He's easily the best keeper in the second division. He's so reliable and very sharp at the moment. 

Just in case you guys missed it. Luongo made the whoscored team of the week and is probably going to take out the QPR player of the month. He has been playing really well with his defense improving considerably. Plus a very nice assist against Burton last week where he was played in a more attacking role.

Just in case you guys missed it. Luongo made the whoscored team of the week and is probably going to take out the QPR player of the month. He has been playing really well with his defense improving considerably. Plus a very nice assist against Burton last week where he was played in a more attacking role.

Really? how many games have you watched?

When was the last time Langerak played with the Socceroos? What kind of combinations does he have with our back 4? Minimal if any.

Coming into the 2 most crucial WCQ's in this round we won't be changing our starting lineup unless injury demands it. If Maty is fit he'll play. If he's not then Ange won't risk him only being 80% fit.

Found a post on Reddit titled " An update on Aussies Craig Goodwin and Kenneth Dougall from a Sparta Rotterdam fan"  
Had a read and loved it so thought it was worth sharing with you guys. All credit goes to Schele_Sjakie 
(admin please delete if posts from reddit weren't allowed)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Aleague/comments/55posx/an_update_on_aussies_craig_goodwin_and_kenneth/
Some great responses to questions in the link ! 

TLDR: Both Dougall and Goodwin have made good starts this year. Goodwin especially looks like the real deal. He fits great within our counter attacking style, which we play against the better teams. Plus the Eredivisie has tonnes of scouts, so he's right there in the spotlight. Dougall is also good, although his ceiling might be lower. While they may not always be starters, they are among the first substitutes to come in. They also start if there are injuries at their positions. If they continue to do well, they could claim their starting spots.Long write up incoming! I know there are people here who want to know more about how Goodwin and Dougall have been doing (Aussies were asking me on /r/soccer). Well I'm a Sparta fan so I'm going to tell you about them! But first I'll explain a bit about Sparta so you understand what kinda of a club Sparta is and how our Aussies fit in.

About SpartaSparta Rotterdam was founded in 1888 and is the oldest pro club in Dutch football, also known for having a very good academy for the teams current small size (you might know Wijnaldum, Strootman, Depay, Willems and De Roon from Spartas academy). Sparta plays in one of the most cute stadiums in the Netherlands named: Het Kasteel (The Castle). It holds about 10.5K people and is mostly famous for it's old school main entrance with towers. Here'sanother pic from the top.In the first few decades Sparta was one of the top clubs. Sparta won five titles in the 20s of last century. They were still a top club when the Eredivisie was formed 60 years ago. They very slowly sank down to being a mid table team around the late 80s. From then the decline went faster and Sparta was first relegated in 2001. Promoted back in 2005 and went down again in 2010. For 2 decades kinda hoovering between the weakest Eredivisie teams and he strongest 2nd division teams.Our current coach Alex Pastoors was appointed close to 2 years ago. He began building on the future after 4 years of bad football. We were 2nd division champs last year, pretty easily even, winning the title with 4 games to go. Before the title season Dougall was signed from Telstar, a really small Dutch pro club in the 2nd division. We had a hole in the squad at left back so Dougall played there almost the entirely season. Only missing a few games in the end because of yellow card accumulation. Goodwin was already on the radar halfway through the season and signed for us while our competition wasn't even finished yet. So he already trained with the first team the last couple of games last year. Sparta didn't lose any key players so the selection is mostly the same as our championship year with some added quality (mostly Goodwin and El Azzouzi, a loanee striker from Ajax).Sparta played 8 matches so far (3W, 2D, 3L), they've started quite well being in 8th currently with 11 points. Excellent for a promoted team! Sparta mostly plays 4-3-3, also common in Australia I think. When we face tough opponents our coach sometimes switches to 5-3-2 though. Okay, this is already getting long, let's start about the Aussies!
About Craig GoodwinGoodwin has been playing very well I'd say, as left winger exclusively. It's not easy to come into a team an already estabilished team. Sparta's other 2 wingers (Verhaar and Brogno) are among Spartas best players but they are quite injury prone. Verhaar exclusively plays on the right wing while Brogno can do both. Goodwin played a lot the first matches because Verhaar was injured. Since Verhaar is back Goodwin starts on the bench but he's the first player to come on as a substitute as wingers often get tired easily. Also bringing a new winger against a tired left or right back often works wonders!Goodwins strong point are his stamina, drive, crosses, making deep runs (mostly while countering) and link up play with the other attackers. He made some good crosses in the match yesterday against AZ, our strikers failed to score though. Goodwin scored a goal in the away victory over PEC Zwolle, a very decent midtable team. You can see with his pace and stamina he is very useful on the counter, especially as our other attackers are all fast players too.Here is another good attack by Goodwin for which he was awarded a penalty. Another nice pass. His vision is quite decent too and that helps with these counters.The manager clearly rates him and complements him a lot. If he keeps this up he might snatch a starting spot of Brogno or Verhaar. But even with 3 wingers for 2 places he will bound to get many minutes. I think Goodwin is able to grow some more and he's obviously good enough for the Eredivisie, although for a mid table team. I see a bright career in Europe for him.

