1 third of the 2018 quality ?! I dont think so. Half the team is the same for a start. And the 2014 team was horrendous, sadly made worse by injuries' to some of our up and comers at the time (Rogic, Sains, Good, Kruse) . Never forget that we had Ryan McGowan at RB and Oli Bozanic starting in a world cup. Our team from late 2011 to 2014 was abominable, they were definitely the darkest days of watching the roos. 

Also Rowles is a complete gun

Arnold's masterstroke which has improved our performances the last 2 games has been moving Mooy to DM. We now can suddenly control games and dictate tempo and play our way through teams, at least getting the ball into the final third.

The 2nd masterstoke has been Rowles who was a massively surprising selection given he hasn't been involved til now - was bringing the ball out so well with both feet! Very rare for a center back. Is tall, imposing, can jump and looks to have a turn of pace too. 

3rd masterstroke was of course Redmayne. 


There's still problems however including creativity in final third including what to do with Leckie who undoubtedly doesn't help the situation (in fact is chief reason for it) yet brings so many other qualities to the team. Personally i think we should play him RWB, with 3 at the back like Ange did which also solves the RB problem and brings out Leckies best qualities.
 

I do think both BvM and Ange were better coaches but he's definitely a decent coach arnold and has built a great resume that no one can take away from him. The only coach in the last 20 years to qualify us for the Olympics and he's done it twice. Got us a win over Argentina too. A league winner with 2 clubs, set a world record as coach of the socceroos.
Was also the assistant for the great GG team. 

Guy needs way more respect than he's getting. Made some great calls these last 2 games inclduign moving Mooy to 'halfback', playing rowles and substituting the grey wiggle. 

His selections of Leckie and Duke too helped us overwhelm the opposition albeit even if those guys didn't cause much going forward.  

It's a tough one because Leckie doesn't have the technical ability as a Tilio or Mabil, however he does bring balance and experience to the team.

I would say our biggest problem is still in the striker position. The style that we play, we need someone who can link up and hold up play. It would be great to have someone like Lewandowski on the team.

One good ABC article that you posted, elsewhere, referred to 17 out of 23 of the current Socceroo squad have played A League football. 

Most of them have come up through the underage national team system too.

Another strength of Arnold, is that by his  involvement in the under 23s, and looking at even younger Aus national teams, he is always close to identifying someone with the potential  to be fast tracked.

Kye Rowles has made extraordinary  improvement in recent  times. He may already may be our best CB. Arnold isn't frightened to give young players a chance. I'm not sure some of our foreign coaches, Guus, Pim, Holger or Bert, would have risked Rowles in such big games at such a young age?

Paragraph 1, I agree. Plus Leckie brings a muscular presence  and the ability to physically unsettle opposition   defenders - who are often used to bullying opposition forwards.

Paragraph 2. We've rarely had a world class  striker  who scores goals against decent opposition at the rate of 1 goal  every 2 games played. Only Cahill, Josh Kennedy and John Aloisi, have done this in recent times.

yep agreed And another factor is any midfielder now and then having more shots in attack.
Hrustics volley for eg, that was the money ball, we don't have enough players having a go.
We're trying to play it to the 6yard box which is commendable that many teams do having the armoury but we're trying to link with the one player who is covered by the 2 CB's hoping he makes the space to get in position.
Klopp always says its having players/numbers coming into the box to pounce on the opportunity.

As I said in another thread, I think that the Redmayne substitution was more a sideshow than a masterstroke. Statistically and intuitively, there is every reason to expect that Ryan would have saved at least 1 out of 6 penalties.

I  am  not  sure  if  a   legend ,  but  certainly   vindicates    the  old  FFA's   decision   to   appoint   him.

Besides his usual bland system it was his insistence on picking his old mates that always did my head in.

But in the Peru game, in particular, I saw signs of change with the shape going forward and snapping quickly into banks of 4 when we lost the ball. It was much more disciplined performance than what we saw in the last phase of qualifying.

