Just watched some highlights on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3lGWxBVeD4

You're not kidding about the camera position, the stands are miles from the playing field. I remember how they fucked up and we didn't see Irvine's second goal live.

The late goals giving Arnie an escape from what should have been some very serious scrutiny for letting Taiwan back into the game with that slack defensive organisation that lead to their goal.

Taiwan v Australia replay currently on Fox Sports.  The players look like dots the camera is so far away. 

agree with this. imo he is probably better off staying in the MLS.  at bournemouth he would have been given every opportunity to get himself in the 11 and it didnt happen.

I Just got around to watching thus game to see Hrustic, 3 assists  in 20 minutes.  Could be Australia;s Ozil.

As NS advances, Giannou is better at holding the ball up than the smaller and speedier, Taggart and Maclaren.

I'm not sure he is craftier around the box though?

Oar   - now injury free is looking better than he has for years

Really it is about making the most of our physical advantage against teams that are likely to park the buss and crowd the area nullifying our possession based football. We have seen it time and time again where we struggle to break teams down who are happy to put 10 or eleven men behind the ball.

Against these minnows we need to back ourselves to win the 1 on 1 battles in the game particularly in midfield rather than allowing ourselves to get bogged down in the crowded area with 3 in the centre of the park. This is where the high energy players come into their own as opposed to the more lumbering style.

The next consideration is which of our wingers are suited best to going in both directions up and back but also have decent delivery. In years gone Oar would be an obvious choice for the role but he is clearly no longer up to it. so im inclined to suggest the likes of Ikon, Borrello, Boyle, Goodwin are more suited than Mabil, Arzani etc to this style.

Giannou is our tallest and most physical forward so is the natural selection with the possibility of a Leckie or Irvine to fill that particular role should he be unavailable. Shame Babalj and Juric have fallen off the face of the planet because both would have been good options for the role. 

We then of course have our more poacher style strikers in Maclaren and Taggart to complement Giannou.

It sounds very old school but the simple fact of the matter is at times you have to utilise any advantage you have. We have proven we cant seem to blow these teams away with possession so let us adjust our style to suit the situation.

Well I guess if you're in the Championship then in theory you have a 1 in 8 chance of becoming a Premier League player. It is probably not a coincidence that the two players who won promotion from the Championship in recent times are Mooy and Jedinak who are two of the best Socceroos performers in recent times.

I'm not sure join back to England will help him, because:

* If he's back at  an EPL team and struggles to get game time, he will regress to what he was. if h e is good enough for EPL football, then great.

* Most Championship teams and Lower League teams have not produced good players for us over the last 15 years. The notable exceptions have been Jedi, Irvine, Luongo and Wright.

However, Luongo has probably never been as good for the Socceroos as he was with that possession based League 1 team he played with.

I thought that 352 we played we looked very good in particularly against Chile. Tailor made that was for Leckie brought the absolute best out of it. I think with Smith on the left we would dominate. I think we could play that same formation now with Rhys williams as the RCB

Agree about the wingers though. We seem to have a lot of CF's now too albeit no true standout. I think we should convert Leckie into either a CF or a Rb 

Disagree about Mclaren doing well as a CF. I think giannou and taggart look much better in that role. Mclaren better in a 2

jmac shines when he is playing with 2 wide 10's/playmaking wings - which happens with the fullbacks up so high anyway.  he is crafty with his positioning and runs and links up well.  he was outstanding with borello and broich in a front 3. those kind of options are there now in the NT.  ikon, borello, hrustic, boyle, arzani, and even goodwin play this role well.  he will do better in this setup.  

jmac is not very effective as a lone striker or when he is playing with more traditional wings that hug the sidelines. he needs to be playing in a team on the front foot.

taggart seems more versatile and giannou would definitely be the pick if we were going to park the bus and leave him to collect long passes and hold up the ball.

the lack of decent wings was obvious in the past. it's why i banged on about playing formations that completely leave the role out. we needed to shape up with the squad we had. a 4 4 2 diamond and formations with wing backs like a 3 5 2 accommodated that. imo we looked the best as a 442 diamond under ange, which he gave up on after the england and greece friendlies. 

arnie seems to get more out of a 4231 than most. i am pretty concerned about our centrebacks at the moment, but it's not a position you can cut.  jeggo was dropping back into the pair to make a 3 man defence when we were stretching out, which i think is an excellent way to address the issue.

