france is good for a choke. i said it in another thread that realistically we are lucky to get anything in this group - in saying that i think we have an honest shot against any of the teams really.


my pick is belgium for a final.  france, belgium, brazil and germany will be the semi's imo.  i should have put cash on the belgians before the last friendlies when they were paying $16.  the odds have tightened up quite a bit since then.

How much was France's 2002 side worth in this game?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A

Some expensive names that night.

My concern is that BVM has not had enough time to build his way of playing on this squad.  Thanks Ange.

The Germans will win this WC now their daddies the Italians are not there.  Everyone else is scrapping for second place.  

Anyone else watching the FA Cup final? Four three France players in it. (Pogba, Kante and Giroud).

Kante and Giroud combining very well and unlucky not to win a penalty just now.

Correction, that's three France World Cup players. Bakayoko started for Chelsea but isn't in the squad, nor is Martial.

Watching Frankfurt Bayern in the cup final. This Frankfurt pressing is textbook to holding a superior opposition. Frankfurt doing exactly what Australia need to do against France. Swamp them.

Kante is so energetic. We're going to have to be extremely quick to escape him. 

Part of me wants a robust midfield but I think we need our best, fittest and fastest. 

Luongo Mooy 
    Irvine 

Press, hassle push them off the ball like against Chile. Jedinak might end up as a centre back. If he's on song, we should hold a whole but god help us if he has a sloppy game. 

You would swap mooy and Irvine.

Yeah I thought about that. They can play in both roles. Kinda felt like having Irvine running in late but Mooy has the better pass. BVM with lots to consider. 

----1 of Nabbout/Kruse/Arzani----
Petratos-------Mooy---------Leckie
---------Luongo------Irvine----------
Behich------------------------Karacic
---------Milligan----Sainsbury-------
------------------Ryan-------------------

Juric might be better used for the other 2 games up front.
Arzani and Kruse can create some space for themselves.
Nabbout probably the better help defender of the 3.

Kruse for 1 half, arzani the other perhaps.ol
Rogic on late for Mooy.

And they got the win!

Was glorious. Probably a penalty for Bayern at the end but they've had millions of bad calls go their way.

I remember back in 2010 thinking Fozz was too harsh on Pim. I took the time to rewatch few highlights from the Germany game. I think I was right.
From the highlights, it wouldn't have mattered what system we played, we were just outclassed by the technical quality of the Germans when they played the ball. Lucas Neill was terrible, and the rest of the defence was pretty ordinary. Once Cahill was sent off, we had no chance.
If you look at the stats of that match, interestingly, we had more of our ball possession in our attacking third and the midfield third than Germany did. Germany had more of their possession in their own defensive third than we did. The overall possession stats were 55% to 45% in favour of them. 10 of their 16 shots were on goal, whereas only 2 of our 10 shots were on goal.
I don't think it was the system that let us down that night, but the players. (If you can call losing to the team that finished 3rd 'letting us down').
When we play France, we can set up defensively or offensively, but if we play as bad as we did against Germany in 2010, we will get pumped 4-0 even if we are pressing them right from their keeper.
I think the main thing is to keep a clean sheet in this match. We might be able to beat them 1-0, but I don't see us beating them in a free flowing attacking game with a scoreline of 4-3.
I'm with BVM on this one.

I'm a big fan of Arzani and think he should play against Denmark and Peru.

But against France it's 100% about defending from the front. It's way smarter to play with more defensive and counter-attacking footballers and to keep Arzani fresh for the Danes. Plus, the less he plays against France, the less the Danes will know about him. Win win.

Yeah, I think they should be focusing on having a really tight defensive effort and, effectively, channelling almost all the attacking efforts into the counter-attack down the wings. With that in mind, the miracle result would be the scoreline you describe.

Also, if we focus on attacking that way and play, two of Leckie, Kruse and Rukya on the wings, then we can try to wrongfoot Denmark by adding Arzani to the mix against them. And maybe giving Rogic more of a role. Denmark might be expecting us to attack on the counter and down the sides (from the France match). But we'll be able to introduce other attacking facets they'll be expecting less, such as centrally and cutting inside.

Rogic and arzani off the bench to chase the game if we are still in it please.

Otherwise set up with mobile, defensively strong players.


Ryan
Karacic, milligan, sainsbury, behich
Jedinak, luongo
Mooy
Leckie, juric, kruse

Have irvine come in as a sub as well for fresh legs.

MfromCroy good post.
Look, I'm sure whoever we put out there for this first game will put in as much as they can But.....yes the French have had their ups and downs But at the pace we operate I'm not confident at all......
The skill level of the likely French line up is top shelf then throw in their movement I hope Ryan or whoever is between the sticks has a absolute blinder for thats all I can see at this stage.
Maybe the last warm up may change my pov but I don't see us threatening them much, IF the amazing happens gaining a draw, you know one of those days nothing comes off for France it would feel like getting out of the group what a hoot nice to dream.

