Sarota's been pretty good, Oar unable to do much although he sent in a dangerous free kick that led to another player hitting the post. Utrecht are just struggling to make anything happen.

Regarding yesterday's game

Thread since he signed, kept up to date

There you go, mate ;)

Oar just score a great solo goal

Oar goal. Destroyed them.

Oar scored!!

Dammit I missed it. I was in the shower.

It was a hard search

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1e5jn3_tommy-oar_sport?start=35

Yeeeaaaahhh!

Oar with another close chance.

Leckie with an assist for FSV Frankfurt's second goal. Burned the defender, reached the byline, and great chipped in cross.

Was it down the right?

We need a replacement for Kruse.

Started the game on the left but has been roaming around. Assist came from the right hand side. Wouldn't mind seeing Leckie on the right and Oar on the left in upcoming friendly.

FT Utrecht 1-1 Twente. Much improved 2nd half. Impressed with Sarota and an awesome goal by Oar.

Well in Tommy.

This could work. It will depend on what the tactics are. If Australia say "Oh ripper, we've got the tallest player on the park, let's put him up front and start bombing in crosses to him in the hope he gets onto one of them", I won't even bother watching. Or rather, I will watch and I'll hope that the opposition win ten nil. That style of play cannot condoned. And it will waste the talent we have with Rogic.

On the other hand, if Ange tells the team to regard Matt Leckie as a kind of right-winger/second striker, that's good. He'll put through some crosses for Kennedy, but he'll also be given licence to dribble the ball into into the box and put shots away, and to run onto through balls from Tom Rogic at CAM.

I personally prefer to use Kennedy as an impact player and to put Leckie up front, with Halloran on the right wing. But I can stomach your idea.

If we play Kennedy up front, we should vary the formation between:


---------------------------------------------Kennedy------------------------------------------------------



Oar------------------------------------------Rogic-----------------------------------------------Leckie



--------------------------Jedinak-----------------------------Sarota--------------------------------------



Davidson----------------Sainsbury-----------------------Herd----------------------------Franjic



------------------------------------------------Ryan-----------------------------------------------------------



and


------------------------------------Kennedy---------------------------Leckie-------------------------------



---------------------------------------------------Rogic----------------------------------------------------------




Oar-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sarota




------------------------------------------------------Jedinak------------------------------------------------------



Davidson-----------------Sainsbury----------------------------Herd-------------------------------Franjic



----------------------------------------------------Ryan---------------------------------------------------------------



The only danger is that we absolutely need Adam Sarota playing centre defensive mid because we need a fast, technical, accurate passing player there. So maybe when we're defending, or playing the ball out, we have the 4-2-3-1 formation, and when we're pressing high up the park, we have 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. It's going to put a heck of a lot of pressure on Sarota and Leckie, and have them running into the ground.

Quick flick, why Chris Herd? I agree that he should be in our 23, but do you think he would fit those players better than Sainsbury, McGowan or Ognenovski?

I'm not sold on Herd. My post was more about personnel and tactics with the attacking players, which I'm reasonably sure about. I'm not at all sure about the defenders, but, for simplicity's sake, I put down four defenders who I think can do a good job, without elaborating on it. Here's the elaboration...

I already have Sainsbury in there. I think Herd'll be quicker than McGowan and Ognenovski. Herd's not an ideal solution because of two things; sometimes erratic passing and rash decisions. They go hand-in-hand, quelle surprise! In the centre back positions, it's between Herd, McGowan and Good, in my mind. McGowan's more consistent than Herd and more rational. But Herd has an x-factor quality. I can't help feeling that when Herd has a bad game, he has a really bad game. But when he has a good game, it's an absolute blinder. We're going to have to hope he has absolute blinder. Herd has played in big Premier League matches before, against some world class opposition, unlike McGowan. Plus, I worry that a player like McGowan will be outpaced too easily by Dutch, Spanish and Chilean attackers.

Then again, maybe it's a better idea to play it safe in defence and put our x-factor players higher up the park.

That's pretty reasonable. I'm still convinced that Ognenovski should have a role to play at this WC. I agree that Herd is probably one of the more solid players in that group, and probably ahead of McGowan. I just think that in a backline with Davo jnr, Sains and Franjic, you need an old head who is still upto the task there. Oga is also dominant in the air, where as the other three are significantly weaker there.

In terms of our backline being outpaced, I think Sainsbury and Franjic will have most plays reasonably covered, but it's worth remembering that Maty Ryan is quick off his line and excellent at shutting down break always and closing down angles.

Eastern Glory

Yours is an excellent point. Having an experienced player there would invaluable. The Og is a very good candidate. He's also a big fella and maybe maybe might be a little bit intimidating for the opposition (wishful thinking?). You might also have a point that alongside Sainsbury, and with Franjic and Davidson as fullbacks, his lack of pace might not matter so much.

I'm really not sure whether we'd be better off with every member of the back four being very quick or with most of them being quick and one of them having the experience.

Decentric has done interesting analysis of Lucas Neill's performances as he has aged. Apparently, while he has slowed down, aspects of his game have really improved (can't remember what they were but it might have been his distribution or something).

Well it is dundee united after all lol

Jedinak going to play till the end it seems. Heart almost stops each time I click on a ticker and see the sub arrows very early in the game only to breathe a sigh of relief when it's not an Aussie. Happened in the Palace and Frankfurt games today with early subs.

Great goal by Oar!

What was interesting about Oar's goal is that over the last few seasons, he's looked to go outside his man so often it has made him almost one-dimensional. This shows how deadly he can be when he looks for the inside option. He has a decent peg especially from just outside the box.

I'd like Ange to give him the freedom to vary the point of penetration and even switch wings throughout the game. He can afford to start his runs from deeper on the pitch to get into shooting position.

I agree, Kennedy will only work up front if we play the ball on the ground. I think he's under-rated in this area of his game. If we can get Oar and Leckie in behind, then putting a cross on Kennedy's head has to be a real threat. I don't think Leckie has the ability to be our out and out number nine. He's more of a winger/second striker as you said and should be used in this role.

As for the match against Ecuador, Kennedy isn't in the squad, so Ange may have to play Leckie up front. Or maybe he won't play a number nine and instead play a 4-2-4 or some type of variant.

I can't imagine what havoc would be wrought upon us if Ange played Victory's current 424 against our Group Stage opponents. Surely he can see the virtue in harnessing Kennedy's abilities in the number nine role.

Great goal by tommy really looks good now he has some strength on the ball I think a half decent World Cup and tommy might be on for a move to a top 4 league but we'll see.

He has certainly started to hit a bit of form in the past month or so. Had a quiet first half of the season, but that seemingly coincided with some injuries.

Hoping for a big World Cup from him. Kruse, Rogic and Oar attacking midfield line has the potential to be very, very, very dangerous in the future.

Dont know if tommy is in form but there have been glimpses of the tommy oar from last year

Let me throw one out there:

...........................Ryan
Franjic....Williams....McGowan....Davidson
................Milligan.....Jedinak
.........................Rogic
Kruse............................................Oar
.......................Kennedy

Subs:
Gk - Langerak, Galekovic
Def - Herd, Sainsbury, Good, Smith
MF - Holland, Antonis, Vidosic
Str - Leckie, Rukavytsia, Cahill

To win the Asian Cup.

My Gandma's toe nail clippings from 50 years ago > Antonis

Other than that, looking pretty good.

Win all the things.

That's pretty much exactly my preferred XI and formation, too, unless Sainsbury or Good show good enough form to upstage McGowan.