Wait, Luongo in for Dougall.

Very true. Arzani a prime example of not being yourself post injury. 

Due to Iran's authorities attacking women at the stadium there are calls for a world cup ban.

Won't happy but Italian media saying it should and therefore as highest ranked they'd be in.

If previous cases are to go by, forfeiture or bans normally mean the next highest ranked team in the respective group goes in so it'd be the UAE.

I'd rather the next highest ranked team in the confederation on group points, Australia.

I wonder if fifa will even make a statement on the matter in Iran. 

Lol.  That'd be utterly absurd.  

Is there any chance that Adam Taggart returns for these matches? I know he has had a long term injury but can’t remember when he is due back in action. 

Dougall sucks Imo and genreau is no dm.
goodwin Offers more than Mabil these days


-----------------------------Ryan-----------------------------
Atkinson------Sainsbury-——-Souttar--------—Elder
-----------------------------Teague------------------———
---------------------Hrustic----—-Rogic-----------------
Boyle----------------—— Juric------------------Goodwin

Maybe it’s time to give young socceroos captain teague a shot. We seem to have none in good form at dm.
Mcgree 2nd half, replacing whoever’s worst from Hrustic/Rogic

Teague is a great prospect. Have you watched Dougall for Blackpool. He does well like Irvine if played a little further up as seen in the playoff final. It's true Hrustic, Genreau and others are so exposed and panicky being deep as a 6. I'd rather build on Teague and others before Stensness becomes the next wasteful battering ram.

What do you base your "Dougall sucks" opinion on? Super consistent in the Championship & offers more than Jeggo in that #6 position. 

apology accepted mate, I hear you, frustrating times re football wise.

I'm curious all the GA blame amongst all here for he's actually in the same circumstance as Ange put us last quali.
I'm not saying he's any better, far from it and at the same time our players are on that edge of being capable but not.
Its a double edged sword.

If THAT is the squad to be picked, there is cause for optimism. Let's just hope Arnie can get them playing a more dynamic and attack minded brand of football. Perhaps even sharpen up his half time speech, the 2nd halves seem to be where we fall apart.

Sadly it will be something like this.....

-----------------------------Ryan-----------------------------
Grant------Sainsbury----Degenek-----------Behich
---------------------Mooy-----McGowan------------------
--------------------------Jeggo-----------------------
  Duke-----------------Duke-------------------Duke

Disagree. Qatar is the host nation of the world cup. the playoff format has changed due to COVID. I think its more than reasonable to play the playoffs at the location of the tournament.

Sure, we might go into the UAE game at a slight disadvantage due to them being neighbours to the host nation. But if we get past the UAE, then we would probably have the slight advantage of playing Peru in a region we are used to.


The irony of you suggesting Matt Ryan should start some type of protest. His main rival (Mitch Langerak) retired due to this very reason and should be the number 1 keeper right now based on form and minutes at club level.

But putting the irony aside, there is some merit in what you are saying. Someone needs to have a word to Arnold about his squad selection. I’m not sure if it should be anyone from the playing squad coz it’ll look like the tail wagging the dog. But maybe James Johnson can orchestrate some type of review to overlook team selection and tactics leading up to June 7.

Dougall is one of the slowest players in the socceroos midfield. The entire list of dms in the socceroos need to be cleaned out and we need to throw in some new ones. Teague is just one I suggested
we certainly need more pace and hunger in the squad on top of the skill and creation of Rogic, Mcgree, Hrustic. Goodwin
Boyle is one, but not many others stand out. Would be good to see tilio get more minutes and Hammond get his shot.

Yeah nah. Surely we learned from the Japan game and not play inexperienced players for a world cup playoff. Our starting midfield should be out of Hrustic, Mooy, Rogic, Irvine, McGree and Jeggo. If you're gonna pluck someone from left field, you would look at a Luongo or a Bozanic. 

The first step is sorting out the midfield, whatever we go the front 3 and back 4 have to connect well with them.

In recent games its chopped and changed and therefore affected the rest of the team's balance.

Personally I would go with Irvine, Genreau and either with Hrustic and Rogic as the No.10.

Genreau is an roaming playmaker and outside of Mooy we dont have many in this squad with that skill set, he would connect well from defence to attack so for me he should be starting. 

