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Match stats/analysis for recent Socceroo games

grazorblade said:
Metcalf always does more on replay than watching live. Unfortunately like holman its easy to miss his quality

interesting to hear some good news about hrustic. I groaned when I saw him starting. He is finally hitting club form after 4 years of bad form at club level. Maybe we start see him improve for the roos?

I suspect poppa takes just 5 inside forwards with irankunda metcalf and mcgree taking three slots. Hrustic, Mabil and Vellupilay might be fighting with boyle for the 4th and 5th positions. Do you have a ranking?

Younis in the A league and kuol in the czech league as well as silvera are also some dark horse options
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I sometimes struggle to rank players, not seeing them in all settings, Grazor.

I’m gobsmacked Herrington has come from 3rd choice CB for the Aus u20s not long ago, and is showing up the experienced Geria playing Right CB in some areas.

What appears to be established against Curaçao and Cameroon is that Herrington can be passed to in tighter spaces than Geria and maintain possession, or, progress the ball forwards in the build up.

For quite a few games when Popa first selected him, Geria was one of our best and did well in stats. Now in 2 games an 18 yo Herrington has come from nowhere with a superior skill set.

Another good point by you, Grazor. Many players one has to closely scrutinize their performance in second looks, because they do a lot of good things that are subtle.

Whereas Iran and Bos need no close statistical analysis for all to see their spectacular running with the ball, dribbling, speed over the turf, athleticism, Iran’s shooting.
 
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Decentric said:
That is what I have said - for some time, backed up with cold, hard stats.

However, against Curaçao Hrustic has performed far better than I would have expected.
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well thats his problem, he shines when we lest need it - Curacao are ranked where ? 82nd D - even though they impressed me the 1st half alot beside the point.
So so many times in crucial games he fails, he showed alot of promise originally but the cast was set over the years we really got to move on.
 
Hrustic I will never forget his quite bizarre attitude during the Argentina world cup game. Screaming and shouting and throwing his arms up in frustration from not getting the ball MANY times during that game. The Behich run and chance I could kinda see, but to be fair to Behich that type of run your gonna shoot after that magic. The Kuol chance though at the end? So Bizarre, why on earth would Kuol ever try to pass back to him and not go for goal? His attitude STUNK.
 

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yer thats a classic attitude freeze shot - like wtf as if he's in better position lol......
 
LFC said:
well thats his problem, he shines when we lest need it - Curacao are ranked where ? 82nd D - even though they impressed me the 1st half alot beside the point.
So so many times in crucial games he fails, he showed alot of promise originally but the cast was set over the years we really got to move on.
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World rankings are so close, LFC.

I haven't seen the top world ranked FIFA 10 nations play for a while.

Just looking at USA, Colombia and Japan A and B in the teens, they are a class above Aus with the individuals who comprise their first elevens.

Even though most on G and G will disagree with me, Popa has created a better team unit with the cattle he has. Most of our 27 yo and over players are not quite good enough to beat the teen ranked FIFA teams, but the tyros 24 and under will be a few years down the track - if they forge a good Socceroo team unit.

I reckon there is little difference in the quality of teams ranked in the 20s to the 80s. It is so close in world football.

I thought both Curacao and the unqualified Cameroon, have been high quality teams, wherever they are ranked. Some of Grazor, JS96, Quicky, etc, will probably know, but they may have more players playing in better club leagues than Aus. I think most of the Cur team play in the Eredivisie.

The margins are tiny. Cameroon made 1 small error at the back for Bos to pounce. Even though we had the pen, it was a close game for us to prevail, with marginally better Socceroo team cohesion and slightly better concentration. ATM that Cameroon replay isn't showing, so only have passing stats up to 27 mins.
 
sure agree rankings don't provide the real world picture in a 90min game.
I understand - sure same can be said rank 1 to 20 the divide isn't that great but pounce on error score or a outlier ala Mbappe/Messi/now a Lamel is the diff winning to losing for 1 moment.
As for Curacao 1st time qualied from 150K pop - sure their players are in Eredivisie wherever else fact of the matter what of the culture and NT experience difference we're 6times experience compared to 1.
Thats not so close for eg.
 
Deni Juric held the ball up a few times, drawing 2-3 opponents, with some nifty sole of the foot dribbling and Zidane 360s, plus quality shielding. One action which culminated in Mabil's goal.

At the 63 min mark, Juric is about to be subbed.