I suspect the difference for Smith now is that he is actually playing games. I don't see a problem if he goes back to England, as long as he is somewhere where he plays regularly.

If he has improved, then he must have been very poor before, because he was still quite poor against Taiwan. In particular I thought his handling speed and passing were not good, and his tackling, against what I would describe as only average players, was not particularly noteworthy.

Defensively Behich is still solid, but going forward now he is becoming way too much of a liability. Our attack just falls flat when he touches the ball now. Time for Smith to get a proper chance.

I probably agree with you about Sains, but Behich has some reasonable games. ATM though, for the first time, Smith is playing better at Left B. 

Sadly, he is supposed to leave his NSL loan period and could be lost in the wilderness of English football again. Whatever has happened in his recent  career, Smith has improved.

Sainsbury post world cup along with Behich have probably been our worse performing players. Which is a real shame but both really shouldn't be first choice, they don't deserve it.

There are so many  central strikers, and, wingers in the frame, it is hard to identify a clear best  to worst in order.

Maclaren, Taggart and Giannou have all done quite well in recent times as a lone central striker. Juric may also come back into the frame.

 Ikon, Mabil, Boyle, Arzani, Hrustic, and even Borello, have done quite well in wide areas too.

About a decade ago,  FFA  Tech Dir, Rob Baan, told a  small group of us at a coaching course that Australia had to play a 4-2-3-1 under Pim,  not a 4-3-3, because we only had one genuine winger of international class.

This might be something to ponder for  those who adulate the GG.

After producing few central midfielders, for years, which we now have an abundance of, we suddenly have considerable depth on the wings. 

 

Was it both Giannou and Boyle that got used when Boyle scored his first goals for NT ? That is the best combination imo.

Chuck Mabil and Rogic/Mooy whatever you want. Giannou is much more crafty around the box. 

A lot of good points made in this post, NS.

I think I have a some notion of why you want to use a 4-4-2. Can you expand?

I don't  necessarily agree, but you make a good point about the mooted use of Giannou.

Why Sains?

I elucidated specific aspects of his game where he has improved.  

Amini has always been a decent technical player in terms of first touch, handling speed, vision and passing and moving in tight spaces.

Now he has added the off the ball attributes the total package is an amelioration  of what he was.

sainsbury??  he has drifted off since the WC.  not my first pick as CB, which is a shame because he was a gun when he was good.

quite liked jeggo in the role. was disciplined and held it down for the most part. quick and tidy on the ball. worked really well with mooy which has been an issue outside of milligan - including jedinak who is unconvincing in a defensive pair.

not my first pick but i like the jeggo mooy irvine midfield trio in the end. i would like to see that against a team that wasn't full of part timers.

i thought arnie would roll in o'neill and brillante

Degenek and Sainsbury are clear clear starters Mooy too. Behich was but now with Smith's recent form its open. Every single other position is up for grabs maybe Grant and Irvine the other starters atm. Rogic and Arzani when fit   

Agree re your comparison between Hrustic and Bresh, was thinkin this before you even mentioned. Reminds me of 00-06 bresh . Not quite a winger, not quite a wide midfielder, not quite a CM and not quite a AM. Sits somewhere between those positions. Not fast but quick first few steps and sharp turn with great final ball and thunderous dipping shot just like bresh. The Australian Coutinho/ Recoba

Amini has been playing in Denmark for over 6 years now n he always plays in deeper role as DM. Same position as Jedinak.

He has actually improved in that regard a lot and he has also been a lot more effective for the national team in the last year or so 

It amazes me that Leckie is in the Bundesliga as he has a poor first touch. I suspect this is due to starting as an AFL boy until 11 and then switching to football. As you suggest, big game temperament is a significant asset, and this seems to be his strong point. It'll be interesting to see how he's used in the future.

Aaron Mooy is a clear automatic choice for us too. Leckie would be too just purely for how he performs in big games. Other than that though I would agree that it is remarkably competitive for positions.