Leckie’s greatest weakness is his profligacy around goal. 

For all his other strengths scoring goals is his biggest weakness. 

He still has had an abysmal goal conversion rate from all the scoring chances he has had over 60 odd Socceroo caps. 

Saudi Arabia sign two-time African Cup of Nations winner Hervé Renard as their new head coach!

Wouldnt mind seeing Taggart & Iredale selected as the two CFs for our next matches.

particularly relevant to our o/s aussies.  i've watched NT duties kill seasons if not careers for players.  look at mooy's struggle to get a top flight contract after 2 seasons, a world cup, and an asian cup jammed up together - which left him dead on the paddock for many games last season.

Chile we're burned out big time. Their players had massive club seasons with European games. They had to do qualifications and a tournament every June from even 2013 I think. WC, Copa America then the big combined one with CONCACAF plus confed cup in 2017. The won two Copas in a row but they were knackered and missed 2018. Their squad had also aged and there were some issues amongst the squad apparently.

Personally I hate the German winter break but it has often been argued that it's part of their success compared to that of England at national team level. The last world cup suggested otherwise and this will be carefully monitored in times to come. 

6 weeks out from Kuwait. I don't think we'll sort a friendly on the 5th of September but it'd be nice to get to Kuwait and arrange a game against a local club.

Squad if picked today 

Ryan, Langerak, Thomas

Grant, Wright, Sainsbury, Degenek, Susnjar, Behich, Smith

Mooy, Jeggo, Irvine, Luongo, Rogic, Amini

Leckie, Mabil, Ikon, Borello, Taggart, Giannou, Iredale 

It should also be considered the A League players won't be in season while a lot will have only just started. Amini, Gersbach and Jeggo started even earlier but Gersbach isn't playing currently. 

Susnjar has to be considered after a stellar season in K League 2. 3rd keeper is a toss up really. 

Iredale must be given more exposure to the set up. He looks the goods so far in his matches. 

Mate, you know I love your posts. But fuck me, Lawrence Thomas doesn’t deserve to even be in the discussion for the NT. what more does redmayne have to do. 
Agree on susnjar 

Ryan, Redmayne, Thomas
Degenek, Sainsbury, Susnajr, Grant, Risdon, Behich, Smith
Mooy, Irvine, Luongo, Jeggo, Oneill, Amini, Rogic
Leckie, Mabil, Ikonomidis, Arzani, Taggart, Duke

Out
Vukovic-Injured
Langerak-poor form
Boyle-Injured

Possible
Spiranovic
Williams
Wright
Jurman
Gersbach
Dougall
Antonis
Mcgree
Hrustic
Williams
Borello
Maclaren
Giannou
Iredale
Nabbout
Folami

Haha I just picked a random 3rd tbh. I know Redmayne played Korea. I suppose Izzo should be the one to get the nod. Once Birighitti builds up at CCM he'll likely be number 3.

I feel we've got a decent pool now who are exposed to the set up. I'll say it! I'd Kruse hits top form in the A League he'll definitely be considered. I do want him and Milligan to be phased out. Let's see. 

Interesting.

How long is the German winter break for, J?

With the freezing German winters, apart from the far south, I can't imagine they can even grow and maintain grass in winter for football.

Even in Tassie, which is as warm as pretty well anywhere in Europe in winter, apart from Southern Portugal, SE Spain and  Sicily, we struggle with pitch conditions in July and early August.

He's not a striker & to see him played as one in recent years is extremely frustrating.  

It is.

We don't have an adequate Striker so we need to improvise. In my opinion Leckie is the best option. MacLaren is never going to be good enough and should never be selected again. Taggart and Nabbout are yet to show they can make it in Europe (a necessity for a National team striker). Juric is the only legitimate Striker option we have but he is currently in the football wilderness. Giannou is 29 and hardly setting the world on fire in Cyprus. We should be using this easier phase of WC qualification and any friendlies we can get our hands on to experiment with the likes of Leckie, Rogic and even Mabil as Strikers..

I respectfully disagree with practically everything you say in this post. 
Taggart is the option. 
Giannou  scores in Cyprus and in Europe fairly regularly. 
Juric is not the only legit option we have 
I don’t think any of the three you suggested should be playing striker. 

The only thing I agree with is maclaren 

The ultimate goal is to have a striker who can score at the World Cup. We are probably going to qualify for the World Cup this time and next WC it is going to be even easier with 8 Asian teams. So you qualify and then you show up with a Striker that has 0% chance of scoring against World Cup Opposition. If the World Cup was tomorrow MacLaren would have a 0% chance of scoring. Nabbout and Taggart not much better. Giannou and Juric some chance. If the plan is for us to get to a World Cup and do something other than have no offensive threat then we really need to think outside the box. This is going to be our only chance to experiment before things get hectic.

