Was a good performance overall I thought, yes we got lucky with the refs but we had loads of chances. I believe we are a top 20 nation in this form after seeing France smash the Dutch overnight our 4-1 loss doesn't look that bad considering we led for a little bit lol

I was wrong on Robertson still a bit raw but silky on the ball, would be interested to see him and volpato in the same team as two 8/10s in front of a 6.

I vote for Dukzinho as his new nickname haha also big ups for Harry must have been scary coming back to the stadium where he had that horrid injury glad thats off his back now.

He's 31, isn't he? Doubt if he would move to Europe at that age.

So glad people are finally seeing this.

To be fair though it has only become evident after the game leading to the wc and from then on. 

We had two offside goals that VAR would have stopped BUT we also had two nailed on penalties that VAR would have given us.

I really enjoyed just going with the on field officials and celebrating the moment in the game without having to wait for the re-refereeing of everything.   

Would love a tranlsation of this 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SfdfiAegnJY&feature=youtu.be

Couldn't agree more. Enjoyed the game immensely last night.

Especially with an NRL game digging the pitch up the night before

There's a translation tab in the video settings that could give you a rough idea. 

The two rbs in the squad should be Karacic and Strain. Karacic was not brilliant at the world cup when he played but I thought he was decent. Strain is the next prospect surely.
Degenek should be in the squad as a CB along with Deng as back up to Souttar and Rowles.

He did okay after the lucky goal, before that he was terrible. He didn't play all that well at the world cup either. He tends to lack work ethic, I think we have better options. If all of Boyle, Leckie, Goodwin, Tilio and Borello are available I don't think there is a spot for him in the squad.

Definitely not, the same reason he is not a regular starter is the same reason he will never be one of the Socceroos best players, he is just not that good and he lacks work ethic

He has been to Europe and failed. He is happy at Adelaide, it has brought the best out of him that going to Europe did not. I think what is clear is that if a player is dominating in the A-league they can be good enough to start for the Socceroos.

Agree on both players, TSF.

Their combination, understanding and chemistry with Irvine, playing  as an Attacking Mid, is terrific.

All three have great football lintelligence.

Had a second look at a replay. It is always nice to watch a game dispassionately knowing the final score. In the second look, I was more pleased with the performance than watching it live. I really wanted to have a good look at a few new players.

* O'Neill

What a debut! Live I was watching the ball a lot, and not so much players  running and positioning  off it.

 What really pleased me about him was that against a  high quality opponent, 3rd in South America, often denied time and space, he displayed a great deal of composure under pressure and made a lot of good decisions to maintain possession and keep the build up progressing forwards.  O'Neill also won a lot of hard balls. He is a tough tackling ball winner too. His movement in opening diagonal passing lanes, with more decisive checking ( feinting to shake one's marker and running in a  different direction)  could improve.

Apart from his inferior aerial ability, he looks to be superior version of Jedinak,  apart from his discipline for sustained periods when the other team has the ball. Probably a player  similar to Mark Milligan. For mine he is now a starting player  even with all available midfielders picked, if he keeps performing like he did on his his debut. Another phenomenon, he stepped up seamlessly  from the ALM to intennational football against Ecuador. ALM might be better than we like to think it is.


*Baccus

It wasn't a debut per se, but was it a debut as a starting player? Not as impressive as I thought he would be. In the attacking midfield triangle when we had the ball, he moved into a line on the right with Irvine on the left  when Aus assumed the 4-3-3 in possession in mid part of the pitch.

Further back he  played as more of a twin DM with O'Neill in a flat  4-4-2 when they had the ball.

In the attacking third when Australia played a 4-2-4 In Ball Possession he again sat as a twin  midfielder with O'Neill, as  Irvine and Duke played in more of a line in the central part of the attacking line.

Possibly because he had to keep changing his  role and position, in a complex team game plan, in different  phases of play and parts of the pitch  for him personally, Baccus was mediocre. The more experienced Irvine, played this role at the Qatar World Cup.

Future attacking midfield of .. 

Kuol      Robertson      Volpato 

That is very very exciting particularly with Big Souttar and Rowles at the back. That's a solid team for next 6-8 years 

I'm sure Arnold has recognised it now that Irvine and Hrustic just don't belong as a 6. Way to hectic and panicky when exposed from all sides. O'Neill is calm in that area of the pitch.

Hrustic and Irvine are much better when they're able to focus mostly on what's in front of them and not be made nervous from behind. 

