People on here were saying if Alex Robertson played in the FA cup game for city he should be capped for aus immediately. Why is no one saying that about Watts? IMO it seems premature, but just wanted to point out the inconsistency  

You raise a fair point.

Personally I’d be disgusted if we capped Robertson before he’s made a senior appearance, mostly because of the gross stranglehold his Dad appears to have on the Aussie media landscape with TheWorldGame publishing puff pieces about him every week.

Not to mention how many times he’s changed his story about who he wants to play for.

Agree it’s a different story if he’s playing senior football as we can’t afford to give away good talent, but until then it’s equally as likely he turns out to be one of the million youth-level superstars who never makes it at senior level, and it would be kind of embarrassing to rush capping an unproven youth prospect so soon imo.

I’d definitely have Watts ahead of Robertson in the Socceroos pecking order now. 

100%.

There’s been more TWG articles about Robertson than all the senior Socceroos combined. 

Yep Agree, at the end of the day if he turns out to be a superstar, i would want him to choose Australia not get forced into it because we got in early. Its not club football its your country and you should want to play for them. Provided he is engaged and selected at youth level there isnt much else we can do without cheapening the shirt.

Watts needs to play in the olympics imo

A first team game for an EPL team should justify Australia U23 selection, no doubt.

Iredale’s goal was an absolute thunderbastard too!

https://twitter.com/jackiredale14/status/1351876365465878528?s=21

Jurman started. Xanthi won 1-0.

Really, really dislike this type of thinking, pure eurosnobbery.... ultimately players should be reviewed and evaluated own their own individual performance rather than "ok yep played EPL, tick, lets pick him." Chris Herd, Con Blatsis, Nicky Rizzo, Richard Garcia and countless others all examples of players who got EPL action at a young age and showed that it means absolutely squat. Some of these were ok players like Herd and Garcia but judging from their EPL involvement at such a young age it was deduced that they would be stars but it simply didn't eventuate. Using simple logic we could say "ok well, Watts has played an EPL match now, but Robertson hasn't, so Watts must be better and must be picked over Robertson." The reality is a players ability shouldnt be judged by that given the myriad of factors at play ... for instance Southampton  has a lot poorer squad quality than City and also Southhampton currently has a huge injury list so it's a case of right timing for Watts. The fact of the matter is though that Robertson is highly touted by many who have seen him play in england wheras apart from the Austrialian junior setup no one is touting Watts, he's a squad filler at current. 

Great news rapt for the kid but let's not get too carried away yet. 

Hrustic started on the bench against Freiburg. Only got last 10 minutes or so 

Exactly this. Playing for a EPL club one FA Cup match doesn't mean you're an EPL level player so it doesn't neccassry mean he is better than other players in the Olympic squad. 

Pala is just making future investments in Arnie faux outrage don’t worry.

He’ll make statements like this so that he can later hate on Arnie if Watts isn’t picked in the Olympic squad.

God help us if Robertson doesn’t end up playing for Australia and we have to hear about how Arnie isn’t as charismatic as Ange/Muscat apparently are. 

What happened to the main Aussies Aboard thread that lasted for a decade or so from memory?

it stopped working apparently. 

Thanks.

It has happened to a few long term threads.

Sainsbury returned, coming off the bench. Hopefully he'll start next match.

There's a heap of forward talent in the 21 to 23 age bracket so its totally understandable if watts isn't selected for olyroos 

Random question but how strong are the African leagues that produce players like salah, mane ect 

Most sub-Saharan African players aren't produced by professional clubs in those countries, you'll find majority of national team players from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon etc were either born in France or were scouted as a teenager and moved to France accordingly. For example, Mane was 16 when he was signed by Metz. 

Egypt, South Africa, DR Congo, Algeria, Morocco & Tunisia are the only countries with relatively strong leagues, with their clubs usually fighting for honours in the African Champions League. Although similarly, a large chunk of national team players from the latter four countries have French passports or were scouted and moved to France.   

They don't pick players, who have just turned 19 that day, to play for a Premier League 1st team & START, unless they are exceptionally talented. Jacob Italiano played for the Olyroos at the AFC championship to qualify for the Olympics & he hasn't made his first team debut yet, so what's the difference. Watts is easily one of our brightest talents & should be picked along with Robertson. 

Timotheou started a bundesliga game for Schalke and he can’t crack Adelaide’s starting XI so I would be very wary about hyping him up.

I'm not the only one, most of the Southampton fans were talking him up on social media after the game as well. Anyway, it's great to see that we have so many options in midfield for the Olyroos at the moment

Remember when Aidan O'Neil rammed Matic off the ball and we thought we'd found the next Vince Grella? He's not played epl since then and is out for 3 months now. It can all crumble do quickly. 

Armenakas starting

STARTING in the Belgian Pro League!? Nice!!

Goooaaalllll Armenakas! 1:0.

Nice one, keeper does well to block but it falls straight out to Panos. He put the striker through on goal earlier on.

Great stuff. Starting and scoring! Great way to start Friday morning 

Absolutely! 

Armenakas withdrawn at 63’ with his side leading 2-1 at the time.

They’ve since conceded an equaliser however and it’s 2-2 with 5 mins to go.