Instead off posting the whole list of stats, I'm going to do it more sequentially, bit by bit. 

I will do a lot more on the Oz and UAE formation  than in the past, as Australia was using quite an irregular 3-6-1 or 1-3-6-1.

In terms of possession based on completed passes:

Australia had 65% and the UAE 35%.



Australia 2, UAE 0.


In the last two games I've done recently with the more conventional 1-4-3-3 attacking midfield  triangle,  in terms of possession Australia achieved 75% against Iraq in Perth and 76% against Jordan in Jordan.

 Australia  beat Iraq 2-0 and lost 0-2 to Jordan.


Using the 1-3-6-1, Australia's possession decreased by circa 10% against the UAE.

In terms of territory based on completed passes, Australia spent 70% of the game in Oz's attacking half in possession of the ball , whilst the UAE spent 30% of their time in  Australia's defensive half in possession of the ball.

Other factors tha can slightly alter the territorial stats, is that Australia completed  188  passes in the attacking half whilst they mishit 38.

The UAE completed 82 passes and mishit 33 passes.

Also , Australia  had 28, 15 metre plus ball carries,  compared to UAE's 6.

In terms of 1v1 duels, Australia had a ledger of plus 55 over the UAE.

There were 200, 1v1 duels in the game.

This is higher than against Iraq in Perth, where the game featured circa 170, 1v1 duels , and also a similar figure was recorded against Jordan in Jordan.



Top 1v1 duel winners were: 

Degenek with a plus 12 ledger from 17, 1v1 duels completed.

Milligan, plus 10 from 18 completed.

Irvine with plus 9, from 12 completed.

Sainsbury plus 8 from 22 completed.



The worst 1v1 duel performers  were:

Juric with a ledger of minus 2 from 18 completed, 1v1 duels.

Kruse with a ledger of minus 1 from 5 completed, 1v1 duels. 

Often the target striker struggles to win more 1v1s than they lose,  because the CBs are often in a favourable body shape to win duels, and they compete against the best opposition ball winners.

so we lose 10% posession playing this way (although that could be due to teething problems) any obvious atvantages you can forsee?

I haven't set them out yet, but including  blocked shots, we had 20 shots at goal compared to their 4.

Having said this, Mohammed Abdul Rahman split our defence open a lot, but we were very lucky with some  very close offside calls in our favour.

In just one game, it could be more shots at goal compared to the opposition shooting at ours.

We might get a bit more idea when I finish the Iraq game.

In terms of formation the UAE struggled to hold a consistent shape in Ball Possession, or BPO.

In BPO the shape the UAE used often manifested as a 4-4-2 bowl shaped midfield. At other times the  if one of the front  two dropped back into attacking mid  made the UAE a conventional 1-4-3-3 defensive midfield triangle as the number 10 lined up with the two wingers.

In Ball Possession  in attack the UAE shape often manifested as a 4-2-4, with each line being flat. The attacking mid or number 10, in the 1-4-3-3 defensive midfield  triangle often played further forward to line up with the central striker.

At other times the in the bowl shaped 4-4-2, the two UAE wingers pushed up to make a flat attacking line of 4.

In later posts I'll set these formations out in diagrammatic detail. 

I have to go, but I have a lot of  data comparing Irvine to Troisi - and Rogic and Mooy.

Smith had the worst ever game by a Socceroo for ball loss in one game and unforced errors!

his first touch was horrendous.  seriously rusty.

Smith is exasperating.

He was shocking on a lot of occasions, but as the game progressed, Smith  really provided attacking  impetus. This talented player really needs to get his club career sorted out. At times his technique for the Socceroos under minimal pressure is atrocious, even by HAL standards.

Unfortunately for Smith, he lost the ball on 7 occasions due to poor ball control.

To put this into perspective, players like Cahill, Mooy, Rogic, Sains, Spira  and Milligan might lose the ball due to poor control on 1 occasion every 3-4 matches! I think the worst we've had before is something like 4 ball losses due to poor control in 1 game, which may have been Leckie a few years ago.


Another  shocking  stat for Smith is he made 4 unforced passing errors.

