That could be the case, and it has happened in the past,  but he probably helped players play better around him than Luongo. 

In any given game, players probably spend only 3-5 minutes with the  ball at their feet over the 90 minutes, so what  players do off it is critical.


Luongo is  more mobile, but Jedi holding better positions in BPO, means he is more efficient.

Importantly on the biggest stage, Mooy has  had his best game at DM.

He and Rogic don't work that effectively as twin AMs against quality opposition. Mooy has never played this well without Jedi next to him previously as a DM. I'm not sure if he has played with Milligan as a twin DM?

i'd rather Kruse actually have the skill and sped to beat a man and complete a forward pass and let the defender defend.

He needs to dumped and replaced by Nabbout with Juric as the 9.  Arzani on at 65.

Maybe he should be playing at right back then? Contribution in attacking half non existent. Considering where Rsidon has come
from and the opposition he had a pretty solid game, Got into some great situations int he attacking 3rd as well but lacked quality final
ball, which is pretty much the signature of AU footballers,

Agreed, would much prefer to see Nabbout out wide in his natural postion, he can cross the ball well with both feet too.

Bvm used kuyt as a defensive winger and he was key to the Dutch success in 2010

Kruse is an important part of the system

We wouldn't have been as compact in defence if it weren't for him, if Risdon had Arzani covering him we'd have probably concede 4+ goals. Some games require a different approach and Kruse had the job of protecting Risdon and relieving pressure.

Kruse had a decent defensive game and has finally started to hold his own in physical body on body contact duels.

His  forward runs were okay, against a very good RB.

I haven't looked at a replay yet, but Rogic was slow to contest second balls and I thought was one of our worst defensive players. However, Grazorblade has listed some better stats for Rogic. I'll have a look at a replay soon.

Rogic may have had a better game than I first  thought.

It might have adversely effected Rogic playing too much club football against teams similar in quality to HAL teams, but with a far better team, Celtic, than his opponents. He may have been able to get away with too many little mistakes in Scotland that are exposed in the step up to international football.

Again, he may have improved as a club payer for Celtic's game plan, but however they are deploying him, he hasn't progressed as an asset for the Socceroos over the last four years as predicted , apart from improved tackling, shooting and heading.

Four years ago, Rogic must have been playing more futsal. He seemed more effective as a dribbler and ball carrier than he is now.

Wasn’t Leckie on Risdon’s side??? Not Kruse

Fuck was he? i thought he was on the right from memory?

Leckie and Krise are both effective defensive  wingers, like Kuyt.


Kruse has finally improved this part of his game after previously always looking upset about being bullied.

Yes Leckie was on Risdon's side.

I was surprised BVM didn't swap Leckie and Kruse more.

Any team needs to defend from the front - all players have a defensive role.

It is only the odd freak like Messi, Ronaldo , who are so good when the team has the ball their defensive impetus can be minimal.

Well said.

I know it's not tactically ideal but is love to see Arzani and rogic on at the same time even for 30 minutes at the end. Rogic draws two or three players and Arzani could too. Between them there could be gaps everywhere. It would be a guilty pleasure to watch

I hadn't considered this scenario, given Kruse's recent defensive impetus.

Nabbout is already an effective defensive player from the front. I like the way he flattened a  French defender with sheer physical strength, which Kruse would struggle to achieve.

This suggestion has merit, Enzo.

When we have the ball it could be very entertaining.

The problem is when we don't have it.

They are probably two of our worst players in BPO.

Griezmann was awarded the official man of the match.

How?

Because he’s Griezmann...

Fan votes for you

Thought pogba was Frances best but I was watching our players more closely

Oh right didn't realise it was awarded by the fans. No surprise then really.

Thought the best 3 players on the pitch were Mooy, Sainsbury and Kante. 

Pretty much sums up the game for me.  The France team play the percentages and foul us without a 2nd thought while we let them waltz through us without getting any sort of tackle in. Tiredness no doubt contributes, but take a card if need be like the French did and most likely the "lucky" goal doesn't happen.

