I won't argue that it's been a good performance because it hasn't. Though they got the result. That first half had a lot of players who aren't best 11 and many out of position which will  have affected the performance. I feel it demonstrates poor depth or depth that needs more experience. It doesn't mean the actual team is average. 

Dear oh dear, that was absolutely dismal. 80% possession, 25 shots but only 6 on target. Says it all about the complete lack of quality out there.

If we draw Japan in the home and away qualifier it will likely get ugly. South Korea Id give us a 50/50 shot, we really need to be drawing whoever the 4th team is though. I assume it's a random draw in the final round of qualifying? 

Van Egmond again showing how she can either pass to the opposition or split the defence with a perfect pass but not much else in between - and more of the giveaways than the great stuff. The number of times she killed our attack by poor passing, or just got lucky retrieving a rebound off the opponent she passed into is ridiculous. The occasional good things she does and the long range shots when her outfield effectiveness looks to be on a low must be exactly what Gusty wants because I can't see why she still gets a run. Plenty of decent players can do the good things she does without being so wasteful the rest of the time.

Wheeler got much better when she felt confident or was given freedom to run with the ball. She seemed timid and out of her depth to start with (girl playing against women) but she came good when she settled in. Shame she did not get a minute in the World Cup. That still stinks.

Chidiac was frequently ineffective tonight. I have seen her play much better football and expected her to shine more against Iran - regardless of the bus parking. The odd balance of the team no doubt messed with a lot of the structures they train for and anticipate.

We have several players whose first touch is horrible. A real shame because they do so much right with vision, supporting play and positioning then simply lose momentum or the ball by heavy or misdirected control.

Crazy that Iran could get so confused and send their whole olympic diving team instead of their football team. Crazy that the commentators on tv were commending them for their character and spirit. I commend the Matildas for not losing it in the face of the theatrics and time wasting we had to sit through. Not easy to build any sort of creative platform when when every set of plays results in a stoppage. For the most part the Tillies wore it professionally and tried to get on with it. Good on them for that. The ref ignored most of it which was a breath of fresh air but very hard to build rhythm when you cop that from the 10th minute.

We will play better next game. I think we can count on that.

Chidiac was one of the players out of position. She isn't a number 9. Would have liked to see her in the 10 role. She didn't have a great night but I was scratching my head why she was playing where she was. 

Van Egmond... yep totally agree. We need to mive oast her and find the next generation of midfielders. 

Mind you Van Egmond just on 30yrs has a season or so still in her and still looks one of the better on the ball and distribution.
Probably why she's still in the starting line up.
A very much changed line up compared to the WC I think a game that gave others the run thats needed to see how they go.
I still struggle watching so many loose pass's by the Tildas, good ol Ellie was guilty as usual even prior to her goal.
Still see her as a train wreck.
Playing against park behind the bus is never easy but the play wasn't quick enough or precise enough to counter it.
A win is all that matters in the end.

Australian teams whether it be mens, women's or youth have this poor ability to break down deep block defences, not sure why but clearly the curriculum or the general coaching standards here don't help.

This of course requires high level technical ability along with smart off the ball movement and intelligence which is something especially the last two parts we poor at doing in this country in my opinion.

Its good to see Gustafson acknowledge this and realise this is our next step in the evolution of the Matildas, but this is also the next step for Oz football in general otherwise we will be limited to being a counter attacking country where we like to play with open spaces and be limited when teams give us the ball for longer periods.

For context both national teams had less possession in both of their respective world cups, next step is to be able to break down teams through good football actions especially if we want to be more successful football nation in the future.

Another concerning thing and maybe why we didn't see more subs in the World Cup was the lack of depth, the starting 11 we had didnt do much the only ones I would give a pass mark too was Chidiac, Carpenter (who is a starter anyway) and Wheeler, the rest didn't do enough for me.
Clearly we look alot better team when the starting players came off the bench.

