What I've been saying. The situation is dire.  This is a poor group of players. 

Having had a second look at then, using a replay button, my, and others, initial views of individual players and team performances were similar in some cases.

Others were quite different. Some are going to be really annoyed about some considerable  flaws in our newer players - some of them fan poster boys.

I'm  evaluating against Japan: 

* Technique - handling speed, first touch, striking the ball, ball carrying, 1v1 attacking and defensive skills;

*Game sense;

* Athleticism  and football specific conditioning; 

Most Japanese players were solid in all three facets, but our players weren't.

Aidan Hrustic

His technical quality with the ball at his feet, first touch, handling speed, ball carrying, 1v1 dribbling,  his free kick taking and striking the ball; are all  good. He is one of our best technicians.

However, by Socceroo standards his game sense was appalling against Japan. It was a major aspect in us losing the game. 

He played far too many risky square balls, which were intercepted on too many occasions. 

H e  doesn't   seem to have an awareness of opposition players around him, with suspect vision. As his teammates passed to him, he didn't move  towards them to receive the ball like he should have. By waiting in a stationary position , Japanese players intercepted balls he should have received.

In Ball Possession his offensive runs didn't create the optimum  diagonal passing lanes to support  the ball carrier before he passed it. Mooy and Rogic were so much better at this.

He frequently  seemed unaware of where the opposition build ups were occurring and reacted late to balls others could've intercepted. He often applied closing down pressure too late.

Hrustic's play in Ball Possession and Attacking Transitions  caused a very high number of turnovers over the game.

The best part of his game sense, is when receiving the ball at times he hit superb one touch passes with excellent body shape to  other Socceroo teammates. If all his Socceroo teammates had this ability our ball circulation would be much faster. So at times his handling speed, was outstanding. He can also pass very well over range - when he makes  the right decisions.

His game sense is inadequate for Defensive  Midfielder at international level.

The timing of his tackles are often late - conceding free kicks or failing to make  contact. Whereas a guy like Mark Milligan would anticipate the tackle much earlier and often  dispossess an opponent before he was comfortable in possession.

His technical  qualities and athleticism  are what  keeps him in the team.

Jason Davidson as a Left Back, also lacked game sense.

A lot of his mistakes were as a DM. He played there at times. I'll post how Aus changed their formation in  another post.   

Jackson Irvine

His game sense wasn't bad, but he was partially  culpable for the  first goal.

He lost control of the ball in  midfield through a poor touch, then in another sequence, failed to prevent the cross, through being wrongfooted, that went to the Japanese wide player who scored after Behich's  mishit touch.

His main problem is controlling the ball in the limited time and space that Japan applied at times in Squeezing, or  mishit passes under  same time and space pressure, that Mooy rarely would as a DM.

He won quite a few hard balls and at time times timed some good tackles, but he again struggles to jockey, delay and show nimble players at times. Jedi also struggled to do this, but his defensive positioning was vastly superior to Irvine's, and Jedi had terrific game sense, concentration and discipline in Ball Possession Opposition.

Irvine has improved and his passing over range  is quite good when he has more time and space on the ball. His aerial ability was good too. Moreover, he  made a few good intercepts ( but not enough like Milligan, Muscat, Jedi, Valeri would) from good reading of the game.

Aaron Mooy

Known much better to Socceroo  fans.

Quite a different player!

His technical qualities are close to the best in the team in terms of first touch, both footedness, both sides of the body,  handling speed, ball carrying, short and long passing, quick feet on the ball, striking the ball, etc.

His vision and game sense are usually very good too. He nearly always passes to the optimum player  eh when in possession . H e is also one of the few Socceroos who tackles off the correct foot, with correct body shape, nearly all the time.

His off ball runs in build  ups  going forwards are quick in response to the  ball carrier and often diagonal - so he can receive and scan the field  simultaneously.

Mooy's major issue - was in this Japanese game he  wasn't  match fit. A huge issue for Mooy is his lack of athleticism and acceleration off the mark, and slowness in changing direction . Relatively, he is quite slow over the turf and isn't very manoeuvrable. He can't beat people 1v1, despite having the skill, because of lack of acceleration off the mark. 

He often reads the tackle early and well, but struggles to get there in time. 

Mooy also made quite a number of intercepts through effective reading of play as a DM.

Mooy also works well in cohesion with other players around him. 

