of the body proficient, so players passing to him don’t have to look for a preferred foot to aim for. O’N is assured in possession to progress the build up forwards.

It also assists the less experienced Yazbek, Teague or Ballard playing next to him. One can feel sorry for the guy omitted who has South African origins, but the younger guys have overtaken him.

Ditto Behich. I can’t find the faults that JS sees, but Bos is overtaking him. The latter has a higher ceiling.

Toure’s skill set has the best of McLaren and Taggart as club level finishers, plus Yengi, Borrello and Duke to put themselves about. He is also on the way to having some of Viduka’s shielding the ball quality. Hopefully, he reaches Cahill, Aloisi and Kennedy’s finishing qualities as Socceroos.

I’m also impressed by Old, Singh and Payne for the Kiwis.

Quality players!

To anyone who knows the Kiwis well.

Are the Kiwi CBs their weakness?

I've finished compiling stats for a both Ashes games. I've recorded all the individual 1v1 stats duels for game 2 in Auckland and have team stats for 1v1s in both games.

As usual, some surprises always crop up. I've learned a lot more about some new players. There are some very promising signs for Balard, Toure, Iran, Circati, Bos.

Some things that players do well are pretty obvious live for Bos, Toure, Iran.

Some subtle things have cropped up for Metcalfe, O'Neill and Rowles, who some of us on here have a real bias against. I urge Socceroo fans not to have a set against specific players.

Hrustic, Boyle, Izzo, have some pronounced weaknesses playing certain roles, whilst still having strengths.

It might really surprise some, but over the span of both Ashes games, playing a half and a full game, O'Neill was Aus's best player.

For me, a big surprise , which CCM fans have been suggesting for ages, is Balard may have overtaken Yazbek and Teague as the DM partner, if Irvine doesn't shake his current injury concerns off.

We have a found a central striker - Toure. Even if he isn't scoring, he has all the skills as a target striker.

He is a handful for defenders, but has a more all round skill set than Borrello, Duke, Maclaren, Taggart, Yengi, Boyle, as the central target striker - speed over the turf, close ball control under body on body pressure in shielding the ball and holding it up, aerial strength, physical strength - and - he has displayed finishing prowess like Cahill, Aloisi and Kennedy at international level. I think Grazor has been singing his praises and potential for a long time.

*Stats and the midfield.

O'Neill - I've added Intercepts and Turnovers in stats. The difference between O'Neill and the less experienced Balard, Teague and Yazbek, is he is making more Intercepts, Blocks and forcing Turnovers from strategic positioning and good reading of play. O'N has had more experience.

Haven't tallied O'N's individual 1v1 stats in the half of game 1 in Canberra yet, but he had a 1v1 tally of winning 7 and losing 1 in Auckland Ashes game 2. This is outstanding!
He also made 3 intercepts and caused 1 Turnover.
He made 2 excellent first touches under time and space pressure.

O'Neill was fortunate he didn't play in the first 45 mins against the Kiwis in Ashes game 1 in Canberra when they Squeezed most intensively, giving Aus little time and space on the ball. It was a real battle for the inexperienced Yazbek and Teague.

As I've said before, O'N has very good body position when he 2 touch passes and moves -on both side of the body. He receives left foot, passes right - or - receives right foot passes left, with equal proficiency.

Players passing to him don't have to worry about playing to a favourite foot. Balard is more right foot dominant, and Teague is more left foot dominant. O'Neill is probably playing the Mooy role, but is more agile off the ball.
In the 1v1 duels O'Neill won, he won 3 Tackles, 2 body on body duels and 2 heading duel contests. The 1 unique 1v1 he lost was when he was dribbled around.

Balard
Seemed to work well with O'N screening the defence in the Popa game plan.
1v1s - had 7 duels.
H e won 4 - all Tackles. Reads when to make tackles and executes them well.
He lost 2 unique 1v1 duels, being outmuscled on 1 and dribbled around in another.
Another 1v1 duel had no victor.
He also made 1 assist for a long range pass to Iran in space, who beat 2 defenders to score a brilliant goal!
Balard also made 3 excellent first touches under pressure and Blocked 2 balls.

In terms of technique on the ball, in pass and move sequences Balard works well in tight spaces, plus has vision where he can execute long passes to players showing for the ball in more advanced positions in space.

Teague's best game to date was against China. Balard still has not clocked up 90 mins yet, but is a year older than Yazbek and Teague, and is ostensibly playing plenty of minutes in the Eredivisie.

Popa must have thought Yazbek and Teague were better on the training track, but I think Balard is shading them on the pitch in Socceroo performances to date.

I also have minute detail in thinking Balard's non preferred left foot, is better than Teague's non-preferred right foot on the ball. Teague may be better in 1v1 heading duels though.

