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Socceroos vs Egypt - 2026 World Cup R32 - Sat 4th of July 4am AEST

Hounddog said:
It is worth repeating .... ... many of our fans think a lot of our players are way better than they actually are.

A thread on - how to develop elite players - might be a good opportunity to list all of the things we probably are not doing.

Inspite of that, we are developing xome promising players
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My read of the comments on here is not that we should be outplaying teams through our individual ball skills and brilliance.

I don't think many posters consider our players good enough to individually beat several world class opponents consistently and score every game.

The beef with Australian football, highlighted in this Egypt game, is that successive coaches have forced a negative style of football on us that deprives us of combinations of athletic play that produce opportunities, while at the same time allowing our opponents all the time and space they want to construct attacks against us.

I do not think we had better players than the best of the Egypt team, but I do believe as a team we can play a style of football that is more effective than Egypt's defence.

We were a real chance to beat Egypt playing the way we can. We were a 30% chance at best to beat Egypt in normal time the way we were set up and instructed to play.

Arnie had the intelligence and decency to admit he had lost his mind to fear and pressure. Popa still thinks he is right and the US game was an unfortunate result.
 
RIMB said:
Arnie had the intelligence and decency to admit he had lost his mind to fear and pressure. Popa still thinks he is right and the US game was an unfortunate result.
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I think this is the bit that sticks in the craw for me. There's a level of arrogance there. Firstly, because Popa doesn't think he owes anyone any explanations, not least of which the Australian fans. His glib or non-responses were pretty poor form on questions that are fair game, especially when they were about things that blew up in his face. There's also a level of dismissiveness of the players in all of this that doesn't really engender any loyalty or confidence. Among other examples, Matty Ryan being told he was being dropped based on a "gut feel" and being told minutes before hand he was going to take pens because according to Popa "he had a sub and decided to used it".

Arnold is no rocket surgeon but players would run through brick walls for him.
 
RIMB said:
My read of the comments on here is not that we should be outplaying teams through our individual ball skills and brilliance.

I don't think many posters consider our players good enough to individually beat several world class opponents consistently and score every game.

The beef with Australian football, highlighted in this Egypt game, is that successive coaches have forced a negative style of football on us that deprives us of combinations of athletic play that produce opportunities, while at the same time allowing our opponents all the time and space they want to construct attacks against us.

I do not think we had better players than the best of the Egypt team, but I do believe as a team we can play a style of football that is more effective than Egypt's defence.

We were a real chance to beat Egypt playing the way we can. We were a 30% chance at best to beat Egypt in normal time the way we were set up and instructed to play.

Arnie had the intelligence and decency to admit he had lost his mind to fear and pressure. Popa still thinks he is right and the US game was an unfortunate result.
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IMO there was an opportunity for our fresh players off the bench against Egypt to make an impact, but we struggled with ball control. As a result we didn't have much ball.

We might need to change the coach, but my impression is, that will solve around 30% of the problem.

Our team was defending far too deep at times, I agree on that. But I also remember a what looked like a back pass, or poor ball control going past a few of our players and out for a corner.
 
What i am trying to say is, if we change the coach, some things will probably be better, and it is unlikely that anything important will be worse. Unlikely is not a 100% guarantee, just that we will be unlucky if changing the coach makes things worse.

But i don't see changing the coach as a 100% solution to all problems.

Against Turkey we scored counter-attacking running into plenty of space. That type of attack requires pace, but it doesn't require elite level skill, great ball control and accurate well selected passes.

But there were some good passes which opened up the opportunities.

The trade-off was Turkey had plenty of ball at our end and their own scoring opportunities.

I didn't notice our players running into acres of open space in any other game. I did notice tightly marked players not having the skill to execute under pressure.

If a player is tightly marked, usually there is space and opportunity elsewhere. After the Turkey game, the opposition knew our major threat.
 
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Hounddog said:
Against Turkey we scored counter-attacking running into plenty of space. That type of attack requires pace, but it doesn't require elite level skill, great ball control and accurate well selected passes.
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I may have imagined it but I think I saw pace, great ball control and an accurate well selected pass in the first goal against Turkije.
 
Hounddog said:
What i am trying to say is, if we change the coach, some things will probably be better, and it is unlikely that anything important will be worse. Unlikely is not a 100% guarantee, just that we will be unlucky if changing the coach makes things worse.

But i don't see changing the coach as a 100% solution to all problems.

Against Turkey we scored counter-attacking running into plenty of space. That type of attack requires pace, but it doesn't require elite level skill, great ball control and accurate well selected passes.

But there were some good passes which opened up the opportunities.

The trade-off was Turkey had plenty of ball at our end and their own scoring opportunities.

