Like we've had problems with Middle eastern teams for years because we can't break them down and don't have good ball retention. Yet we still play the same old players who have always struggled in these moments because they don't possess the ability. A lot of our players like Irvine, Duke, Goodwin etc are made more for playing against better opposition where their press is necessary but usually struggle against this comp

Good job ref. Airswing but Asian pen at times. Souttar grabbing shirt in background. Concentrate!

Hold the ball ffs! Overrunning. No cohesion. They'll be mad at themselves.

Fortunate with ref here. Those ever so light clips on their players could also be given. Shouldn't but knowing Asia. 

Exactly. Interesting is how ME minnows and even the mids like Oman are starting to attack more but are great at getting back too. It's hell. I'd hoped with this bigger attack by ME it'd play into our hands but they're just so good at covering. 

Big nations have this sort of slower calm movement and also big risk in not necessarily scrambling back. This is where we've found lots of space against Mexico, Ecuador and England. These ME just swarm in a pack and it throws off the more conventional style which is a bit more patient in build up. 

Done. Geez. Take it every day. Nice save by Maty and well in Souttar. Lots of reflect on.

It should always be called as obstruction though. You can't use your body, much less your arm as Miller did, to hold an opposition player away from the ball unless you have the ball in playing distance.

Big growth night for many. They've played bigger and better occasions but this stuff is vital to understand and get right. Baccus, Miller, Metcalfe won't forget this tough ME hit out.

Yeah I know yet that is waved away all the time. 

It was mentioned at the start of the telecast that Australia spent an extra day in Melbourne compared to what they have normally done, so only had 2 days in Kuwait before match day. Could this have been a factor in what seemed to be a complete lack of energy in many players?

Telling Souttar the best out there on so few minutes. Looking a bit deeper we used a lot of the squad albeit Bangladesh was a non event. Needed the midfield subs earlier tonight.

Exactly, those guys and we're also missing McGree, Leckie and Hrustic. If Robertson/ Volpato were at CAM, they'd be setting up Bos, Metcalfe or Irankunda down the flanks. Arzani & Fornaroli could also come into contention for the Asian Cup if their form continues 

One of. Probably a lesson learned to never leave it late. We've seen it with teams getting late to a new region (Peru) and also the latecomer for NFL in Europe almost always loses. 

I think Boyle hadn't recovered. Behich is a pain. Arnold said we can be much better. The plan must have been to allow Palestine to come into the game then strike.

I was annoyed how often we got the ball and then had no one on the wings. Borrello was in the centre and Duke was getting tired. Miller won't be forward. Got a lot wrong tonight. Had we had effective wingers we'd have spread Palestine out more or would've had speed to burn in space.

Luongo is more creative, not Irvine. But Irvine is useful in the air. Baccus also wasn't good enough.

One of the problems in the first half was that Goodwin, and to a slightly lesser extent Boyle, were playing very poorly. They were playing quite wide, but were losing  the ball almost every time they received it.

Tough game but came through for three points.Very disjointed effort but credit to Palestine-well organised,very physical and committed.For the less experienced players in our squad  a lesson in how ME teams can be difficult to beat.

Goodwin had an  off night as did Boyle.Baccus,Metcalfe and Irvine really struggled in the midfield .Souttar and Rowles were outstanding in defence .Miller had a tough night-did some good things but was up against a couple of physical opponents.Duke rarely was given the ball in good positions but towards the end combined well with Borello necessitating a very good save from the keeper.However this bit of combination play was one of the few times we looked threatening from open play.

Ryan was steady and kept us in the game with that save before half time.If they had scored then I would have been surprised to see them overrun us in the second half.

Yes I would have liked to see Luongo in there rather than Bacchus. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/dOWH1C-OsDQ?si=lTG2EV9EZzks6KUu

Full game here. Works in Europe. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/IoBU1nHc2aw?si=Z-oHuQmGdzdtR-sY

Full game Uzbekistan vs Iran. 

Win all that counts, I'm sure GA watching saw alot he needs to work on the fellas.
Small steps guys at this early stage all that matters is the win, a far better hit out compared to last so complacency gets blown away..

We had an off night. One of the easiest chances was for Irvine about mid second half a corner (I think) to the back post and he was unmarked but put the header wide. As you indicated, he's there for those opportunities. Would have settled the nerves.

we always play teams in the middle of some massive thing... Palestine while they at their biggest war recently... remember we played Thailand like the day after the King died and they gave the whole country the day off for our game? lol qualifying through AFC aint easy..

Souttar with 10 Roos goals 👏 Only 1 goal behind Viduka who scored 11. Not bad for a defender! 

TBH B/T that just highlights how embarrassing it is to our forwards/attackers since Dukes last NT game back in '07.....

If the quality are better that's doesn't mean much. Anti press/ fast transition football/ individual skills/first touch/ ball possession in final 3rd/ chance creating/mid field creativity etc we were so poor.   Forget about the score just surprised how poor from our players. That was worse than English D2.  Luongo the only creativity sitting on the bench.  Baccus struggling and he isn't that creative mid at st Miller so we can't rely on him. 

I listened to a GA interview before the game. They were trying this because it seems that we always struggle backing up away after we play a fixture at home. So in essence after last night it seems we struggle backing up OS whether they have one nights sleep after the game or two before travelling.

True. Even Mitch Duke only has 9. JMac only has 8 - mostly against minnows too 🙁

I feel like we are going to struggle breaking down teams until this generation is replaced by the irakunda's, segecic, robertson type players.

We didn't dominate the game so can't say problems with breaking down team(maybe you can say that with Japan/Korea should have score 8-10 goals against minnows).  

We have problems all over the pitch.  Players seem lazy and don't press altogether.  Players positioning were awful they have to keep moving for the space as a  compact traingle so one player have someone to pass it to. I know we only have a few day in training but so is every nations. 

 Arnie is responsible for this mess and need to sort it out.  All we ask is to play like a side in the top 50 at least.  He also needs to pick the right players for the system so picking Behich just to slow down any transition in the game with backpass or some players keep losing ball possession didn't help.  And with anti press in our own half we should watch how spurs did , how DM and defence working 2gether and how the wingers would run when DM winning the ball back.  Last night when we trying to build up it would end at Miller losing ball on RB cuz he got no way to go, DM didn't come in for him.  It is very predictable for Palestine. 

 

That stood out to me, that the subs coming on did not attempt to change the play or bring  a more positive mind set to the pitch. It remained the same, which suggests that Arnie was happy with how things were playing out.