There was an article referenced in another post about how BVM tied down one wing with Holland in 2010 and attacked only on the other side against the stronger teams. As limited as that sounds Leckie would be the perfect 'holding' winger against France and maybe Arzani is the one attacking/creative player on the other wing given license to have a crack and not have to worry too much about defending as the other wing is effectively another DM . maybe link up with Mooy/Rogic and get something through to Juric/Nabbout/Ruka to pinch a goal against what is likely to be a very high French defensive line.

Unlikely but could happen.

Agree.

The reaction from Foster and pretty much of all of Australia reflected an immature football nation. 

That German team smacked England and Argentina and was robbed of a penalty against Spain.  Yet we should have taken it up to them with no Viduka, no Kewell and playing with 10 men for 30 minutes with Cahill being the send off......

All good today we are more realistic about our place in the football world and against France-which is yet to prove they are good as Germany 2010-we are discussing sensible defending so that we don't get blown out of the water.

 I still reckon we must survive the first 30 minutes without conceding.  It will set the tone for the whole tournament.

That's what we want. But really does it make a big difference between doing that then letting in three goals in the next hour compared to conceding one or two in the first half hour and then lifting our game so that we don't concede any more in the match (maybe even score)?

Setting the tone for the whole tournament by defending well then conceding a lot vs conceding a bit and then defending (and playing) well to get some momentum for the next match. I mean we shouldn't write the whole thing off because there's a bad half hour somewhere.

The plan would be not to concede  at all, LOL

Thinking back to the Germany game in 2010 and then Chile in 2014, we conceded early.

The Chile game especially we were like deer in the headlights for the first half.  Its so important for the players confidence  to be 2 down in the first 30 minutes.

If we haven't conceded in the first half hour I think we can avoid conceding 3 in the remaining 60 minutes and take the belief that we can match it with the big boys.

Every team in our group will see us as their must get 3 points.  Frustrating France early could see them lose discipline-they're French after all 

Be interested to see if Irvine partners jedi for the sheer fact they are the only two I think we have that can stop Pogba getting into any sort of rhythm, the next question is how do you use Mooy can he play that 10 role like sneijder? 

Mooy has worked well in a 2 negating the likes of Pogba and Kante for Huddersfield. We need him dictating the tempo from deep and recycling possession.

I feel against France we need an early goal, first 10-20 minutes while they haven't settled into the match or tournament lets bloody have a go at them.

That's actually a really good point. I was thinking he'd be better used at CAM. But you might be right. Would you have him in a CDM pairing with Luongo or with Irvine?

I'd want Irvine paired with him with Luongo advanced, but lets face it Jedinak will start. 

Yeah that triangle is sensible. As for who starts there, Jedinak may well start there. But BVM is going to be acutely aware of the speed of the French there and our need to be able to handle that. He'll also be aware of what Irvine brought in the recent friendly. If Irvine is closing people down very fast in training, then that's going to add more weight to the argument.

6-0 to France .Deschamps no mug .They dont have an bad blood in the team all determined young men ready to win the tournament. 

Its gonna be an embarrassment. Anything less than 6 is a good result.

It'd be dreamland to sneak something early. Would France then go nuts to equalise? If so then we'll have Leckie waiting for that handy through ball on a counter. 

yeah i think he will set up defensively and spring the counter. this is probably why ruka is in the sqaud.  i think ruka will start as the CF v france and rogic and juric will be rested.  expect a very pacey front 3 and super defensive mid  - jedi/milligan/luongo and a flat back four.

not my pick but this is what i think will be there for the france game. locked down at the back and like lightning up front. very leicester city.

karacic------sains-----jurman----behich
--------------jedi---------------millligan
-------------------mooy/luongo
leckie------------------ruka---------------kruse

As much as I like Mooy coming of this European season I favour a midfield 3 of Jedinak, Irvine and Luongo to start against France. I think they offer a little more intensity to unsettle the likes of Pogba and shut down shooting opportunities for him around the edge of the box.

I dont like him but the stats support the inclusion of Kruse for winning fouls in the final third which may prove to be our best outlet and provide our best opportunities for score. Leckie plays well against teams who come at us ala Germany where leckie had his best ever game in a national shirt. Up front id be tempted to keep Juric in cotton wool and possibly consider starting Cahill in this match, he'll harry the French. If France get desperate and start piling numbers forward that may well be the time to throw Ruka in to really give them hell on the counter

Jedinak and Irvine holding with our centre backs? We'll never complete a pass, France will press us to absolute death. I don't get why Mooy gets so much shit for his NT performances when he is always set up with a shit pass and pressed by multiple people and still doesn't turn the ball over.