Right now I think the player most capable of that - when fully fit and playing regularly - is Tilio. Not sure  about his defensive work. Nisbet also has been impressive to date and who knows where Irankunda will end up. Some promising o/s guys too.

Im pretty sure Behich was playing as the #3 for Lebanon the other night .... hahahahahaha  pisstake obvs but I did do a spit-take when I say Aziz in a red jersey ...lol

Nisbet would make a world of difference - someone who can hold the ball and play a pass.

Haven't been impressed with Tilio on recent viewings.

dr. b, sure watching Tilio here shows he has the attacking prowess what I'm talking about trouble is doing it at NT levels against better opponents/backlines and compressed.
Comes down to the support play and or putting himself in that attacking movement.
At this stage I'm seeing a promising player and having bad luck moving forward and I feel our NT play isn't easy to work with.....

Nisbet, he has stood out for his size for sometime at CCM and now aserting himself locally, I agree he has the type of play/player I'm looking for, will he break through ?, will he manage better against stronger/fitter defenders/midfielders than in the AL will be the test and importantly will he allow himself mentally at times to play freely in that attacking 1/3 of the pitch he could cause damage - we need a player like this not to play to the script, throw out the instructions ad lib have a go.

Irakunda, yer well at 18yrs we wait and see but as I've mentioned seen promise many times in the past.
Wishful thinking as I'm nearing retirement.
Look at our fapping over 17yrs Kuol All Stars game vs Barca.
Freedom, the kid went for broke played his natural game and got the service - got a highlight reel you'd wish for as a young up and comer.
Toons sign him up - loaned out as expected, since that signing depending wiki is up to date shows a total of just 23 appearances between Hearts and Velendam.
2 goals not that I care about the strike rate but its the lack of games after so much fan fare and promise.

Alot of talk due to our high expectations its a revolving "its coming" - wait for the current Olyroos, ok we wait and wait - whilst other fellow Asian NT's seem to be looking more promising whereas sometime ago we're far behind us.

Interesting stats

2017 Ange's Socceroos vs Thailand world cup qualifiers in Melbourne

Socceroos 43 shots/ Thailand 4 shots
Socceroos 13 shots on target/Thailand 1

Final score
Socceroos 2-1 Thailand


2024 Arnie's Socceroos vs Indonesia Asian cup in Qatar

Socceroos 7 shots/Indonesia 5
Socceroos 4 shots on target/Indonesia 1

Final score
Socceroos 4-0 Indonesia 

I was at Thai game. Roos hit the woodwork about 5 times- just wouldn’t go in- was pissing rain too- could have easily been 6-1 

What's your point? 

Entertainment: Ange 9 5/10. Fans were loving it. Attacking like a wave after wave.  Arnie ball is 4/10 fans are hating the current team.  One of the most boring style of football but it's quite effective.


The point is
Which style do you want?

The socceroos have improved a lot in depth but our ceiling isn't any higher than it was in 2006. In 2009 Verbeek played an all A-league team against Kuwait and lost at home. I believe an all a-league team these days would comfortably get past Kuwait at home 
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/kuwait-stuns-a-league-socceroos-20090306-ge7pxq.html

Youth development takes a lot of time. The national Curriculum is still quite new, as are our youth academies, and league too. Scouts are noticing an improvement which is why Belgium, Scotland and German teams are now signing our young talent. 

My Starting 11 for shits & giggles:

2 decades isnt exactly "new" mate.  in 7 years it will have been running the same time as the semi pro, shambolic, corrupt, non televised NSL....  Belgium, Scotland and German teams may be signing youth now players but 2 decades ago that was English teams. 

I doubt Gauci will start - I hope he starts in the U23 Asian cup next month and in the June qualifiers. I'd like to see Deng again but eventually I think RB will be Strain and Atkinson. 

As for the midfield trio, I'd like to see us playing 2 #10 with Hrustic and Nisbet - if not all the time - I'd want to see it as a change up. Maybe O'Neill would be a better option for breaking up play if that happened instead of Irvine.  

