even if rogic didn't have much impact these games are so important because it can take a while to adjust to a new level. Once you do your performances can be just as strong as they were at a lower level. I think its a psychological thing of knowing you belong at that level

look at leckie. Prolific finisher in buli 2. Went to buli 1 and suddenly couldnt hit the side of a barn. After 2 years finally learnt how to finish and his finishing is back to where it was

whole team got cancelled out a bit. lucky to get a second. text book Ange opposition. 2 tight on Rogic at all times and hard smothering of wings

its becoming more evident when Tommy is getting double teamed he just gives up... needs to learn how to deal with it better...

he's totally ok if the pass is coming to him, he's always hungry to do something
mixture of just not appearing available, team mates not confident of pass & him not trying hard enough.
I'm pretty confident he can do a little better. 

Trent Sainsbury STARTS!!!!!! 

Can't believe Sains is starting!

He'll be up against Alexandre Pato and Alex Witsel, who was a gun for Zenit.

Huge. 

Good to see Sainsbury starting. 

According to my app it's a bag 5 and he's in the middle but they outer guys might in fact be wingbacks. 

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2017/09/28/aussie-kid-bidding-lay-down-laws-germany

Pity Sains has black hair, it's hard to tell him out from the Chinese lads in the back three on this low res Bet365 stream lol

Seems to be involved in spoiling a few attacks as the last man of the back three.

Sainsbury with a clean sheet. 

An interesting read. He's going fine and Düsseldorf appear to be the frontrunner for promotion. Hopefully he'll remain at the club long term with a chance at getting into the first team.

It'd be a dream to see O'Neill, Lyden and Laws kick on

Leckie being rested and hasn't travelled to Sweden. The opponent's left back has had papers sorted at the last hour to play for Syria. 

we know hes a true aussie 
he got injured just as he broke through

Gersbach on the bench 

very funny

no Leckie. wtf

He's being rested among a few other first team players. 

oh well then, watching rosenborg. pretty rubbish.
still think this blonde leftback is not as good as gersbach by a mile

No Davidson or Ikon. Those guys have disappeared. 

I think ikon will come good in a few years. Davidson might break through somewhere too but I'm not as sure about that as I am ikon. 

high flyer sainsbury. finally breaks through to his starting team in china. woohoo.

Not sure if he has the mindset, if you look at one of his old teammates - Keita Balde Diao now at Monaco of course after playing 100+ games for the lazio first team. It was them two leading the line at youth level.... they are worlds apart.... if your 22 with less professional games than your age your in trouble. Too busy worrying about instagram followers rather than actually making it... same goes for Armenakas.

Some of these guys can turn it around and get their act together. They just need a chance in a decent team and they need to dig deep mentally. Look at Culina, Mooy, Jedinak and many others. They can be going seemingly nowhere and then at 25/26 through to 33 kick on and have an awesome career.

I'd say they're the exception not the rule.

An important path that Mooy and Jedinak took was getting a gig in the A-League and proving themselves here for a couple of seasons. Hopefully Ikonomidis does the same and comes back here to get a couple of seasons of senior football under his belt. Perhaps a club here in Australia could take him on a loan for a season or two...

How bad is Armenakas on Insta.

Amini and Karacic starting

Amini starting. Maclaren on the bench. Borrello on the bench a new manager from Luxembourg. This is a duel of the bottom two.