Getting really sick and tired of all the Kruse hate being thrown around and tbh i stinks of bullying to a degree particularly when ppl start up about his face or him being skinny etc. 

The facts of the matter are:
- No player has come even close to Kruse in the last say 4 years in terms of assists and chances created.  These last 2 games Kruse was involved in all 3 goals for 1 assist, 1 goal and one involved in buildup. Thats a good return against a decent team in syria.
- no socceroo would have made nearly as many runs off the ball as Kruse.
- No socceroo is as unselfish. The amount of Km's Kruse covers also is insane.
- no socceroo wins as many fouls or penalties as kruse 

Finally and most tellingly you can see the difference in the team when Kruse plays. The whole team seems to click in attack far more when he is in the side due to his movement and incisive moments.

There's 2 types of people on this forum - the first are people who shit all over kruse and everything he does including puerile remarks about his face, and the others are people who actually know about football

I'm pretty sure Mooy has had more assists at least over the last couple of years.

Kruse is a very talented player, one of the most talented in the team and when he was in form he was very, very good. But recently he has been poor (his 3 years before this one are almost irelevent). His runs have been good, his general play has been ok too. But his quality in terms of the final ball and finishing has been awful. And the finishing/final pass side of things is what the team needs more than anything else. Look at the amount of shots we have been having. If instead of kruse we had someone with a quality finish/final pass the team would be so much better off.

A good example: twice against syria at home he had the ball on the edge of the six yard box a few meters out and crossed the ball (which failed) instead of just putting it in the net. 

In any case he should never be playing wide left, thats not fair to him or anyone, blame ange for that. 

I don't get it either. I was at the game the other night and people were heckling him all night. He works his arse off and is vital to most of our goals. Why people can't see that is beyond me.

wasteful and ineffective

 

The whole team has been wasteful but ineffective he is not

I think it's perception lag. He was terrible for a while post Asian cup but has started to turn it around with some meaningful involvements in the past few months. People just see the bad more and ignore some of the good (like the passage of passing between Mooy himself and Rogic which completely opened up Syria only for a shot directly at the keeper from Rogic). I'm guilty of the same with Ryan (had a blinder of a save in the first match against Syria, but still annoyed at the running out with hands on thighs whenever one on one thing)

Should improve more with regular game time at his new club and I think the perception worm will turn in his favour again after a few more games if he keeps providing an assist or two here and there (and hopefully a few fucking goals).

Wake me next time we have someone playing at the level of Bayer Leverkusen.

Yeah was he rough but he is still developing fitness after a long lay off. No one better than him in the same position.

As I said in the anti robbie thread, he played well in some games when he was club less and still got picked, had a bad game the other night even though he is playing regularly in B2. He might be a star next game. a bad game does not make the player bad.

It was only a few months ago we (fourmers) were all saying Leckie can't score and should be wingback, he cracks one for us and a few in Germany, now  just suggest that and you're a moron  

Had the guy behind me rubbishing his play all night. So what that Kruse has a poor touch or gets bumped easily off the ball sometimes, he's the only player we have being selected that can consistently make high quality dangerous attacking runs off the ball. I'd rather have a player fucking up a lot of chances because he's good at creating but sucks at finishing, than a player that's good at finishing but doesn't get any chances because he can't create the opportunity.
The offsides were more a product of other players slow poor decision making than any laziness that he's accused of. He argued with Mooy a lot about where and when he wanted the ball. The metronome of current Mooy gives you the ball when its convenient for him, not when its the best option.

Yes, he very ineffectively scored the away goal and had the assist for the wining goal, he did that extremely ineffectively. He very ineffectively managed to do what no one else in the team was able to do, but you are right he is very wasteful.

While his touch and final product can be shit at times, he's the only player capable of making those incisive runs. He seems to have a knack for it, and we aren't really blessed with those sorts of players. 

I said the same in the other topic.   Absolutely true.   He was awful,  truly lost all touch for a while and most fans got really angry at him being picked.  He is now much better but perception hasn't caught up yet. 

lol

When his career is done he’ll retire with a CV better than most Australian players in history. Good footballer who I’m glad we’ve persisted with because his best brings something no one else we’ve got can.

Scored an away goal against Syria and assisted the 2nd goal at home to send us to the next round.
He also played 110 minutes out of position after Smiths injury.
I was complaining before the season he shouldn't be picked because he was club-less and hadn't played in a long time. But he's now playing regularly at a decent level.
How can we complain about him at the minute?

