Agree 100%.

The socceroos have and still get more money spent on them in one tournament than the Lebanese players families do in years, and they still lack the natural ability and fluency with the ball at their feet. 

Football is not rocket science.  There's a ball and there's your feet.  Do stuff with it.

Compare Leckie with the ball at his feet to the Lebanese captain who skinned Sainsbury.   Give that guy Leckie's opportunity and Leckie would be cleaning his boots in the change rooms.

It's insane that some of you think Lebanon is more skillful than Australia based on the other night's game. It was completely obvious that our technical skill levels are far above theirs. Frankly it's not even close. 

Clearly the current Socceroos are the result of the OLD development system, the current joeys (u16) have a higher skill set than the national team players have come from the NEW development system.

I suspect we were playing catch up to the Asian technical level which is quite high at world standards.

This can also be an issue with football education.

One enormous strength of Jedi, and  one of the few areas where he was superior to Milligan,  was he held defensive position very, very well in Ball Possession Opposition.

I was quite astonished when I watched him play EPL. Palace barely had the ball, but he maintained defensive position very well for sustained periods in BPO.

Conversely, Luongo has been educated as a box to box type midfielder in the English tradition of playing in two man midfields in flat midfield   4-4-2 formations. His defensive positioning, isn't as good when the team loses the ball in Defensive Transitions. 

Guus Hiddink had this problem with Frank Lampard at Chelsea. He was inculcated with running all over the pitch from his father, also a pro footballer.

Hiddink wanted  Lampard  in an advanced  forward position in a three person midfield. Lampard struggled. Hiddink had Makalele and Ballack doing more defensive  work .

Socceroo coaches like  Guus, Pim, Bert, and Arnie come from a Dutch tradition of having quite specific roles for specific positions. They are far better educated in tactics than most English coaches. Ange was in a different way too.

I'm not sure what Luongo's coaches in England have been requiring in his midfield  role in his teams?

True.

FFA Technical Department recognises how superior many Asian nations are compared to us technically. Even Lebanon's number 7 had fabulous close ball control and skinned Sains repeatedly. He was really good on the ball. 

Our advantage has been tactical nous, communication and cohesion, and, the team being greater than the individual parts that comprise the team.

Many Socceroos educated in the current HAL, and newer development system, can play better with each other , than with their club teammates in  many European countries.

With the amalgamation of the Dutch/French/German/Spanish methodology, even our senior players who've played plenty of HAL, yet educated in the old ad hoc system in their youth development,  have very good tactical education, despite a less technical education base.

All HAL coaches in recent times have been  well educated Aussie FFA trained, German, Spanish  or Dutch nationals. The notable  exception is  Alan Joyce, the only successful  English coach to ply his trade in the HAL.  

Their number 7 had extraordinary skill in 1v1 evasion and dribbling.

Why Australia is good at sustaining possession, is not so much skill on the ball, but it is due to positioning off it.

Players are constantly thinking ahead of  where to be to support the receiver and optimise the best position  in opening the most viable passing lanes.

I would say that most national teams have a player who can dribble a bit on his day. Their number 7 got past a very sluggish and out of sorts Sainsbury a couple of times. Congrats to him, I'm sure he's killing it in the Lebanese league. It just blows my mind that people are using that game to conclude that Lebanon is technically superior to the socceroos. There was absolutely no evidence of that. Their skill levels were generally poor and far below ours. 

Sainsbury was being applauded for his WC performances even against the eventual World Champions which got him a gig at a big Euro club.  Its not as if he was getting game time at a higher level then either. 

He was skinned by a guy who as you say is killing it in the Lebanese League.  There's your evidence.

Now either the Lebanese league is much better than we think, or that our players are not as good as we think or there are good players in the Lebanese League that are not given the opportunity.  Given the opportunity and resources our players have they should be better, a lot better.  Are they?

🚨 BIG NEWS! 🚨

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Macarthur South-West Sydney bid will look to sign Mile Jedinak as captain if it gains an A-League licence.

