Mmm, I don't think it's wise to try to gauge too much from friendlies. Reading between the lines of BVM's comments, he's more concerned with how they play in camp, in general, rather than in the friendlies specifically. He'd much rather get to know the team there than come back to Aus for a useless friendly (quite right, too). Ange wasn't a fan of friendlies, either.

Borello should get a call up ahead of nabbout and arzani, equally as impressive but doing it at a higher standard. I would be looking at converting Kruse into more a second striker as I think we have better options on the wings. His run in behind from a central start could compliment Juric’s hold up play nicely.

I shouldn't think all of them can go along. It goes without saying that Robbie Kruse and Mathew Leckie should be in the squad.

Daniel Arzani should, too, because he brings a completely different skillset which none of the others really demonstrate; 1 vs 1 individual ability, with control, and at pace. That's a crucial card for BVM to have in his hand, so to speak. While Brandon Borello and Andrew Nabbout are good and probably deserve to go to Russia, they would just pad the squad with more of what the regular starters have. The Socceroos can't afford to try to add depth to some areas while one specific and crucial area is so lousy; 1 vs 1. Representing the NT is a privilege, not a right. As such, however awful this sounds, it's not about who deserves what, it's about who can do what. If Borello and Nabbout demonstrate the same specific attacking traits that Arzani demonstrates regularly, then it's a different story. But as things stand, unfortunately, the argument isn't compelling enough, imo.

The other thing is, imo, Ruka should be there. The bloke's scoring quite regularly. The case for his going to Russia isn't nearly as compelling as the case for Arzani going (which is just logical, imo). However, my gut feeling is that if the final attacking spot is a question of one of Ruka, Borello, Nabbout or even Dimitri Petratos, Ruka's your man at this stage.

Leaving aside the fact that Borello is playing at a higher level, do you rate his 1 vs 1 ability as highly as Arzani's?

I have to say I am an Arazani convert and agree with your argument for him to be in the squad quickflick. With that said, I must ask, is he your offspring or at least a blood relative of yours? You have been almost vigilant in your monitoring of, and response to posts suggesting he should not be there/and or others need to be in his place. 

That recent Borello goal he was playing on the left wing. For some reason I had it in my head he was more usually played on the right, maybe I remembered incorrectly. According to transfermarkt he's scored 3 and set up 6 in the last 15 games. If he can play and score there then he could be a good replacement for Kruse. 
Although Kruse makes very intelligent runs, much of the rest of his game just sh its me to tears. His running into dead ends and then falling over and looking up at the ref with puppy dog eyes, man that is annoying. 

Kruse as a striker? If you look through his career, the only time he was an effective goal scorer was at MV like 7 years ago. It just isn't him. Ruka as a back up striker, sure can see that as he's scored 7 from the last 10 games. 

Quickflick.

I don’t think we’ve seen enough of arzani against quality defenders to judge how good his 1v1 really is, he’s certainly good technically so I do believe his game would adjust to stronger competition. Honestly I’d like to see both of them in the next squad, there’s really no reason not to include both. The incumbents are hardly tearing it up, especially Kruse.
If it was a case of Borello or Arzani I’d take the former, more experienced and playing at a higher level the basis for my reasoning.
I’m really liking what Nabbouts producing this season too.

Actually writing that up, I’d drop Kruse and add Borello, Arzani and Nabbout....fuck it.

Havn't seen enough of any of em, but for me I think Nabbout is ready to be thrown in.

He's got the mentality that if he was thrown into a friendly and did well, I think he could keep it going.

Arzani is good, so is Borello. These are great guys for the future.

But for now we need explosive forwards who can score. No more, no less. 

No. I'm just dogmatic and given to relentless arguing when I go on this forum (perhaps as it's ill-advised to be quite so argumentative in real life, I compensate for it here?). I'm sorry. I was saying much the same about Rogic when we were trying to qualify for the last World Cup as well, and I would be again now if there was any fear he wouldn't make the squad.