This is when one is under only a modicum of pressure, has a clear line of sight to the target player, but misdirects the pass! This is  also the equal worst in the last 9 years! These mishit passes and ball losses from Smith often resulted in UAE accelerated attacks, which led to goal scoring opportunities from some of  them.


 Yet in other areas,  particularly as the game progressed, Smith  was really effective.

In the second half  he played many of his 5 effective crosses from 9 attempted. His crossing can be high quality.

His searing pace left many UAE players in his wake.

He dribbled  around UAE players on 4 occasions down the wings .

He completely  outmuscled his opponents in 4 shoulder barging duels, often when tracking  back. This is so important  at attacking corners when Smith is positioned  as last man at  to prevent counter attacks. He is physically very strong.

His 1v1 duel tally was a ledger of plus 6 out of 14 contested.

Smith's stamina and speed over the turf is exceptional. As an Oz schoolboy sprint champ he must be one of the quickest players in world football. 

The bowl shaped 4-4-2 midfield that the UAE deployed at times looks like this: 



X.............................X................................X...............................X


.............................X..................................X

X................................................................................................X


..................X..................................................X



If one moves the two wingers forwards it manifests as a 4-2-4 which UAE used at times:

X...........................X................................X...............................X

.............................X................................X

X..........................X.................................X................................X



Then if one of the central strikers drops back and the other central forward takes a more central position it looks like this, a 1-4-3-3 defensive midfield triangle, which the UAE also used at times.


X..........................X................................X............................X

........................X.........................................X
.............................................X

X.........................................X..............................................X



The constant for the UAE was the back four and two screening DMs.

Ange's voodoo formation was a 3-6-1, 3-2-2-2-1, 3-2-4-1, 3-4-2-1.


................Degenek.....................Sains....................Wright


..............................Milligan........................Jedi

Leckie.................................................................................Smith

.............................Irvine............................Troisi


..............................................Juric


The two standard 3-4-3 formations are the flat midfield:


.............X..........................X............................X


X...................X................................X.........................X


.........X...............................X.............................X


Then there is is the  3-4-3 with the midfield diamond, also known as the 4-3-3 with the 3:1 back line and the defensive midfield triangle:



.............X.........................X...........................X

.........................................X

.....................X.................................X

.......................................X

...........X.........................X.............................X

Inherent in the two latter formations are diamonds and triangles, whilst Ange's has a 4 man box formation in midfield.

 In the UAE game either Jedi or Milligan played straight balls to Troisi or Irvine on occasions. Too often Troisi and Irvine had inadequate body shape to simultaneously  receive, scan the field and play forwards, because they were receiving straight balls, not diagonal balls. 

I suppose what Ange is trying to do is use Leckie's and Smith's astonishing athleticism to create 6 in the middle, 3 at the front and 5 at the back depending where the play is.



In FFA coach education since Abrams is under 16 TD and under, Ange's role as Socceroo coach is crossing over  to the curriculum. He doesn't like the 1-4-3-3 as much as the powerhouses.  Yet it is based on standard practice as a development system in Germany, France, Holland, Belgium and Spain.

This role is for national TD, not the national team coach. We need a TD in Oz for the over 16s.

Hi D have you got any news is to what Abrams is trying to do with the NC? You say he doesnt like the 1-4-3-3 and in that case what other formation does he prefer that he wants to see being played?

Also i don't like Ange's thinking in play a bowel shape midfield 4 instead of a diamond which i think would help us play through the middle and keep possession for a longer periods which wasnt there in the last two games, thoughts? 

Abrams is a 1-4-3-3 adherent, like most coaches from that part of of the world as part of their national systems.

Ange is the maverick with this voodoo formation. He is not an adherent to the 1-4-3-3 and its many variations. His 3-6-1 is based based on no sound parameters apart from  deploying  the best players on the pitch and solving the problem of our lack of quality full backs.

The main problem with Ange is he is using unfamiliar formations from players' development, and different from what they use at club level, then trying to play them at international level in key qualifiers with very little time on the training track to implement them.

The other extreme is Pim, who used the same system, most of the time. He used  the 4-2-3-1, sometimes 4-3-2-1 and occasionally 4-4-2 midfield diamond. Players were familiar with these systems.