Exactly farkin played his heart out, out of position and came up with a beautiful cross for the winner.

The thing people don't understand also is - because he works so hard, when he does receive the ball after one of his lung busting runs he is often spent which is why he then gets knocked easily off the ball of (at times) or can uncharacteristicsally take a poor touch or be seen taking awhile to get up. He looks spent at these moments. Anyone whose played a lot of sport knows this too that your strength and technique over the ball goes when your lungs are spent. 

Thing is you'd rather him keep playing in this lung busting fashion due to the moments and movement he creates.

Does anyone have stats on his assists for the roos? Decentric?

one of our 3 most influential players despite a nightmare injury run

he will grow in stature too if he remains uninjured and get back into leverkusen form by the end of the season

At least watching him I feel he gives 100%. Not that many roos I can say that about.

Sure he's not the best player but I think we look better with him on the pitch. 

Easily, and by a big margin too, has the most punchanble face of any of the roos but gives 100% so I'll give him that.

Does act like the whole world's against him when anything doesn't go his way which annoys me.  (That's not a new thing though.  Did that at the Roar and MV.)

Over time for some reason on football forums some fans like vilifying scapegoats.

David Zdrilic copped it for  for a while from SFC fans. Ditto John Aloisi.

Danny Allsopp copped it  from MV fans.

Jade North for Australia.

Brett Holman for Australia.




I hadn't realised Kruse was in this category yet? It might go above some people's heads how well Kruse runs off the ball when his team is in possession. Australia needs players like Leckie and Kruse to provide continuous and viable passing lanes in build ups going forwards. The worst thing is that they have scored very few goals from games played.





Also,  some fans love to hate some coaches at various phases in their career - Frank Farina, Arnie, Pim, Holger and now Ange have copped it during their Socceroo tenures.

I don't.

Sorry.

Unselfish off the ball movement from the likes of Leckie, Kruse and formerly Holman and Brosque, often goes unnoticed to the untrained eye.

Players like Kruse are often receiving the ball running flat out, or with their  body shape facing away from the passer  of the ball towards him. Also, he often has to check ( shake his marker by feinting) and work in limited time and space when receiving because of tight opposition  marking. Players in these positions receive less 'easy ball'.

It is  more difficult receiving the  ball in this body position than a player receiving in an almost stationary position  and facing the ball.  Often keepers, CBs, full backs and DMs receive the ball in these positions. 

I think as a general rule players who excell in off the ball work go far in europe but are underappreciated by aussie fans

Since he came back into the side after his injuries last year he has,
3 assists against Jordan in the 5-1 win
1 assist against Saudi Arabia in the 2-2 draw
1 assist against Chile in the 1-1 draw
1 assist against Syria in the 2-1 win

This is 6 assists plus 1 goal in 21 games.
In the same period Mooy has 4 assists and 1 goal although he has only played in 18 games and in the 5 games before Kruse returned he had 5 assists and a goal.
Leckie has 4 goals and 3 assists from 20 games.
Rogic has 5 goals and no assists from 19 games
Juric has 6 goals and no assists from 16 games
Cahill has 5 goals and no assists from 15 games and a lot lower percentage starts so his goals to minutes ratio is certainly the best. He also had 6 goals in the 4 matches before Kruse returned. 

Kruse has played in every game since he returned, I doubt anyone else has done it, perhaps Sainsbury.

First game I saw him play he was involved in a goal with Zullo who was also receiving his first senior start.  I remember saying "wow this kid has got it". 
Seems so Australian Football normal to me that he now gets as much abuse as the Coach who gave him his start - Farina.  Both have given greatly to the game in Australia.

The abuse that you get at all levels of the game here, from bottom to top, reflects entirely upon the character of the abusers rather than the victims.

but but its ok because we don't threaten peoples lives like they do in some countries

A thread that makes sense.

great thread. football fans opinion of Robbie Kruse reminds me of my ex fiancée... there were more positives than negatives, but but she always emphasised on the negatives.

I'm the first to put my hand up and say RK was shit for a 2 year period when he wasn't playing regular football and did not deserve to get picked. But now that he is getting regular football he should be in the first 2 or 3 being picked. If you count all of our games since the June qualifiers against Japan/Thailand and the confeds cup, he has been our most consistent player, and probably our best player.