Socceroos vs Venezuela/ Colombia Nov 25

[dr. bellows]

Not sure why the commenter loves the performance of our debutant defensive midfielder. His passing was pretty ordinary I thought.

That was my impression also. Would like to see his passing stats.
Also thought Trewin struggled, Irankunda largely anonymous and his corners poor, Goodwin ineffective, Elder good corners, McGree improved the team when introduced, Beach excellent.

 

[RIMB]

Trewin is better than we saw him today. He can defend tight and pressure players into mistakes and turnovers but when there are so many free players to receive a pass that is a pointless skill.

Metcalfe gave the ball away frequently. I don't care how many good things players do if they can't make the simple passes stick they cause more problems than the benefit they bring.

Ridiculous game plan to spend at least 15 minutes of the game literally passing the ball back and forth in our half across the backline under no pressure at all. I saw one lengthy period of play where we passed in to our DM then back to the backline time and again until the Venezuelan forward got bored and ran in - then we passed beyond the running player to a player who had been open the whole time. End result was to put the ball to a player who we could have simply passed directly to first time and not a single opposition player was moved out of position the whole time.

There is no point to Popaball when the probing is just to use up time and does not create anything better than we already had on offer.

We just watched 85 minutes of that. One of the most boring games I have watched for the Socceroos and that includes Arnieball at the end.

Already said, but I echo it - no point having Irankunda isolated to chase down 4 or 5 opponents while we hold firm in our half. Might as well use a Ferrari to drive the 5 metres to your letterbox.

I did not agree with the ref allowing all the illegal contact in the back - our players are coached and trained out of that and we were badly disadvantaged by it. That is not why we played so poorly though.

Miller was a traffic cone today in his worst circumstances. Both with the ball and defending he was unbalanced and beaten constantly - providing very little positive. Any nimble, decently skilled player can turn him and he cannot catch up in time. Venezuela had plenty of those and I would hope that Popa can see he is not our answer to right back against any skilful, fast player - which really covers most world cup teams.

I don't mind O'Neil. Today Venezuela simply pressured our midfield when we got to halfway - with several players closing down the space and successfully cutting out time and passing options until we coughed up. Is it the fault of our midfield or our game plan that we did not pass into the midfield to draw that pressure then get the ball wide quickly where we had space and opportunity. Instead we recycled through our backline and into the middle until we lost it.

The late game backpassing and entire team walking when we had possession and were a goal down is inexplicable. Those players were not playing as a team and they weren't playing for the shirt. The only thing that could explain it is if Popa told them he wanted to work on holding out for 90 minutes regardless of the score or game in front of us. And even then players fucked up and tried to attack for 5 minutes - probably ruining their chances of another call up in the process.

Toure the starter showed promise driving on goal but with other players in support his lack of vision limits his overall effectiveness.

I cannot see what Popa learned today that he did not already know.

I learned that dropping off for minutes at a time makes the pain go away momentarily.

 

[Sutherlandbear]

What knob decided to make this on the same time and date as the Sydney FC vs Perth Glory ALW game? Now I've gotta miss half that game to watch us park the bus.

You prefer women’s to men’s football ?

 

[Sutherlandbear]

We need two 6 nil hidings like Farina copped so they can sack Popa and bring in a gun for the WC build-up.

Which gun is out of work and would want to manage this lot ?

 

[HonestSpursFan]

We have such a gutless football media. Imagine if that performance came from an England side?

They played like this against Andorra and Senegal a while back. Yes they won 1–0 over Andorra but in a WC qualifier that's nowhere near good enough from England. The Senegal game was a friendly where they lost 3–1, I believe for the first time an African team has beaten England lol.

 

[HonestSpursFan]

You prefer women’s to men’s football ?

I like both equally. But the Socceroos game was boring as fuck today.

 

[Frankly Speaking]

The most worrying thing is that all the evidence suggests that the players are not playing for the coach.

 

[SocceroosFan]

Trewin is better than we saw him today. He can defend tight and pressure players into mistakes and turnovers but when there are so many free players to receive a pass that is a pointless skill.

Metcalfe gave the ball away frequently. I don't care how many good things players do if they can't make the simple passes stick they cause more problems than the benefit they bring.

Ridiculous game plan to spend at least 15 minutes of the game literally passing the ball back and forth in our half across the backline under no pressure at all. I saw one lengthy period of play where we passed in to our DM then back to the backline time and again until the Venezuelan forward got bored and ran in - then we passed beyond the running player to a player who had been open the whole time. End result was to put the ball to a player who we could have simply passed directly to first time and not a single opposition player was moved out of position the whole time.

There is no point to Popaball when the probing is just to use up time and does not create anything better than we already had on offer.