Tactically with this formation, Ange appears to be trying  to create a 3-4-2-1 in defence, with Leckie and Smith tracking back in a line closer to Milligan and Jedinak.

Then as Australian builds up through midfield,  Leckie and Smith move up in a line with  Irvine and Mooy to create a 3-2-4-1.

At times this can be extended further to create a more traditional 3-4-3. This is when  Australia penetrated the attacking third of the pitch against the UAE, Smith and Leckie often moved into a line with Juric.

Also, a trailing attacking midfielder, manifesting in either Irvine or Troisi, was  close to Juric in this phase of play.

With the box midfield formation, in Ange's 3-6-1, like any formation, much of the time spent  is not in perfect shape. The premises of it, other than Ange trying to play his strongest players in what to him is a viable formation, are nebulous. 

In possession Ange's midfield fornation against UAE would've manifested as:



.................Milligan
............................................................Jedi


....................................................................Troisi
Irvine



at times.


Or:
...............................................................Jedi
Milligan


...............Irvine

.................................................Troisi


etc.

 Ange's current box midfield doesn't have the same impact in the all important control of the centre of the pitch which is axiomatic in the Dutch, German, French and Spanish methodology the FFA NC is based on. The inherent diamonds and triangles in the 1-4-3-3 permutations or even the 4-4-42 midfield diamond, are not as prevalent  in Ange's formation.

It seems that more build ups occurred either on the right :

...............................Sains
..............Milligan

Leckie


..................Irvine


Or on the left:

........Sains

.................Jedi
..............................Smith

.................Troisi

As opposed to playing through the centre more often, varying three points of attack like in previous games, than an over-reliance on the flanks and focusing more on two points of the attack against the UAE.

The one empirically verifiable observation that worked for Ange, was that the Socceroos had 20 shots at goal, whilst the UAE had 4.

As I've mentioned before, Australia received a number of very close off side decisions that penalised the UAE when Abdul Rahman split the Socceroo defence open with killer passes. On any other day those decisions could've gone against Australia.


Of Australia's 20 shots, 6 were on target.

Of UAE's 4 shots at  goal, 3 were on target.

brazil a few decades ago used to use a box mid field so they could stack the center with creativity didn't they?

When they last played us and thrashed us 6-0, Brazil's technique was so good, they simply turned blind from receiving straight balls and still moved forwards.

Only Rogic for the Socceroos can do this.

Yes they did.  AC Milan did it very well back in the mid 90s as well.

The game has changed dramatically since then.

I was astonished at the number of straight balls played in a replay of the 1990s World Cup final between Italy and Brazil.

No shit.

You'd do well to remember that that was the 'prevailing milieu' next time you want to slag off the socceroo's playing style and their '32 years of failure'.

Welcome to the forum.

There were a number of surprising phenomena that occurred in the UAE game.

For the first time, Ange used Sains as a designated ball carrier out from the defensive line, as the ball playing CB. In the past, Spira and Sains would come out  a bit, but this was  a premeditated coaching plan against the UAE.


On  6 different occasions, Sains carried the ball for more than 15 metres through the midfield and further forwards. Meanwhile Degenek and Wright tucked in closer to each other, and Jedi sat just in front and between them to make a different back three.


Why is this a revelation?

In the past one of the CBs would've passed directly to Milligan or Jedi to play or move forwards if possible. This time Sains moved past Jedi a few metres away, which is like poor  school football, except Jedi moved to cover  the space where Sains had been.

One one occasion nobody shouted, "Man on" , when Sains was in possession and being run down as he ball carried forwards. Henceforth, he lost the ball.

On many occasions Sains assisted the team build up advancing further  up the pitch, replacing, or/and providing an extra player in midfield to provide  an overload as the defensive UAE shape in BPO sat deeper. 

Another surprising phenomena is that Ange used Milligan as the designated player to receive from the back three and keeper and try to play forwards.

In many games when Jedi and Milsy have been the twin midfield screeners, they accrue similar numbers of possessions and passes. Millsy is invariably more accurate.

In this game against the UAE, Milligan was constantly showing for the ball, and importantly  in tighter spaces than anybody else. Also, Jedi deliberately played many short passes to Milligan for him to distribute.