Weirdly, Balard didn't contest any heading duels against the Kiwis in Auckland. Keeper 66 and Grazor may have also identified a slight weakness in Teague, that he sometimes loses his marker. Whether this is an individual trait, or Popa wants them marking zonally, I'm not sure?

The composure for Balard's 1st Roo goal in Canberra, executing a perfect pivot turn and shot, was outstanding too.

*Popa game plans

Also, in Popa 3-4-3, 5-2-3, 5-4-1 formation, the 2 central midfielders tend to play very close to the defensive line at all times in Ball Possession Opposition. It advantages the central free CB, usually Deg, to have a bit of unpressured ball in Possession, sacrificing the DMs being a person short in midfield with no AM or number ten.

This small distance between the midfield and defensive lines, makes it very difficult for opponents to penetrate the Socceroos defence.

However, I'm frustrated, because if teams Full Press us and Squeeze intensively, too much of the game is played in the Aus defensive half.

The advantage of this is there is often space conceded by the opposition, between the midfield line and their defensive line, if we turn the ball over and launch accelerated attacks. The Kiwi defensive shape was out of position more than Aus's was.

Against Bahrain and many of the teams in the previous WCQ round, teams Partial Pressed/Deep Defensive Blocked, constantly to maintain defensive shape, but we struggled to penetrate their compact defensive shape whilst having a lot of ball.

A lot of our athletic players who are good off the ball, aren't as good a technicians as the likes of Arzani, Hrustic, Iran, Tilio, Nisbet, Segecic, et al, at passing and moving in tight paces in attacking interplay or dribbling through these tight, compact defences. We didn't have enough of these players in Arnie's teams to break down these defences who left little space to exploit.

Another useful technical midfield general type, would be Jordi Valadon. JV and Rhys Bozinovski, dominated central midfield for the Young Socceroos in Asian games. Add Okon Jr and these guys are just the technicians a team wants on the ball, if Aus is dominant playing against deep defensive blocks.

Team 1v1 aggregates

*Canberra game 1.

1v1s : Aus won 91, Kiwis won 32, with 10 having no outcome.

My crude mental maths gives Aus about 75% in 1v1s, which is very high.

*Auckland game 2.

1v1s : Aus won 67, Kiwis won 45, with 7 having no outcome.

Crude mental maths is Aus won about 60% of the 1v1s that had outcomes.

I find it interesting, because even though Aus played better than I thought live against the Kiwis in Canberra, they were much more 1v1 dominant in this game, than in Auckland.

Looking at crude possession and territory stats, in both games the majority of football was played in the Aus half. The team set up is that the 2 Socceroo DMs have to do a lot of screening without the ball. Fans have criticised them.

Aus may have shaded possession in both games, but Kiwis spent more time in the Aus half in both games.

The interesting phenomenon was in Auckland, the back 3 didn't do very well in 1v1s - relatively.
Circati won 8 and lost 4 unique 1v1s. There was 1 neutral 1v1 contest.
Degenek won 6 and lost 4. There was 1 neutral.
Burgess won 5 and lost 3.

I have not individually tallied them yet, but I'm sure this trio won a greater percentage in Canberra than Auckland.

Wing backs in Auckland
Miller won 4, lost 5 unique 1v1s. 1 had a neutral outcome.

Rowles
Won 14 and lost 3.

Given this was a more dominant Aus, Miller, Circati, Degenek and Burgess, performed worse than the norm.

Circati looks like our current best defender. To the point he has set a new bar. Yet he had a poor game, by his lofty standards in Auckland.

In a back three his weakness is when a pacy winger bursts through wide on the flank and he has to go wide on the flank to intercept the opposition winger.

Circati is often dribbled around in space when forced to go wide 1v1. These are easily observable live too.
Circati was dribbled around on 2 occasions in space and beaten for speed on 1 occasion. His other 1v1 loss was in a strength duel.
However, he won every other tackling, heading or Body on Body duel in his other 8 contests.

Miller won and lost in all 1v1 departments. I've no doubt De Vries won some hard balls against Miller.

Rowles
Simply outstanding! I thought it was a mistake to play him as Left Wing Back, but he excelled.
Kiwis dribbled around him on 2 occasions.
He lost 1 heading duel.
He won 7 Tackling duels, 3 heading duels, 3 strength duels and dribbled around a Kiwi on 1 occasion. I would have had no idea watching it live!

Of course Rowles doesn't have Bos' ball carrying and dribbling, or extreme pace over the turf, but he is a very solid Left Wing Back.

He also had a good headed shot at goal at the back post.

For team balance, Rowles may be a better Left WB than Miller is a Right WB? Bos may improve as a Right WB to supersede Miller.