When was the last time Hrustic did anything creative in both national team and club (def not at his club)?  All I remember was he always turned the ball over and everyone had to run back to chase the ball. His thinking is 2 second too slow and the opposition can read him easily.

His sub minutes at the world cup 2022 was a disaster.

It did. I suspect Arnold didn't see Luongo's decision coming. He was going to be so important for us in the AC, then just gone. Strange to think given how long he'd been from the NT setup.

I'd have gambled on Hrustic for sub minutes at the AC just because we really lacked midfield creativity. His Heracles move is a good one so hopefully we can see him injury free, match fit and in form.

The Robertson omission in the AC still boggles me. Struck me as trying to be too clever re: the Olympics. Get him in, he's easily in our best squad and we needed to lock him away. 

loosing 2 playmakers in short succession as well as mcgree being underdone and hrustic without a club until recently did make things tricky

It seems very different to the WC where we pressed high and counter attacked quickly. I didn't mind that.

Sitting deep, inviting pressure and slow transition gets us nowhere and doesn't suit our sporting psyche. 

I wonder how much is personnel vs changed structure? Mooys a huge loss and instead of trying to replace him we doubled down on the hard working types.

I want to see Robertson, McGree and O'Neill as our midfield. See how we go transitioning the ball quicker. Hopefully Hrustic can get back his form and be a bench option. I would love to see Volpato too. Luongo's ret. hurts a lot. If Ipswich don't get promoted I wonder if he reconsiders. Also watching Nieuwenhofs progress with interest.

That group has some technical ability and may allow for a more progressive approach. 

When Hannover finished 4th in the Bundesliga, it was mostly down to the 10 second rule. When gaining possession you had 10 seconds to get going forward because after that the opponent was reorganised and we didn't have the skill to break that down.

The number of times I see Australia getting the ball and having spaces that could be exploited. We invariably go the other way. We 're trying to score in the most impossible areas while not using the moments that present themselves. Some moments in transition saw swift movements forward where our players looked a lot more at home. I'm tired of this slow concrete boot shackle style.

Arnold needs to loosen the reins in attack. The balance of our structure has shifted too defensive since the world cup. Without Mooy to pull strings we're really struggling to create.  

https://www.espn.com.au/football/story/_/id/39521920/predicting-socceroos-2026-world-cup-squad

Must admit, I'm not sure we deserve to be 4th in Asia ATM.

Lebanon probably decided they didn't want to travel back. Daresay they'd get decent support anywhere in Australia over the supporters they'd get a neutral middle-eastern country

Reports of Canberra hosting the second Lebanon with Lebanon being designated the home team. Just odd they wouldn't try it in the UAE or Qatar. 

Importantly, puts us 4th in Asia (As predicted) so will need some results/upsets to go our way in qualifying (mostly against Korea because they're more in reach) to be seeded for the next (and hopefully final) round of qualifiers.

Yep almost no hope of new young blood. Arnold becoming so predictable & boring as cardboard 🙁
 but if up to me, squad clear out - with plenty of WCQ’s to ready the younger players for Wcup.
out: Duke, Leckie, Behich, Irvine, Ryan
in: Yengi, Iredale, g Kuol, Irankunda, O’Neill, Gauci, Nisbet

old formula not working since WCup success. 

Would love Volpato on the right instead of Boyle. Bos definitely to start no question, probably the most in form Aussie and one of the best when he has the ball. 
Also, I watch every Irankunda game and to say "a while now" is quite the stretch, he hasn't played his best for the last two games but was good for the few games before that and earlier in early Jan 2024 was very very good. Hasn't been scoring and clearly living and dying with every possession because he feels the pressure of needing to score goals and the Bayern move but his attacking output in the right formation, system and good players around him would be unreal and would almost be enough to warrant a call-up on that alone. Sometimes watching him I feel like he is too good for Adelaide and that's what hinders him because it's hard for them to keep up and play the supporting roles he needs and the passing, setup and through balls are honestly terrible. He definitely needs to find new ways to score and really just hunt in the box a bit more because the team isn't supporting his runs as often as they use to. 
In summary, I wouldn't call him up because there isn't any point. He won't get minutes anyways so I'd just leave it for a while and let him make the transition to Bayern and he can focus on the Olyroos for this first half of 2024.