These observations were exemplified in the game high of 61 passes at 97%, with 22 defensive passes at the all important 100% passing accuracy, for Milligan.

For those who denigrate Milligan playing in the UAE league, he also played 17 of those passes deemed difficult. That is, defence splitting passes, eye of the needle passes, killer passes ( that break at least a line) or passes made under pressure in terms of time and space.

The next highest Socceroo recording for difficult passes was 10 by Juric.

On the other hand, Jedi, only completed 30 passes at 97% in a similar amount of time on the pitch. He made 13 passes in the defensive  part of the pitch, at the impressive  100% accuracy.

In contrast to Milligan, Jedi only played 6 difficult passes. So 24 of his passes were made in plenty of time and space.

Jedi also made 2 unforced errors, whilst Millsy made 0. 

Whilst Millsy may play in the UAE league, although having Abdul Rahman arguably a superior player to anyone in the HAL, for some inexplicable reason he continues to be a very consistent performer for the Socceroos - more so  than anybody else.

In this game what really surprised me was Jedi only contested 8, 1v1 duels, which is very low for him. Usually, he really forces a lot of contests, roughing up the opposition in most games, putting himself about. In those 8 contests he had an impressive ledger of plus 6.

Meanwhile, Milligan contested 18, 1v1 duels, with an impressive ledger of plus 10, 1v1 duels that includes  fouls which  are adjudicated by the ref.

Decentric, can you do a run down on Denegek. Some did say he played woefuly .
I thought he may have been perhaps the better RCB/LCB. He did chase down a lot of loose balls and turned it into good possession.
This would help cement my view perhaps that he played a lot better with a more defensive 3-4-3 formation

I think you are right. He had a solid game. Degenek had the luxury of not  marking Abdul Rahman as much as Wright.

He was one of those players who after revisiting the match had a better game than I first thought. He is playing in a role that suits him.


In his 1v1s he was the team top performer. Out of 17, 1v1 contests, he had a ledger of plus 12. He won a lot of strength, tackling and heading duels.

Importantly, he wasn't dribbled around at all.


He made  24 defensive  passes at 100%. However,  he only  was under any pressure on 1 occasion.

His total  of completed passes was 6 completed at 92%.

He only conceded 1 free kick.

He made 0 intercepts and 1 block.

A few times he was caught slightly out of position relative to his marker,  which could've been catastrophic with clear UAE chances on goal, but they were ruled marginally off side.

thanks for the effort for this. I was pretty curious how some ppl were saying Denegek and even Bailey Wright had crap games.
For me Bailey and Milligan choked Omar completely out of the game bar a couple clumsy tackles which were unavoidable tbh.
Probably should pat themselves on the back because Omar is never quiet , even against Japan game before seemed like he was running amok

so guess I'm trying to cast a bit of attention to the fact that this defensive strategy worked so well. Better than anything we've seen so far, even Japan couldn't hold Omar to a few influential touches and that's it rofl

* Irvine and Troisi


In 1v1s:

Irvine had a ledger of plus 9 from 12 contested 1v1s.

This is very impressive  - from duels contested.

He won nearly every tackling, heading and strength duel, sometimes making excellent tackles running towards our defensive goal.

He won 9 of these contests and lost 1. 




Troisi meanwhile had a ledger of plus 5 from 32 contested.

He was tackled whilst trying to evade UAE players on 7 occasions, which was the worst aspect of his game.

On the other hand he sprinted 15 metres plus for some fast ball carries in opposition territory on 7 occasions.

He dribbled around opponents on 5 occasions.

He also made 4 successful tackles.




The big difference was that Troisi was everywhere, forcing contests on 32 occasions, whereas Irvine only got into position to make 12 duels.

In 10 contests, that were adjudicated by the ref as worthy of free kicks, Troisi won 4 ref decisions and committed 6 fouls.



In pass completion:

Irvine completed 20, mishitting 6, at 77% accuracy.

Of those passes 6 can be deemed difficult.




Troisi completed 26 passes at 81 %, mishitting 6.

 Of his passes 8 can be defined as difficult.


Both players misread passes directed to them on 1 occasion, being culpable for the incomplete pass.


