Press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0ca6OO9DC8

9 different starters. My guess is GK and irvine keep their place

duke will not be used even off the bench, neither will kye. In both cases because they have yellow cards

cam and circati starting tomorrow

only 3 teams have had zero goals against in history of asian quals

11 players out injured compared to our squad. Pretty huge depth

Both have returned to their clubs. 

-----------------Gauci------------------
Jones----Circati------Burgess--------Behich
----------Nisbet--------Irvine-------------
------Arzani--------------------Boyle---
----------Taggart--------Stamatelopoulos------

Given that it is in Perth, Burgess and Taggart will probably start as well. 

Looks reasonable if we play 442. If we go 433 probably swap taggart for devlin since he talked about stama a lot

A team worth watching, with the exception I don't think Jones deserves to be anywhere near the squad.

Behich, also, should be finished and Boyle has lot his pace.

If you replaced those three with Strain, Bos and Irankunda... exciting team.

Hopefully we'll see them again tonight.

Will have to watch this just as its finishing due to work. Hope for the official YouTube stream as its being played in Australia. Palestine away was streamed officially but the last Bangladesh game was part of the anti siphoning exception or so. I hope they stream all in the next round but thankfully 10 and Paramount have been very reliable in a streaming sense. A bit less so on TV.

Looking forward to this game a lot.... maybe a meaningless game in some ways .... but I get the feeling Football is turning the corner and puts on helmet but just maybe at least with FA under JJ things are strating to head north

I don't know the exact calculation but a win here and South Korea hosting a desperate China might just see us sneak into pot 1. I think it's unlikely on previous comments regarding ranking points but there might be something there. Not to mention this is the final chance for fringe players to show they belong in the squad for the next round. A dogged opponent against who. we can practice our deep block cracking strategies. Perth getting international football is great. 

I would love stama to start tonight and see him take this opportunity to show everyone he can lead the line for us 

looking forward to whatever starting line up becomes, I just hope our guys put it together and put on a good performance we can be excited about despite it being a dead rubber, its still to play for not a walk in the park you have our shirt on.

It's not exactly a dead rubber.

We're playing to make Pot 1 and Palestine are playing for their national soul.

Good news on that (kind of) is that Korea v China actually kicks off earlier than our game, so will know at half time if Pot 1 is still available.

10:10 on 10. Give me a break. Why is it so late? yes I know it’s in that other country WA

I understand the time difference but geez 10pm is a late kick off for the eastern states. Cant be good for viewing numbers.

Better than kickoff being in Doha or similar...

Why does arnold pick that side? Play some new players - jesus 

Half time Sth Korea China nil all. IF the score stays the same, China through and Thailand miss out.

Also would mean that if we win, we will be in Pot 1 (if I've done my maths right...)

EDIT: For those playing at home:
Korea wins = 1572.87
Draw = 1560.37
Korea loss = 1547.87

Australia win = 1571.29
Draw = 1558.79
Australia loss = 1546.29

Good to see this is on 10HD 

Christ can’t we have someone sing our anthem properly.

How do we know if we're playing well when it's a match we should be smashing them in?

Soft penalty Muz?!

In my eyes yes 

Ah dang I missed getting the start on..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0NGN5EbTSA

The overseas stream but it hasn't started yet despite game ongoing

Good to see Yengi taking the penalty over Taggart. The batton has shifted.

Never a pen. He can't disappear. 

True. quite ridiculous to give that.

I thought it was quite easy to give tbh…

to be fair though, I’m watching that back looking for the foul because I know it’s given.

Sth Korea score in 61st minute 1 - 0. And that was a better corner by us than what was dished up last Thursday.

Penalty was a gift but that's a pen for the home team ME away against us so....No VAR. Fans should be glad then.

North Korea just need a draw against Myanmar to jump Syria into 2nd. Hope SK can pile on goals against China to give Thailand a good shout. 

Good block by Circati there

He impresses each game. Hasn't put a foot wrong today.

Circati very impressive so far. Solid defensively and terrific distribution. 

Taggart off the pace. 

You can thank me later haha. 

Great call - lol

Always happens. As soon as I open my trap. 

fuck we kinda boring to watch without arzani and irankunda, circati class tho.

