Yep, Pim was a Wilkshire 1-on-1 away from being our best coach ever. 

Ange's legacy is turning over the squad (overdue) and winning the Asian Cup. The rest is actually a poor record.

Ange had a shocking record leading into the 2015 Asian cup. He played 12 games for 2 wins a draw and 9 losses. He then won the Asian Cup with 5 wins and 1 loss in the final group game - his pinnacle.

After the Asian Cup  he then had 2 draws in friendlies and went into the second round of World Cup qualifying against comparative Asian minnows,  Then 6 WCQs for the rest of 2015 including 1 win over Tajikistan, 2 wins over Krygyzstan, 2 wins over Bangladesh and a 2-0 loss to Jordan.

Pim was very negative. He drained the excitement from the Socceroos. It was often painful to watch. His results were good compared to what came after, but he shook the faith in the national team with his unrelenting dourness. He made us boring. 

All this would be easily forgiven if not for the extreme small-mindedness and cowardice of the Germany game. That was a bridge too far. He was dead to most of us after that. 

I always had the impression with pim and holger that they didnt have belief in the players. Just try and grind out results, which is why when ange came along promising to play with attack many were happy. Its just that he seemed to lose confidence and instead we ended up with stubborn dead possession, risk averse and slow transition. 

The jordan game was 1 game. Beating palestine is hardly proof of anything much. The syria game will be a far better test. Following games as well.

Pim certainly didn't at the time by saying training at an Euro club was better than playing in the HAL.

All you have to do is read this thread to see the "coach does it all" brigade actually believe that every single coach Australia has had since 2006 has been rubbish with the exception of Ange during a 6 week period

There is a reason why American Samoa are a long way from even qualifying for a world cup let alone winning it - regardless of which coach is in charge. There is also a reason why teams like Brazil (with rare exceptions) have been consistently at the top for well over 50 years - regardless of which coach is in charge

When you play a sport across grades like International football then the grade of your players is going to be fundamental to success. You only have to look at the current Asian Cup to see how the exact same coach with the exact same players lost to Jordan, but then led the team to a 3 goal win against ranked 99th Palestine. The difference wasnt coaching methods, it was the gap in grades between the teams being played

I'm not saying the coach doesnt play a role. The role of the coach is more important in football than other codes of football. But player choice, strategy and formation are limited to the grade of the squad - and it is undeniable that this grade has dropped sharply since the demise of the NSL and introduction of the  AFL  NRL  A League

Until Australia establishes a serious competitive national league then it doesnt matter which coach is steering this sinking ship. You can believe that every coach appointed has been rubbish. I prefer to look into the actual problem

It needs more though. It needs more teams at the top level. It needs a level or two above the state NPLS and it needs a proper youth league. We simple do not have the number of spots available for the talent that is there and that is exacerbated by managers who recycle existing players.  

And yet not a single Socceroo in that squad has said anything like that. Les Murray’s claim that Lucas Neill did was rejected by Neill and Murray issued an apology and retraction.

Let’s be clear on what the NT coach’s role is. It’s to get results. That is it. That is what he gets judged on.

Pim played the WC for 120 Minutes with 10 men too. The players sent off were Australia 1 and 2 best ever in our history.

Who he selected and how we played got the best result possible from the players he had available. That’s how he gets judged.

Postecoglu made me feel we would concede a goal every time the opponent was in or half

It was truer

Who, the guy who gets caught sending a spy to opposition training?

You're right about Pim's record and his achievements with the National team, he knew how to get the results.  But I can't get over the drubbing we suffered to Germany (it seems he wasn't prepared for the speed of Germany). 

I'm surprised you also didn't say that kicking off the HAL season in October contributed to all the problems.

Germany put 4 past England and another 4 past Argentina in the same competition...  Results in perspective, whilst hard to swallow a thumping in the first game of a world cup, when playing against a side that good it's no disgrace.