The first I knew of Arzani was from when he played for the Joeys. Basically, I'm forthright with my opinions on here ordinarily. But the Arzani question for me is so abundantly obvious how gifted he is with the ball at his feet. Rogic is also good with the ball at his feet, but with rather a different style. There hasn't been a Socceroo in the Arzani mould for a while now. Quite often, I find it unbearable watching us play. So, while I'm worried that Arzani mightn't get picked in the final squad, I'm quite happy to argue the point again and again and again, I'm literally that surprised that people seriously consider him not in the final squad.

Funnily enough, actually, in our family, we tend to make fun of each other endlessly. I can't imagine any of us taking to the internet to defend a nomination for a relative if any of us were minor celebs.

That's fair enough. If it were an either/or though, imo, it's that individual ability that's the clincher (especially given the Socceroos stocks in that department). Nothing against Borello. I'm surely he'll feature prominently soon.

I haven't been overly thrilled with Krusey's play lately, too. But on the basis of his experience and the fact that when he hits his straps, he can really dominate for us, I think he has to be in the final squad.

VAR will be used at the WC.... Im going to enjoy some controversy 

borello kruse and leckie have 3 spots on the plane in my opinion

hard to choose who gets the 4th wing spot between petratos nabbout arzani golgol ruka and mabil

nabbout might be sticking his nose in front if he goes to the eredivisie and continues to bang them in

mabil was having a reasonable first half of the season too

To me the question is, are these guys good enough that we can now try Leckie at Right back?

Leckie Sains ?? Behich
    jedinak Luongo
Kruse Mooy Borello
       rogic/juric

Plenty of options for that other CB position

I'd like to at least see it tried in a friendly

Leckie isnt a right back though...

Has he played there at all for Hertha this season??? 

Id keep it as a 4-3-3

Right back is a problem, however Bailey Wright has played there a lot this season and done well, so Id give him that spot. No brainer to have Sainsbury as a centre back, the other centre Id go with Jurman as when he was in the team he played well, left has to go to Behich, but Meredith should get a look in considering he has played almost every game for Millwall this season.

Midfield 3, Jediank, Mooy and Luongo should be automatic selection, Mooy for being well Aaron Mooy. Mass has played quite well this season for QPR, 3 goals 3 assists, averages the most tackles per game, is up there for dribbles per game to so can be effective playing box to box. The 3rd spot for me is the one which is not so sure, Jedinak would be obvious first choice as captain so a no brainer for me, would be interesting to see post world cup what happens

Front 3
Leckie, Juric and for me Borello who just tips Nabbout out of a starting spot

23 man squad
Keepers: Ryan, Jones, Birighitti
Defenders: Degenek, Wright, Williams, Sainsbury, Jurman, Behich, Meredith 
Midfelders: Jedinak, Mooy, Luongo, Rogic, Irvine, Milligan, Petratos, Dougall
Attackers: Juric, Leckie, Borello, Arzani, Nabbout

One thing about borello that has gone unnoticed in his 3 goals and 8 (!) Assists in 1200minutes is his defence has been top class

He gets nearly 3 turnovers per 90 minutes. If u played leckie at rb and borello at rw a good coach with enough time could turn that into a very strong right side in both defence and attack.

I'd like to see if behich can play right back, Atkinson as his backup.
Elder at left back, gersbach his backup.

ATM my squad looks like

GK
Ryan, Vukovic, Birighitti (R-Langerak)

DF
CB-Sainsbury, Wilkinson, Spiranovic, Williams(DM*) (R-Jurman)
RB-Behich, Atkinson (R-Wright)
LB-Elder, Gersbach (R-Meredith)

MF
DM-Jedinak, Luongo (R-Dougall)
CM-Mooy, Irvine (R-Brillante)
AM-Rogic, Petratos(W*) (R-DeSilva)

FW
W-Leckie, Borello, Arzani(AM*) (R-Kruse)
S-Juric, Cahill, Nabbout (R-Rukavytsa)

If we need a tight defence you could do the following

Wright can play right back
Behich has played a lot at wing this year and has quite a few goals from there while being defensively strong
Borello and leckie are fantastic at defending from the front
Luongo Jedi and mooy are some of the best tacklers in their leagues (though it would be a midfield that would lack a bit of mobility)
So something like this

----------------------------ryan--------------------
--wright------sainsbury---jurman---gersbach
-------------------jedi---------luongo--------------------
------------------------mooy--------------------------------
---borello--------leckie--------behich-------------

You could swap mooy and and Luongo too or even get away with an attacking triangle

Surprised how few are choosing Kruse in their squad

In his prime former leverkusen 1st choice who has had his first season for a long time due to injury and is doing quite well in a poor team 

He also has a lot of assists recently for the Rios

At his best he is arguably our best player and at his worst he is still one of our better ones. Borello's form argues for a start but hard to kick Kruse out of the squad entirely!