Gauci is overage unfortunately. Hall is impressive but Bilokapic has that senior experience despite his clumsiness. I'd love to see a midfield of O'Neill, Nisbet and Hrustic.

It feels like having McGree, Goodwin and Hrustic on the pitch at the same time saturates the amount of good play that is possible. We've got to try this more and more but having one or two on the bench leaves us a lot of versatility in the game.

All right, so if your point is which style of play would I rather watch - 100% I'd rather watch attacking football. But Arnie's job isn't to entertain us, his job is to somehow win football games with a ragtag playing group, that at this point in time doesn't include anyone playing in a top 5 league. Ange had a few PL players, peak Rogic, Leckie was playing in the Bundesliga & our greatest ever goalscorer for most of that WC qualifying campaign. 

Mooy as well, back end of kruse and jedi

Im sorry to hear that. The oz team should be the pinacle of joy

I have watched replays of every roo game since the 90s and i think there is a difference in the kewell, bresciano, neil era where you see some skills that i would do anything to see an oz team be able to do that again

I feel like since the gg aged in about 2009 till today we havent had that. I love ange, but i rewatched the asian cup and despite our victory and tikki takka style, we were a bit boring to watch because we lacked skills. All coaches we have had a really polishing a weak playing group for 15 years

A lot of our current players are 24 to 25 so they should improve, especially in oz where we have a short season we seem to produce a few late bloomers.

The early career trajectories of the olyroos is better than our current lot, but without the cream like dukes, aloisi and kewell (although circati has had an early career better than any cb in our history).

So i have hope that in the next few years our team will be half way between its current standard and the gg standard with better coaching and more battle hardened

In around 2008 craig foster said we are the only league in the world where the top league has no connection to youth pathways and grass roots. We also had no domestic transfer system meaning that there was not enough incentive for a league clubs to scout and develop young players, or for state leagues to do likewise. We introduced the ntc and some academies around the same time and those are finally producing players. But we have lost a decade and a half. 

Hopefully the nst also makes a difference as well as the hypothetical longer season a couple of years from now.

In the end it is difficult to entertain without top level players and we have been through a lot of pain as a football community with some of the decisions made that are hurting us now.

Having said that im glad we are at a stage where we can win quite a few games against wc quality opposition. Its just tough against deep blocks right now

It is because if hypothetically we were to have an unlimited budget with the best academies and coaches it still won't have changed the senior team for many more years. The league has been growing in quality over the years, and now we are looking at getting a 2nd division. We are making progress however slow.

We don't have that duke anymore but we do have a player who's well known in J2.

mitch duke is like milligan having a journeyman club career but being surprisingly decent for the a league. Watching those old roos match I couldn't believe that viduka was as poor as he was. Duke's all round game and scoring ability for the roos is better despite their club careers being as different as christian vieri and max vieri!
Kewell, despite being double marked, along with cahill, bresciano, neill, grella, lazaridis were all a joy to watch

Not a bad idea.

 I haven't looked at a replay of the Socceroos v Lebanon, as I've been a bit busy with other things.

Another member of this forum has been sending replays of the WAFF Under 23 comp with Aus playing against Iraq and Egypt.

I was quite disappointed with the senior Socceroos' performance  in terms of build ups and maintaining the ball against Lebanon. Ostensibly, the pitch was tricky according to Arnie.  There were too many turnovers.

Notwithstanding, the under 23s are a breath of fresh air. The types of player that  Berger, Baan,  and the FFA Tech Dept wanted to create in 2011, after 8, 9,  10 years of French/Spanish/Dutch style coaching , is now there for all to see.

I'm still coming to terms with the names of  many of the Aus players aged  21, 20, 19 and under, but many of the youngsters are already decidedly better than the current Socceroos at building up in structured possession  in  tight spaces and under significant off the ball Squeezing pressure.

