Bump

Every player could have a comment or question about their case under the manager.

Is Crawley staying? So what's up with the keepers? 

Will a less familiar coach look at Behich's record and go with him while seeing the high level and form of Elder and bring him in? Will Lewis Miller ever get picked again once the nee manager sees how technically poor he is

Robertson is now a massive question. Can be be tempted or are we back to square one on rapport? 

Duke is leading the J League. That looks good. You've then got all the strikers waiting around. Will they be put ahead?

Will the new coach even care about someone like Arzani? 

Might Arnold's departure provoke some players to retire not wanting the shame of not being picked ever again? 

anyone have code sports? Would be curious to read robbie's reaction

i doubt a new coach would know much about fringe players?

That's right. Only if they receive a list of all eligible players they might be inclined to wonder how or why Elder hasn't been picked for years. Add Robertson and Volpato and then the calls can start being made. 

The winners of the BVM era thinking about it quickly were Risdon and Nabbout. The losers would've been Luongo (at least at the WC) and probably just Degenek. I'm not sure too much else change? Midfield was pretty much set.

Arnold came in and that's where Mabil started getting exposure as did Grant and Ikon. Iredale was picked straight up too. 

I did see the headline through the Daily Telegraph (but couldn't be bothered reading it):

Slater: The 'hatred' behind Arnold's shock exit

I hope this presents a new opportunity for the likes of Genreau, Robertson, Luongo (if he wants back in), Volpato, Kalik, Langerak, Davidson etc are chance to get back in the national team.

I feel Arnie discarded too many of our technical, creative talents whilst ignored players that were playing a good level for awhile just to keep that siege mentality within the squad but harmed larger footballing problems.

cut and paste would be nice if you have it?

We could field a very different team with a new coach if they have the information to go for it. What a joy that would be. Arnie really reflected where we were as a footballing nation at the end of last century, insecure and insular both in respect of our place in Aussie society and the football world, but a great love for this big wide land. Its time we grew up and put our own stamp on our National Team. As you suggest, we have the cattle to do so, they just didn't fit Arnie's psyche.

Robbie Slater: ‘Lack of support and ‘hatred’ behind unloved Graham Arnold’s shock Socceroo resignation despite World Cup success

Graham Arnold was handed an impossible task and exceeded expectations with the Socceroos, yet Football Australia and fans could never unite behind him writes ROBBIE SLATER.

Robbie Slater | News Sport Network

Calls for Graham Arnold to be sacked have been a constant throughout his reign as Socceroos coach – but his decision to step down isn’t him giving up as the pressure mounts.

He has simply realised there is little more he can do.
Arnold has taken more than most would during his tenure, which has been the longest and arguably most successful of any other Socceroos coach.

Calls for him to be sacked and outright hatred was levelled at him when the Socceroos were relegated to the intercontinental playoff qualifiers for the last World Cup.

Football Australia would have axed him if they had been able to find a replacement.

I think Arnold has always suffered from a lack of support from the organisation.

Arnold took it all on and then did the impossible – guiding the Socceroos through to the World Cup.

We weren’t meant to do anything there. We were meant to be hopeless.

But Arnold got them their best ever performance at the tournament – a narrow loss to eventual winners Argentina ending their dreams in the Round of 16.

That is when Arnold should have bowed out.

I remember talking to him at the time – he had received lots of offers, he should have left them on top of the world after the most successful ever World Cup. But he stayed on and the Asian Cup was deemed a failure, exiting in the quarterfinal.

Now we have one point from what should have been six from our opening World Cup qualifiers.

I’m not completely surprised this has happened.

Arnold has been on an emotional rollercoaster ride. It has always been a battle for him.

He has never been a loved coach – despite his successes.

But having spoken to him – this is a decision he made for the team.

Arnold said he spoke to other coaches from other sporting codes and told them he didn’t think he could take the team any further – they said “well you’re done then”.

Once you start thinking that you can’t take a group any further then it is time to leave.

He could have stayed on but he felt that would have been the selfish thing to do.

His abrupt ending with the Socceroos isn’t dissimilar to the way Tony Gustavsson departed the Matildas after their poor Olympic performance.

Both Gustavsson and Arnold have flagged with Football Australia the need for better pathways and player development.

The coach can only work with the players they have. Australian fans have very high expectations of their coaches.

No disrespect to the players, they are good players, they are playing in good leagues, they have strong professional careers, but the reality is we don’t have the quality of players that we used to have.