Juric has made 6 passes in the defensive half, all under extreme pressure, with 100% accuracy. Outstanding!
He has made 4 passes in the attacking half, with 1 mishit at 80% accuracy.
2 out of 4 completed in the attacking half were made under time and space close pressure.
1 killer backheel pass resulted in Mabil's goal.
So Juric has had 90% passing accuracy as a number 9, which is exceptional and indicates a reasonable amount of involvement.
80% of completed Juric passes have been made under pressure.
Minimal time and space is the norm for central strikers, who are so closely marked.

This is all outstanding for Juric, BUT to date without looking back, I'm not sure he has had a shot at goal in the Cur game? Sometimes Viduka had few shots either, but Dukes held the ball up very well.

Juric had to go back deep into his own half to receive often - which reduced team depth ( distance been the defensive line and attacking line). Was he showing well in space a few times, and ignored, or not seen?

Ditto Mabil? He had roughly the same amount of passing involvement as Hrustic and Juric. Without stopping the play a lot, I'm not sure if Mabil's runs were ignored, or weren't seen?

Mabil was often under the same limited time and space pressure as the other duo in the attacking three.

Mabil's goal was superb! It was under extreme time and space pressure, and it was pinpoint with only a fraction of a second to strike.

Mabil's post shot, was close to scoring, from a superbly executed Hrustic cross. Pleasingly, he found a good position away from markers at the back post.

Then Circati ( who had some poor moments) put him through centrally ( Zone 14 Grazor?) with a superb weighted diagonal ball. Mabil again found space opening a perfect passing lane to shoot inaccurately outside the pen box, but having a lot more time and space to compose himself and shoot.
 
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Decentric said:
That is what I have said - for some time, backed up with cold, hard stats.

However, against Curaçao Hrustic has performed far better than I would have expected.
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Hrustic often does ok against the weaker teams, of which I would consider Curacao to be one. But he normally goes missing against the stronger teams.
 
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grazorblade said:
Jake is indeed based in England, glad you enjoyed the pod!

My understanding is that it is indeed standard in every country in the world to credit players for passing forward. Progressive passing is not just the responsibility of forward options to open passing lanes, but players can be differentiated by their ability to pass the ball forward. This is not just an English view either!

See this french report of a player for example says
"What’s the passing lane here ? I don’t see it. Gboho does because he is good and creative."

This german language report also credits a player for their ability to pass forward

This dutch report that credits a player for the number of progressive passes per 90 they make

In our case, Okon jr and Scicluna have a clear advantage over other midfield options for the roos in their ability to make a forward pass. A player gets an advantage over other players through a number of skills, for example

- ability to recieve the ball on the turn without losing it. This means that even if you have the ball given to you with a bad body shape you can quickly get into a good body shape to pass forward
- ability to glance frequently and absorb information about forward movement before recieving the ball
- passing range as some passing lanes are close some are further away
- handling speed as some passing lanes are only open for a split second
- decision making and creativity
- ability to shield the ball until a passing lane opens (this is a feature okon excels at. It is why in his first game only 1 pass was backwards)
- Ability to carry the ball forward
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Unfortunately I don't think Popovic encourages forward passes from midfield, at least not in the first half of a match where his strategy seems to be to frustrate the (usually more skilful) opposition, and then pounce with fresh attacking subs in the 2nd half. Hopefully Irankunda, Toure and McGree can convince him that a defensive conservative start is wasting weapons that could give us a lead going into half-time (for a change)
 
socceroosmad said:
Unfortunately I don't think Popovic encourages forward passes from midfield, at least not in the first half of a match where his strategy seems to be to frustrate the (usually more skilful) opposition, and then pounce with fresh attacking subs in the 2nd half. Hopefully Irankunda, Toure and McGree can convince him that a defensive conservative start is wasting weapons that could give us a lead going into half-time (for a change)
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And Bos
 
socceroosmad said:
Unfortunately I don't think Popovic encourages forward passes from midfield, at least not in the first half of a match where his strategy seems to be to frustrate the (usually more skilful) opposition, and then pounce with fresh attacking subs in the 2nd half. Hopefully Irankunda, Toure and McGree can convince him that a defensive conservative start is wasting weapons that could give us a lead going into half-time (for a change)
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I’m sure Popa encourages players to pass forwards throughout a game - if at the right moment in midfield- as a player opens a viable passing lane further forwards.
 
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