Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

Sign Up Now!

Socceroos vs Venezuela/ Colombia Nov 25

How should Australia do November?

  • European based camp

    Votes: 23 71.9%

  • Australian based camp

    Votes: 6 18.8%

  • Middle East based camp

    Votes: 2 6.3%

  • Nothing

    Votes: 1 3.1%
  • Total voters
    32
around the 20 minute mark we become less willing to circulate the ball deep to create space and work through the lines when pressed and look to have a panicked clearance a couple of times despite having time and space

the o'niell yellow probably affected us. Poppa has talked about us being more agressive, so if you get a nothing yellow for regulation shielding the ball that's likely to put you into your shell. Obviously I don't know poppa's instructions and he does change things up during the game, but it does look like we become a bit more conservative with and without the ball from the 20 minute mark
 
a pretty good sequence results in a foul on irvine....to be honest apart from a brief period around the o'niell yellow we have been pretty good in the first half hour
 
Of all the players with an Australian passport there is only one that stands tall when it comes to winning and keeping the ball under pressure and playing channel balls that the likes of Toure and Irankunda would thrive upon.

Step forward Nizz.

Of course, Popa will never look at Nizz but it does my head in how obvious are our shortcomings (ahem) and how equally obvious is the solution to so many fans. But not Popa.

As someone else suggested, if he was a regular in the Socceroos (and starring, as I have no doubt he would) then the prospects of him getting a better club would skyrocket. As it is, he plays pretty much every minute now for Roda but he needs decent players in front of him to properly profit from his genius.
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
Of all the players with an Australian passport there is only one that stands tall when it comes to winning and keeping the ball under pressure and playing channel balls that the likes of Toure and Irankunda would thrive upon.

Step forward Nizz.

Of course, Popa will never look at Nizz but it does my head in how obvious are our shortcomings (ahem) and how equally obvious is the solution to so many fans. But not Popa.

As someone else suggested, if he was a regular in the Socceroos (and starring, as I have no doubt he would) then the prospects of him getting a better club would skyrocket. As it is, he plays pretty much every minute now for Roda but he needs decent players in front of him to properly profit from his genius.
Click to expand...
Popovic's set up doesn't suit Nizzy unfortunately. I used to love watching him play every week in the a league, was one of my favourite players at the time
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
Of all the players with an Australian passport there is only one that stands tall when it comes to winning and keeping the ball under pressure and playing channel balls that the likes of Toure and Irankunda would thrive upon.

Step forward Nizz.

Of course, Popa will never look at Nizz but it does my head in how obvious are our shortcomings (ahem) and how equally obvious is the solution to so many fans. But not Popa.

As someone else suggested, if he was a regular in the Socceroos (and starring, as I have no doubt he would) then the prospects of him getting a better club would skyrocket. As it is, he plays pretty much every minute now for Roda but he needs decent players in front of him to properly profit from his genius.
Click to expand...
I love nizzy, but because we have our central mids so deep and we have now central attacking midfielder I doubt you can play a player that short in poppas system unless he can play wide unfortunatley
 
SocceroosFan said:
Popovic's set up doesn't suit Nizzy unfortunately. I used to love watching him play every week in the a league, was one of my favourite players at the time
Click to expand...
Why, doesn't Poppa want to get the ball properly to the forwards. Do we have to stick to playing backwards or wide or lobbing the midfield?
 
I was pretty critical on the yet to be released pod. The performance against V was pretty dour, as was the 2nd half against columbia. So that probably affected my mood. Have to say most of the first half was really good.
Rowles in particular has been outstanding, yes bos is better but Rowles might be our number 2 lwb

Rowles first step is so good - his ability to quickly anticipate where to go when an opposition motions to pass - he got a couple of great intercepts in positions where he could really start our attacks

He also was very good at some difficult passes inside when swarmed
 
patjennings said:
Why, doesn't Poppa want to get the ball properly to the forwards. Do we have to stick to playing backwards or wide or lobbing the midfield?
Click to expand...
That's pretty much how Popovic see's it - he's not getting the best out of Mo or Nestory either. It's just anti football & it's so hard to watch. Nothing worse than just sending it long from the back, in the hope Toure will get on the end of it.
 
grazorblade said:
I was pretty critical on the yet to be released pod. The performance against V was pretty dour, as was the 2nd half against columbia. So that probably affected my mood. Have to say most of the first half was really good.
Rowles in particular has been outstanding, yes bos is better but Rowles might be our number 2 lwb

Rowles first step is so good - his ability to quickly anticipate where to go when an opposition motions to pass - he got a couple of great intercepts in positions where he could really start our attacks

He also was very good at some difficult passes inside when swarmed
Click to expand...
He seems to be another player that many want to get rid of. He will never offer the same attacking threat as Bos but is very solid defensively and better attacking than many give him credit for. He also offers an aerial threat from set pieces.
 
patjennings said:
He seems to be another player that many want to get rid of. He will never offer the same attacking threat as Bos but is very solid defensively and better attacking than many give him credit for. He also offers an aerial threat from set pieces.
Click to expand...
given how much poppa rotates you need two players in every position, so will be interesting battle between him, behich and silvera (any others) for that 2nd lwb role
 
Popas attacking phase (a box midfield with the wingers drifting in) and leaving wingbacks solely to provide width clearly did not work against Colombia. Am afraid Popa-ball has become predictable, Bos aside opponents know our other wingbacks provide little threat when running at fullbacks and can comfortably flood central areas.
 
grazorblade said:
I love nizzy, but because we have our central mids so deep and we have now central attacking midfielder I doubt you can play a player that short in poppas system unless he can play wide unfortunatley
Click to expand...
Just a reminder, Nizzys played in Monty and Jacko's teams as a DM, CM ( Box to box and deep lying number 10), AM, W, and striker. He performed respectfully in all of them, And exceptional in the midfield roles. If Popa can't find a spot for him, it's the more fool Popa.
 
Last edited:
46% posession without a press in the first half and 90% of it was good. Worker through the thirds well, defended well (despite some incredible moments of skill from columbia, like that time their play quickly turned while tightly marked and got away a shot)

Now for the second half lol
 
grazorblade said:
I was pretty critical on the yet to be released pod. The performance against V was pretty dour, as was the 2nd half against columbia. So that probably affected my mood. Have to say most of the first half was really good.
Rowles in particular has been outstanding, yes bos is better but Rowles might be our number 2 lwb

Rowles first step is so good - his ability to quickly anticipate where to go when an opposition motions to pass - he got a couple of great intercepts in positions where he could really start our attacks

He also was very good at some difficult passes inside when swarmed
Click to expand...
Rowles shouldn't be our LWB. Not when we rely on that position for all our width. A LCB yes. A LB in a back 4 yes. Otherwise not a fan at all. Unless we're keen to offer even less offensively than we currently do.
 
one thing that really stands out the last two games is columbia and venezuala have backs that can match toure and irankunda's speed. Canada and USA has pretty quick backs too. There is a 1-2 in the 56th minute between toure and riley mcgree where toure is in space running onto a ball, but the columbian back is too quick for toure to take advantage.

In general our athleticism has been really poor for ages
 
first 18 minutes of the 2nd half we apparently have had only 15 percent possession. It looks like we have tired a bit, hopefully it was the virus lol

2nd half had 22% possession compared to 46% in the first. That's a pretty remarkable drop

part of that might be the virus, where we are at in terms of quality, poppas tactics etc

part of that though is probably mcgree and irvine who were key to getting a semblance of control on the game but aren't match fit
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top