It's not unreasonable. Frankly, however unfair it is, unless the others in that position are doing exactly what he's doing in 1 vs 1, I think he should still be a cert for the final squad just as it gives our attack another dimension (even if it's a work in progress). There's enough room on the bench for that.

Not sure BvM will be thinking along the same lines though.

I had Nabbout as missing the 23 but it sounds if though he is doing really well. It's hard to tell from media reports and small clips of training through. It will be fascinating to see who makes the 23.

If we're chasing  a game, and Tomi Juric and Aaron Mooy have played a fair bit and aren't going so well, I reckon we can change formation a bit to bring in two strikers and more paths to goals



---------------------------Cahill--------------------------Rukya------------------------------



---------------------------------------------Rogic-----------------------------------------------


Arzani------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leckie


-----------------------------------------------Irvine------------------------------------------------

Having those options would be very useful, I reckon.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Jackson Irvine will be our biggest hero at the WC. I just think he’s a gun who always pops up in good positions.

Very tidy 6 & 10

Has barely played a bad game for us. We seem to have a few guys who have shown signs of really being able to turn it on when given the chance. I think this could be Luongo's world cup. Many people forget that he was our player of the tournament at the 2015 Asian Cup.

In the qualifiers where most of the side looked fairly gormless, Irvine came on and just upped the intensity and match IQ in his own little way.

he does go missing, but he seems to have some big moments in him.  there's always a lift with a good sub.  i wouldnt be starting him from what ive seen - but if he is killing it in camp then he would be up there for a starting spot.

arzani holds the ball to long and turns it over a bit, it's good that he is in camp with someone like BVM who has said something like 'why take two touches when you can do it in one'..  im sure he had similar players in the saudi team.

you could really notice the short crisp passing game improve in the last 2 friendlies.  i'm really surprsied that this wasnt a feature of ange's training.  when you can see an immediate improvement in the team you can tell it hasnt been there before.

from the diary pages sounded like the were playing like this 

---------------Van Bommel--------------
------Luongo----------------------Mooy

I assume Jedi will come in for Van Bommel.. does seem to suit the way our guys played at club level lately.

And a backline of:

Karacic---Milligan---Sainsbury---Behich

I anticipate that Brillante will be one of the men to miss out.

And then I'd expect two of Petratos, Arzani, Troisi, Rukavystya and Risdon to make way. Risdon could be in danger with Degenek apt as a RB.

i would bank on risdon and troisi missing out.  there's a bunch that are probably fighting for that third spot.

Would have thought Troisi and Brilliante gone and the third? Hope Arzani can make the grade as I can see him being a bit of a super sub late in a game bamboozling tired defences

said it in another thread, but i this is probably the right one.  i think degenek, brillante and milligan are fighting for 2 spots.  BVM had brillante in central defence and degenek has been playing as a DM at times.  that would mean all three might be able to cover as a CB, RB or DM.

How are brilliante and troisi even in this potition? 

They would not even be in an a-league best 11. 

I feel bad for O'Neill lol hes been one of the best midfielders in the league the last two years.. 

Also have to feel for Williams and Wilko. Much better CBs than some of those in the squad currently.

Williams picked up an injury right before the initial squad was announced - not saying he would've made it, but he can also play RB/CB/DM, and is more talented than Brilliante IMO.

Fucks sake, maybe Bert is working them too hard at this camp after a long and bruising season. First Milligan goes down, and now it sounds like Juric is out. One injury might be unfortunate, but 2 starts to bring up questions about player management...

Considering Juric hasn't been fit for months or his entire career it is not surprising he broke down.

He hadn't played the last 3 weeks for his club team because of injury, so no surprise that he's being treated lightly.

If milligan goes down because of harsh training then how do you think he would do in a high intensity world cup game?? He plays in the middle east so he probably cant adjust to the higher intensity which if thats the case he would be no good to us on the pitch anyway.

Juric was injured before coming in to camp so thats not on bert

Williams was only supposed be out for a few weeks with his injury.

Interesting to see quite a number of nations have more than two friendlies before Russia. We had Greece, Holland and Liechtenstein before Germany plus NZ USA Denmark in South Africa. I'd argue it's only one game and this time together in Turkey is extremely valuable. It appears we've been doing lots of conditioning work and will definitely be geared more to the Czech game this week. 

We would have had a fairwell game in Aus don't forget. Forfeited that game for more training time.

Thank god for that, Farewell games were shit.

As you say, the squad definitely needs the time together, and looking at France v Ireland now there might be some advantage in keeping our cards close to our chest before the cup.

Just weighing in on the versatile RB debate, and assuming milligan is fit, we have 5 in the squad who can play RB: karacic, risdon, brillante, milligan and degenek. Of course milligan and brillante are more DMs but even so surely 2 could be cut and we’d still be fine given our depth of midfield options.

So imo brillante and risdon go, as does rukavytsa who apparently hasnt stood out in training

so far every player has been talked up in daily reports but ruka and kruse (and of course the new comers)