With all these names being thrown around, there are so many players getting game time so the ones without are really on the outer I think. Langerak may be a light exception but should have game time soon. Berti will be impressed by the Dutch and Holland based keepers. Thankfully we have depth.

We will never play 3 at the back again. This is not bert. 

Arzani as a 10? The fuck? Yes maybe 15-20 mins off the bench to replace leckie or kruse.. going to play a guy who hasnt scored outside the box in the league over Rogic? LoL

Rogic is the only guy capable to unlock defenses.. he will be more dangerous playing a more counter attacking style.

I personally believe Leckie to be an extremely limited player and certainly not one i would have used with the style of football ange was trying to play and subsequent formation. However if it is that the new man looks to play a counter attacking style leckie comes back into his own as we'll be aiming to exploit the space left in behind teams as they press us.

As far as Arzani goes im still on the fence about taking him to Russia. Certainly has that x factor but its a case of where we fit him in.

It's very early but at the moment working on the theory we'll more than likely play a 4231, more than likely transitioning to 433 in attack my squad would probably be:

Gk: Ryan, Jones, Vukovic
RB: Wright, Risdon
CB: Sainsbury, Milligan, williams, Degenek
LB: Behich, Gersbach
CM: Mooy, Luongo, Irvine, Petratos
10: Rogic, Arzani
Wing: Leckie, Kruse, Mabil
Striker: Ruka, Cahill, Juric

I think wright and risdon compliment each other well with one a far more attacking option, the other defensive and versatile. 

It was a real toss up whether to include Wilkinson for his experience but i've opted to include milligan in his place as an option for midfield, central defence and fullback.

I really think petratos form this season earns him a place.

I've included Arzani as an x factor knowing that Mooy can also cover the role if Rogic breaks down.

Mabil rewarded for good club form and regular gametime.

Ruka, cahill and Juric are three very different options up front which i think is important in tournament football.

I've also thrown together an emergency call list of players who i would bring in should any of the above options find themselves unavailable.

Langerak, Zullo, Wilkinson, Wilkshire, Brillante, Jedinak, Desilva, Troisi, Goodwin, Champness, golgol

I like the midfield and the frontline.
Not a big fan of Jones, risdon or Milligan at CB.

How’s you haven’t included mile Jedinak is absolutely ridiculous

Seems to work for Sterling and Pep... I would put Leckie in a similar category - very quick, but more reliant on speed than technique..
Leckie is not a wing back... if given space in the final third he can probably create chances... but having to cover the space in behind when he goes forward severely limits his ability..especially when you can't rely on your own defense to shift across and cover the space. 

He plays arguably at the highest level of all our OS aussies.. for a team that will actually be in the Bundesliga next season and possibly Europe once again you asking him to play wingback then people complain he doesn't score goals? the fuk

how I'd like to see us setup.

wright--jurman--sains---behich
----------Luongo----Mooy----------
Kruse--------Rogic--------Leckie
-----------------Juric-------------------

I agree with you because of his performances for the Socceroos. Moreover, Burns has 1v1 evasion ability.

However, he seems to have dropped out of playing regular football at club level since his move to Japan. It is probably more of a question of playing irregular  club football  than his performances in international football which is the reason forumites are forgetting him and Socceroo coaches don't select him.

Arzani has played 13 A-League games in his career, averaging less than ten minutes per game this season. Not talking him down at all, but if we're talking about capping him we should be talking about capping Pasquali first.

Who made how many senior A-League appearances for MV?

Our midfield is just so packed. It's good and bad I suppose. Mooy did well left sided linking with Behich. That's probably worth keeping. Luongo, Irvine and Jedinak are also great. Didn't these 4 start in midfield in Honduras?

Jedinak 
Luongo Irvine Mooy

Such a fit bunch and it seemed to boss Honduras off the ball. 

I mean three central defenders (not necessarily the same thing as three at the back). But I realise BVM might not do this, hence I offered the 4-2-3-1 (flat-ish back four and defensive midfield triangle) option, too. That would also be a very sensible formation. That said, BVM is pragmatic. Right at the end of Ange's tenure, he got a good thing going with three central defenders. With three central defenders we can quickly alternate between a back three and back five and have a very fast counter-attack, while being defensively rather stable.

As for Arzani. Attacking footballers with the skillset he possesses can fit in just about anywhere in the final third. This is in keeping with the idea of a fantasista. They will start in nominally the same position as a CAM/trequartista. But they will also tend to roam a bit and be that bit trickier for the opposition defence to mark. They will have the speed and agility to cover that ground and move more dynamically than your regular CAM/trequartista (such as Tom Rogic).

Yes, it would be ideal for Arzani to play on the right. But his ability is such that his influence is unlikely to be diluted particularly by virtue of him starting behind the striker(s).

And it's probably a good idea to start with both Mathew Leckie and Robbie Kruse on the wings. Meanwhile, we know Rogic usually struggles to wield a huge amount of influence for a 90 minutes. However, he has that fantastic ability to produce some magic in, say, a half an hour spell.