What a coup that would be!

From Facebook. Jedinak will hopefully return as he's not playing much for Villa. Would be awesome. 

I’m sick of this matching Asia technically crap.
Yea sure, I 100% agree that we need to be better technically, no doubt about it.

But why are we so obsessed with it. We have our own unique strengths that we should use more. We’re so obsessed with everyone else why can’t we just be obsessed with making what makes us good

Russia World Cup

Iran 4 points
Japan 4 points
Korea 3 points
Australia 1 point

That's 10 points why.

Emmo
Viduka
Kewell
Culina
Cahill
Boyle

Only maybe two of the Lebanese players looked vaguely skillful. The others looked like stumblebums. Absurd to say that they looked more skillful than us.

Because technical ability is the most important thing to push on to the next level.

Taggart just scored 2 goals for Roar against City.

One was a well taken header from a darting run at  a stoppage.

The other was a goal from the edge of the pen box that showed composure and accuracy.

Taggart had 7 shots in the game. He also played some neat passes to team-mates when he was under pressure. He is on the way to recapturing the form he had just before that big injury a year or so ago.

Taggart has scored 5 goals this season, but 2 were penalties, which I don't really count.

Apparently Arnie is keeping close tabs on him for the Asian Cup..

From studies conducted by FIFA Technical Department the majority of teams that progress to the late rounds of  WCs have great technical proficiency. 

Taggart and MacLaren are the only real out and out goal scorers. Sure people love to criticise them both for not being clinical enough (because when doesnt this place criticise) but Id be seriously considering both. Taggarts the most in form Aussie goal scorer at the moment. 

Because a high technical level is paramount to playing at a higher level.

Our current strengths are not enough, see the world cup.

At least we are improving on our side compared to say 10 years ago, it just means we have been playing catchup to most asian nations in this regard, and this is important given Asian sides are getting better tactically and physically.

I was impressed when i saw Saudi Arabia at the u20 championship, they were very smart tactically along with there strong technical ability like they always have.

But regards to the younger players, they look technically better than the current Socceroos side in most aspects and this is important to caring us forward when competing in the future.

I was particularly impressed by Lachlan Wales for Melb City tonight, has decent evasion skills in 1v1 situations but also looks technically pretty sound on the ball too.

Najjarine is another one to keep an eye on...

Confidence on the ball is massive, especially when you look @ our past 3 World Cups. Very timid in all aspects even defending. 

I'm leaning towards selecting both  of them for the Asian Cup squad, and Giannou, as our specialist central strikers, if:

 Maclaren can score more regularly  in the SPFL.

 Taggart keeps banging them in in the HAL.

Both have done well at Roar under the tutelage of John Aloisi.

I'd argue both of them have been the most clinical strikers from field goals in the HAL in the recent seasons they've played.

I'd surmise Keogh, Fornaroli, Berisha, Bobo and Riera, have scored a larger percentage of their goals from the penalty spot. 

Lets be realistic, Maclaren is a maybe. Taggart, ffs, guy will be injured in a few games.

Gainnou is savvy around goal. Leckie looks to be raising the bar as of last night. Hope he can start to produce a bit more in front. 

Nabbout will be forgotten the way we're all talkin, and he is deadset scary around the box. Is a must even though he gets limited minutes in the J-League.

Nabbout needs to be nurtured , he has far more to offer. Fucking J-League screwing his future up

These 3 need to be nurtured and brought through the NT as of today.

Goodwin, Nabbout and Gainnou. There's your goal scoring problems solved. 

Arnold can stick to being heavily reliant on Rogic whilst still having some predatory goal scorers at the wings and in front.

Juric can obviously be the other relied on striker, with Boyle, Mabil, Leckie and Kruse good options to go. 

I'd work out how many other friendlies we've got before AC also, because this testing players theory is numb skulled and wasting time. 

This HAL round I only watched it from the perspective of future Socceroos.