Great goal by Taggart. Nice assist by Boyle.

Nice finish. 

Leckie seems to be making a bit of a statement. Chasing and making himself available. Making a few good passes forward.

Officials having a shocker.  2 offsides there. 

Lucky again. I reckon it was offside to Boyle. Still chuffed for Yengi. 

LOL

Must be the first Asian qualifying game I can recall where we've had the favourable calls.

Circati will be our most important player for the next decade 

Irankunda might have something to say about that...

But yes, Circati has been fantastic.

offside or not yengi growing into the socceroo jersey isn't he?

I groaned at baccus starting, but his one touch turn, his ability to open passing lanes when playing out the back does not look like a league 1 player!

Circati looks as influential as souttar, maybe more

Palestine playing better football than us but we have been clinical albeit with some luck with no VAR involved especially with the 1st and 3rd goal.

Circati looks class, a pure balling defender just surprising we haven't seen him earlier because Arnie likes Souttar alot more.

can't wait to see the fab 4 at once. Robertson, irankunda, circati and bos (5 if volpato stops his shenanigans) 

Even though I detest how often we've been ripped off in Asia, I hate even more getting soft decisions against other teams at home.

We deserve to be up but not by three.

Penalty was fair enough. He jumped in from the side and didn't make a play at the ball. Two offsides for the third though.

If Irankunda and Arzani come on it could be seven...

Circati is great. Of course the opponent level will be harder so we've got to get him starting in those tougher games too.

jesus maty you luck son of a 

What happened there? Not watching. I'll view later.

They panned the camera to Maty sitting in the stands with an absolute gorgeous woman sitting next to him... I'm assuming it was his misses.

She’s a lucky woman!

I noticed her too!

Really well worked 4th goal, Yengi looks to be having a very good game tonight. 

It has been a great game. Players have tried things and in the main they have succeeded. And Palestine haven't been that bad. They have competed well and given our blokes a serve every now and again.

Played on a decent pitch too.

Pretty boring tbf

What a spot by the ref for the 5th. I thought he said he punched Irvine.

Still, imagine if that game had been of significance? All the errors tonight you simply need VAR. You can't tell me we'd have been ok had we been Palestine tonight and just copped it on the chin. No way.

Don't usually get involved in refereeing decisions.

 However,  the first  pen was soft for us. The third goal was marginally offside. Yengi wouldn't have scored  a nicely crafted team goal with VAR.

Was also disappointed some of the newer  Socceroos didn't get a better run against Palestine. To play Irvine, a veteran throughout  both games, was surprising? Arnie stated he needed him for onfield leadership. True.

But far more important to the national team is to see what Arzani and Nisbet could do against Palestine, a better team than Bangla, on a decent pitch. 

I thought Arzani's skill, attacking verve  and crossing, and general creativity against Bangla was outstanding, on a shocking pitch.

I also thought Nisbet 's passing and moving in tight paces and donkey work in BPO was  good against Bangla too.

For mine, Strain looks a superior RB to Jones. It would have been good to see  the former  get a run against  Palestine.

Stam should have been brought on earlier. We know what Yengi can do. Stam did not receive enough touches, but what I saw impressed me. Off forum mates who are Newcastle supporters wax lyrical about him.

Devlin needed more time on the pitch against Palestine. Bringing Metcalfe on was counterproductive, unless he replaced Irvine. Both are power midfielders, short on skill. I was pleased to see  Metcalfe demonstrate some better technical qualities on the ball. Despite  Irvine doing a lot of good other  stuff, his technique in tight spaces let him down in both games. I think Metcalfe is a more skilful power midfielder. 

 Irvine lacks the fast feet on the ball in limited time and space, that the likes of Arzani and Nisbet have. Whilst Irvine is on the pitch, apart from his fast running with the ball on the counter, we can't move the ball quickly enough to pull defences out of shape. Irvine's handling speed is too slow. The likes of Arzani, Nisbet,  O'Neill, and the younger Nieuw, Jake Hollman, Youlley, Valadon, Teague et al, have sufficient handling speed for the Socceroo team unit to move the ball more quickly in midfield.