I don't have much hope for newbies just yet. This window is still somewhat tricky so Arnold will use the old guard. We're essentially through if we beat Lebanon first up.  

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men

Australia up two spots to 23rd while South Korea in 22nd. 27 spots gained by Qatar and Sth Africa 8.

Hopefully Volpato can finally be called up here as well. If it doesn't happen here then I don't think it's ever gonna happen.

So I'm at peace with the Asian Cup now finally lol, time to look forward.

We got two games against Lebanon home and away next. Two wins and we're through to the next stage of qualification.

Who do you all want to see lineup for the first game?

Really wanna see Goodwin on the left with Bos starting over Behich in behind him. 

Behich proved me wrong again and had a great game against South Korea. However the dude is 33. He's not gonna be at the next world cup and if he is something has seriously gone wrong. Need to start giving Bos competitive international experience at left back to give him time to grow and get comfortable in the role. No better chance than to do that here. Otherwise we're gonna be in a world of hurt later down in qualifying.

Get Yengi another start. He grew into his role against Uzbekistan had good passages of play. 

Also kinda want us to start phasing out Boyle as a starting role. Dude was really off his game and I think the injuries are catching up to him. He's not as quick, his finishing was woeful. Dribbled into defenders constantly. 

I would have liked to see Irakunda get a role off the bench as well. But the guy's form has not been good at all for Adelaide for a while now. Hasn't shown enough to warrant a spot in the next squad imo.

Cap Stamatelopoulos

Irankunda who supposedly has set the A-League transfer fee record is sitting in Farrell's back pocket.

Jacob farrel is apparently worth half a million euros

https://twitter.com/JoostvanderLeij/status/1755595292777566261

A socceroos b team from a league players would be fantastic

Surely we can organize mini tournaments with south east asian teams and new zealand?

Decentric mentioned him too as a standout. Have to admit i havent beem following him much

Arnold does seem to select the familiar, maybe time to bring back Australia B or find funds for a localroos team.

          Bratten
Thurgate    Nisbet

Vs Australia A mid could be interesting.

Won't happen unfortunately but throwing Thurgate in for O'Neill and bringing in Nisbet if, say, Baccus got injured would surely get everyone working hard and concentrate. Omit Duke and pick the new strikers again. I honestly fear Maclaren and Leckie will come back even with lack of form of fitness. I really do.

Not a Newie fan but one player whom I am surprised at both the last transfer move and not getting a look in with G. Arnold is Angus Thurgate. Probably one of the most complete box to box midfielders we have, good defensive game, decent pace and technique and makes great runs forward.

Could be a Jackson Irvine apprentice.

Yeah after this Asian Cup won't be looking at any team as easybeats. And that's a good thing for us and the AFC. Lots of upsets in the AFCON tournament too - top 5 nations in FIFA rankings at time of draw were Morocco (13) Senegal (20) Tunisia (29) Algeria (34) and Egypt (35). None of them made the quarter-finals. Not a good tournament for the North Africans, especially after their first WC semi-finalists in Qatar last year. 

No - Souttar was immense. Duke worked hard and scored great goal v Tunisia but his 2 recent misses proves he shouldn’t be starting striker anymore. 

Kerr has consistently been a world class striker for years - both for Matildas and Chelsea/previous clubs.
No comparison.

I have seen him play 3 times this season.He has a striker's instinct for being in the box at the right time so he is definitely worth a look at by Arnie.He looks more composed than the young strikers-Botic,Alou Kuol and Waddingham -as he is 24.

I mean.. you could say the same about Kerr at the Women's World Cup if you really wanted to laugh...