We just watched 85 minutes of that. One of the most boring games I have watched for the Socceroos and that includes Arnieball at the end.

Already said, but I echo it - no point having Irankunda isolated to chase down 4 or 5 opponents while we hold firm in our half. Might as well use a Ferrari to drive the 5 metres to your letterbox.

I did not agree with the ref allowing all the illegal contact in the back - our players are coached and trained out of that and we were badly disadvantaged by it. That is not why we played so poorly though.

Miller was a traffic cone today in his worst circumstances. Both with the ball and defending he was unbalanced and beaten constantly - providing very little positive. Any nimble, decently skilled player can turn him and he cannot catch up in time. Venezuela had plenty of those and I would hope that Popa can see he is not our answer to right back against any skilful, fast player - which really covers most world cup teams.

I don't mind O'Neil. Today Venezuela simply pressured our midfield when we got to halfway - with several players closing down the space and successfully cutting out time and passing options until we coughed up. Is it the fault of our midfield or our game plan that we did not pass into the midfield to draw that pressure then get the ball wide quickly where we had space and opportunity. Instead we recycled through our backline and into the middle until we lost it.

The late game backpassing and entire team walking when we had possession and were a goal down is inexplicable. Those players were not playing as a team and they weren't playing for the shirt. The only thing that could explain it is if Popa told them he wanted to work on holding out for 90 minutes regardless of the score or game in front of us. And even then players fucked up and tried to attack for 5 minutes - probably ruining their chances of another call up in the process.

Toure the starter showed promise driving on goal but with other players in support his lack of vision limits his overall effectiveness.

I cannot see what Popa learned today that he did not already know.

I learned that dropping off for minutes at a time makes the pain go away momentarily.

Trewin was the traffic cone, he was absolutely useless. Our midfield didn't get any ball because the back 3 just back passed to Beach, who pumped it long only to cough up possession. Their DMs had 101 & 79 attempted passes to 37 (O'Neill) & 38 (Okon). Popovic's set up & style of play is so painful to watch, but giving up possession like this is ridiculous

 

[mkxx]

Trewin is better than we saw him today. He can defend tight and pressure players into mistakes and turnovers but when there are so many free players to receive a pass that is a pointless skill.

Metcalfe gave the ball away frequently. I don't care how many good things players do if they can't make the simple passes stick they cause more problems than the benefit they bring.

Ridiculous game plan to spend at least 15 minutes of the game literally passing the ball back and forth in our half across the backline under no pressure at all. I saw one lengthy period of play where we passed in to our DM then back to the backline time and again until the Venezuelan forward got bored and ran in - then we passed beyond the running player to a player who had been open the whole time. End result was to put the ball to a player who we could have simply passed directly to first time and not a single opposition player was moved out of position the whole time.

There is no point to Popaball when the probing is just to use up time and does not create anything better than we already had on offer.

We just watched 85 minutes of that. One of the most boring games I have watched for the Socceroos and that includes Arnieball at the end.

Already said, but I echo it - no point having Irankunda isolated to chase down 4 or 5 opponents while we hold firm in our half. Might as well use a Ferrari to drive the 5 metres to your letterbox.

I did not agree with the ref allowing all the illegal contact in the back - our players are coached and trained out of that and we were badly disadvantaged by it. That is not why we played so poorly though.

Miller was a traffic cone today in his worst circumstances. Both with the ball and defending he was unbalanced and beaten constantly - providing very little positive. Any nimble, decently skilled player can turn him and he cannot catch up in time. Venezuela had plenty of those and I would hope that Popa can see he is not our answer to right back against any skilful, fast player - which really covers most world cup teams.

I don't mind O'Neil. Today Venezuela simply pressured our midfield when we got to halfway - with several players closing down the space and successfully cutting out time and passing options until we coughed up. Is it the fault of our midfield or our game plan that we did not pass into the midfield to draw that pressure then get the ball wide quickly where we had space and opportunity. Instead we recycled through our backline and into the middle until we lost it.

The late game backpassing and entire team walking when we had possession and were a goal down is inexplicable. Those players were not playing as a team and they weren't playing for the shirt. The only thing that could explain it is if Popa told them he wanted to work on holding out for 90 minutes regardless of the score or game in front of us. And even then players fucked up and tried to attack for 5 minutes - probably ruining their chances of another call up in the process.

Toure the starter showed promise driving on goal but with other players in support his lack of vision limits his overall effectiveness.

I cannot see what Popa learned today that he did not already know.

I learned that dropping off for minutes at a time makes the pain go away momentarily.

Totally Agree

 

[Cunningstunt]

Only just watched the highlights due to a sick toddler. Sounds like a regulation Popa game so not gonna bother with the replay.



The same big chances created, I assume these were the Toure brothers chances at the start and end.