But I have a feeling Arnie might want more bite in there if he feels they won't control games with possession so someone like Devlin or Jeggo playing next to Irvine would not surprise me.

I wonder if Souttar would be fit for the June games? He would help and give our defence some size.

I don’t see any dms on that list apart from jeggo who hasn’t been any good since his injury.
weve had irvine, jeggo, Dougall, stesness all have a go, but none have been any good.
our Problem is not cm or am, it’s dm, w, s, fb.
luongo deserves another shot but he’s just another cm, a position we’ve got pretty well covered.

Expecting two or three to drop out with PCR. Sainsbury, Boyle, players like that. UAE to field the strongest possible XI. Inevitable.

If you were coach of Roos for this match who is in your midfield? All areas of pitch were not good last 2 games but midfield has to work for win against UAE and then Peru even more so.

-Mooy has the skills but lacks a bit of engine recently. -Irvine is the opposite of Mooy.
-Stensness and Metcalfe had trouble against Japan and SA which is no surprise given they were on debut! 

Stensess will never be up to it. Chronically lacking in pace. 

Want:      
Dougall Luongo
      Rogic


Expect:
Stensness/Hrustic Irvine
         Rogic

Look, Stensness will have club form by then but I fear he's going to be the next sloth we put in our midfield that will be a traffic cone. If Jedinak weren't a leader, he'd have been out of the team very quickly. The same goes for Milligan. I love both of them and they got better with age but god were there some very frustrating times. Milligan redeemed himself massively in 2015 and then went on well and was fortunate we didn't have any better centre backs. Jedinak's leadership was paramount but Luongo should have started against Peru.

Until we can find a 6 who can pass and defend then we'll have to persist with the battering ram. It's true from analysis that Hrustic and Irvine get massively exposed as the last man so they're not a 6. Metcalfe and Genreau are great prospects for the next cycle. I'd like McGree and even Hrustic to be out wide for now to have fewer headaches as I want to build something around Metcalfe and Genreau by 2026.

Luongo, Mooy, Hrustic, Mcgree, Rogic and 2 TBD

On the line
Devlin, Irvine, Genreau

Cut
Stesness, Dougall, Jeggo, Metcalfe, Holland

Test…
…

I'm not sure, Ange had a tougher group imo, Thailand were a banana skin for teams, SA got a lucky penalty against them at home and they drew the UAE and us.
I also think the current team is better than what he had and more suited to Angeball imo. Although he did have cahill lol

Great comments. Why anyone rates Stesness is absolutely beyond me. Traffic cone is exactly right. The fact that Arnold rates him is the same kiss of death. 

Arnold said he finds the 6 the crucial position and that's why he felt Stensness was a great fit. I thought he was the worst of the best for the Mariners last season. I want him to succeed but he's already become an annoyance.

As an aside,  I noticed our potential second playoff opponents (Peru) have a friendly lined up with New Zealand on 5th June. Onthing on the radar from our esteemed coach. Asleep at the wheel I guess.

There will be time for a practice game pre UAE. Qatar don't have anything scheduled so that'd make sense. It'd be better to go straight to Qatar but I have the suspicion of a UAE camp beforehand. It's a popular destination.

We have a pre-game vs Jordan.

So   FA   are   organising  a  friendly   for  the  Socceroos ?

If  so , bravo.  It's   only  been  3  years ...

Really don’t buy this whole debate around whether we have the cattle to qualify.  

4 weeks out I'll call my squad now. Sadly the favourites will get picked and probably even start. Consider a lot of players can double in position due to versatility so it's not as thing as it may appear. We know spots will be wasted on Grant, Stensness and Duke. 

I've gone Wright for experience but two games hopefully the regulars will be fine. JRB has been playing left back for Accrington but only to get minutes. He's a CB. Leckie and Dougall emergency RB. 

It's just confusing. 
Maclaren: allergic to gold shirt 
Taggart: fit in 4 weeks? 
Ruka: Vaccinated? 

Lots of other younger ones can make the Olyroos upcoming gig. 

Ryan, Vukovic, Birighitti 

Atkinson Sainsbury Degenek JRB Wright Behich Elder 

Rogic Hrustic McGree Luongo Dougall Genreau Irvine 

Boyle Leckie Goodwin Mabil Cummings Tilio