club form must be a priority in NT selection.  unless we all want to go on losing games.

Germany could've had 6, but looking at positives

- Rogic is consistently delivering for the Roos what we've been waiting for
- Juric is in the best form of his career. Well taken goal shows a guy at his best, while his hold up play has improved.
- If Sainsbury had decided to play DM or CM early in his career, I reckon he still could've ended up in the Serie A anyway. I really think only Rogic and maybe Mooy are better on the ball than him out of the current team.
- Troisi was actually ok, played positively. He should have been first sub on instead of Kruse.

The crisp rapid ball movement in the opening 25' was edge of ya seat stuff. How they didn't score 4 goals in that period is anyones guess. Anyhow that's the half strength Germans done. Was there any explanation why Rogic was rested so early during the post game presser.

Yeah great. Fine. Do you understand how the game works? Because I used to ascribe to the "which team played better" scorecard until this one game I went to against in 1997 at the mcg where one team played the other off the park........

No. The second half was great to watch. Granted they eased up, but that doesn't deny our playmaking which at times was a joy to watch, begging the question where has this team been?

Lucky goals???

Took a lot more than luck for Rogic to score that first goal. Took the instinctive skill of a striker with quick reflexes. Why do you comment so much on football when you don't know much about it? You are becoming decentric mk II...!

I think it's more that it's a shot you'd expect an German international keeper to keep out 9 times out of 10 that made it a bit lucky.

The Germans have every right to be furious with their keeper after that performance.

I've got mixed feelings, in the first we got badly outplayed even with thier b or c team it's lucky thier finishing was sub standard then we scored a lucky goal and at 2-1 it sounded a lot better than 3 or 4 nil down.

Then when Kruse came on the momentum changed even if they scored at 3-1 when Juric made it 3-2 Germany stopped pressing and then we had more space to play our passing game but we couldn't create chances after that especially when Rogic came off, whom was our only decent player we got.

So great fighting spirit in the 2nd half but if things were different with germanys finishing we might be having a different discussion.

I greatly respect Ange with his ambition when it comes to trying to match it with the worlds best nations, but realistically we are long way of that.

By the way Luongo has regressed as a player since the Asian Cup, Wright and Degenek are shaky in transition.

Ange must do what he can to get the very best out of Rogic, and it's not with this system.

Losing 3-2 or 6-0 is the same result, a loss is a loss.
If we lose all three matches in this tournament Ange needs to be held accountable. 
I actually like him especially for what he did and how we played at the Asian cup but to be so stubborn and stick with a system that doesn't work is suicide. How many international tournament's have to be sacrificed for 'development'?

How many goals have Australia conceded with the current formation with a wide player pulling the ball back behind Australia's 3 central defenders?

Totally agree if we come out with 3 ugly defeats Ange has to asked questions by the FFA weither they have the balls I don't know.So stubborn Ange and he is damaging his legacy.

Lots of similarities to the opening game v Chile at the world cup, gave to much respect to the Germans, lacked confidence and failed to make forward runs. Then as the players got used to the level the game changed helped by the introduction of Cruz.
Much as the back 3 used in this way scares me to death i remember very clearly the criticism leveled at Ange during the transformation of the Roar and we all witnessed the way his vision and belief changed Australian football. I am more than happy to be scared a while longer if the resulting performances are anything to compare with his past successes. 

All of them except the main one.

Personally i don't think so.

Moving forward and depending on form, it could possibly be worth considering taggart for that role. He's played similar sort of role in the past

Just my two cents after watching last night.. I've not read back so unsure if others share this view.. keep in mind this Germany team might be a 'B' team, but the players out there all play in top leagues, a shit tonne of a talent, a lot better technically than us.

Too many people complaining about the formation. We're conceding goals not due to the formation but due to individual errors, sloppy passing and defensive lapses. 

I feel we're getting better with this formation with each game we play and it does suit our midfield (our biggest strength) better than other formations.

Players like Leckie are growing into their roles and we're now starting to see players like Rogic and Juric get the best out of themselves. Behich very much suited to this formation also. Can play the LWB role a lot better than Smith.

First half last night we didn't press like we did in the second half and it made a big difference. Same with the passing, it was atrocious in the first half but a lot better in the second. Luongo was about a 1/10 last night and although I've been a huge Kruse critic that change had to be made. Mooy also had a very poor game. Didn't hold the ball as well as he usually does and got found out for his pace. I reckon he got a bit of a reality check last night, saw the difference between the Championship and perhaps the Bundesliga.

What we need to find is a couple of solid centre backs before the World Cup. Our problem is the personnel we have. Degenek and Wright may be decent footballers but against better opposition they get found out. I'm hoping Curtis Good comes through but I have been hoping that for years. 

I'm still a true believer of this formation, it suits what we have.

