http://www.the-afc.com/2018-fifa-world-cup/age-no-obstacle-for-syria%E2%80%99s-al-masri

I've read somewhere they Australia may use   a back four.

It could manifest as a 4-3-3-defensive midfield triangle with the  ball, and  a 4-2-3-1 in BPO. 

Risdon........Sains...........Wright............Smith

..............Mooy.....................Milligan
..............................Rogic

Leckie...................Juric........................Kruse





I've also seen another article where Ange has told Spira to play in a better league if he wants Socceroo selection. At this point in time it is folly, because Spira is the best defender along with Sains in a line up like this. If we fail to qualify  Ange's biggest blunder could be  dropping Spira.




LB.
In this formation, Behich won't have to the work required as a LWB if h spays LB in a back four. He would be a lot better when the team has possession than Smith, apart from Smith's crossing. Behich put in some well-timed, crunching, crash tackles in his last few Socceroo outings, which he has added recently to his repertoire.

He might be shorter in heading duels than Smith, but he is far better when the team  has the ball and doesn't make positional mistakes that Smith frequently does. Is Goodwin playing LB, LWB or LW at club level?




RB
 Risdon is good on the ball and going forwards, but recently for WSW I thought he had trouble containing NPL wide players from Blacktown. He may also lack speed over the turf for a wide player. ATM he may be the best RB we have, but I'm concerned he isn't up the the quality required for international football. I'd love to be proved wrong though.



Rogic - for some reason he has played poorly for the Socceroos of late compared to Celtic.  Asian opposition teams have worked him out, crowding him as soon as he has the  ball from more than one opponent. This  has led to him inexplicably taking some poor touches and losing the ball under admittedly, very high pressure. His opponents have often been very nimble and quick footed. We need more from him.

Formation will almost certainly come down to Sainsburys fitness. He has played in the middle of the 3 every game since we started 3 at the back and he is the only one who can dribble out of defense and play the difficult passes you need to in that position. Milligan will be needed in midfield although I think luongo at his best is a better player Milligan in pretty consistent without being spectacular which we need for this game. Japan hopefully showed ange a lesson in regards to smith 

Looks like a lot of the pre match chat has been in other threads. 

I think we're going to have a back 3 but I hope for a 433.

Ryan
Wright Milligan Sainsbury Behich 
Mooy Luongo
     Rogic 
Leckie Juric Kruse

Lots of options. Wright has been playing RB. Milligan is the safer option closer to the goal. Wright should be able to manage his area. 

Back 3 which is likely will hopefully be

Milligan Sainsbury Jurman 
Leckie Mooy Luongo Goodwin 
Rogic 
Troisi Juric 

It appears that the FIrst Leg is on Channel 9 rather than GO, with the telecast commencing at 11pm (Oz East Coast time) and the match at 1130pm

i think wright is suspended for the game?

Just been reading through a bunch of Syrian supporter chatter, apparently the team is working on defending balls from out wide, expecting us to be whipping them in all night. Not sure about that. Are most of our guys even in Malaysia yet?

i think wright is suspended for the game?

Unfortunately yes

Oh OK Wright is just suspended. Is anyone else in danger of a suspension? Do suspensions carry over into the intercontinental playoffs? 

I have no idea what our best formation and team is

4-3-3 with a defensive triangle has an argument for it in that you can play 6 players in their preferred positions

----------------------ryan--------------------
-----????---Sains----???-----???-------
--------------mooy----luongo--------------
--------------------rogic----------------------
--leckie-------juric-----------kruse--------

problem is you have a lot of mystery about what to put in those ?? positions

Camp in Melaka started on the 1st With late arrivals joining on the 2nd.

Ange doesn't want players competing in China so drops them. Ange wants players to be playing regular football but starts players that have no club or game time. Logic.

It should be Williams Spiranovic and Gersbach. The former two were destined for glory. A lot of misfortune and poor decisions have prevented a test defending think. 

In regards to reality I get nervous thinking about Degenek, Risdon or Jurman starting on such a big occasion. Still, they'll need to make the jump one day and this might be a moment of glory for them. I hope we're ruthless like against Jordan, Uzbekistan and Oman of years gone by. 

its tricky gesbach spira and williams aren't in the squad though they might be in a few months time. Gersbach and spira are undoubtably in our best 11 if they are playing regularly at a decent level

our available left backs are

goodwin, smith behich

available cbs are
milligan, jurman

available right backs are

degenek risdon

milligan and degenek of course can play both positions. Goodwin rarely plays lb these days.....not easy

if he was firm about club time and leagues from the start of qualifying we would not be in this situation.

Would be happy with this MF and FWds :)

Milligan is a must start, in defence if need be. We're too light on for defenders to leave him out.

Let's just deal with Syria first before we start discussing future venues.  

Can you imagine how motivated they must be right now, motivation & enthusiasm can override & run slipshod over any team.  They have the advantage going into this game & quite frankly if we can't even defeat fucking Thailand then we have no business dismissing them out of hand.  If Australia gets through this I will be very surprised.  

@Terre Australe,

I think your 11 is the pick of the available squad. 5 of the front 6 have scored this season, and stability at the back. We'll see how close Ange can get to it - LOL!

To all those thinking Ange will play 4ATB..........

  

I don't even want to put out a line up with 3 at the back i'm so depressed over it.

I wouldn't start Rogic away from home in the heat on a questionable pitch.
I'd play Mooy,Milligan and Mass together to add a bit of grit to the centre.
Maybe start Troisi/Cahill(out of season)to go hard 60-70 and bring Rogic or Kruse on with 20 to go to open it up. 
Our build up will be slow as usual so we really need to get our dead ball play spot on.

I think this game will be a sloppy slow affair and we'll turn it on at home.
 

Actually 6 of the front 6 have scored this season I believe

Great! They than go and put the second leg at home on Go! on Tuesday night as its in prime time.

It looks like Ange will rotate the squad over the 2 games and i dont think Rogic will start in Malaysia. 

That's right, with 19 goals between them this season (including four in the Champions League) and it's only October!

I stand corrected. a great return - as I said, hopefully Ange goes with the form!

Weather for tomorrow evening
28ºC
Good chance of showers
Humidity 85%

Dam levels: presumably very high

That pitch can get very muddy. See the Iran game there. 

In fairness that was another stadium in another town.

Also there's only a 38% chance of rain at 11am on matchday at worst and less than 5% at kickoff, so hopefully the surface will hold.

I have been here since Monday and have been surprised how moderate and not sticky the weather feels. It's been bucketing down in the middle of the night which makes the morning seem cool. Then it's stayed cloudy during the day which has stopped it feeling too hot. I am staying where there is a sea breeze which the stadium will not have and tomorrow is forecast to be 2 degrees hotter than today (31 compared to 29).

Rain is forecast tomorrow morning but not tomorrow afternoon or evening. The late kickoff, 8:30 local time, will mean most of the heat of the day will be gone.

Melaka is a very nice comfortable medium size town. Absolutely un-intimidating atmosphere, we lucked out to get this as the neutral venue.