I agree with your observations Decentric. On the basis of it, it appears both Irvine and Hrustic would be much more of an 8 than a 6 and even higher up.

This is what bugs me why neither Jeggo nor Dougall got a start.

If anything Irvine should have swapped places with Mooy last night. Irvine played in that left side role against Jordan away and got the assist for Taggart.

I don't think we should see a Rogic, Hrustic, Mooy, Irvine midfield again. 

You really cant argue with this man for man we the gap is very wide 

In Ball Possession Aus played a 1-4-3-3 with the Defensive Midfield in the final third of the pitch.

A 4-2-3-1 in Ball Possession occurred further back in the pitch.

At times this evolved to a 4-3-2-1, with Hrustic dropping back taking a central position in the DM line, whilst Irvine went to the  right and Mooy went to the left.  This was in Ball Possession and at times  Ball Possession Opposition.

In Ball Possession in the second half Arnie went with the South American 4-4-2 with the box midfield, whilst Boyle and Taggart led the line. When the full backs pushed up it manifested as a 2-4-2-2.

........Irvine...................Hrustic

........Rogic...................Mooy

At times in Ball Possession Opposition, the standard flat midfield 4-4-2 manifested for  the Socceroos, instead of the 4-3-2-1.

Over the next few days,  I'll write up an analysis of  all  our players. 

I was genuinely shocked at Hrustic's appalling decision making.  I did not identify it first time watching it live though, with the excitement of the game . Both LBs Smith, and  formerly  Jason Davidson, have struggled in game sense too. 

No player is perfect.

Mooy is good technically and has terrific game sense, but his lack of athleticism made him one of the slowest players on the pitch from both teams against Japan. 

After observing this Japan game, I'm thinking Sains may be a good DM paired with Mooy. 

Tom Rogic

After most of us thought he had a mediocre game against Oman ( I did not really analyse when I watched the Oman replay) Rogic did a lit of good things against Japan.

His worst aspect was not being bale to disturb Japanese Build Ups in Ball Possession opposition and Defensive Transitions. 

However, in our Ball Possession, he frequently received the ball whilst being tightly marked, with a lot of physical Japanese  attention, rode the bumps and made some good ball carries, plus played some good  passes over range and rapid-fire passes in tight spaces . A lot of this was achieved with considerable pressure,  often with more than one player harassing him. He often beat one player, and was tackled by the second defender.

 In the first  few minutes on the edge of the box , Rogic was hacked down and inexplicably  wasn't  given the free kick! He was hacked down  as he was about to shoot.  He should have   worked the keeper more from his other shots in great scoring  positions though.

I also noticed his effective off the ball running in our build ups,  proactively  opening effective diagonal passing lanes to support the Aussie ball carrier.

Japan found Rogic a handful. 




Martin Boyle

A good defender in BPO and DTs in the attacking line, plus  he tracks back well.

I thought he had a good game, under very good defending and tight marking from the Japanese Left Back, who was a classy defender. Japan didn't give Boyle the latitude  he has had in other games for the Socceroos.  

Japan shut him down quite effectively. He didn't  receive the ball facing forwards as much as he would have liked, effectively being starved of sufficient ball. Having  said this, like Rogic, he received some balls played forward whilst running hard, very, very well.  Boyle  was also involved in a few very effective  passages of attacking interplay. He has quickly combined effectively with his teammates.  

Too slow. As I say, central midfielders needn’t be fast (unlike wide players). But having both of them there would make us way too sluggish in that area of the park. It’s asking the opposition to run literal rings around them.

Mooy is really out of it (fitness-wise). To start the game with him is right now is a mistake as it sets the wrong tone.

But I agree that Sainsbury has potential as a CDM. He could be paired with someone like Jeggo. That would improve our capacity to close down and to recycle the ball nicely.

Hrustic in CAM where he’s better-suited.

Mooy and Rogic stay on the bench and can come on for cameos.

Agreed John. I understand the thought process from arnie with the whole ‘put your best players on the pitch’ but I don’t think it worked.  We have always been at our best when we have one genuine DM who does all the dirty work and runs like a dog for 90 and the other who is better on the ball and not necessarily as good with the ugly stuff. 

Trent Sainsbury

Against Japan, Sains was one of the few in the back six, seven when Hrustic played in the DM line, who made intercepts through good reading of play.

Sains made these intercepts because he was often ahead of the game in speed of thought. By intercepts I don't mean reactive clearances.