Kuwait defeated Saudi Arabia yesterday. Not sure about the squads.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFdXmI086z4

I'm not at all confident of  qualifying for the next WC with only Asian 4 teams automatically  going through.

ATM I think Japan, Qatar and South Korea are better, with Iran, UAE and Saudi just as good. 

this. 

maclaren is not going to work as a lone striker in the opposition half.  so if the team is not playing on the front foot then there is no point.

taggart is starting to show some of his potential. he is the stand out at the moment.

100%
I think WC qualification for 2022 is going to be a very scary prospect. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I think all six are better than us now, with some Southeast Asian nations not far behind. Definitely going to be very tough. Oh for a modern day team with the quality of Kewell, Viduka, Bresciano, Moore, Emerton and Grella. Those were the days. And back then, we thought it would only get better!! That said, the Asian teams were not as good across the board, and many have improved markedly. 

5 Asian teams qualify directly this time. Qatar has qualified automatically as the host and won't take part in the last group stage. 

We have a chance. It could easily be Iran, Japan, Korea, Australia. We should still be better than the UAE and Saudi.

Also, Iran is currently the no. 1 team in Asia. You seemed to severely underrate them in your post. 

So the u/23's will be playing New Zealand in Australia on the 6th and 9th Sept, the socceroos are playing a WCQ in Kuwait on the 10th Sept.

So promising u/23 players like Souttar and Arzani should be in the Socceroos squad. I wonder which others of the u/23's will be in the first team squad?

This clash might happen again in OCtober during the international breaks where we play WCQ's but have potential to play u/23 friendlies.
https://dailyfootballshow.com/australian-national-sides-set-for-a-jam-packed-end-to-2019/

Also the international break in November has our u/19's playing AFC qualification games against Taiwan, Macau and Laos - a window we could play u/23 matches.
Should we be exposing some of the promising U/23 players to the first team set up, and even giving some match experience against the weaker teams likes Nepal and Taiwan, especially our promising junior strikers? Or do we need them to have more time together as the U/23 team so they can work on tactics and generally 'gel' before the Olympic qualifiers in January 2020.

Article:

With the announcement on Monday afternoon that the Olyroos would meet cross-Tasman rivals the Oly-Whites in a two-game series in September, an already busy period for Australia’s national sides got even more demanding.

Earmarked for September 6 at Wollongong’s WIN Stadium andSeptember 9 at Sydney’s Campbelltown Stadium, the Olyroos fixtures will befollowed on September 10 by the Socceroos first 2022 World Cup qualifyingfixture in Kuwait.

That timing means that Graham Arnold, who holds the head coaching position for both the Socceroos and the Olyroos, will miss the two coming games against New Zealand. Young Socceroos boss Gary van Egmond – who was appointed to that role in June – has been tapped to lead Australia’s U23 in his absence.

With the FFA’s media release explicitly stating that vanEgmond would also take charge of any potential Olyroos fixtures in October and November– when Arnold’s Socceroos will be taking on Nepal (October 10), Taiwan (October15) and Jordan (November 14) – it appears as though this power-sharing agreementwill not be a one-off.

Though the fruits of the pathways created by Arnold’s duelling Socceroos/Olyroos postings have can already be observed through the elevation of talents such as Harry Souttar to the Socceroos squad for a recent friendly against South Korea after initially featuring for the Olyroos; the U23 Championships will likely serve as the ultimate arbiter of whether the arrangement that sees Arnold placed at the helm of both the Socceroos and Olyroos is a worthwhile one.

History is both working for and against him.

Australia has never advanced beyond the last eight of the AFCU23 Championships; their previous high-water mark coming in Oman in 2013 when theside reached the quarterfinals before falling Saudi Arabia.

However, the last time that Australia did send a men’s football side to the Olympics came back in 2008 when Arnold was the man at the helm.

The issues of load management, however, go beyond just the Socceroosand Olyroos postings.

As mentioned, van Egmond also counts the Young Socceroos jobamongst his responsibilities and, thusly, already has a number of pressingneeds surrounding Australia’s U20 side.

Absent from the tournament since 2013, Australia failed to qualify for this year’s edition of the U20 World Cup after being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 2018 AFC U19 Championships in Indonesia; bundled out by eventual champions Saudi Arabia.