Clearly Spud was giving fringe players a go. Thought Wheeler was fantastic particularly in the second half. Nice pass by Grant to Carpenter for the goal in a tight space under pressure which seemed to garner no attention by the commentators or match pundits.

When Kerr, Catley and Fowler came on they improved no end. Catley and Fowler link up beautifully.

Fowler's distribution is amazing. What a player.

If Australia played like Iran with all their diving and carry on I don't think I'd watch them. Disgraceful. Can't believe the women's team is as bad as all those farking other middle eastern divers and fakers.

And what's Harper on about at the end? 'The officials need to do something about it'. If the keeper goes down you can't restart, if a player is fouled and rolls around like an idiot you can't restart. The only thing the officials can do is wave play on if the ball is in play and the ref did that a few times last night.

The solution is added time of course. And there was 11 minutes so they did well there. Ref played almost 12.  

Not a great performance but better to play bad and win than the alternative.

Calm down. Nearly a completely changed starting 11 from the WC.

Carpenter was the only starting player I think?

Carpenter and Van Egmond are awfully  bad.  Couldn't score is one thing, the quality of the players are another thing. First touch and decisions making are the worst I have ever seen. The Matildas got no ideas how to anti pressing. And only 6 shots on Target  the whole game.

The only 3 players are class above the rest are Kerr, Fowler and Carley. 

Just don't agree with that at all.

Carpenter was anchored in a back 3 in the WC.  In this game she was finally put back as an inside/outside overlapping fullback.  That's her natural game.  Her first touch for the goal was brilliant.  Took it forward into a narrow space whilst blocking her opponent with her back, placed a shot through 3 defenders and a keeper.  What the fuck more can you ask from a fullback?  The shot she missed just to the left of the goal, she was in great position, took it into space and fired across the keeper. 

Most of these players flew from the other side of the world, had one short training session and then get thrown on as an experimental starting 11.  Christ on a push bike.

Their opponents spent most of the game rolling the grass and desperately disrupting the game every time there was a hint of flow.  It was the kind of game where you feel like walking over and kicking the actor in the leg just to make it seem real.  Was it 11+ minutes added on at the end?  Thankful they didn't add any more.

Mary Fowler is now playing from a different level than anything we've ever seen before.

Looking forward to Sunday, tougher match, different starters and everything to play for.

Not sure if you're trolling or didn't watch the WC.

Raso, Gorry, Hunt, Cooney-Cross, Kennedy and Foord didn't even get a run last night and they're all quality.

Edit: Cooney-Cross came on late.

.

Carpenter's touch is poor though. I mean she was in a different role last night and did take the goal nicely but if they can sort out her crossing and passing she'll be elite level.

Agree with all the other stuff you said though. I think mark_000au has an axe to grind judging by the level of vitriol.

I don't think there is anything co-incidental about Kerr, Fowler and Catley coming on and linking up so well. To me it highlights just what is wrong about Gustavsson's coaching mentality. He keeps picking the same players year after year because he is too lazy or scared to actually develop the next lot coming through.

Competition after competition we have screamed at him (from the wisdom and safety of our keyboards) to make subs and use the full squad only to see him ignore our great advice. The result is a first 11 who have played a lot together and know each other well and the rest of the squad who tend to drop the level every time they come on. I would like to see more of the second rate performances on a regular basis leading to overall improvements in squad depth and the ability to function as a well oiled machine.

Last night we looked a bit stumped trying to break down the block, but then we would bring the ball down the wings and we had the chance to do something. It is what we fail to do in those moments that the coaching staff need to work on with the fringe players as much as giving time to the lifetime incumbents. We saw quite a few crosses that could have been something and quite a few off target shots that could have been something. We saw Wheeler doing what is most dangerous around the box and weaving with skill around defenders. There is enough in what we showed last night to beat a parked bus well - if we have an idea what to do when we get there.

