Taggart was part of a pretty average team when he won the golden boot as well.

Smile son.

I always had a bad inkling about Kruse switching to Leverkusen.

I think he's very talented. But I don't think he's as technically complete a player simply to get to a club like Leverkusen and get a starting position. He's a kind of niche player. He's very good at his late runs and slipping behind defenders on the wing. But he's not that good at 1 vs 1. He just relies on putting it around his opponent and winning a footrace. There must be a host of players in the Bundesliga with better close control and skills.

Plus, I've never been that thrilled with Kruse's attitude. I get the drift that if things don't go his way, he'll have a bit of a whinge. He's not as mentally tough as other Australian footballers; Cahill, Grella, Bresciano, Jedinak etc.

The combination of that those shortcoming with respect to technique/ability and mentality make it really difficult for Kruse to be a starter at a club like Leverkusen.

Still he's a really gifted player who is easily good enough to be a starter for the Socceroos and to play week-in, week-out in the Bundesliga.

The other thing about Kruse is that things really will go his way when he gets proper service. Like Tommy Oar, he hasn't always received the best service when playing for the Socceroos. He's not going to function that well alongside players like Jedinak and Holland.

But if we have Rogic at CAM and Luongo at CDM, then a player like Kruse is twice as good as he was before. Same goes for Oar on the left wing (or somebody like Ikonomidis perhaps). Kruse will a fantastic job for us alongside the right players.

All we need is a really decent striker (or player who can be converted to striker for national duty) to emerge from the Joeys.

Taggart was part of a pretty average team when he won the golden boot as well.

Pathetic. Obviously a jaded pinko.

What's the story with Ryan after he shipped 3? Have they had any games since then?

Exciting season ahead indeed.

Who do you think out of the strikers mentioned has the best chance of stepping up?

Decentric, for someone who focuses so much on technique why is it so often that you think a player should be dropped/or replaced bases on poor phsyicality, rather than what they do with the ball.

Genuinely curious because you said the same things about Finkler that you did with Kruse when both are standout performers for the respective teams in question.

Edited by jlm8695: 17/8/2015 04:46:28 PM

Technique is paramount, but a player on average only has the ball in possession for 3 minutes a game. It is also very important what a player does off the ball too. What we want to produce is a combination of a Leckie off the ball, with a Rogic on it. This combo is probably a world class player.

I think in the HAL a lot of the star imported forwards and midfielders, are having the Aussie teammates do a lot of the donkey work, making them look better than they are. Aussie have been instilled with work ethic to make the first eleven.


Leckie is out most effective forward in the 87 minutes without the ball. In the 3 minutes he has the ball, he is probably less effective than any of our other forwards.

Sorry he was mean to you
I think he is very passionate about osaussies who were unmonitered and i think he was upset that recently the ffa has been preferencing players who go through the australian development pathway and ignored players at os academies for junior rep teams. Often a lot of these players werent contacted at qll by ffa but constantly talked to by other federations asking them to play for them.

He is actually quite a supporter of the a league and once commented that he thought the perceived difference btwn a league and j and k league is exaggerated. He was livid at holger for his non selection of youth and pims slagging off of the a league (as u say the article may have been ambush journalism)

In general he is pro youth and pro aussie. I dont think he is eurocentric. He will promote a player playing in Kazakhstan s 3rd league if they are aussie :D. Thats about as un eurocentric as u get!

He was also one of the most informative posters here. He would give updates on players in academy and the most obscure leagues

Tommy Oar was close to joining Athletic Bilbao as he's grandparents had a Basque background but the deal fell through as he wasn't close enough to the Basque culture as well as his inability to speak spanish but apart from that the club recognised his talent.

I'm watching it on Bet365. It's the only consistent stream that doesn't buffer/regularly drop out, I've found.

do you have to pay for it? how does it work? ive always been a bit sceptical about betting sites.

10 bucks on an account. Unlimited.