Why I would like to try him as a DM? Because with Mooy, we have two players who read the game well, with considerable international experience  and  can screen the defence. Between them they'd average 5- 8 intercepts per game, which means breaking up a lot of opposition  attacks. The DM line is a problem for us ATM, and a weakness, despite having many DMs. 

Sains also has sufficient speed over the turf, and is reasonably agile.

Japan forced a lot of turnovers from  Hrustic in particular ( devoid of sufficient experience and game sense), Irvine, and to a lesser extent Mooy, in the DM line.
 
Sains made the mistake of ball watching where the Japanese player scored the second goal, as Sains didn't get enough boot onto the ball in the intended tackle from seeing the threat too late. It was a shocker - but he was more solid than anybody else in the back four and DM line against Japan, possibly apart from Mooy.

Sains has a decent  first touch; sufficient handling speed; passing over range; rapidfire  passing and   moving in tight spaces; is an adequate  ball carrier, plus he is a good aerialist. These are good technical qualities to have, and, with his tackling, 1v1  and positioning qualities, this is   quite a diverse  skill set for a DM. Sains more  than matches Jedi ( quite a success at DM for the Socceroos).

Adam Taggart

With a second look, whereas live not realising quite who had done what, Taggart had quite a good game as central striker against Japan. 

His major issue was not being able to shake his markers, often two CBs. Nevertheless, he managed quite a few deft lay offs under intense physical pressure.Taggart also combined well with players around him in attacking interplay. Shame he didn't score, with the keeper save of his shot hitting the post.

The ball just wasn't often quite in the  position for him to have adequate body shape for a shot, but he did quite well. He needs to learn from Cahill a few elbow nudges, shirt pulling on the blind side of the referees and stepping  on defenders' toes to gain a metre.  

Taggart could probably check ( feint and move quickly in the opposite direction) better, but he doesn't get off side much either with his clever angled runs, which are sometimes a good decoy.

Others thought we didn't  Squeeze as intensively as we could have done, but Taggart's closing down of space in our BPO kept the Japanese defence honest, despite not creating as many turnovers as we would like. A bit more height would help his aerial prowess, and a bit more muscle and strength would him to hold the ball up a bit better, like Bruno Fornaroli.  

Harry Souttar

I've already  said quite  a bit about Souttar's lack of nimbleness when jockeying, delaying and showing nimble ball players, but Japan made the mistake of not targeting him.

In  1v1 aerial duals against Japan he was outstanding, but when the ball hit the ground his 1v1 ability diminished markedly. Harry  lost a number of contests against Japanese attackers, where he had  an advantageous body position to win. This was evidenced in one of Behich's chases, where the blond opponent got a shot on goal, but it was Harry who lost prior 1v1 contest where the ball was played to Behich's opponent.

Harry caused a few turnovers from being closed down quickly when he was in possession , and also mishit  a few balls off his foot leading to Japanese corners. He is steady on the ball in sufficient time and space, and usually makes good decisions on the ball  when he has time to think.

 Next time against Japan, it could be an option for Arnie to play Degenek or  Deng ( who was outstanding  in the Olympics) as a more manoeuvrable CB.

Having said this, Harry was better than I thought after looking at the replay. He  didn't  make the horrific  mistakes Hrustic did  either. His partnership with Sains is not cohesive  enough -  yet.   

As I said, I back the idea of Sainsbury at CDM.

However, I don’t back Sainsbury + Mooy in that pairing. As a pair, they’re too slow. Sainsbury, while quicker than Mooy, isn’t quick or nimble enough to compensate for Mooy’s sluggishness.

We agree they both have football IQ. But they lack mobility (Mooy especially) and would be expected to cover too much ground. If I were lining up on the other team as a CAM or winger who cuts inside, I’d be quite happy to have Mooy + Sainsbury there.

By contrast, Sainsbury + Jeggo would offer more mobility to go with that football intelligence

I'm not sure Sains is that slow over the turf, QF?

In the case of Mooy and Sains as prospective  DMs, their speed of thought can compensate for any perceived lack of speed over the turf. If players are reading the play well, they anticipate where to be ahead of players with less insight, that more than compensates for speed over the turf to correct mistakes.

This applied to Aidan Hrustic against Japan - quick over the turf, but slow to read the game as a DM.

My impression is that Sainsbury’s pace is about average. That’s fine but you need to be more than average to make up for Mooy’s slowness.