Imo about 6 players are competing for the 4tg wing spot but Kruse is on the plane barring injury

Regarding Kruse, I would still have him in the frame for World Cup selection but would absolutely drop him for the upcoming friendly. Other players deserve to be looked at with the potential to give game time to a couple that are competing with Kruse. Those forward positions need to be geared towards players who can score, we can’t keep carrying forwards who don’t regardless of their other strengths.

It is good there seems to be real competition for the winger positions and it seems in form players are going to miss out on the squad. Looking at a 23 man squad at the WC then there is probably 6 spots for the strikers and wingers but there might be an extra spot in the friendlies squad given BVM indicated he might look at a slightly larger squad. I would select Leckie, Juric, Kruse and Borrello first. That leaves perhaps 3 spots for Arzani, Nabbout, Cahill, Mebrahtu and Rukavytsya to fight over. Nabbout, Mebrahtu and Rukavytsya can both play as a striker or on the wing and seem to do both quite regularly at club level which can give the selection some real flexibility,

I don't see much point in playing Cahill in friendlies but if he is going to go to the World Cup he needs to be in camp to learn BVM's game plan. I am not sure if Cahill will fit into a game plan which might be looking for a lot of speed in transition. 

yeah I guess in the friendlies we are trying to find the 4th winger, a right back and the cb pairing while trying to learn new tactics so we will have to see what the gaffer needs to acheive that

Kruse can still turn it on if he wants to. All in all it's exciting to see these younger players doing well. I expect Kruse, Milligan, Cahill and Jedinak to definitely fade away from the national team by 2021. 

Everyone but Kruse shouldn't be in the NT after the Asian cup from that list let alone 2021.

BVM will play heavily defensive, so any winger that is used will need to have a good motor to get them through 90 minutes and need to have sufficient defensive capabilities.

I was watching Hertha last night and am inclined to think BVM will play very similarly.

Leckie will be used on the right side dropping high and low to stop the flow and attack of the opposition.

Hertha recruited him for this, they play majority in defense, press up on the ball in midfield and then counter.

He will not play RB or RWB. 

I have an idea Rogic will be used in our starting XI, I feel. He will be connection from our defense into our attack, and will be protected by Jedinak/Milligan behind. 

Borello, Arzani would be a good option, but I am not sure they will be selected based on their defensive skillset, remembering that, we will be playing defense for a large part of the game.

In summary, the wingers that BVM will select will be skilled defenders and then have fast, attacking qualities.

Kruse fits this bill, but because he's suffered injuries, you could not 100% suggest nor rely on the idea that he would be the best option.

There would have to be someone fresher for that role, I also happen to think his speed and shooting has suffered dramatically as result of his injury.

I'm not suggesting this would have to be Nabbout, but who else fits that prototypical description. Certainly not Arzani, nor Borello at this time.

Arzani while flarey, is not fast enough and I doubt defensively astute, he will be a risk. Borello similarly at this point.

All this talk about Arzani is so pre-mature.
He has scored all of 1 goal in open play. When he can score once a game like Nabbout has been doing of late then you can start mentioning him.
He is not ready yet.
He will not be picked (unless he really turns it on every game for the remainder of the A league season).

Why should A-League squads train hard when there's only so much salary cap space, less competition for spots due to squad sizes and no relegation?

Remarkably of our best 30 or so players all but Kruse Cahill Milligan and Jedi should not just be available for the next world cup but should improve as they are coming into their prime (although leckie will be 31 which is near the end of your prime)

its not about performance to date. its about him having talent on a different level to his peers.

it was exactly the same with Rogic. clear to see on only a handful of games that he could go all the way to the top with the right development

it will be a huge waste if he doesnt get the experience of this World Cup, and a mistake Australia may regret in 4 years time