Welcome!

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

Sign Up Now!

Poppa Out

ClockworkOrange said:
That is a major tournament at international level.
I think you mean, you don’t get that in one off knockout games. But your implication is that Popa has been able to adjust when needed.
Click to expand...
I meant major tournaments at international level for national teams not at club level and I agree that Popaball has been able to adjust when required but unfortunately we haven't really seen that over the course of the Socceroos' World Cup campaign.
 
Needs to come up with a style that will allow us to dominate possession and win games against minnows. We can't sit in a low block against Thailand.

Not sure if he has it in his locker.

You are in a world cup you have played a back 5 the entire time you have had the team you don't have any RWBs in the squad.

He still couldn't set the boys up in a back 4? Really? Why not even try it? Fuck me dead cunt you had 8 fucking days.
 
Alex M said:
If you read the forum you find that pretty much everyone here thinks that he doesn't like to change the style of play he prefers his teams to play. Some want him out now, some think we should move on after the Asian Cup. That's about the only difference. I'm not sure I see anyone here advocating he is the right person to take us forward through the next WC cycle. Some just appreciate what he has done for us so far more.
Click to expand...
Sorry, its probably more people off this forum im referancing. I have listened to several people, post Egypt, talk about Poppa needing to add some attacking plays to his tactics, and I just dont see it happening.
 
I guess you can't expect Kugeler and Garriock to say anything else but I find their statements deflating:

football360.com.au

Football Australia responds to criticism over Popovic's penalty decisions & questions over his pre-World Cup re-appointment

DALLAS, TEXAS — Football Australia’s two most senior officials have thrown their support behind Tony Popovic after the Socceroos’ World Cup elimination at the hands of Egypt in a penalty shootout. With debate back home about the decision to substitute Patrick Beach for Mat Ryan in the penalty...
football360.com.au football360.com.au

"In hindsight everyone knows better". Get fucked. We've all discussed these issues ad nauseum. Where we failed were areas we all knew were issues prior.

I wanted some acknowledgement that we have a good foundation but need to evolve and improve. We should not be happy with how our campaign ended. Where is our ambition?
 
Last edited:
Cunningstunt said:
There are two points here. What we as a country should aim for being ambitious. There shouldn't be limits on this, but pushing further to win a knock out match is a good next step.

The second is what is reasonably expected to play out. For this you follow the money. This tells you what people really think will happen because they actually have something on the line. Our opponents were clearly favoured every single match. The world bet money on us not progressing from the group. We did progress and took the knock out match to pens. This is above expectation.
Click to expand...
We have made it to the round of 16 and pushed the eventual winners to close margins, this should be the average we aim for, below that is below the average and above it is bonus.
 
Encomium said:
Is it?
We should expect to get to the round of 16, this is a new format and a round 32 is akin to the group stages in the old format and coming against Egypt, we should be ambitious enough to expect to go through.
I think personally round 16 is par, this is more like a bogey.
Click to expand...
Round of 16 would be an easy birdie if not an eagle. This is a clear par (if not a birdie). Made it out of the group without too much fuss and didn’t even need to rely on the third place table. Exposed some talented youngsters to the pressure of the World Cup, which should stand them in good stead for the future. Lost the knockout game on penalties. I know it’s still raw, but it’s a decent result for a team of our stature.

A bogey would be going out like Iran or possibly even Korea.
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
Nestory Irankunda should never have been played as a number 9 though given that his lack of height is not conducive to him playing in that position.
Click to expand...
He also isn't really suited to how Popovic wants his "wingers" to play either as he generally prefers them to invert leaving space for the wing backs. Popovic's "wingers" suit people like Metcalfe and Volpato more ie an attacking midfielder.
 
Encomium said:
We have made it to the round of 16 and pushed the eventual winners to close margins, this should be the average we aim for, below that is below the average and above it is bonus.
Click to expand...
For what we are what we achieved is an average result.
 
Alex M said:
This is exactly the question we should be asking after the Asian Cup (even if we win it).
Click to expand...
We should be asking that question now. We should have asked it before the World Cup. How do we reach our potential with this group.

You don't rest on that. We need to find our attacking identity. I'll go as far as saying it's un-Australian not to be aggressive in attack. It's contrary to our sporting mentality.

I don't mind being defensive but you need to balance that when you attack. In this system we needed to counter more aggressively.
 
Last edited:
ah well, we've all had our social media say
in the end Popovic is the option that FA can afford and I accept that for that reason we are stuck with him and more deeply awful football at the Asian Cup
if he has a genuine football brain he will look at all of this and modify hos approach
nothing, however, suggests he is has that capacity
I will move on hoping for the best
 
Frankly Speaking said:
ah well, we've all had our social media say
in the end Popovic is the option that FA can afford and I accept that for that reason we are stuck with him and more deeply awful football at the Asian Cup
if he has a genuine football brain he will look at all of this and modify hos approach
nothing, however, suggests he is has that capacity
I will move on hoping for the best
Click to expand...
We could afford Milligan.
 
ClockworkOrange said:
Performing to the sum of our parts would have had us losing every game in the group stages. The squads of our opponents are all more highly valued than ours.
Click to expand...
Appealing to authority of the market is silliness, for instance look at Volpato who was undervalued at Aleague and yet Parma saw something in him. Players get undervalued for all sorts of reasons, or looked over.
 
Encomium said:
Appealing to authority of the market is silliness, for instance look at Volpato who was undervalued at Aleague and yet Parma saw something in him. Players get undervalued for all sorts of reasons, or looked over.
Click to expand...
Are you suggesting our squad is better than Turkey’s? The US?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top