Carpenter has that horrible touch but it is highlighted so much because she gets to positions where it could make all the difference. Beating her opponent out wide and racing down the field to get in behind is something she does well. If she cannot learn to deliver a special ball in, then we can at least use her to cut the ball back inside to someone else after she has drawn two players to her. We still pass back and round as our first option rather than working on penetration when we do have our second team playing and we saw hwo it can work briefly last night with another Tilly able to drive in after Carpenter had pulled them out wide a bit.

Spud's squad rotation was horrendous during the WC and besides Wheeler it showed, exactly as you said, why we were poor in the first half. 

I want to like Ellie as a player. She's been a favourite of mine since she came on all those years ago and romped down the wing. She's strong, super aggressive, doesn't take any shit and fast but she can't cross or pass. It's baffling because she plays for one of the best teams in the world.

I heard them say she has 70 caps and is only 23. I'm hoping she can improve in the future.

Interesting though seeing Fowler's connection with Catley like she's always played with her. In the WC it was usually Foord and Catley. Just shows Fowler's class.

If Fowler can keep this up and not going missing like she does in some games she could be one of the best players in the world. Mad to think she's only 20.
 

I commented last night that Carpenter was having a poor game - her passing wasn't good.
3 minutes later she scored.

:crazy:

Slag her off some more. She could have scored against England in the semi if someone would teach her to shoot.

edited
I think thats what will be with her of her career, alot of highs and lows, at her age and experience you'd think those diciplines by now would be automatic.

As for Fowler, she's at another level already above most in the squad imo and just wow for womens football.
There are some, only some that can play like I'm watching mens football, she has so much promise at her young age I hope no one/gaffa screws up her natural ability/vision and game prowess.
Joy to watch.

Fowler is a superstar, the other young one I like is Cooney-Cross.

If we make the Olympics, squad only 18 players…

Tony’s selections likely… (favourites)
4-4-2 formation

GK(2)
Arnold gk1
Micah gk2

DF(6)
Kennedy cb
Hunt cb
Polkinghorne cb
Catley lb/cb
Carpenter rb
Grant rb/lb

I can't remember but sounds right.

The selections for the Matilda's were odd though. I was thinking that Van Egmond must be a false 9 in that line up but she played as a 6 or 8. 

I don't mind trialling new players to build depth, experience and find options. I think we need that. But there needs to be more structure to it than v Iran. 

Chidiac CF seemed insane to me.

Who partnered Polkinghorne at CB? Nevin or Grant? I don't mind us looking at options but surely McCormack and Morrison ahead there. Or Catley even.

I liked the decision to play Sayer in the 10 where she works best and thought she was okay. Wheeler too in CM. Yallop at LW or LF? That was weird.

I think we need to work on finding some midfield options which was a success I thought. So far as minutes for Sayer and Wheeler is a good thing. 

But we also need to find offensive options for earlier tactical subs (weak at the WC). Chidiac CF and Yallop LW won't help there. Try Chidiac 10, McNamara LW, Ayres CF instead as ideas.  

A real mixed bag really. 

Only 1 of todays starters started on Thursday night.

I like Gorry, she’s a natural on the ball. Reminds me of Calletti in Roar men’s. But same issue - just not quite strong enough to play as a lone 6.

This has been superb football from the Matildas.  

And 55k people at the game.  Prob more than the whole round of the A League.

So there are a good chance we will play Japan the next round cuz most likely the Philippines will finish best 2nd of all 3 groups. They should've scored more goals at the end>> bad bad mistake by the coach to take Kerr out and didn't attack from Fowler left side the last 20 minutes.

The winner between The Matildas vs Japan will go to the Olympics. We won't make the Olympic this time.

How does the next round draw work? Rank 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 or the team whose group had the best 2nd placed will have to be drawn against a tea from another group? E.g. There'll be a draw where Australia can only get Japan or South Korea if Philippines advance?

North Korea had a 0:0 draw against South Korea a few hour ago and face Thailand next so they should end up on 7 points while Philippines can max at 6.

No one knows how the third round will be conducted yet.

Reports are the top 2 candidates for the uswnt hc role are gustavsson and montemurro.
if gustavvsson goes, we likely get montemurro?