Yep. I was super critical of Ange’s tactics for the Socceroos. Not because I think no team was well-suited to it, just because I think Australia wasn’t (as we hadn’t the cattle).

Japan has the cattle. And Ange has the philosophy.

When all is said and done,regardless pf the apparent gulf in standard between the two teams,lets not forget Japan lost to Oman and Saudi Arabia.Neither are Football power houses.Why can they win and we look  a class below?

Their finishing is woeful and doesn't match the rest of their game, that always puts them under pressure and leaves them vulnerable. Even last night it took shocking defensive errors for them to score when the rest of their game really deserved a lot more than that. 

The game last night was the highest rated on the secondary channels, and was very close to making the top 20 overall 

We looked significantly better once Mooy was pulled imo.

because their (Oman's and Saudi Arabia's) players are technically better than ours.

Whilst I agree, I don't think anyone is really saying that about last night's game. This was our best opportunity to get something away vs Japan and we still managed to squander it. We didn't play well, but Japan were very wasteful and left the door open for us to snatch all three points if we were smarter about it. 

Very disappointing.

They play a similar style of football and to some extent cancel each other out.

Fast, smooth transitioning, skilful players - backed up by a player or two who can shoot straight when they get a chance.

When they get tired they get a head injury or a broken leg, lie on the ground for a few minutes, then walk to the side line and come back on with a refreshed side.

Where we can dominate them physically, that requires us to outlast them and to value possession. Time wasting injuries and our lousy touch and poor passing accuracy cancel both of those out making our games so much more of a contest than they should be over the whole 90 minutes.

Japan have the greater fitness of the three opponents so they are our nemesis overall. We cannot wear them down and run over the top of them giving the ball away like we are.

Oman and Saudi Arabia can beat Japan because they have players with similarly good skills and they also play really cohesive football - quite a joy to watch when it isn't being employed against us. As always, if they can get a goal up they are capable of effective bus parking and time wasting. When you watch Japan closely, they are not the cleanest of tacklers and often add something extra to flavour the pot. When a tap on the shoulder breaks Omani or Saudi bones, any extra spice added by Japan's players is an invitation to drop and scream - giving Oman and Saudi Arabia a real edge in play.

I would put more perspective on it.

By the "trying hard and doing well is not enough" principle, there is one winner in the World Cup and EVERY other team is a loser because the winning is all that matters.

If you are a top 5 team in the world you can have that expectation and consider anything less a loss with some justification.

If you are a 32nd ranked team, and are playing against a higher ranked team, then trying hard, doing well and having a go is bloody well good enough. Last night, we tried hard and had a go, but we did not 'do well' - w3e played poorly - so we don't deserve credits and awards. Losing 2-1 to Japan at home if we had done well would be well and truly worthy of pride and a good result.

Winning is not everything and recognising effort, hard work, team work, guts and good skills when you are playing a losing game is worthy of credit.

We are not a top 20 side. Japan could be. We did not play well enough last night to hold our heads up proudly, but on another night we might lose with our pride intact. Winning is not everything - how you play the game can be just as important as long as all teams are not equal to start with.

We should have a team playing better than last night - on that we definitely agree.

Yep. We are going to lose to SA.

is anyone saying were happy, we had a go ?
Christ I don't see that at all.
I'm pissed at losing and looking 2nd rate despite the mention by the lack of their finishing.

Another point talking about player drain from other codes, Japan is huge in Baseball/Tennis/Golf and motor racing as well.
That takes alot of youth as well despite the pop diff.
What they have way over us more than anything is the systems to nuture as we know talking football, provide the platform to watch listen learn and do.
From Youth up and Leagues that feed upon feeds itself.

What have we got in 2021, all this hoohah JJ/FA/APL/paramount - lets call it our 3rd coming for football is not going to deliver what we dream and desire for - a improving nation of footballers able to compete Internationally with some bite/skill and wonder, let alone a budding inspiring system from the bottom up improving the standards of our local leagues to top.
Not whilst its a closed shop as well.
Priority no1 is set the platform/foundations at the bottom, not the top.
Facts are facts, where we are right now half our blokes have the skill of minnows barring the exception of a few.
The pace of tortoise's.
As it was once said in a movie, tell em they're (or we're) dreaming.

Whats worse is little discussion in how to improve our football development whether it just on our technical defiencies or just how we want to play, the media is doing little to question this.

We dont know if there is a technical direction at the top at Football Australia with regardless to player development at both male and female combined.