Mooy was always slow. Now he’s unfit and hasn’t been playing for a while. Not a good idea for him ti start.

I agree with you re speed of thought. But neither Mooy nor Sainsbury is Iniesta or Xavi. They read the game better than most of the Aussies. But they’re not prodigies. So I don’t think their football IQ “more than compensates for speed over the turf”.

We still have a cluttered midfield. As Sainsbury and Mooy are (collectively) slow, when they’re near each other constantly it won’t declutter the midfield. When there are gaps between Sainsbury and Mooy that’s a huge vulnerability for us in the centre of midfield.

You need somebody who can close down space quickly. Speed of thought + speed over the turf.

Say if Sainsbury finds himself  isolated, then Australia is way better off if Jeggo or somebody similar is coming back to help him, than if Mooy is.

I can! Did you notice the delight and massive relief amongst the Japanese crowd when that second goal was scored/scrambled in the last minutes of the game. You would have thought they knocked off the European Champions.

All in all I thought the boys did well, considering they mainly play in lower leagues than the best of the Japs, but certainly not disgraced.

My impression is that Sainsbury's pace is a little above average for a footballer playing in the 6 or 8 position. Certainly no Leckie but very respectable.

Agree

Tell that to Arnie lol, he already told the press Maty Ryan will be socceroos #1 at WC.... who does that?????

If Arnie does not display confidence then what is the point. Anyways, I think the odds are that they will (make the finals)

Crucify me if I am wrong in 4 months time - but that is my summation as to where we are at!

Part of the problem was that in BP Mooy would float central, and then when Behich or others lost possession there would be this gap behind as Mooy was too slow to recover position. Mooy was better at keeping possession on first touch, but his lack of pace and tendency to constantly back pass when under pressure meant that there was little reason for the Japanese to consider him a threat. His once vaunted dead ball skills weren't there in corners either and his distribution pretty average.
Behich was not having his best day. The first goal he found himself neither marking the player or between the player and the goal. The second goal Sainsbury seemed to become hypnotized by the ball. 
It seemed odd that we were very obviously just holding them out, but we didn't bring on subs. After 15 it was obvious that Mooy wasn't working and that the Japanese had Behichs number, yet we persisted. We sort of looked like we had no Plan B, other than to persist with Plan A and cross our fingers. 

Good points made, Overroared.

I would have thought that too.

Players like Kruse, Leckie and Smith, are/have been some of the fastest players over the turf  in world  football.

Big, big mistake!

As a coach on  match days and the training ground, I think Annie is very good.

However, it is his  pronouncements in the media at times that are a big problem.

What about the possible improvement of other Aussie keepers in the imminent future? 

If Ryan gets injured his decision changes. If Ryan starts playing badly his decision changes. If a brilliant keeper shows themselves in the meantime maybe his decision changes (Arnie does like stability). We would all applaud the change as good/better management and not say he is a liar for it.

For now, Arnie is saying "I have faith in you Matty - the goals conceded are not on you. Keep the hunger, keep working hard. Don't drop your game between now and then because I'll be needing you then".

Any aspiring keeper will be telling themselves they are going to have to earn that place off him.

All good.

And we are going to the next World Cup.

And before too much water passes under the bridge Decentric 2 - thanks for your effort with the game and player analyses.

Your technical expertise is way beyond mine and I find them informative and welcome - even when you are wrong ;).

They are. Or at least, they’re very fast as footballers go.

But it’s not a question of a player having the pace of Sainsbury or the pace of Smith, Mbappé, etc. There are too many footballers to count whose pace lies between that of Sainsbury and that of Smith.

I still think Sainsbury’s pace is average for a footballer. That’s not a problem. You don’t need to be quick as a central defender or as a CDM (often the best aren’t quick). Think Bonucci, Chiellini, Scholes, Iniesta, Xavi, Pirlo, etc.

But Mooy is basically a slowcoach. And an
unfit one at that. So have Mooy + Sainsbury there is courting disaster. They can’t close down space quickly enough as a pair. Big problem when Sainsbury find himself in 2 vs 1 and Mooy is making his way back.

The mistake that Arnie made was to try to squeeze all of Australia’s best players over the past five years onto the pitch at once. To preserve with Mooy in that way (as a starter) is to make that same mistake again.

Why not have some faith in other players such as Jeggo and Dougall?