Torak, I love you.

I'm beginning to see the culture change Ange has implemented.

Davidson is not good enough. his a bag of nerves when he has the ball. Leckie is the next big thing for Australia class.

Bres is not a defenceive midfielder, defenceive midfielders are there to break up attacking raids we need someone like a Zadkid or J Burns. What about Herd or lowey,lonugo

ange wouldn't have the team cower in the back third like little bitches

and ange wouldn't have been stupid enough to sign up against france and brasil at home with the roo's performing so miserably.

The game was a good starting point for the new Ange era. The team played with a lot more purpose than I have seen for a number of years. The utilisation of wingers and wing backs was great to witness as it just provided so many more options in attack. The teams still clearly has issues with creating clear cut chances as they were few and far between but one step at a time. That can be worked on and will come. I was a little surprised at some of the substitutions during the match. I have no idea why Ange decided to bring on Kennedy or McKay considering we know what both players can do for the national team, and yet leave Wilkinson on the bench while Neil (who again we know what he is capable of) played the full 90 minutes.

Bresciano had a poor game in all while he was on. I think all the distractions pre-game really played a toll on him and he was not able to put in the type of shift we have all come to expect from the great man. I thought Leckie was good value up front for the team, His ability to bring the ball under control and lay-off to others in the team was a delight. I just wish he did not miss that great opportunity in the first half. Man that was great play by the Roos in building that up. Otherwise the rest of the team was good last night without being spectacular.

It was a hard game to tell just where the Roos are at the moment, because as much as they performed well Costa Rica performed terribly. All those squad withdrawals meant we were facing a considerably weaker Costa Rica compared to normal and that showed last night. They failed to string their passing together and almost every time gave away the ball with a stray pass once in Australia’s half.

Anyway, I hope this is a sign of what it is to come and improve on further. We will have a good shot at the Asian Cup if we continue to improve and build on this.

Edited by Volrath2002: 20/11/2013 07:24:22 AM

loving the kruse whingeing moaning and feiling montage

My initial thoughts after watching the first 15 minutes of the game? 'Shit we look much more positive'. Whilst I understand that Costa Rica weren't the greatest on the night, we still made sure it counted and played positively and went forward as much as possible.

-Kruse is a fucking gun - you can tell the guy is playing at a higher level than everyone else because it is just showing so well. Right winger for many years to come.

-Jedinak was very average in the first half, but had an inspired second half. Came out and did what he does best. Needs to get more confidence in the Socceroos shirt and he'll be great.

-I thought Leckie up front was outstanding - really liked the look of him leading the line. Unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, but he harrassed the Tico's all night. More shots on target and he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

-Rogic - what more needs to be said about this guy? Needs to get out of Celtic asap and go somewhere where he'll be appreciated. Haven't seen a guy glide through tackles with the ball like he does for years. Should be our #10, just needs to sort out his club situation. Also needs to be encouraged to shoot when around the box - test the keeper and then pounce on the rebound if needed.

-Franjic & Davidson - solid, but not spectacular. Davidson needs to get the stars out of his eyes pretty quickly, almost another calamity Jane own goal to his name. Both got forward and back pretty quickly so they look liked they both settled in pretty well. Would love to see Herd given a run at right back however, see what he's like.

-Neill didn't have shit to do in all honesty, so hard to gauge his performance. A clean sheet is a clean sheet however.

-Ryan needs to learn to talk to his defence :
-Super Timmy Cahill <3

Overall, a solid performance with what appears to be a clear direction forward. Foundations are now set, let's build upon it.

:lol: :lol:
Yep, I totally understand. Your hate for Neil (and many like minded keyboard coaches) clouds your judgement General Asshat. Neil had a great game. If you think "shirt pulls and bodychecks" are indicative of a poor performance, then you are clueless about football. There isn't' a CB or DM that doesn't do that at least 20 a game.

A couple of things you missed were his defensive organisation and distribution. But I wouldn't expect you to see any of that. Your pathetic ranting about Neil is more a reflection of your petty bias than his actual performance.

Just out of curiosity, how do you explain Neil being picked by four consecutive national team coaches? Is it that all these coaches lack the brilliant insight into football that you posses? Could it be that Neil is actually still a better player than you give him credit for? Could it be that all the previous coaches and now Ange can actually see Neil's skill and value to the team?

Keep up the brilliant posting champ. You're a miserable whiner and the Neil hate has worn thin.

Nah we have plenty of depth on the right.
You're forgetting Sarota, Leckie and Vidosic who all suite the position well.


:lol:
Would love to know what he originally said.

But I have to say, in Holgers system Milligan was the superior player. The performances showed that.
Under Ange, Jedi is being allowed to play a more traditional #6 role may suite him better and give him the edge.. But one game isn't enough to judge.



