Do we still think our boys overseas are being unfairly treated because they are Australian or could it have something to do with ability? :-"

Majority of overseas based players weren't allowed to play by their respective clubs, Brad smith, ikon etc etc. the ones that did show up amini and Antonis did well, brillanti not good and some a league players not up to it, especially the attacking ones, pain, hoole etc

Edited by robbo: 21/1/2016 07:53:06 AM

Edited by robbo: 21/1/2016 07:53:29 AM

please... they let in one own goal over 3 games

Hardly surprising. It doesn't matter how good or bad our squad is, with Vidmar in charge they won't score goals. Proven time and time again.

Not sure why anyone expected us to score when the likes of Hoole were our great hopes in front of goal :lol:

Exactly- the Olyroos shouldn't be considered a "youth team". They should be composed almost entirely of 20-22 year olds- players who should have a fair bit of senior football under their belts. So they should not play the same way as our national youth teams.

They should be playing a completely different way, under a different coach. These current olyroos have no idea how to play incisive, attacking football.

Use Okon to slap his arse with on the way out.

Even the class of 92 would have no chance under Vidmar and Okon.

Personally, I don't see what purpose it serves having a youth team with players over the age of 21. That should really be the cut-off.

Many good players missed out on this squad because they wanted to give 22 years olds a chance. ](*,)

Guys like Hoole, Pain, Edwards, Gallifuoco, Donachie and the list goes on and on.....all got a free pass essentially because they are sub-23 years old...they're not even the best payers in their respective positions in any Australian youth squad. ](*,)

We have this problem at all youth levels against Asian opposition.

Anyway i'll take one positive out of that, we looked good against a winless Vietnam. Disgraceful we have missed the olympics again!

But thats the whole point- the Olyroos are not a youth team- it is not a development squad. It should be about getting results. It should be composed of the most experienced players of 20-22. If they are not good enough, then we are stuffed; 18-19 year olds are not going to do any better at this level, because our opponents will be playing experienced older players. The olyroos should be playing a different way to the national youth teams.

Deng and Gersbach are 18 and I feel our two best players, maybe we needed a few more fresh faces to show that they were hungry for it, instead of the likes of Brillante and co. Who knew they'd play regardless of the situation, and what we got from those selection of 22 year olds was completely uninspiring.

With the side we have and the performances leading to this championship qualifaction,surely people aren't surprised by the results.
Remember we didn't win our qualifying group .A group that didn't have South Korea,Japan or China.
Maybe we didn't have our best players or didn't have enough practice games.But realistically we have to accept our team is just not that good .

Players picked on current form and ability and not just time spent in the national team and reputation would be a refreshing change.

The main problem was that our best players were not allowed to be selected. Not just a few but about 6 or 7 players. Coupled with the fact that we had some injuries and illnesses, our first game was made up of a 3rd string side. Never gonna win with that.

Thinking about it now does this expose a problem we have with the NC framework?

Maybe the Belgian TD has a point as he thinks we have spent too much time on the team rather than developing the individual when it comes to youth development?

It seems we are developing good functional players but we are struggling to produce better individual players in the expense of developing the team?

The current 17s have potential but is the current style of play that is set with Ange and the coaches taking away their individuality?

Food for thought no doubt.

Ollyroos should be a proving ground for Senior team selection. As such it should be playing attacking proactive Ange ball, NOT safety first possession only incisive as wet cardboard Vid ball... It should be selected like the senior team, based on performance not on whether you were in the previous team.........

The player we needed and who would have brought the creativity we needed in the final third was Danny De Silva.

Thanks to Roda for not releasing him so that instead he could play 6 minutes off the bench instead (to bring to about 300 minutes the total amount of football he has played this season). Wankers.

Having said that, results don't lie and Vidmar has to go if there is any sort of accountability at FFA.

I agree, but the same could be said of many players I feel would've made a difference like Ikon, Irvine, Smith, Degenek and De Silva.

As things stand imho things won't improve.Preparation for these tournaments is never good enough compared to countries like Jordan and the UAE, even Japan can have endless camps and friendlies in their countries that we obviously cannot afford or tyranny of distance or even players not being made available by their OS clubs.

wait but people were complaining that we have had the same squad for 6 years the majority of this team has been together for 6 years

If I'm not mistaken, the UEFA U-21 Championship acts as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics.

Players 22 and above should be looking at trying to break into the Socceroos. If they are not Socceroos material, which I think many of them are not, then why are they even being considered for the Olyroos?

Best to take our strongest players under the age of 23 with most of the squad being made up of guys between 18-21.

Deadset. They looked like they shit themselves.

Thankfully this brings an end to the junior representative career of Terry Antonis. I reckon his development has been set back by two years due to injury and losing his first team place because he dutifully turned up to every single junior tournament. Fingers crossed he can succeed with his club football from here and become the player we know he can be.

And on that note ,who could blame Smith and Icon or their clubs for keeping them ,at least Smith looks like getting some decent playing time under Klopp ,if he had gone to Qatar he would probs be loaned out to Rag Arse Rovers in the Blue Square whats it.

At the end of the day, I actually think that the players would've developed better staying and playing for their clubs which in the long run is better for the socceroos, but it would've been nice to make the olympics again.

There seems to have been little done to enhance creativity, innovation and flair in our players.
Where is the ability to do the unexpected and be unpredictable?

Maybe the technical, tactical and physical development has stifled their creativity? If we’re coaching more, but producing players who are not as creative, it suggests that the way we’re coaching is probably part of the problem.



Edited by slee45: 21/1/2016 05:07:41 PM

One would think that you cant coach/teach creativity, this is in grown at a young age in the back yard and the streets. But I would have to agree that coaches then try and remove this from the youth and turn them into robots. I have notice a slight change in the mine set of some coaches at junior level which is a start.

Too emphasis on developing players within the style and system of play which fits in FFA NC mantra rather than focusing on developing the player and working on their personality, this was a Han Berger influence as the dutch put emphasis on the team rather than the individual.

You need the framework but it seems like Abrams wants to focus on developing the player.

A coincidence the dutch are struggling too?

Why has there been emphasis on technical points on the NTC Challenges every year, until this year Eric Abrams saw this as a problem and changed the focus towards the player rather than select players that fit in the style/system.
Also he saw there was not emphasis on defending.

Also the players weren't getting the right volume of training too, not enough elite players are getting the right amount of training compared to the Euro counterparts.

So this is probably and naturally our next evolution in youth system.