After looking at the stats, Troisi showed for the ball more often, but not as much as I thought from watching the game live. He also disturbed a lot more UAE build ups than Irvine.




With shots on goal, Irvine had 4 and Troisi 5.

Irvine scored 1 goal.

Troisi had 2 assists for the headed corner goals.




In terms of ball loss due to poor control, Irvine lost the ball on 2 occasions, whilst Troisi lost the ball on O occasions. 

 Both Irvine and Troisi made 1 outstanding first touch/ instance of great skill.




One point brought up by  another poster and could possibly be true after he attended the game live, was that Troisi failed to deliver effective final balls in the penalty box and most of his most effective work was in midfield. I'm not sure Irvine produced final passes either.

 Mooy and Rogic definitely do this better than either Troisi and Irvine, but they are not as effective at breaking up opposition build ups.

so the midfield box really requires 4 super technical mids to work since you are sacrificing body position

the idea is to overwhelm the opposition with your creativity

Yes.

The midfield diamond usually has more passing options at preferred diagonal angles.

I suppose Ange is trying to negate Wright's and Degenek's slower speed over the turf, with Smith and Leckie ideally getting up and down the flanks to provide a 5 person defensive line in theory in his designated 3-6-1.

One interesting scenario was Juric.

Live I thought he  was innocuous and had a very poor game. When appraised more closely he did some good work and created assists for others shooting at goal.

Of the 19 passes he completed in his 70 minutes on the pitch, 10 of these can be deemed difficult. He was nearly always playing with close defensive marking.

There was 1 instance of poor control, where he lost the ball when he shouldn't have done. This action stood out in my memory of the game live.

However, he had 3 instances where he demonstrated superb first touch under pressure. Juric also showed quite well for the ball with a lot of build ups occurring  on the flanks, rather than through the centre. 

In 18, 1v1duels, he had a ledger of minus 2, which is okay for a central striker having to play against the best ball winners in the opposition  team. Juric puts himself about.

His main problem was that he was unable to check and shake his markers and get into  goalscoring positions at the right time. He was able to check more effectively  outside the penalty box.

His biggest failing, was not having 1 shot at goal. He  could not check and find space in the penalty box and make contact with the service, which after revisiting the game, was quite frequent in the second half.

In Cahill's 30 minutes he only managed 1 shot at goal too, whereas in any given Socceroo game over 90 mins, Timmy usually averages about 6 shots.

Juric has improved.

if juric is struggling to find space i would expect this to be something that maclaren eventually will be exceptional at

having said that im surprised that his off the ball work in bp was ineffective. I recall this being something he was ok at

Maclaren and Taggart feature in a game plan other teams frequently use against us, that we don't use enough.

When Barca was dominant in world football with slow build ups, Atletico Madrid and Meal Madrid start using 2 pass accelerated attacks against them.

As Barca,  playing high defensive line in attack and in possession, the moment they lost the ball in the Barca Defensive Transitions, there would  be  a killer pass to  from a back line payer to a midfielder, who would send a quick pass to an onward rushing player like Ronaldo, so Barca had to defend running towards their own goal.

Barca conceded goals doing this.

Against Tajikstan, Milligan won an unlikely tackle in midfield, put a killer diagonal pass through to Oar, who ran onto the ball, ball  carried at speed and scored.

So many of Australia's opposition send big long high balls over the top, which are usually headed back by Socceroo CBs. Or they direct traffic through the likes of Abdul Rahman, who plays a killer pass onto a striker running towards our goal.

We need to do this more often, as we spend so much time attacking  teams when they are facing us playing a deep defensive  line.

Having MacLaren or/and Taggart , centrally, can burn the opposition for pace, from a chip over the top, or the two killer passes on the deck through midfield. As they run onto the ball they can break the line with the first touch. Kruse and Leckie have been good at the fast ball carrying at times, but they  struggle to score goals.

I don't know about Taggart. Some of the Perth games I've watched this season he's gone missing for long periods of the game. That is in the A-League, would hate to see what would happen against the likes of Japan or a European side. 

McLaren on the other hand, even if he has a quiet game, still manages to chip in with a goal or two.