From what I hear Rojic starts to diminish over 90 minutes too.
Maybe it's perfect that they have each other to sub for.

HOLGER IN!

Heres my view:

Ryan: Didn't really have to do anything but had some communication issues
Neil: Wasn't tested and played alright but looked a bit slow at times
Williams: I thought he did well
Davidson: A bit sloppy on the ball at times and had some communication issues although I think we should persist with him
Franjic: Didn't put a foot wrong
Jedinak: In the 1st 10 minutes I wanted to get him off because he turned the ball over to the opposition so much but he fixed that as the game went on and proved vital to winning the ball in the middle of the park
Milligan: Fairly solid
Bresc: Controlled our front half and made some very nice passes, just lacked a bit of pace
Kruse: Constantly troubling there defence, our most consistently dangerous player
Vidosic: Went missing
Leckie: Looked very promising, I think he needs a few more games to get his confidence up and I don't blame him for the miss as he had his ankle trodden on a minute before

Subs
McGowan: Looked solid enough
Cahill: classic cahill. I disagree with Bozza though, there is no way he should be a starter as he contributes ver little to the general play, much more effective as an impact sub
Oar: Looked ok, a little disappointing and a couple of bad crosses, was more effective than Vidosic
Rogic: =p~
Kennedy: a little slow on that delivery from Rogic
McKay: looked decent enough for the time he spent on

does davidson owe franjic or what?:lol:

Pretty good summary of the popular opinion on this board at the moment.

The main thing I'd add is that Lucas Neil's key contribution was organising the team structure. A very important difficult task given that we were playing a high line for the first time and an altered formation with new players.

He was always barking battle orders or pointing at someone to move somewhere.
Without Lucas it's debatable whether the players around him would have looked so good.

Agreed.

They had 20K odd in Sydney???? Sydney with 4.58M people?????

That is piss poor.

The Perth game would have been wold out.

FFS Perth had 14K in 2005 when the Socceroos played the Asian powerhouse Indonesia.

Opportunity lost for the FFA just so they could piss some money up against a wall in Sydney, the same Sydney that's had 14 games with the Socceroos.

The FFA should farm the friendlies out to the lesser stadiums (Perth/Adelaide/Canberra) and keep the other games for Mel/Syd/Bri.

Well Ange paulbagzfc was impressed so that's a definite pass mark. Good to see Tom Rojic and Tommy Oar together in midfield no doubt that's the future of the Socceroo's. Despite Jason Davidson having another "moment" I rate the player quite highly. As far as I'm concerned that looked a well balanced side, having someone like Tim Cahill to come on. Good to see Mat Ryan play but I still think Mitch will be back for the big games.

LOL at those playing down the performance, and CR missing players.
What is their coach thinking today given:
Beaten by a team ranked 16 positions lower - and considered a minnow in the world of football
Never really threatened, or dominated any period of the game
Virtually no shots at goal
Lucky not to have lost 2 or 3 nil
Virtually no dominance in any position on the ground
No ability to hold the ball when pressured.


But heh - no problems missing players will fix all that - seriously some people have got no idea.

I reckon coach and team will have got smashed by the CR media on that performance.

Maybe you're supposed to suck it up when you get stick. But I say good on Lucas Neil for saying his piece. Who on here wouldn't like to say something similar if you were been denigrated by a bunch of eggs like he often is. And especially when you're having a reasonable game. I know what sucks alright.

he was playing att mid.

20k is not too bad considering context. We Sydneysiders have been spoiled for choice in 2013 (Socceroos blockbusters, Sydney FC and Wanderers, Man U tour). Giving us this game was a bit of an overload, not that I didn't mind another game of football. Perth or Adelaide would have been the perfect option. Melbourne fans can stop whinging though, they'll get the big friendly before the world cup against, hopefully, a big opponent.

The NSW state govt pays FFA to hold the matches in Sydney, the other state govts don't match the offer.

:lol: 20k at the SFS on a Tuesday night for a friendly against Costa Rica is far from average imo.

Indeed, it was shithouse.

Was impressed by Leckie. Would like to see him play out wide- to give him space to run into and beat a player.

Leckie-Rogic-Kruse

:shock:

Rogic needs to move- not that he's stagnating at Celtic, but he really does need the game time somewhere.

This.

:lol: ok. Not really sure what kind of crowd you were expecting on a Tuesday night, on a school night, at the SFS, against the footballing powerhouse that is Costa Rica.

From what I saw of Davidson, he looked nervous on the ball in our half, but not too bad going forward. He's young, so times on his side to improve.

Wtf have I got to do with anything? :lol:

You sniffin my backside chap?

-PB

To watch the Socceroos you mean? Surprised so many Sydney people went.