Still Devlin needed more time on the pitch against Palestine.  He hasn't done much wrong in  the last two games in his cameos.

Until last night, I had always thought of Burgess as the weakest of our four CBs, Souttar, Rowles, Circati and himself. He put in a good shift last night. More aerially  dominant than he has been, winning plenty of hard balls too, and generally,  but not always always, was composed on the ball.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/cricketer-usman-khawaja-swipes-aussie-government-over-palestine/news-story/696a9286f73375a847c92123259de1c8

A solid performance tonight and overall comfortable qualifying phase, the next one will be more of a challenge but we got good depth now which is what we need.

2 penalties were both soft.
1 goal looked offside.
1 goal was quality. (Taggart, although I'm referring to the lead-up play)

1 goal.i was in the pisser and didn't see... 🤦‍♀️



Feels weird to be on the (good) receiving end of the dodgy calls.

pretty much agree with all BUT I saw all 5 live haha...

Punching the ball away in the penalty area isn't soft.  There's not a ref in the world that wouldn't give that.
The first penalty, the defender was in the air both feet off the ground with a knee raised.  It was a careless and dangerous tackle/body check in the penalty area. 
Looked like the other three all had elements of offside at some point in the build-up.

Didn't impress me as a performance overall.  At times in the second half they seemed to have lost their drive.

we all see it differently, soft 1st pen imo reviewed it a few times and there is always some refs who wouldn't have given it as well.
3/4 goals were offside.
The last being another pen, actually the defender wasn't even looking at the ball point of contact, trouble was he had his arm extended out at critical point of momentum - soft because it was a stupid error and pen no argument but soft by the defender.

I actually thought Palestine looked very active through that 1st half, pressing hard, their ball work/technique let them down in possession.
Burgess looked good imo due to the opposition, against a ore mobile and better quality NT he'll get found out more than not.
Circati should be paired with Souttar now imo.
He showed class/position and distribution, likes looking for that big switch play - ok against these kind of guys who played high but not for every game depending who you play.

Geez LFC, if those penalties came for Liverpool, you'd be screaming for penalty. Both clear to me, first one maybe a bit soft, but 2nd one clear handball, he went to punch it.

Looking forward to Burgess smashing Nunez in the PL next year.

all ok guys in following posts.
1st one was a soft imo, no matter which team I follow or NT, I reckon was fair enough challenge and they crossed each other.
No matter which team I follow or NT you happily take the decision.
The 2nd yep was an obvious handball I'm just saying its soft the defender screwing up as such no more or less, as the attacking team bonus.

robbos think we will cut our loss's possibly Burgess won't see Nunez with redmen, mind you he'll be tested every single game will be interesting viewing.

LOL.
I well into the beers at the game, and after the first penalty they didn't seem to show any replays, so had no idea how we'd been awarded that 2nd penalty - it just seemed to come out of nothing.

Watched the highlights this morning and happily reverse my comment - the 2nd penalty was correct and NOT a soft penalty.

With the pot 1 potential tonight I get why Irvine started. A shame Devlin didn't get a start. Coming up to Apo's sub now so I'll keep a keen eye. We didn't miss Duke. Atkinson is better than Jones. This next round should see Robertson in for Baccus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez2j2Zg84cM
Qatar India live

Well thanks to Palestine for playing a higher line. Here's hoping the high pressure stakes of the next round will see opponents play that bit higher against us. 

exactly right.... made all the space in the world for us, tactical naivety from them but kudos they kept coming all match... 

Good to see Behich back on the left, considerable step up from Bos, who just runs with the ball until he loses it. 

Bos provides a lot of offensive thrust with his superb ball carrying runs.

Behich's defensive positional play from so much experience is an asset too.

Against Bangla when we had the ball , Arnie played a 4-3-3 attacking midfield triangle, with either Duke or Yengi tucking in more centrally on the left. Bos at LB was often the  sole wide player on the left flank against Bangla.

Against Palestine the 4-4-2  flat midfield in BPO, or the 4-4-2  bowl shaped midfield in Ball Possession, left too much of a hole behind the attacking duo. I prefer a 4-3-3, with one central striker, to gain more  midfield dominance. Yes we scored  5 goals, but a different ref and it could have been 2-0 or 3-0.