Yes both quite haven't set the world on fire with their Socceroo performances yet - but I'd be inclined to pick McLaren, especially on current form.

having maclaren, taggart with leckie and smith/gersbach on the wings would be a ridiculously quick and agile attack force.

A few years ago under Pim, I think, we played the fastest forwards we have ever had in a friendly against South Korea, I think it was Rukay, Oar, Rogic and Leckie.

They absolutely burnt SK for pace in counter  attacks. SK are usually  one of the quickest teams in Asia too.

If Ange used MacLaren and Taggart as  central strikers, he could work on those two killer pass combos that split defences open. I'm noticing in many games how our opponents are doing this to us, whilst we rarely do it.

This UAE game was no different. The UAE keeper or defenders often lumped it long to Abdul Rahman, who often played a killer pass that nearly put a UAE forward away on goal. Oz sometimes doesn't  track runners well.

I don't think Taggart is particularly quick. At least, he has never demonstrated it. On the ball, he has never demonstrated that quick acceleration. Similarly, breaking through the lines to get onto a through-ball, he's not so quick.

A lot of Taggart's goals are eerily similar. And they mask these kind of weaknesses. This, I think, is why he was almost innocuous in the youth World Cup and in Europe. At a higher standard than the A-League, he needs those things and seems to lack them.

MacLaren, it seems to me, is slightly quicker. But is still not what you'd call really quick, it seems to me. They're both more, what I'd call, poachers in the style of Scott McDonald. Not target-men.

Nikita Rukavytsya is, imo, what you would call a very quick attacking footballer. But he is inconsistent in terms of touch and decision-making.

I don't reckon Tom Rogic ever played under Pim. Maybe it was Holger?

Either way, I vaguely recall a line-up similar to that being very, very quick and with enough space to work with (it might have had Robbie Kruse, too).

What's missing though is that x-factor footballer, whom the Italians call a fantasista. A fantasista will be a natural athlete (in the Mathew Leckie, Nikita Rukavytsya style), with the technical skills of somebody like Tom Rogic and the football IQ of somebody like Aaron Mooy.

We're missing that. That type of footballer is the gamebreaker. It makes it that much easier to attack through the middle and score from open-play.

I think Daniel Arzani and perhaps Lucas Derrick might be a go in that role. Very technically gifted, with 1 vs 1 ability, and fast and agile.

\good read decentric.  

great ti see that you picked up on jedinak keeping his passing short and simple.  i think a lot of his errors come from trying to carry the load of the team as captain and sending out passes he doesnt make.  for the most part i would like to see him keep all his passes under 5 metres :)  and diagonal crosses.  he has been really good with diagonal crosses to find open men on the break.  a skill he would have developed at a defensive and pacey club like crystal palace in the EPL.

This is  something good about Ange in recent times.

There is a premeditated game plan to give Milligan the ball to distribute. He is like a metronome. His loss will be felt against Saudi.

Sains is fast developing into a quality player too, who is also a preferred  distributor.

Cheers, this is brilliant.

Agree that I really can't comprehend Milligan's form in the national team as I've watched him play a few games in the UAE and he was mediocre at best. Curious, but irrelevant of course so long as he keeps it up.

Welcome to the  forum, Glazier.

I thought he was better for the Socceroos than Victory too.

Some players lift with better payers around them. 

he plays better with better quality players around him. Shame that he couldnt get a work permit when he trialled at arsenal metz and others nearly 10 yrs back. Also shame ange blocked his dream move to crystal palace in 2013. Really think he could have played top level he doesnt have a single deficiency as a CDM.

Awesome run down Decentric. A lot to digest there!

Question - you mentioned we had 20 shots (6 on target) and UAE had 4 (3 on target). 

Why so many off target for us? Did we shoot from outside the box more than we usually do? The ratio just seems incredibly wasteful to me.

And inversely, UAE's ratio is phenomenal. But did they hold off from "wild" shots and that is why? 

I include blocked shots, because I cannot determine what distance from the player/keeper blocking the shot.

3 Oz shots were blocked.

It is far from perfect methodology, but I'm open to ideas.

A number of balls,  circa 3-5, mainly from Abdul Rahman, spilt the Aussie defence, but were ruled offside - just.  