Does anyone know's who is the technical director or what their plans are? This is the problem in Australian football is no one is questioning these things and what direction is the game going but it just seems ad-hoc at the moment.

If we lose or even draw  to SA,we are in trouble.But they are clearly in good form.
Have Japan turned the corner?
SA conceded 2 goals to china at home.So clearly there is some weakness there.
We beat Oman and Oman beat Japan.

No we are not. We are part of the best 4 in Asia, Iran, Japan, South Korea and us. China scored twice against SA at home

I don't think it matters as much as who is paying the bills and what channel it is broadcast on at the moment mate. 

Top post LFC .... 100% this.

I think Mooy was played in the wrong position. I thought that Mooy and Hrustic should have swapped positions. That would have given us a better passer/ball winner from deep and a quicker ball player higher up the pitch.

Barca, agreed and I didn't wish to stray away from the game as the topic per say BUT all I'm seeing is its been 16+yrs add a bit of overlap here we are.

Frustrates more seeing posts be it if its GA or tim buck 2.
No gaffa has alot of hope IF the cattle can't deliver, period.

I don't know what happens to our promising players the last 5yrs or so, Gersbach for eg.
Going to SFC games he was a breath of fresh air.
All went yer this kids got it - what tournament was it some years ago he played against Germany and raided down the left flank impressively.
Then he's gone struggling to be back and there's our LB in th emaking back then.
Arzani, our next big thing, well we know the storey but another, MIA when we've really needed him for all the duesh he is he one who can play one on one and turn to attack !.
Very frustrating yet we, some of the panel of 442 experts (no disrepect fellas for I do like lalot of you :)) quoting this and that of x player but in the big picture they really are not good enough but thats all we've got.

Souttar ? what is it because he's fresh and new ?
OK he's not useless but come on, the talk of the Toffees interested or whoever in EPL you have got to be kidding me.
He'd be eaten up at warm up.
We're desperate to talk up anyone I find at times.

Agree. Japan showed total desperation to win and it paid off. Apart from Hrustic goal, Roos had a shocker really. Japan were super hungry to win- Roos looked tired in comparison. Japan were merciless and 1st to every loose ball - reminded me of France at Wcup v Roos. 

I have always seen and thought of Mooy as a great defensive mid. His bulldog defending, ability to hold the ball or beat a player, then to pick a quality pass make him well suited to that role.

He can buy time when we need it and convert our defensive effort into a threatening attack.

Can he still play that role?

I am going all in and saying our strength as a national team is that we play well together, and better than our individual parts.

For that to work we need the same group of players game after game - whether they be the next bright thing or a steadying hand - and develop the relationships on the field to stand together in defence and combine together in attack.

GA is a coach who gets his best results when he has the one squad of players to build up their cohesion and enhance what works.

Having several players different in every game, and a revolving door squad, forces us to rely on the individual skill so much more than we have the technical and adaptive ability to implement.

Instead of looking for the best players we can find every game, we need to double down and work with something solid to achieve the results we expect as proud sporting Aussies.

Can GA get the players he wants in his first choice squad every game? No.
Is that hurting his chances as a coach of getting the results he can? Yes.

I think Rogic and Mooy need to be used off the the bench. They remain important players. But they can’t start.

Rogic has probably never been a starter. Mooy, who’s not at all quick, has now put himself into that position by way of moving to China.

He was useful in setting the tone in midfield. Unlike in wide areas and up front, speed is not necessary. You can think of world class footballers such as Iniesta, Pirlo, Modric, de Jong as examples of this.

But Mooy is really struggling now.

Having said that, I don’t think Mooy will struggle coming off the benching the last half hour against tired legs when the game is more open.

Especially if a fast, wider player with flair is introduced.

For example, if you bring on Mooy and Arzani at the 70 min mark, that adds a whole new dimension to Australia’s attack which may cause problems for even the best defenders.

But the start of the game is about setting the tone. Graham Arnold miscalculated in trying to set the tone with smoky and Rogic, imo. Better to use them off the bench.

in trying to set the tone with Mooy and Rogic*

We are on the same page, the Japanese side is not a patch on previous sides, but the individual players last night showed high technical skill that was on a par of the teams of yesteryear.
Like you said even the Oman & Saudi Arabia has these skills better then us, even the Vietnamese are better, hence why we struggle to beat them at Youth level. It's just at senior level our athleticism comes into it.
Now imagine if we had a Mooy coming thru with Leckie's athleticism. 