Basically it is the same situation as Italy vs Australia in 2006, if the Italian player had been fouled by Bresciano a metre outside the 18 yard box near the goal line then the Lucas Neil penalty inside the box never happens. We can all whinge and moan about other nations "play acting" and lineball penalty or VAR calls all we like but at least make the professional fouls at the right time (ie non penalty or red card situation) and you get a lot less bad luck and the "brave" losses might actually become a positive result.

Similarly Luis Suarez in 2010 versus Ghana in the Quarter Finals in 2010, deliberate handball and red card in the 119th minute to stop a certain goal, Ghana misses the pen and Uruguay make the semi finals after winning the shootout. Not textbook sportsmanship in anyway of course but the team win on penalties and make the World Cup semi final as a result, even if they lose a key player that's a better outcome than being bundled out of the cup.

Even though I'm renowned for  loving flashy, technical players like Ronaldo and Messi, I'm also a huge admirer of Italian defensive organisation  and tactics.

From a second look at some of the replay, Australia's covering of players who move forwards, was very good.

 Such as Milligan reading and making a superb  covering run as a French attacker would've broken through from an excellent through ball.

 Or, Sains covering as Risdon went forwards. When Oz lost lost the ball once, whereas we'd have been blasted by the opposition in Ange's tenure, Sains sat deeper in defence to negate the  attacking transitional, accelerated attacks from the French - who are far better at it than any Asian  team. Milligan moved more centrally to cover, whilst Behich touched in nicely on the central left. Ryan is is superb at reading and coming off his line too to sweep.

Players are supporting each so much better in BPO and Defensive Transitions.

Don't  get me wrong, I thought Ange was a great coach for the last WC, the Asian Cup and some home games in the WCQs.

But after a few games into the second round of WCQs, when opposition teams were working us out with our variations of 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, Ange lost the plot with a 4-4-2 switch , then his voodoo three at the back.

If we had had BVM we would've picked up a lot more points in away games on the road in the WCQs and qualified easily.


This current Socceroo defence  in BPO against France, looks impregnable against even the best Asian teams.

Credit to the Socceroos and BVM. They stopped France from playing to the best of their ability.

The French DM who played on Rogic was very good.

 Was it Kampe?

We really should have taken the yellow on Pogba, when we broke in a similar fashion just prior to that goal, Tolliso takes the yellow for the French stopping what would have been a very good opportunity for us to score. But we just let Pogba run through our entire team unchallenged, we really just lacked some awareness of what was required.

In  the first half, France played a attacking midfield triangle in 1-4-3-3 when in Ball Possession. The French wingers got wide when the team was in possession to make the pitch bigger.

In Ball Possession Opposition the two French wingers moved back in a line with the 2 attacking  midfielders, and tucked in more centrally  to create a 4-1-4-1. This made the pitch smaller and more condensed for the Socceroos in Ball Possession.

This formation, along with a 3-4-3 midfield diamond, is one of the most effective formations for condensing space in midfield. 

They hacked down juric
We let pogba waltz past juric, jedinak, mooy and behich and nobody tok it upon themselves to hack him down for the sake of the team

Kruse made some great runs in behind, Mooys long passing is atrocious. I thought we could have hit them a lot quicker in transition. Mooy and Jedi can be so slow on the ball. That’s were we can improve

Amazing you would say this Frank Frank!


I'm sure you are Kruse's wife, sibling or parent!

What really impressed me about Kruse, at last,  was his ability to throw some physicality around, contest every ball, track back and provide  support to the LB, Behich,  and condense defensive space to keep the team shape compact in BPO.

He has also stopped looking at the ref all the time, like a sook,  as though he is always hard done by. Instead, Kruse is throwing his body around and trying to rough up the opposition, and, he has gained some much needed muscle and strength from pumping iron.

His forward  runs weren't  often that effective when he had the ball, but his French  RB opponent was superb.  Kruse's dummy runs were very good though.

His profligacy around goal, in terms of shooting, has been shocking in  recent games. It is his worst trait, but I love his newfound physicality and superb defensive impetus from the front. 

As usual he won plenty of free kicks with superb use of the body.

Kruse does the most off the ball had a defensively great game is one of our best if not our best at assists. Gets a lot of clever fouls

If he remembered how to shoot he would be world class