About Kenneth DougallLike said above, Dougall is in his 2nd season with Sparta. The coach sees him mainly as defensive midfielder, but he can also fill in on left back and even centre back in emergencies. He's not a starter if everyone is fit, but he's 3rd player in line for 2 spots on the central defensive midfield and 2nd in line for left back. This will mean he will start if there are injuries (like now) and he often is substituted in to strenghten the back or just a straight position swap.In our game against AZ (4th best team in the league) yesterday he started because 1st choice Sanusi is injured on the midfield (will be out for a few weeks). It went well, he's a very decent defensive midfielder. Our 1st choice left back had major problems with the AZ winger during the game. So at half time our coach got rid of him and played Dougall there. This went a lot better in the 2nd half. So Dougall could maybe get his left back spot back somewhere during the season (Edit: This is my personal opinion, haven't heard from the manager about it). Dougall also had this great pass and a shot on target against AZ.Dougall is a good passer, good in the air and pretty fast for a defender. Needs to work a bit on his positioning and maybe misses some strength compared to our other defenders or defensive midfielders. Also if he's playing as left back, he's not as good attacking yet, but he's young and he will make steps every year. Sparta recently extended his contract until summer 2019. So Sparta definitely sees Dougall as a part of their future plans.
Bonus:

• Deciding goal to win the 2nd division title and crowd reaction/atmosphere + Pitch invasion
• Dougall celebrating afterwards - Source - Credit to /u/Schibbles!
• Article on Dougall a while ago

PS: If you guys like these posts I'd love to make a part 2 and 3 further up in the season. And also fast forward to/u/Sliver_fish because you asked me about them.

Just in case you guys missed it. Luongo made the whoscored team of the week and is probably going to take out the QPR player of the month. He has been playing really well with his defense improving considerably. Plus a very nice assist against Burton last week where he was played in a more attacking role.

His main job is the stop the ball ending up in the net. This is where he's head and shoulders the best option out of all available options.

The "combinations with our back 4" are of secondary importance. That will come with practice.

We're no certainty to qualify but things we're on track. If we do qualify, we'll plummet unless we have a top-class shot-stopper. Ideal situation is we qualify with Langerak having gotten accustomed to sweeping and distributing as cleanly as possible. That's only feasible if he racks up game time for the NT.

Did miss that, just checked the highlights, nice assist indeed. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtjj18NyAJ0

Rubbish.

Against a Saudi team who's likely to apply a press similar to that of the UAE. Go hard at first to try get an early goal and then sit back and hit us on the counter we need to be able to play out from the back under pressure. Which we still struggle with a lot. We need a sweeper keeper. Langerak has crumbled when under pressure when he's played previously. Saudis will likely have fewer than 4-5 shots on target in the entire game. While keeping a clean sheet is obviously crucial, we're unlikely to be copping a such a battering that needs a world class shot stopper to give us any chance of a point. The lack of combinations could see us give away some catastrophic errors and put us under massive pressure.
I'm all for Langerak getting gametime and proving himself capable of sweeping effectively. These are NOT the games to be experimenting in though.

What an Errare humanum est?

Maty Ryan is one of the nine nominees for La Liga World Player of the Year.

http://www.laliga.es/laliga-world-player-2016

Burns off the bench as Tokyo defeated in 1st leg of Cup semi final.

So Tanner can't play for Bolton because of their transfer embargo. They did bring in some players over the summer so I don't know why some could be registered while others like Tanner couldn't. This was in relation to the EFL trophy so the article was mainly looking at which reserve players could get a chance.

“I was pleased with the Under-23s the other night, I thought they played really well. The two new lads – Hugo (Tanner) and Sam (Lavelle) – were very good but we can’t play them at first team level because of the embargo. Jack and Alex have been training with us quite a bit and I’d like to give them another chance.”

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/14779086.Earing_and_Perry_could_get_another_shot_against_for_Wanderers_against_Blackpool/?commentSort=score

Weird. How long is the embargo in place?

If they're willing to stick with him through that,it's probably a good sign.

Paartalu signing for Al Kharaitiat in Qatar.

qaatarlu.

he should have been a centre back.  he could've gone far.

Gents,Ive emailed Bein sports this week asking them to showcase more Hudderfield and Burton Albion fixtures, given the Australian connections with those clubs. Id suggest if we are to see more of the likes of Mooy, Irvine, etc on tv we need to petition Bein sports to showcase their games more often, id suggest sending an email to au-customerservice@beinsports.netIm not sure what broadcasting agreement they have with the EFL but it does no harm in asking.