We tend to overhype things up because we are desperate in finding the next world class player but often than not it doesnt happen for whatever reason.

Look at Arzani how many senior games has he played since 2018 World Cup baring the serious injury he took? Same with Gersbach these guys have done little in times in Europe so far.

Its a case of overblowing our expectations of the team and the players when we are not at the required level and thats fine if it means reaching towards a standard where we can aim to be world class one day and being realistic where you are now.

Thats why I wasn't overly excited if anything concerned if we gone way ahead of ourselves given who we played against in that 11 game streak, and lets be honest it would be failure if we didnt win them either so I hope this is a wake up call and reflect what we are doing in Aus football.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/socceroos-vs-japan-fifa-world-cup-2022-qatar-qualifiers-news-scores-results-football-2021-standings-highlights-aaron-mooy/news-story/f5448286430cc5e0eccf79ccd4b51da4

Nothing's changed. Look forward to making up the numbers again next year. Will give it a go in a few close losses as usual. 

Two countries with absolutely average managers. Difference was the calibre of the individual players and the environment they play in every weekend in Europe. 

Maya Yoshida (Sampdoria ITA), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal ENG), Hiroki Sakai and Yuto Nagatomo (both at Marseilles FRA until six months ago), Wataru Endo (Stuttgart GER), Junya Ito (Genk BEL), Takumi Minamino (Liverpool ENG), Hidemasa Morita (Santa Clara POR). 

Off the bench you had Takuma Asano (Bochum GER), Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic SCO), Yuta Nakayama (Zwolle HOL). Not to mention absentees like Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt GER), Genki Haraguchi (Union Berlin GER), Takefusa Kubo (Mallorca SPA), Ritsu Doan (PSV Eindhoven), Masaya Okugawa (Bielefeld GER) etc. 

Ajdin Hrustic is the only high calibre Socceroos player at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Mat Ryan is great but warming the bench in Spain. Awer Mabil was supposed to be the next big thing but playing in Denmark at 26 years of age. Tom Rogic's golden days are behind him. Aaron Mooy is playing in China.

Off the bench you have James Jeggo from the Greek league and Mitchell Duke from the Japanese second division. 

Looking forward to the world cup already???...mate! We will be struggle just to qualify this time with this squad. Why look so far ahead? Losing to the red hot Saudi next game will make it very difficult just to qualify. We still got Saudis away, Japan at home and Oman away that will cause us a lot of problems.

Yep agreed above mate, we said earlier look how many of them play top flight football compared to us, why I always shake my head GA fuck up from some.
The cattle are joined to the gaffa no matter who.
Why was Guus successful ?! our cattle !

Barca post below......
"We tend to overhype things up because we are desperate in finding the next world class player but often than not it doesnt happen for whatever reason.
Look at Arzani how many senior games has he played since 2018 World Cup baring the serious injury he took? Same with Gersbach these guys have done little in times in Europe so far.
Its a case of overblowing our expectations of the team and the players when we are not at the required level and thats fine if it means reaching towards a standard where we can aim to be world class one day and being realistic where you are now.
Thats why I wasn't overly excited if anything concerned if we gone way ahead of ourselves given who we played against in that 11 game streak, and lets be honest it would be failure if we didnt win them either so I hope this is a wake up call and reflect what we are doing in Aus football."

I just don't get it anymore.
This current crop has had the benefit of many changes and far more support than the past, can I say from home perspective a far more organised pro comp here for eg. opening doors elsewhere as well.
We have a mixture of OS based and AL players.
Putting Mooy aside in this game re ball skill, throw in Rogic when he puts it together, IMO it showing up how bloody good Vidukes/HK Bres/Zelic to name a few were and we were a back water way back then.
How one like Johnston could force himself into top flight with guts and determination.
Please spare me of the comments, the lack of competition to any of them.
What I'm talking about feeling that ball like its part of your foot and motions, when I watch that hurtful Dukes 4 agianst LFC re runs all I can do is watch and admire his movement/read of play and technique feel contact of the ball.
https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/1482060
We've been waiting since.
HK on the burn - pace skill like we watched Ito last night but he finished 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbHw0XZUX-c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB-guSLyt9o

Barca, like I've said normally I'm a positive person, been around enough, been waiting for a long time, no it won't wake things up, horse has bolted its all about the top.
Untill they re gig the bottom and middle to work with the top same same.