It's true Baccus was the 'worst' of the 3 midfielders. I guess there wasn't as much end product from his involvement. I think the reason he stood out for me was his press and acceleration to get to the opponent. Just some energy that we didn't see in the qualification stage. 

IFAB has killed the Redmayne penalty kick antics starting in July 2023. 
Crawley won't be able pick Redmayne as a specialist penalty saving GK anymore.

The last sentence is very true.

Players feel comfortable in different  club scenarios.

Goodwin is an extremely intelligent player. I can't  remember  us ever having such an intelligent winger?  He doesn't have the ability to dribble past and run at defenders like  Mabil, Boyle, Arzani ( a few years ago), Kuol, etc. Although I saw him pull off  superb inside cut, to completely wrongfoot a defender.  Maybe he is more judicious about the best time to run at defenders? He prefers passing and moving in attacking interplay. 

Where he  excels is his  penalty  box positioning, composure in shooting, superb crossing, free kick taking and working in cohesive contentions, particularly with Duke, and in this game, Irvine as an Attacking Mid, plus Behich. They have a terrific  understanding. 

I can't get over how much Goodwin has improved around the age of 30? Most players start declining at this age. Or is it a question of  seamlessly lifting  his game to another level with higher calibre players in the Socceroo line up than he has played with  in club football?

  Moreover ,  Goodwin is a really decent defensive winger when the other team has the ball. I think Goodwin has played as left back at club level, which helps his tracking back  and defensive  running, tackling, delaying, jockeying, showing - and shielding . ATM  IMO he is the best winger we have. I think the other players lift with Goodwin on the pitch. Along with Cahill (2006 and 2014) and Holman (2010), he is the only Socceroo to score 2 goals in the  same World Cup comp.

ATM Goodwin would be a good Socceroo captain. A few mates think a couple of our recent captains aren't articulate enough. Goodwin definitely is! 

Pretty much makes him redundant. AMB in!

To be fair to Goodwin he played 47 games in 3 seasons at Sparta. He was injured due to stupid training methods the club employed on concrete astro turf that lead to splints....Not to mention those stupid massive benches over there making it a bit harder to jostle with the competition. He and Duke are peaking at the post 30 mark and both have scored at a WC so that's fine by me.

I watched the replay of Friday's Ecuador v Aus with a number  of current and former  senior NPL players I've coached. All of us agreed that Hrustic is, sadly, quite a dumb player, who makes a lot  of poor  decisions, and makes slow, wrong decisions. At the same time Hrustic is one of our most skilful players with the ball at his feet. 

After Irvine excelled in his  first game as Attacking Mid, or Ten, for most of the game, and O'Neill's superb  display  as the number 6, who screens the defence, and who can also compensate for Mooy's weakness getting to loose ball contests, and lack of nimbleness - Hrustic goes way down the pecking order  as number Ten after Irvine, (even the classy glimpses we saw of Robertson's cameo), Rogic and the ever improving McGree. 

Hrustic is also a lazy defender when the other team has the ball. He will struggle to be selected if all players are fit.

O'Neill is a superior DM , 6, or midfield screener, better than anyone else we have ATM. This enables Irvine to play in a more advanced position. I just hope O'Neill  does not inexplicably fade out.

Have been annoyed by MSM coverage ... 

New players

* Robertson

Forgot to appraise him in an earlier post! I  wish I had seen more of his cameo. In many encounters early in  the game  he was often in a worse body position relative to his opponents. Hence , he got knocked around a bit. However, when he was in similar,  equal body shape to his opponents, he won some hard balls.

In the sequence of passes which led to Kuol's goal, Robertson executed two superb, classy passes in limited time and space. The occurred  in a beautiful sequence of 6-7 passes of  structured possession and attacking interplay.

The first Robertson pass  was a classy square pass in little time and space to ?, who played a neat one/two around the opponent as Robertson moved forward and received playing a beautiful, perfectly weighted pass to Goodwin?, who passed to Behich, who crossed to provide the assist  for Kuol's goal. 

The passing quality reminded me of Bresciano. I think Robertson is only 18 or 19 too? Once again I hope he  does not inexplicably fade. In 2016 in an Aussie under 16 or 17 camp, Arnie watched and said those players can do things no previous football  generation could do. They are stepping up to the seniors now!

No.
Lawrence Thomas in.

Pass was to Borello, not Goodwin 

Superb talent!

It helps not having Leckie or Kruse playing, despite their brilliant off the  ball running when we  have possession!

Ta.

Borrello also played well as a central striker in his cameo . However, quite a few  subs do in cameos as the opposition tires.