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.

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. 

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. 

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.