Wonder what has happened to the 4-4-2 midfield diamond, that Arnie used to use? Pim liked it too.

When playing with two No.9s someone has to link up with the midfield and to be fair Taggart especially in the second half made us more effective by doing that.

It will be interesting to see if they go back to the one No.9 against the tougher teams.

Even though I prefer a single striker, Taggart's goal was superb. His striker's shot was superb - as was the build up play.

Also, Taggart's well timed diagonal  run for Yengi ( I think ?), to put Taggart through and break the line,  then with Taggart's  superb pass under pressure to give Boyle a sitter, was also  tremendous play individually, and team play, from Yengi and Boyle ( good off the ball running and anticipation).

Furthermore,  both goals were created centrally - not the constant wide left and wide right play against Bangla. It also helped that Palestine played a higher defensive line too.

Have only seen the first incident (didn't watch much of the game last night) - Will stand by the decision to give a penalty.
If you take the match context out these incidents, it's no different (apart from one was a slide, and one was not) to the Grosso/Neill penalty against Italy in 2006.

I can see the arguments for and against, and it's 'very soft'. But I still think the referee is within his rights to give a penalty there. Would I have in the same position? Not sure. I was watching the incident back knowing there was a penalty being given, so that might have influenced my opinion on that incident.

Our passing out of the backline was inaccurate far too often and players further upfield also gave the ball away more than we are used to - maybe that is players just out of playing form at the moment but it has to improve before serious games.

Yengi had a good game but I find him a bit slow on his feet when he is working to shoot. Put him against faster, more skilled defenders and they will nick the ball or shut him down before he can get his shots away.

We looked to play a more expansive game and the higher line of the Palestinian team let us do that. I think that will just reinforce to other teams that playing a packed back will stifle our play and the higher line will expose them to our attacks.

I really liked the way we looked to pass off in the final moments of build up rather than taking our first chance and shooting. The goal Taggart set up was fantastic team play to turn a chance into a certainty.

For the first pen I found it interesting. It was similar to any player putting themselves between the ball carrier and the ball. In many cases that is considered to be taking possession if the ball is within playing distance and the subsequent foul would go with the defender. On the other hand, it could be looked at as impeding the run of the attacker if the ball is not within playing distance. I think that the defender going airborne was the deciding factor - showing that he wasn't going for the ball (like I think NicCarBel alluded to earlier). Compare it to Farrell stepping in front of a player going for the ball, being considered to have taken possession, then being hit from behind and getting the freekick awarded to him and it is not that different.

The 'soft' handball penalty is a clear penalty and I read it that everyone agrees with that. The 'softness' mentioned is just that it was one of those stupid things players do in the box sometimes that gave it away when it shouldn't ever happen like that. I have to say though, without the handball he was still fouling the Aussie player with illegal contact by trying to push him in the back.

Stamatelopolous and Irankunda really did not get much of a chance to show us what they can do at that level. From the moment they came on the focus of the game seemed to shift away from open play and constructive attacks to passing straight to opposition players or holding the ball back. It was the perfect for them both to be running around for an hour at least and what a chance that would be for us to see them play outside their aleagues teams.

Good to get a win on the basis of several goals and some nice periods of constructive attack. Not so good that we exposed ourselves as easily we did when a very skilful Palestinian side took their chances to apply pressure.

Much better game to watch than the Bangladesh mudbath.

Upon review of both the third goal, and the second penalty:

Boyle is offside in the build up for the third goal. Yengi is not offside for the shot. Would still be brought back for offside under VAR though.
And the handball is handball. Can't even see the 'soft' arguments in that, it's not like those standard "hand above head" penalties, it's above and outstretched towards another player (as someone mentioned earlier).

Couldn't see any offsides in the second or fourth goal.

So hard to know what to make of Metcalfe, I thought we lost a huge amount of control when he came on for Baccus. I don’t know about him as a true 6.

meanwhile we have a first choice 6 from league 1 (who seems to go ok).

If there is another No.6 playing in a higher level than league 1 then I think he's in trouble in losing he's spot.