Not talking Pasquali down, either. But doesn't he play more of a defensive midfield role? Defensive midfield we're not looking too shabby. I mean, there might still be a good case for Pasquali to get a look in, but we're not without options.

Attacking midfield is more of a problem. Aside from Rogic, none of the senior guys have decent 1 vs 1 ability. Arzani has this, and then some. Australia REALLY struggles to break down opposition defences and to score from open play, in general. Part of this is due to that lack of ability, the other part due to a lack of decent finishing (Cahill aside).

I'm not suggesting Arzani is a better footballer than Pasquali. I'm suggesting that Arzani's particular footballing abilities are more urgently needed by the Socceroos than Pasquali's.

Frankly, it's not about who deserves what. It's about who has the skills to fix major problems. Still, it would be cool if both Arzani and Pasquali went along.

Can we steal Gethin jones from wales and put him at right back?

I don't think anyone's sold on Wright, Degenek, McGowan, Risdon, Geria, Grant, Franjic etc etc
Wilkshire maybe too old?
U23 socceroos Cowburn and Deng also don't look ready. Need more exp.

Good idea. Deadset, if I was BVM, I would put Mark van Bommel on the next flight to the UK and get him to watch Jones play. Then have a chat with him and say- if you want you can join us in Russia with every chance of starting at right back against the French.

What do people think of Golgol? Haven't seen him play yet but heard good things.

Yes Arzani is a great, but can he actually shoot? When he starts bombing them in from outside the box he can play as a 10 for the Socceroos.

For now just getting a regular start for Melb City would be good.

That's a good point, shooting from outside the box would be very useful. But if it's a choice between Rogic and Arzani at CAM... I don't really think it's all that likely BVM will get 90 really good minutes out of Rogic with decent shots from outside the box. I think he's more likely to get a very good (last) half hour out of Rogic with some useful shots in. Before then, I'd sooner start with Arzani behind the strikers. He's more likely to stretch them than Rogic, imo.

Having said that, if BVM wants the team to defend from the front, he may prefer Mooy in a more advanced position. Much as I'd sooner Mooy at CDM, Arzani behind the strikers and Kruse on the right, it's possible to get a stronger defensive side.

---------------------------------------------------Cahill--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Leckie-------------------------------------------Mooy-----------------------------------------------------------------Arzani



------------------------------Jedinak-------------------------------Irvine-------------------------------------------------------


Behich---------------------------Williams---------------------------Sainsbury----------------------------------Degenek


--------------------------------------------------Ryan (mea culpa)---------------------------------------------------------------



From a purist viewpoint, I'd sooner Arzani/Rogic in CAM. But I realise van Marwijk will want as much reliability as possible in the middle of the park. This set-up would give us a lot of muscle in central midfield and we could defend nicely from the front. The only throwing-caution-to-the-wind aspect is to have Arzani on right wing instead of Robbie Kruse. That's how I'd compensate for such a conservative XI.

But the trouble is that Kruse has 5 goals from 60 appearances. And Leckie has 6 goals from 49 appearances. We need more. And I reckon Arzani's dribbling will cause more of a problem on the right wing than Kruse's. I'd still have Kruse come on as a late sub. I realise he can be our best player.

This team would give you some serious pace...

/Ryan/
/Jones/Sainsbury/Williams/Gersbach/
/Irvine/Mooy/
/Mabil/Arzani/Leckie/
/Mebrahtu/

France 7 Australia 0

One converted try to nil?

People expecting him to be more effective than Juric shouldn't get their hopes up. 

The first game we have to play defensive and hope for a 0-0. 

A flogging will pretty much put us out of the tournament like in South Africa. 

Arzani isn't going to be starting at the world cup, nor is he good enough yet either. Madness to start him ahead of Kruse and Rogic

Even a tight loss will be good for us. We just got to hope France beat the rest of our group.

France are very good. I expect 3 wins for them. 

Kruse, maybe. Rogic... was it you who said it is unlikely that Rogic will start given his work-rate?

We need to have outlets to score and we need to be able to draw their attention adequately when we do have the ball so as to make them reset their defence when they don't have possession. That's a key component in damage limitation. If they can spend 90 minutes attacking without any risk of conceding, that puts them in a good position to flog us. To that end, Rogic or Arzani would be useful.

I agree with Scott that the first game is about defence first and foremost. Hence the line-up I suggested above as something in keeping with the BVM philosophy and which would offer something in attack. The other thing is I reckon Arzani's presence makes Mooy better. It gives him far more to work with. Maybe not than Kruse, but definitely more to work with than Rogic.

I haven't been keeping up with the A-League lately, but I'm shocked to see Arzani is suddenly in almost everyones line up.
Even if he's been that good, it could just be a purple patch. Let's slow down the hype train and let him develop. Surely De Silva is still ahead at this point.

It's not a question of who's better. It's a question of whose skillset is more urgently needed.