Also, some of his old mates were not picked, although if Sains had passed his fitness test I'm guessing Rowles wouldn't have played. What a fabulous game he had and who knows... if he hadn't pleayed we might not be going to Qatar. And I'm still not getting the anti-Atkinson crap. Sure he was bad against UAE (against a red hot winger) but he went well against Peru and it's kudos to Arnie for persisting with him.

So, to my surprise, Arnie has adapted somewhat. Well done Arnie.

For me that's Taggart if he's fit. Has a decent touch on him and can bring players into the game

I think the only way we can get out of this group is we need rogic and hrustic further up the field in dangerous positions. I'd love to see them played as inside fowards and play a no 9 with the intention of simply holding up the ball and getting it to one of them. We don't really have any genuine wingers who can do ay damage at the WC maybe boyle but i wouldnt mind seeing him play as WB same with leckie. I just cant see the goals coming from our strikers.

Super happy we qualified, but no he isn't a legend. We snuck in on a poorly taken penalty after a dour 120 minute in which I think the Peru keeper had to make one save. I think people have got so used to Arnie playing players out of position, picking his mates, making late or odd substitutions, so that when he doesn't everyone thinks he is a genius. So, no I won't bag him out for the last two games, we've improved and shown improved cohesion and communication. I actually have no problem with bringing back some long ball as it destabilized the opposition's expectations, destabilizing their BPO. Also, as much as mooy frustrates me his holding midfield role worked because Peru played a deep defense, maybe because they were worried about a quick long ball counter. Against a team that doesn't and goes 1v1 with him I suspect we will be in trouble. There are some good signs, but a 'legend' in my opinion isn't made from a pk win after dropping easy points against Oman etc, but there are signs he is improving. You never know maybe he has taken to lurking on this forum to get tips....nah..

From just noting how well boyle gets behind the defence sometimes on that right side I'd think Jmac has the positioning sense to take advantage of those breaks. 

I'm a big fan of JMac in the AL but we don't know how to use him in teh Socceroos. Because we play with one striker, he always seems to have two markers, so is personally ineffectual, but maybe his contribution is that he draws attention away from other players. I note that Irvine and Hrustic scored against UAE from open play - it might be interesting to review those and see where JMac's markers were.

A point against him... if Hrustic's shot had gone in against Peru, JMac jumped over the ball and looked well offside. If that had gone in, it very likely would have been chalked off. 

BofHacks , I disagree. As a Roar fan I saw a Taggart that was worse than any Centre Forward player for that whole ALeague season that he played for us. Absolutely blew a couple of sitters for every game.. Needless to say the Roar quickly dispatched him after a relatively short spell with us. 

I rate Mclaren, Goodwin and Boyle heaps more.

Agree with points two and three, but not the first.

Mooy was given a lot of space, by Peru who most  time played languid three quarter and half presses in BPO. Mooy had time and  space to operate. Peru made a mistake giving him that space.

Could not figure out why they would give such an underdone and slow player so much time on the ball. 

Nothing 'bland' about Arnie's system. I researched a bit last night, trying to find  some  recounts of the game in the Peruvian media.

Their coach Ricardo Gareca, was confused a bit  by the sophisticated Australian system, which was far from 'bland.'  His players also struggled to combat it, particularly in the first half.

*In  Ball Possession Opposition Australia played a 4-4-2  flat midfield of three distinct lines.

Atkinson...........Wright........Rowles.......Behich

Boyle..............Mooy............Irvine.......Leckie

................Hrustic......................Duke

*In Ball Possession in the back half of the pitch, after the Attacking Transition phase of play,  Australia played a 4-2-3-1. In the ensuing 4-3-3 delineated, there were four lines where Boyle and Leckie moved into a  line with Hrustic. 

*Then in the attacking  half of the pitch it evolved to a 4-3-3 attacking midfield triangle, with four lines . Irvine's  irregular role, confused Peru. Although coach Gareco, didn't specify how in the Peruvian media.