We don’t have the group that we used to have. This is what Arnold talked about constantly.

He has said for the past decade the future will be a problem if we continue down the same development path – and we’re at our worst place in history.

Take the last four Olympics, the men’s team has made one Olympics in that time.

It leaves Football Australia in a predicament – I can’t recall there ever being a time when both the men’s and women’s teams were without a coach.

It will be an exciting challenge for whoever does take over – in spite of the ordinary start to the qualifiers. With more teams in the World Cup, qualifying is easier – you only have to finish third or fourth.

We’ve still got a massive chance of making the next World Cup.

But whoever takes the offer will have very big boots to fill.

Slater saying we don't have the players we used to have. How far back is being going? 2013-14 was a dip then Ange had to work hard to rejuvenate. 2017 felt a bit dark but 2018 still had a senior feeling squad. 2022 with the best result felt quite junior in comparison.

I guess 98-2008 period

Im worried the magic juice was p and r between nsl and state leagues - as haphazard as it was. Worried because there seems no prospect of bring that back in. If you look at the elo of the national team during that time the trend lines up if you assume a few year delay between the quality of the development pathways and the national team. Plateau for decades, constant improvement from 1982ish to 1998ish, then a plateau or modest decline over the next few decades. Nsl had p and r from 77 to 93

Exactly right. I felt confidence from 05-13 due to how senior and mature our squad seemed. The cracks then started to appear and it got more and more junior and immature. The youngish team to win the Asian Cup gave confidence back and the 2018 qualification navigated things fairly well in the ME but I felt they were just kids compared to the GG despite being of similar age.

2019 the squad felt a bit more battle hardened but we kept riding our luck again and again with remnant players of better times and now they're all gone I feel it's time for this young batch to mature up. 

Yes and Arnold did zero to develop young players at Sydney FC. 

Thanks for posting the full article, NCB.

Don't have access to this media outlet anymore.

I think I agree with everything Bulldog Slater has said, apart  from the players of the past being better  than they are now. I think it is more of a question that Asian nations have improved immeasurably relative to us.

I've been involved in the old coaching system and the post 2006. Our players are far more tactically astute than they were.

As I've said to to others, if I could get an email address I'd write to Arnie thanking him for his service. He has been our best ever national team  coach. Very few analysts in Aus football have the football background to analyse his tenure with any degree of insight. Slater is partially qualified.

The scenario recurs in England. Southgate has easily been their most consistent coach, yet he has always been heavily criticised.

If anyone thinks playing 3 DMs against a pathetic team like bahrain at him and then losing is 'doing most with his cattle' is having a laugh. 

A 2nd rate a-league side should be able to beat them. Laughable. 

This is so Slater, amazing the shit he puts up.

Australia under Arnie is the most successful manager ever, especially after Qatar

The players who provided this great campaign aren't as good as those they surpassed.

???? Had me scratching my head.

It's just nice that the next coach will come in fresh and won't have the huge built up biases for certain players. A fresh slate and hopefully the best players are pushed forward, whilst dropping and removing underperforming and older players regardless of what they've done in the past. 

Having trouble editing.

What I tried  to say is few ' media' analysts in Aus have the football background to have  sufficient insight  to analyse Arnie's tenure.

  Kate Cohen, Tim Palmer ( Aus Scout) and Ante Jukic do though. 

Interesting vid from some Indonesian fans.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sD2eHvdeTxI

René and Crawley gone apparently. 

wonder why Rene? I guess its standard to bring your own people

Pretty much. I wish Rene would be kept by the FA to create a striker development program. He was highly responsible for Rashford's development. 

That's a bummer about Rene. I rated him and some continuity would be valueable. A new set of eyes on the GK's may have benefits. 

I get the feeling Popovic and Armold don't exactly see eye to eye. They have had beef in the past as A-league managers and watching the press conference it just seems like the vibe. 

I hope Popovic surprises me and we play some nice football. A clear out of some of the backroom staff might not be the worst thing, but agree too much upheaval might not be best for these crucial two games.

The question in the press conference about whether he'll talk to Arnold about transition etc was met with a firm no. 

Change some side areas now but once the November window is over, it's 4 months until the next games and that's when big calls need to be made. I think we'll have a fair indication of whether we can make top 2 or not come November. Might be very tight but also clear indicators to prepare for the next round. 

The memes about Popovic facing Saudi again is hilarious. I hope we really do a number over Saudi. 

Anyone have access to this article care to share?

https://x.com/codefootballau/status/1838534307440398487

Love to see some