The problem I see with Juric is that he lacks the one great quality Tim Cahill still has left, anticipation. He fails to see that one play ahead and so often looks slow. 

This is a fair comment.

I think JVS and Valkanis have failed to use Cahill as effectively as they could've at City this season.

Cahill's goal sense in the penalty box is astonishing and still improving. He is  mentally strong, too. It doesn't worry him if he is uninvolved in the game for long periods, or he makes a near most dummy run to provide a scoring opportunity for a trailing midfielder behind him.

PV4 has noted previously that Cahill treads on defenders' toes, or gives little shoulder nudges to offset their balance to gain an advantage. 

Regarding your last point, it was interesting to see Timmy holding the arm of another Melbourne City attacker which stymied the defending run of McGowan (who had been between them) sufficiently to give him (Timmy) the metre advantage when running to meet the corner kick from which he scored.

I'm now about two thirds of the way through the Iraq game. At this point in time, Juric has had 1 shot at goal in 130 minutes of football from playing 70 mins against the UAE and 62 against Iraq..

Cahill had 1 shot in 20 mins against the UAE. His average for most Socceroo matches is 5-6 shots at goal per game.

Regardless of where they play in club football, even if Juric is doing well for a decent team in the Swiss League and City's coaches have made the shocking mistake  of playing Cahill as a midfielder or putting him on the bench, he has more game sense than Fornaroli and Juric put together as the central striker.

Juric has made constant  mistakes and made poor decisions, as has Irvine in the same games.

Even though Cahill can appear to be uninvolved, he is always dragging defenders out of position, blocking runs of defenders, using dummy runs, using his team-mates as a screen for his own runs, treading on their toes to leave them behind in his runs, shoulder nudging them out of position, etc. Often the refs don't see it either! Cahill is now a very, very cunning player who loves the big stage and the big occasion.

He just knows where to be and has incredible goalscoring nous, even without sufficient 1v1 evasion skills on the ground. Even though it may have cost City, and the Socceroos, by Cahill's coaches preferring to play others.

JVS and Valkanis's club decisions at City, could well cost the Socceroos' qualification for the WC.

With Juric opposition defenders are winding  him up. When Cahill is on the pitch he is winding them up with his outstanding street smarts and cunning game sense. Ange has got it wrong big time not using Cahill as the first choice.

So have JVS and Valkanis cost City. It is noticeable with City, that Cahill is constantly using nasty little elbows, nudges, fouls, then apologising to players as though it is an accident, if, the ref sees it and adjudicates. It unsettles them. Even against UAE he scored from a foul.

Good work Decentric.

I think Leckie struggled to provide the defensive cover that Degenek required. Could a better option be to play an attacking defender down that side over Leckie??

For wing backs, which Leckie and Smith effectively are in the 3-6-1, I cannot imagine too many others as athletic as them getting up and down the pitch from attack to defence.

If the team became a more conventional 3-4-3 with a midfield diamond, or flat midfield, then players as more conventional wingers in the attacking  line don't have to do as much work. Burns, Kruse, Oar, Goodwin are candidates.

Players like Davidson would have the qualities to play as a more athletic and mobile CB than Wright. Thie s would result in less defensive cover needed from wing backs.

Given Degenek wasn't beaten 1v1 in the game at all, it indicated that Leckie's cover was adequate. The ref whistle may have helped.

One other stat is that we played 5 long balls including  keeper clearances in the whole game, whilst UAE played 20.

One of the players I thought struggled against the UAE was Bailey Wright.

At  first glance his passing stats looked pretty sound.

He made 27 defensive  passes at 92% accuracy. Of the two errors, 1 was unforced, which can be catastrophic in this part of the pitch.

Overall he made 35 passes at 90% over the entire pitch  which looks good.


With 1v1 duels he had a ledger of plus 1, which is acceptable in his position.

However, Wright conceded 5 fouls often in dangerous positions around the Oz goal, possibly all on Abdul Rahman. Many of these would have resulted in Abdul Rahman beating him all ends up, if he hadn't committed the fouls.

He was also dribbled around by Abdul Rahman on 2 occasions. So he really struggled to contain the UAE star.  