Most of the 21s and under have faster handling speed, a more secure first touch, are more comfortable playing  with both feet and on both sides of the body, have superior body shape,  move more quickly into space to  open  passing lanes to support the player on the ball, can maintain possession in tight spaces, they play deft flicks and lobs, etc, etc, than the senior Socceroos. They even showboat!

Apart from Souttar's aerial ability, and Bos, I can barely see any current Socceroos holding out this new whizz generation of Aus footballers in the  next few years. The main problem they have, is they are all competing with each other for national team selection!

 Farrell, Teague, Segecic, Natta, the Hollmans, Vellupillay, Milanovic, Brook, the right sided  CB of African origins, the Kuols, Irankunda,   the number 23 ( Okon? - gee this guy is good!), Waddingham,  plus the non- selected Jelacic, Priestman, Vidmar, Simmons, etc, and many of the current under 23s whose names I don't know yet, are already superior players on the ball to the senior Socceroos.    

There is so  much quantity of quality. Instead of Aussies having to have very good engines, be superb readers of the game, have a high level of game sense, great vision, be superbly organised, have  great levels of concentration, all to  compensate for a technical deficit on the ball, we have a  new generation of Brescianos, Kewells, Mooys, Rogics and Hrustics. And there are a lot of them!

Those that worry about Robertson and Volpato playing for the Socceroos, they will have to be damn good to be better than many of the 21s and under I've seen recently. 

  

Arnold if he stays on as coach, is going to  have a  different  challenge soon.

Most Socceroo coaches have had to coach the team with the fact that  most Socceros are better  off the ball ball than on it.

Emerging now is a new generation  of  young players that are far more technically adept, in that they night be as good on  the ball  as off it, or even better  on the ball than when the other team has the ball.

The likes of the football athletes, the Irvines, Metcalfes, Burgesses, Goodwins (apart from his crossing), Dukes and Leckies, ( all extremely intelligent footballers), may be anachronisms in future Socceroo teams. All are far better as players when the other team has the ball, than when the Socceroos have the ball.

Hrustic is one of the few current Aus senior players, whose skill set is better on the ball than when the other team has the ball.

You've really only had access it seems to the third/fourth string of the U23's as well. But yeah the level of players like Robertson, Volpato and Nieuwenhof is pretty far superior.

Wait till you see the next Joey cohort who are even better technically than any cohort we've ever had at that age relative. Talent is definitely emerging. 

would love more details on this!

I've posted a list of players in the U23 thread that are likely to be seen in the next Joey's cohort next month, ill forward it

I'd like to see this too.

Al three are technically proficient. Hrustic's defensive skills aren't as good as the likes of Irvine, McGree and Metcalfe, but this trio have faster handling speed and can pass and move in tighter  spaces. I'd like to see them have a go at deep defensive blocks. 

I've been told this off forum -  that I've mainly seen 3rd and 4th stringers of the 21 yo and under! 

I've only seen about 20 mins of Robertson in one Socceroo game. I've ever seen Volpato.

 Nieu, I saw quite a bit of in last year's AL - and he was impressive.

Having said this, the number 23 for   under 23s, was exceptional against Egypt when he came on. I have a check list of game based performance criteria, and even if some of the guys who are current 3rd or 4th stringers, there are so many of them, pecking orders an quickly change - depending on how club careers are progressing. 

I still have not seen Yazbek. If he is only aged 21 he might be another very impressive player when one looks at the game based football performance criteria. 

I'd stick around.

The technical quality of the new generation of players aged 21 and under is like nothing seen before in Aus football, BT. From what I've seen barely any current Socceroos will able to hold their places against them in the next few years.

They play highly technical football.

bbhoy, youve obvs got eyes on the Joeys and it is indeed promising if skilled technical players are coming through and are now 19,20, 21 years old....

Can I ask why you think they are NOT in the Socceroos  NOW if they are such world beaters?