It would have been a lot easier to swallow if the team were set up to have a go. His tactics were extremely negative and he was obviously going for a light loss or, if we were lucky, 0-0, but we got pumped anyway. I would have preferred a 6-1 loss if we at least showed some intent. Instead we showed nothing with a relatively decent squad and got humiliated. It was a disgrace. 

I'm still waiting for your 1st intelligent post on this forum, Derider. 

tho i get where you are coming from NO ONE wanted us to go out and have ago 

the truth is i wanted us to park the bus Jose Mou style and sneak a 0-0 or possibly hit on set pieces Germany are a superior team to us there is no shame in admiting that. even us at our best during our golden generation against Germany at there worst in the past decade i'd still back them to beat us So that is why you need tactics!

People often forget this but Switzerland defeated spain in the 2010 world cup in the opening game because they parked the bus and rod there luck, thats not even mentioning Greeces park the bus Euro 2004 win!

I didnt like Verbeek but you got to respect that he did a good job overall though he got it wrong against Germany, football is about results and he breezed us to the World cup and managed to get 4 points in a relatively hard group in which Kewells red was really harsh and if that never occurred we would be saying Verbeek is one of the greatest coaches we had because we would of beat Ghana a side that went on to have a really good world cup 


 

I don't like you either. 

WC 2014 we got no results. That world Cup is why I watch my NT. Have a Fucking go and entertain me. Results arrived six months later with a trophy in hand. We obviously judge our NT manager differently. 

Well you must be happy with every team that beats us saying what a "difficult opponent we were, but....". 

I'd rather them say "We're bitterly disappointed by that loss because we outplayed them in every way, but they go through and we don't."

But we do go through

Bring back Bert if we lose tonight.    :D  

i'd just be happy to see us win a World cup game again we have not won a match in 6 games! the last team we beat was Serbia in a bit of a dead rubber 

id take post match comments like this from the opposition "Australia parked the bus and we deserved to win but they got the result and that is football" 

Im sick of losing - nothing pisses me off more then when fans and media say 'we put up a good fight against ________' but we were unlucky to lose - We werent f***n unlucky the only game i'd say we have been unlucky in was Ghana and thats back in 2010!

Bump.

OK, Seems most opinions in this forums hinges on if you score or not/win or not, eg: everyone hated Maclaren till he scored. so today we won - Arnie IN! :P

He's done the absolute minimum to not get sacked IMO - got through the group.

It will be ordinary if we get bundled out in the R16 but given our injury list and that we could be up against JPN it wouldn't be a disgrace. If we play UZB we should expect to go to the quarters at least.

But all that aside - Arnold IN for the WC cycle.

Interestingly, if we avoid JPN, we could be playing UZB then UAE at worst before the semi against KOR. Would be a decent run given our start.

I'm not convinced by Maclaren at all. Giannou came on and instantly looked far more dangerous.

Well there are 8 countries knocked out, they would have been rapted doing the bare minimum getting through to R16.
I wonder how many competing NT's have suffered similar injuries to start up players not available entire tournament.
We've made it with with a number of newbies and are only getting to know each others game and coach.
Nice pass imo at this stage.
Bigger challenge is going further now.
You quote preferring to play UZB, 1 game to go but their GF from 2 games is 6 and GA 1.
Whereas Jap in a rebuilding phase similar to us have GF of 4 and GA 2.
Don't think it matters which we play - with our young side anything could happen.
GA Pass for me at this stage.

Edit yer SFC1987, Macca missed that peach cross from Grant, after his boasting he can head that was a sitter lol.......
I would give Giannou a start next.
 

I agree and for the record I am firmly in the "Jamie has yet to convince me" camp.  Giannou got involved straight away, couple of off sides but was never missing in action or overawed. 

Agree - Giannou's threat looked ever-present. Maclaren seemed to pop up and disappear a lot. It might be just because Giannou has been running at tiring defence's but he just looks more likely to finish.

I suspect he can also really head a ball, not just say he can.

Surely, Giannou will be in with a decent shout to start ahead of Macca in the R16 clash. The big guy has looked far more dangerous in his 10-20 minute cameos  than what Macca has looked in all of his 11 caps to date