I've been a bigger defender of Arnie than any.  I'll admit he does not have what is a very ordinary team playing better than the sum of its parts, something Ange achieved 2014-15 at least.  He seems out of ideas and as the the qualification campaign has fallen apart his team selections have grown increasingly conservative and frustrating. How Leckie starts over Goodwin, for example, is bewildering. This has been a standard tactic of every Socceroos manager since doing Asia though, with the coach picking the players he is familiar with the campaign reaches its end stage.  

I do feel though both Ange and Arnie did what the previous foreign coaches didn''t do, which was bring in new blood.  Arnie should be commended for bringing Souttar and Boyle into the fold, much like Ange was lauded for rejuvenating the squad in 2014.

I get the anger, but don't think its fair that he is going to get blamed if Volpato picks Italy. I genuinely don't think any other manager would be acting differently.  

What   a   Joke ...

This is a fair comment and sadly what seems to be on the cards... In fairness to Arnie, what has he got to offer a stary eyed 18 year old? ..... a few minutes in a dead end qualifier, then locked in to a Soceroos team who is heading for a decade of pain from the looks of things. The kid is launching a serie A career and missing in action for national team duties can only harm his chances of solidifying a starting 11 spot. Do well at Roma and an Azzuri call up isnt unheard of ..... I don't blame him wanting to take a punt... The old ancestry.com scouting system only seems to work on players that wouldn't get a run at their alternative national teams....

https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/football-news-2022-cristian-volpato-must-make-right-decision-says-graham-arnold-socceroos-will-he-be-capped-italy/news-story/c7f8b88a18547636dad373fac4d4d519

Calling it now.

Australia will not qualify for the 2022 World Cup. 

Hopefully when Arnold is gone a better coach can achieve something with Roos at ACup next year 🤞

Arnie has been generous with caps.  I do appreciate that he tries to give everyone in the squad a run out on the pitch when he can.  Imo it's a healthy habit for NT coaches, because you never know who will really step up until they are out there.

I expect he's hosing it down so when he does give the kid a cap he can say that he deserved it and it was the right decision for the game - not just a pre-emptive cap to lock him to Australia

that's the general sentiment 

I was calling for friendlies in London last year lol, FFA has some hell bent idea they have to be played in Oz so they can make some $$$ its stupid. I'm just saying why it happened is all.

If we don't qualify for world cup we must at least set the precedent of reaching the AC final regularly. This should be the requirement for the next coach. We are good enough to get to the final.

How many caps has he handed out?  I'm interested if he has beaten Holger who handed out 28 caps (including the 2 from his squad when he got sacked in the few days between games).

This. We need to offer something in return as well. 

Keeping in mind that Holger probably had more friendly games, as well as the East Asian Cup (or whatever that smaller tournament is called where we used a predominantly A League based squad, blooded Mooy, Taggart etc) 

Agreed. Sydneyfc1987, those are some valid points you make. Graham Arnold has done a great job at bringing in new talent.

And I guess we could (maybe should) say his man management skills look good.

A lot of the stuff to do with Cristian Volpato is outside Arnie’s control. Especially,, his relationship with Australian football vs Italian football.

What I’m saying is that, at this point, it’s probably a Hail Mary in terms of getting Volpato back. That means throwing the kitchen sink. That means offering Volpato a place in that squad with a clear message to him that you intend for him to have a role in the match against Japan.

As our other attacking options are so lacklustre, I don’t think that’s even that big a call.

We're actually looking pretty good for the next decade, if you go through the list of promising young players coming through - like Valpato. The sooner we "rebuild" & get rid of the dead weight, the better. What Arnie can offer him, is that he'll be a pivotal part of that rebuild - long term starting #10. Souttar & Boyle have been great pick ups by Arnie BTW. 

 Nice one captain obvious

How   many   times   did   we   qualify    under   the   old  FFA ?   4  out  of  4 , wasn't   it ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu97N0KsIB0

Mark Schwarzer said "100% Cristian Volpato is good enough to play for Socceroos"

Unless Volpato declines offer there is no excuse for Arnold not to cap him for Japan/SA game - Roos are gonna lose or draw at best so please try something different Arnold

As we have seen all round the world with bright young players - comes a time they need to make that big decision be it to a big Club or NT.
Especially those with dual passports, Volpato is one of many.
Yep I'd trow him the kitchen sink.
As some have said its out of GA's hands really, its in Volpato's family hands and a country like ours that has lacked players playing in top leagues let alone an 18yr old doing so and yet to mature IMO do you sit back and wait ?
Do we resign the fact thats all we can do ? and likely lose him ?
If he was playing 3rd level league he hardly would be mentioned - we have a kid playing for Roma, ressies to 1st's IF I was GA I'd offer him the Cap and role in these coming 2 games what do we have to lose alternately we lock up a new Roo.
It forces the issue the kid making his mind up, play for the country you were born in or the country your blood comes from ?
I'm sure its not easy but we need to force the hand.

part of me doesn't want him called up as it will stall his roma development, almost want him to not worry about this world cup and focus on the next. At least by then we might have a half decent squad.

Tend to agree 

he pretty much fielded an entire socceroos B squad for the east asian cup = probably capped 15+ players just there

Tell me something, are you from the same cesspit of fuckwittery as the other idiot.  

Yep. All of this is just a distraction from a player who may or may not be interested in Australia anyway.  If someone is not 100% on board then why beg?  

We kind of have to beg - these type of players don't come along very often for us, so if we leave him to develop he could get to the point where he comes into calculations for Italy - around the time of qualifying for the next WC!! 

We should have more self-respect than that. If he wants to turn his back in the country that he was born and raised in, then he’s not a real Australian who’s committed to the cause.

Hopefully he does want to play with us but if he doesn’t then meh, move on and pick someone who does.

I have those thoughts as well - hence my point lets get an answer sooner than later.
Then we either rejoice or wash our hands.

Volapto not in Italy extended Euro squad but I wonder about their youth squads. Surely get it done this window for Australia. Soe of these threads are 2 years old. That's how long this has been going on for.

Even then, I think it still needs to be 3 competitive games to lock in (outside of a tournament finals)

Yep exactly so it's somewhat for nought. Could easily come into camp and play twice and then stall again playing his options. Italy squad with many changes to last tournament but in attack the age is a bit over 25 in general. 

Which might be good for him. Gets us closer to locking him in, plus he gets to experience a national team camp to help him decide if he wants to stay onboard.