 Most of his 1v1 duel successes  were from strength duels and heading duels.                                              

His combination with Smith was also poor. Many of his passes directed to Smith failed to be controlled by the English based speedster with poor first touches.

Degenek was definitely a more effective RCB, although he was lucky not to have had to mark Abdul Rahman as often.

One other area which is of interest is intercepts. These eare not blocks, but can be defined as when players intercept opposition balls from effective reading of play.

Milligan made 7.

Sains 3.

Wright 2.

Jedi, Troisi and Degenek 1 apiece.

Another interesting stat scenario  is that of Matt Leckie. He seems to have improved his technique over the last year. 

Whereas other wing back Smith lost the ball due to poor control on 5 occasions and made 2 unforced passing errors, Leckie  lost the ball due to poor control on 1 occasion and made 0 unforced passing errors.

He also demonstrated 1 moment of exceptional skill.

Leckie had a 1v1 duel ledger of plus 4, from 24 contested. In those 1v1 contests he dribbled around players on 4 occasions.

His defensive passing accuracy was 93% with 13 completed passes.

Overall his passing accuracy over the whole pitch  was 80% from a total of 26 passes completed, after having mishit 5 attacking passes, usually under time and space pressure .

From 2 shots on goal he scored 1 goal from a headed corner. He has scored 2 goals his last 2 games.

From  passes directed to him, he was culpable for the unsuccessful pass on 2 occasions.


In the last year, exemplified in the UAE game, Leckie seems to have improved technically. 

I would think that for a lot of the game he tracked back to help defensively. Ange's tactical concept appeared to be to create a 3-4-2-1 in defence and then move to a 3-2-4-1 in attack.

The reason for this was he because he was played at RWB decentric instead of higher up the field at RW where he has less time and space. He reminds me of emerton in the sense both were outstanding athletes with sound technical skills in particular their dribbling but poor balance over the ball, no ability to change direction and little creativity meaning they are better in wide open spaces further back in the field. I honestly believe leckie could be world class at RB or RWB.

Here are Juric's stats.

He made 19 passes in the game.  18 were in the attacking half  at 86% accuracy. This is pretty good in this position, as one is usually closely marked.

 He made 10 difficult passes. Again this is good.

In 1v1 duels a he had a ledger of minus 2. He was involved in 18 duels.

He won quite a number of strength and heading duels. He  won 3 tackles, which is  outstanding  in this position,. Unfortunately, he still lost  more 1v1 duels  than he won.  Juric didn't manage to dribble around anyone.

 His worst stat as a central striker, was 0 shots at goal, which is basically shocking.  He just could not shake or elude his markers.

For all his grunt work and achieving quite a number of passes under time and space pressure, his predatory instincts were poor.

Cahill usually averages 5-6 shots at goal per game for the Socceroos for comparison purposes.

I didn't record them, but I don't think there were any Juric assists for shots at goal for teammates either.

Those stats suggest Juric would be better at the other end of the park. A bit late to be converting to a CB, though. I remember you were very impressed with Juric around the time of WSW Asian CL final. Do you think he's gone backwards since then?

He is still relatively inexperienced in international football. 

I don't think he has gone backwards at all, but he isn't too successful at shaking his markers, or reading ahead of the play and working out where the best place is going to be in order to score goals. 

I'm just doing the Iraq game. It  will be interesting to see if he dribbles around players more often than the UAE game. He has had 1 shot on goal against Iraq - an impressive turn and swivel. Then he launched a powerful shot that just missed.

Trent Sainsbury's stats.

Over the whole pitch he had a passing accuracy of 98% with 44 completed passes.

The all important defensive pass accuracy was 100%, completing 30.

He made 6 passes that were deemed difficult to complete.

This is interesting in that nearly one third of his passes were made in the attacking half. He was used as a ball playing CB who had many forays into midfield.

In 1v1 duels he had a ledger of plus 8 out of 22 contested.

In these 1v1s he dominated heading duels, winning 5 and losing 1.

H won 2 strength duels and lost 1.

He won 2 tackles out of 2 contested.

He made 3 intercepts from good reading of play.

He made 4 clearances.

He also had 6, 15 metre plus ball carries.

He  only committed 1 foul and won 4 free kicks.




He had a pretty good game.