Their formal journey towards ending those years of absence will begin this November – which doubles as the last international window available to the Olyroos ahead of the 2020 AFC U23 Championships – when they travel to Taiwan for qualification games against Group H opponents Chinese Taipei, Macau and Laos.

Topping that group – or finishing as one of the four best runners up – would ensure the side’s progression the 2020 AFC U19 Championship, which will, in turn, serve as qualification for the 2021 World Cup.

van Egmond is presently in Vietnam, leading a select U18 side at the AFF U18 Championships where they will face Cambodia, the hosts, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore before a potential semi-final on August 17 and final on August 19.

Looking even further afield, a cohort of Joeys – who are currently competing in the AFF U15 Championships – will head off to Vietnam in September for AFC U16 Championship qualifying and a slightly older cohort will be off to the U17 World Cup in Brazil a month later.

“We are pleased with how this structure will work over thenext six months,” Arnold was quoted as saying in the FFA’s release announcingthe New Zealand friendlies.

“With Gary (van Egmond) – who is an Olympian himself – workingwith the Young Socceroos as well as the under-23s, and myself, Rene Meulensteenand Tony Vidmar focussing on the Socceroos but keeping a close eye on the 23s,the fluid communication and pathway between the squads will be maintained.”

Ultimately, the arrangement means that the next occasion in which Arnold will occupy the dugout at a formal Olyroos game will not arrive until January 2020, when his side will seek to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as one of the three best performers (four if Japan are one of the other three) at the 2020 AFC U23 Championships.

“

AGF chief urges Arnold to hand teen talent Duncan Socceroos call-up

Described as a “top talent” with a “big future in Europe”, Duncan carved an impressive cameo off the bench over the weekend as he begins life with AGF Aarhus, home to established Socceroos Mustafa Amini and Alex Gersbach.AGF’s director of football Peter Christiansen has already seen enough to convince himself that the 19-year-old former Brisbane Roar rookie has an international future ahead of him.“Surely, if he continues on this path he must get a call up soon - if not for the Socceroos then maybe one of the teams underneath them (the Young Socceroos and Olyroos),” Christiansen told The World Game.“It must be the case because he most certainly has the quality.“The 20 minutes he made for us (in the 2-1 loss to Lyngby) confirmed what kind of player he is - and the boy is a big talent.“He has quick feet and when he turns with the ball and sets tempo ... it’s something that is rare in football and is also one of the attributes that Mustafa Amini has.“I don’t know why but we have to go to Australia to find it.”Duncan, who made four appearances for Brisbane last season and was a player the club wanted to keep, has yet to represent Australia at any level.Ironically, Socceroos and Olyroos coach Arnold was in Denmark the previous weekend to watch AGF against Awer Mabil’s Midtjylland, but Duncan remained on the bench on that occasion.Having tied him to a four-year deal in June, as he arrived from Brisbane via boyhood club Marconi Stallions, Christiansen is convinced he has acquired an unpolished gem.“Zach’s adapted very quickly and very well and has the right passion for the game,” he added.“He wants to prove himself in football and came on the other day determined to make a difference.“He’s just a hard worker - everything we hoped we’d get we got and he is ahead of schedule in his development with us.“From the first day he arrived he has come not only to be a part of the squad but to fight for a (first team) position straight away and we like the attitude about that.“We like his hunger on the training ground and for a footballer if you don’t have that you have a big problem.”Christiansen sees the former Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers junior as a natural number eight, who can also play deeper if need be.“He can play different positions and different systems and is good under pressure and on the ball and he has a big work ethic,” he stressed.“He has good ideas also and it was natural to give him his debut because he’s been looking that well.“For me, and at this football club in general, it’s not about age but what you want and can give to the team. It was well deserved.“We like him as a number eight, making deep runs and linking up play with the strikers and wingers.“He can do a holding role in the future but maybe now is not the position for him because of the responsibility that comes with that.“He needs to keep working hard and fighting for his position and so far he’s done that.”

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/agf-chief-urges-arnold-to-hand-teen-talent-duncan-socceroos-call-up

Did u say Leckie n Rogic is our best striker??? Leckie has a poor record of scoring in the club as a wing is ok but not as a striker. Rogic has been used as a striker by Brendon Rodger 1 game and that was terrible. He was never again put in that position. I have seen that game so i remember well.

Rogic is injured and unavailable for September.

Think about that for a moment. The coach that will coach them at the qualification tournament won't be there for the whole lead up. What's the point. 

Wow that's awesome to hear Duncan spoke about like that.

Winter break is around 6 weeks. At least in that time I can enjoy the very busy English football period. 

That is a long break, but they have very severe winters apart from the far south in Germany.