It was likely to be the following manifestation of the 4-3-3 attacking midfield triangle devised by Arnie, not using the expected 4-3-3 defensive  midfield triangle with Irvine staying more in a line with Mooy. It was hard for  Peru to decipher and track  Irvine's changing role/position.

Atkinson.............Wright..........Rowles.............Behich

......................................Mooy
............Hrustic...............................Irvine

Boyle.....................  Duke.........................Leckie

Of course  when in the attacking third, if both full backs play high and overlap, it almost becomes a 2-1-4-3. Atkinson and Behich moved closer into a line with Hrustic and Irvine.

Arnie had  time to coach this on  the training track.

What does everyone reckon? 
Will (or should) Arnie remain as NT coach after the cup?
Obviously, if we somehow manage to make it pretty far, it would make the decision to keep him on easier.
However if we repeat the results of last cup and bow out at the group stage with only a pair of goals to our name, should he be moved on?
Or is the WC result meaningless, and it's more about the ability to get the best result with the players that we have, in which case he's done ok and deserves the chance to develop the squad further?
Or will he be the one to make the move back to club coaching?

If we make round of 16 good chance he will stay and definitely if we made the QFs.Terrible results in group stage  such 3 or 4 nil he goes.One win,one draw and one narrow loss in group stage might get us through but if not stay on.
If he wants to go back to club coaching-WSW or MacArthur would be good ones who need a coach with experience and willing to give young players a go

Way to read just the first sentence of my post.

Without going into your detail (which I saw also) that was exactly my point. Arnie has changed his shape and system and it worked a treat.

Mind you, no-one at the WC will underestimate us the way Peru did.

Unless we go really deep (highly unlikely but I'm an incurable optimist) I suspect Arnie will want to go back to clubland, maybe overseas.

If we made the quarters, or even (god forbid) the semis, I suspect he might feel honour bound to stay with the younger team on their journey. Very unlikely to happen but, if it did, he would clearly deserve to stay longer.

Been thinking about what the probability of us getting through to the second round actually is.  The most likely pathway is Lose to France, draw to Denmark and beat Tunisia.  My (optimistic) estimate is that against France we have an 80% chance of losing, 15% of a draw and 5% win.  Against Denmark  about 50% lose, 30% draw, and 20% win.  Tunisia its 40% win, 40% lose and 20% draw as both sides will be gong out to win this one. 

So our chance of getting through with the most likely pathway is around 9.5%, optimistically.  If Arnold does it, then he'd be the greatest ever Australian World Cup coach.

The other side of the equation is if we do perform well above expectations, then there could be some good offers on the table for Arnie. A lucrative offer could be too good for him to turn down. 

After having another celebratory viewing  of the game, Arnie also probably had a 4-2-4 at times in Ball Possessio, with Hrustic moving up alongside Duke. The  formation condensed into  three lines when attacking at times. I suppose when the Aus fullbacks pushed up it appeared as a 2-4-4 as well.

Atkinson........Wright.......Rowles........Behich

................Mooy.......................Irvine

Boyle..........Hrustic..........Duke..........Leckie


For a 4-2-2-2 with a  false 9, the wingers would have had to play as the highest line. It didn't happen.

The formational nuances definitely worried Peruvian coach, Ricardo Gareca.  They really struggled to get anywhere near our goals - apart from one cross that was headed over, in the first half. Peru improved after half time.

 

Really like to suck the fun out of football don't you?

I think it's time for Arnie to move on.  Nothing personal but I think a refreshing every few years is a good thing & it keeps the players on their toes in terms of being guranteed a starting position due to being a 'favourite' of the coach. I'm not saying that has occurred per se in the Socceroos the past few years but I'm personally excited to see what a different approach with these group of players will do.    

yep no matter what we need a step up after GA.
For all the best outcome that finally occurred we need a more open minded progressive gaffa with euro/latin background influence for me.