Most games didn't really have players of interest, but apart from Glory v CCM,  there were a few interesting  Socceroo prospects.

I don't need to watch Risdon or Grant. They've done  enough for the Socceroos already to be on the plane for mine.

*Taggart - as previously mentioned, was impressive. He had 7 shots on goal, and should've converted more than 2. He keeps finding good positions in the box. If he keeps banging  them in, he should  go to the Asian Cup.

*Goodwin - I'm astonished at how powerful his shots are from outside the box! It is hard to keep scoring goals consistently from this range, but he shoots well  from distance.

*Petratos - He  had quite a good game - definitely in the mix for the Asian Cup.





I watched the Glory/CCM game, mainly to watch Ikonomidis and Davidson, but was surprised in the improvement in aspects of other players' games.

*Ikonomidis - Very impressive, as everyone else knows. Definitely a possibility for the Asian Cup. Excellent control on the ball and has an eye for goal with some good positioning  around the pen box.

*Davidson - Not the player he was a few years ago, but did some useful things. Not worthy of a call up for the Asian Cup ATM based on current form.


The surprises

* Kilkenny -  I don't think he ever played as well as he did tonight at City . His greatest weakness is winning 1v1 hard balls. He has always had excellent distribution and skill on the ball. I'm not sure show old he is, but he is definitely better than Jackson Irvine on the ball, and has a better range of passing with faster handling speed. Irvine is a superior tackler and header of the ball though.

* Lowry - I thought he was just a hard man CB, very physical in 1v1 clashes, with mediocre technique. Tonight he played a lot of long, ground, pinpoint passes from CB to advanced players. He probably had a lot of time on the ball, but I've never seen him do it before. He headed a superb Kilkenny  cross to score too. 

*Jacob Melling  - I've always rated him and was surprised City let him go and that he rarely played at WSW. His bullocking play, ball winning and breaking up attacks was extraordinary against  Glory, sometimes outmuscling more than 2 players at once. He isn't too bad on the ball  either. He passes well with both feet too. 

* Aidan  O'Neill - At only 20 years of age, he  could improve rapidly. Did plenty in midfield on the ball and off it. If these two continue to play as well as tonight, they will need to make a three man central midfield when Harriej comes back.

*Rowles - He is so young, I felt it was only 5 mins ago I was watching him play for the Aussie under 17s! He man marked Keogh, who tried to create a physical contest with the young tyro. Surprisingly Rowles outmuscled him and Keogh came off second best. At his age there should be plenty of improvement to come very soon.

* Hoole - I've always thought of him as having the skill set for the Socceroos as a winger, apart from his inability to score  goals - like Leckie ( until the last week) and Kruse. By his own standards he was awful tonight.

 

I haven't seen Nabbout  being capable of creating scoring opportunities against quality opposition.

His great strength is his energetic closing down of the opposition in the attacking  third in team pressing game plans, in BPO. He forces turnovers.

A few years ago, Maclaren was prolific in the HAL. It seems like he  has struggled since leaving.

Taggart has had injury problems, but he is a goal scorer. He also heads better than Maclaren. 

Strikers aren't usually responsible for creating scoring opportunities and none of our strikers are prolific in those areas.

Predatory goal scoring instincts is what we need more of, not our typical production line carbon copy wingers. 

And I'll just add, Kruse and Leckie have set a poor precedent for what this is. Their goal scoring and creation record is, not dire, but not great either.

Give me Rogic , MOoy, and someone who can get on the end of a through ball, invert , and run at defenders full pace.

The modern day footballer needs to be good at pressing. If Nabbout excels in this area its a big + for a winger. Probably an area Kruse would now struggle in.

Another area Luongo does well at in the Championship. Which is another +1, him and Milligan are probably our most effective defensive twin DM. However, need Mooy.

It's the difference between say, championship team and bottom dweller team, defending... defense into offense etc ...

Wrong thread!

Now playing for Marconi in NSW NPL1.

Wow!