Only one less chance created, equal chances created in the box.

Was it a standard Popa performance or was it bad even for Popa? If it was the latter, it seems like a lot of scope to improve fairly easily given who we should have coming back into the side.

 

[WhatAmIWatching]

Nothing new in that game other than Patrick Beach held his own and at the moment he is looking likely to be the third keeper. Trewin is not suited to Popaball, Craig Goodwin is no longer a left back (he played as a left back for Melbourne Heart), and basically Popa's game plan was shown to be inept. What this means for the game against Colombia I have no idea but I suspect that he will rotate players.

 

[RIMB]

Trewin was the traffic cone, he was absolutely useless. Our midfield didn't get any ball because the back 3 just back passed to Beach, who pumped it long only to cough up possession. Their DMs had 101 & 79 attempted passes to 37 (O'Neill) & 38 (Okon). Popovic's set up & style of play is so painful to watch, but giving up possession like this is ridiculous

Only just watched the highlights due to a sick toddler. Sounds like a regulation Popa game so not gonna bother with the replay.

View attachment 4210

The same big chances created, I assume these were the Toure brothers chances at the start and end.

View attachment 4211
Only one less chance created, equal chances created in the box.

Was it a standard Popa performance or was it bad even for Popa? If it was the latter, it seems like a lot of scope to improve fairly easily given who we should have coming back into the side.

Bad for a Popa game.

Usually we have 45-60 minutes of hold tight with some decent forward runs mixed in from time to time. This time we had about 85 minutes of that despite being a goal down and for the first time I can remember we had the whole team walking around at times instead of making an effort to create for either themselves or each other.

We had constant backpassing through the lines we had just worked to break through and the 3 CBs often just passed the ball back and forth with Venezuela stand standing off and waiting.

Our press was non-existent most of the time so we just had 9 behind the ball and most often in our own half, and a ingle player trying to disrupt their 3/4/5 building from their back.

We chased Venezuela and the ball all day instead of stopping their options and if we got a foot on it we usually coughed it straight back up.

 

[Kitwally]

Cursed?!? Not again! We need John Safran to go back to Zimbabwe to pay the witch doctor again

That was a great watch! Thanks for sharing!

 

[derider]

Only just watched the highlights due to a sick toddler. Sounds like a regulation Popa game so not gonna bother with the replay.

View attachment 4210

The same big chances created, I assume these were the Toure brothers chances at the start and end.

View attachment 4211
Only one less chance created, equal chances created in the box.

Was it a standard Popa performance or was it bad even for Popa? If it was the latter, it seems like a lot of scope to improve fairly easily given who we should have coming back into the side.

It was horrible even by Popa’s standards.

 

[RIMB]

Trewin was the traffic cone, he was absolutely useless. Our midfield didn't get any ball because the back 3 just back passed to Beach, who pumped it long only to cough up possession. Their DMs had 101 & 79 attempted passes to 37 (O'Neill) & 38 (Okon). Popovic's set up & style of play is so painful to watch, but giving up possession like this is ridiculous

Our two DMs ran back and forth creating passing options but were often ignored in favour of a 'safe' pass sideways. Whenthe ball did come to them it always seemed to be with the intent of passing straight back into the backline. Even when we occasionally had one of the DMs receive the ball in space they would often just put it back mindlessly.

It was a totally disinterested, non-functional system to bring the ball out and I am bewildered by the point of that fixture at all playing like that.

Our NT turned did into didNT today.

For Trewin - I watched him coming up on his direct opponent constantly getting in tight and stopping him from progressing. The problem was no-one else constricted passing lanes so they just passed to an open player and ran past him to receive the ball back.

Trewin was not alone in chasing shadows mind you. The system we played allowed Venezuela to dictate the entire game and to pass around any player who stepped up to do something constructive. I don't judge Trewin poorly when the good things he did were undone by a lack of commitment or organisation around him.

The game stank today.

 

[Kitwally]

We need two 6 nil hidings like Farina copped so they can sack Popa and bring in a gun for the WC build-up.

Wasn’t that Holger Osieck?

 

[Muz]

Wasn’t that Holger Osieck?

My mistake. Farina lost all 3 matches in the confed cup and got booted/resigned and they brought in Hiddink.

 

[Muz]

I like both equally. But the Socceroos game was boring as fuck today.

The women are far more entertaining at NT level.

 

[Muz]

Already said, but I echo it - no point having Irankunda isolated to chase down 4 or 5 opponents while we hold firm in our half. Might as well use a Ferrari to drive the 5 metres to your letterbox.

 

[LFC]

The women are far more entertaining at NT level.

Not a chance nowadays for me let alone going to watch a Aplw game today instead.
From bad to worse.