I didn't notice our players running into acres of open space in any other game. I did notice tightly marked players not having the skill to execute under pressure.

If a player is tightly marked, usually there is space and opportunity elsewhere. After the Turkey game, the opposition knew our major threat.
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So as you said in a previous post Popovic may be responsible for 30% of our problems. So your solution is to to ignore that and stay with the status quo? He is obviously there until the Asian Cup but if I could get rid of 30% of our problems that easily it is a no-brainer.
 
Alex M said:
I may have imagined it but I think I saw pace, great ball control and an accurate well selected pass in the first goal against Turkije.
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You did for sure but we need to be able to do this at least five or six times a match if not more.We have a top defence but our attacking players and tactics are still way behind.Bos and Volpato have the skills and drive as does Nestory when played out wide but when you look at the top teams they all have players who are far ahead of those three in skills and game sense( knowing how to play in different areas and in different circumstances).There are some skilful young players coming through the ranks-Bennie,Akon,Eli Adams,Dobson,etc but until they play in a good level European league or even the MLS we won't know how good they are.Herrington and Circati as defenders do look like they can match many of the players in those top teams who play in the same positions but we need attacking players to progrees as a football nation.
 
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booney52 said:
You did for sure but we need to be able to do this at least five or six times a match if not more.We have a top defence but our attacking players and tactics are still way behind.Bos and Volpato have the skills and drive as does Nestory when played out wide but when you look at the top teams they all have players who are far ahead of those three in skills and game sense( knowing how to play in different areas and in different circumstances).There are some skilful young players coming through the ranks-Bennie,Akon,Eli Adams,Dobson,etc but until they play in a good level European league or even the MLS we won't know how good they are.Herrington and Circati as defenders do look like they can match many of the players in those top teams who play in the same positions but we need attacking players to progrees as a football nation.
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I like Herrington - but he needs to stop breaking the offside trap. You would think Popovic, Okon and Foxe - all Socceroos CBs would have stopped this after the Switzerland game - you know - do their jobs as managers and coaches.
 
patjennings said:
Do we - or do we just not pick them.
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Good point.
Yes the selections sure leaves that open currently - let’s see who he picks for the AC squad.
then we can debate this more appropriately but shame it will be against our Asian neighbours and not the variety and WC pressure standard we just played.
 
patjennings said:
Do we - or do we just not pick them.
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It's also a formation issue. It's a tough gig for our midfielders who are often in 2 on 3's (or more) like the US game. I think our defense is solid could go to a back 4, go 3 in midfield, and even that outnumber up when it occurs.
 
Alex M said:
Did you watch the games? We have a different setup in attack to defence. The amount of time that we spend in 5-4-1 is proportional to the amount of time the opponent holds the ball. We transition to a more forward oriented formation when we have the ball. Our attacking formation is more 3-2-2-3 (basically a 3-4-3 with a box midfield). He really only used the super defensive formation at home against Japan and that was because they were good at keeping the ball.
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My issue with our formation in ball possession is selection often favours defensive players so our wide forwards and midfielders are often not best suited to their roles in that formation. So when we're attacking we're stunted.

This is an aside, but related, thought may be interesting for some. A technical analysis of the 3-4-3 box midfield.

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158K views · 1.6K reactions | The 3-2-2-3 EXPLAINED 🧠⚽️ #football #soccer | Macca Coaching

The 3-2-2-3 EXPLAINED 🧠⚽️ #football #soccer
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LFC said:
We lack midfielders who can win the battle consistently with composure and touch - retain possession and hit the marks.
Correct booney
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I think we need to unearth a combination of progressive passers and ball carriers in the number 6 & 8 positions.

Okon seems to fit the mould pretty well as a progressive passer and O’Neil did well too in that role judging by the Opta Stats in the WC, but I’m yet to see an 8 who can pick up the ball and carry it through MF.
 
Cabo Verde and Egypt won the heart of the fans around the world against Argentina. so jealous of them now i dont mind we got knocked out but i want us to be remembered at world stage.

Before the tournament, no one knows our players

After the tournament, still no one knows our players
 
mkxx said:
Cabo Verde and Egypt won the heart of the fans around the world against Argentina. so jealous of them now i dont mind we got knocked out but i want us to be remembered at world stage.

Before the tournament, no one knows our players

After the tournament, still no one knows our players
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I mean, with the reported interest in a lot of our players, that is a load of crock...
 
patjennings said:
I like Herrington - but he needs to stop breaking the offside trap. You would think Popovic, Okon and Foxe - all Socceroos CBs would have stopped this after the Switzerland game - you know - do their jobs as managers and coaches.
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Did Herrington play anyone onside at the World Cup? I can't recall it. I thought he kept his line well.
 
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