Yeah that game was played when  Celtic were in pre season and Rosenborg were well into their season.

Guess Who's back?

Atm, its looking like

Sainsbury(RF), Susnajr(LF) pairing
DeGenek(RF), Jurman(LF) pairing
Karacic(RF) RB
Behich(LF) LB
Meredith(LF) LB

DeGenek, Milligan or Leckie to backup at RB.


I agree that wright should be cut and I'm not sold on Risdon at RB. Also, I don't think Brillante at RB is a good idea.
Gersbach may need some more time to develop.


Still had Chapman available and playing well and Williams who only had a short term injury??
Wilkinson has been solid too.
Clearly spiranovic didn't have the desire to play at the WC... probably would have started if he played some games at a higher level.

Teams in the acl tend to be tougher in preseason and drop in quality when it starts

In the ACL.

Is maclaren's 8 in 13 including the 3 on weekend? If so take that away and it's 5 in 12 games, a couple of pens included and had a few off games. You can see why he wasn't included if a decision was made a week or so ago. Tough on him but maybe he started his run a little late 

And Bert Van Fuckwit had Meredith in both the Norway and Colombia squads but chose not to use him for a single minute. 

So wright and gersbach out, I'd say Langerak is the keeper to miss out.  Maclaren out probably means the other "fast striker" in Ruka is safe, and with Juric and Cahill in, the other "big striker" in Giannou may miss out, according to van Marwijks preference for a mix of strikers.  I think Brillante was only added to the extended squad due to his versatility in midfield and RB in case of injuries. So the 6 to drop out i think are:

Langerak, Wright, Gersbach, Brillante, Giannou and Maclaren

Why does he need to play him? Behich is the number 1

IMO

Out

Langerak
Wright
Risdon
Gersbach
Brillante
Troisi
Rukavytsa
Giannou
Maclaren



WC squad

GK
Ryan
Jones
Vukovic

DF
Sainsbury
Susnajr
Jurman
Degenek
Karacic
Behich
Meredith

MF
Jedinak
Milligan
Luongo
Irvine
Mooy
Rogic
Petratos

FW
Leckie
Arzani
Kruse
Nabbout
Cahill
Juric

Only 1 of his goals for Hibs has been a pen.

Don't let facts get in the way of a good story 

aside from no... the decisions on the squad are not final until they have to be.

Gutting for Jamie. On a personal level, it sucks if he misses out given his recent form. I feel sorry for him.

By the same token, I think there's a stronger argument to take Rukya. If one wishes to highlight spells of form for Jamie, it's necessary to do the same for Nikita. He has also been a strong scorer. Neither of them are thought of as world-class strikers. But it's really a question of which can offer more. Form-wise, they're close.

But Rukya has buckets more pace. We have to look at this in context. Neither Timmy nor Tomi is pacy af. If BVM wishes to maximise the attacks in transition, then at least one striker should have express pace.

And then if Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic and Daniel Arzani all make the final squad (as I hope they do for the Socceroos' sake), then the team will be aiming to create chances with world-class through balls. To do this as effectively as possible, they need to be able to play a striker with express pace.

DC

Only change I would make is Maclaren for Cahill

Rukavytsa is just so confusing. He does well at club level but doesn't seem to do much for Australia. I'll admit he gets limited time but we barely have chances to play him with our limited preparation for our 'best' 11.

Simple. The Israeli league is nothing but average. We all saw him for the Wanderers. How many of you thought his WSW performances warranted a WC berth?

Watch the friendlies, but don't try to gauge anything definitive from them, I reckon. They're just one thing to be considered and, as friendlies, are very contrived. A lot will be based on how they train in camp.

Maybe BVM can get more out of Rukya than others have done so far. He might just want a racehorse who can play half an hour, beat the offside trap and get a half-decent final product. Regardless of whether or not Rukya does that in the friendlies, imo, he's the best option for that particular facet of attacking football.

I was impressed by his WSW performances. I definitely thought he deserved a look in. It's just that he's played in Israel for what seems like years now. I don't trust him no more. 

Is the Israeli league much worse than the A-League though? If at all?

Cringeworthy comment:
"the team will be aiming to create chances with world-class through balls"
A little early to be saying Arzani's strength is world class through balls isn't it. I would definitely take him in the 23, but seriously.....

Maclaren not being chosen when one of our biggest problem is our strikers is a big fucking joke. What a disgrace.You need 2 players in each position and as out and out strikers Juric and Maclaren clearly stand out.

Cringe if you want. If I was a manager of a side that had Rogic, Mooy and Arzani, I'd be aiming to break down opponents with passes and diagonal movement of a world class standard. Imo, between the likes of those three, that's attainable. N.B. Arzani might not actually be making the final pass but be crucial to the play. Although I have watched him places passes which have been weighted beautifully.

I would have guessed stronger but I have no idea, haven't seen enough

Your comment made me google and found this:
https://iffhs.de/the-strongest-national-league-of-the-world-spains-primera-division-again/

What a ridiculous table!

For a separate forum discussion probably.

World class is a subjective term, but some of his crosses have been sublime. Highlights of his game against WSWor setting up McCormack for a double are evidence of this.

Rogic, on the other hand, is an average passer. Great dribbler and shooter, but average passer. He can shimmy to the touch line and cut back, but rarely passes through the lines.

Luongo is much beter at passing forwards. He could be a great 10.

By not playing him he doesn't rate him. 

he is a player with plenty of potential. I agree 100%. 
Cringing more now though.