I only speak 2 languages but the difference being is I have a level of comprehension above grade 2 in at least one of them...

I was right! I did not expect that.

Scoreline flatters us for sure though. Could have been 6-7 and they conceded 2 very sloppy goals courtesy of GK errors.

It was happening nearly every game with 4 at the back too ... if we're being honest

I bloody hate this, why is the only goals we score due to sloppy errors and not the ones we conceded which were just as bad? 

probably English

I think we're really missing Spiranovic the most. Back three forces the CBs to be good with their decision making/playing out from the back and i think he's just good as Sainsbury in that aspect. Drop Milligan into the back three with in form Spira and Sains and you have a pretty solid defence who can all bring the ball forward.

only saw the second half so from that we looked not too bad and thought behich had a dead set penalty refused which could have tied it up, you just know if it was germany it would have been awarded. 

Agree, if Williams gets his form back at Victory and Spiranovic gets out of China we may stand a chance, then also some other young bolters could have a breakthrough season like Burgess, Tongyk or Deng, or hands like Wilkinson or any of our Korean based CBs like Mrcela could earn a recall. Also, Goodwin is already in the squad.

With Jedinak out, my old Ballarat North United's under 8's could walk through our midfield if you removed Milligan from it.

Dont get me wrong, Milligan is great as a CDM but i think Irvine or possibly Jeggo could fill that role. Defence is a mess and i think we need him back there to steady the ship, no one else is capable

I personally don't like the formation but it is good to have someone post with some comprehension of the game. Agree that the weak link in the formation are the two backs either side of Sainsbury.

Wilkinson is solid, but not sure he'd suit the three at the back formation (he'd have to be the centre back and Sainsbury on the right). Jurman continues to get game time in Asia (so doing something right) ... think he has a bit more pace than Wilko too. Spiranovic (when fit and playing regularly again) could similarly be the centre back with Sainsbury on the right (although again Spiro may be found for speed in such a formation) .... but at least he is a ball playing back, which is what you need with this formation.

I wonder if someone like Meredith could slot in as a LCB in the back three?? Not the best on the ball, but is a LB use to sitting deep and has some good size to him (not sure at his speed but playing out wide must have a bit).

As others have suggested Jedinak could be an option back there too (although personally I think he is more suited to a deep sitting team so probably would struggle in the backline of the Socceroos with the current formation).

Most our left and right backs have been developed as wing-backs so most are more attack minded than is required from the back three.

Not a bad option regarding Milligan back there with this formation

From a pure results basis yes. But in terms of this being part of our developement into the world cup this is completely untrue. 
Football is a confidence game. Losing 3-2 to a power house nation is a hell of alot better then a 6-0 loss. This batch of players are heavily deprived of confidence due to the world cup qualifying phase which has been a very tricky one at that.

This extended period together, along with the new formation AND competitive results will flow on with the players and give them so much more confidence going forward.



Coming back to this match. That first half was not good enough. Not until the 55th minute did we show that fearless fighting spirit, and all that due to the following.
- The system worked perfectly from there on as we pushed our players further up the park where they should always have been. We also stopped playing our 3 cbs vs 1 striker and allowed more one on one marking along with the other free CB being able to press into midfield. This gave us the platform to play and defend much more efficiently.

- Secondly, a midfield of Luongo, Mooy and Milligan is far too static and slow in defence to track world class players. Mooy was horrific in possession and defence in the first half as was Luongo. Mooy can be way to casual in posession and You can not afford to do anything half hearted when playing deep like that. BUT, as soon as we pressed further up the park, space was provided to play quick sharp passes and this saw Mooy come to the fore. I will say that Mooy should always play deeper, mostly due to his lack of pace off the mark. 

Kruse is also much more suited to playing centrally and peeling out wide then his role in a 433 formation. I am happy with he, Troisi and Irvine battling it out for this position. 


Talking personel wise. Theres 3 areas that need to be upgraded somehow for us to compete better. 
1. Center Back. I would feel much more confident if we had 2 Trent Sainsbury clones in our back 3. He may not be math fit/sharp. But hes mobile, decent on the ball and reads the game well. Bailly Wright for me is the unlucky odd man out due to his lack of Mobility and physical presence to compensate for that. He neither a monster, a reader or a quick centreback.
2. The defensive minded midfielder. Both Miligan and Jedinak battle hard and give 100%. But there always that feeling that a quality physical defensive mid with ability on the ball would just let the rest of our midfielder shine more.
3. I will get shot for this but Keeper. Not a change in keeper but just improvement for Matty. That third goal from Matty IMO should not happen. You have got to be big in all those situations. Im always confident with a long range shot but its these close range chances with and angle where you see his deficiencies. For that goal he didnt press nor position himself right, and he was always leaning backwards so he had no chance of throwing himself off the ground for a dive.