Arnold has forgotten that Thomas Deng is in his squad?! 

Ex Denmark coach is available. That could certainly be something. Tuesday is near deciding for Arnold but I can't gauge what the FA will do. 

It doesn't matter what players Arnie uses because he is going to make them play his one way.

Every team has watched us play under Arnie and they all know how to stuff us up - with no Plan B as we know. If he restructures to some other formation he still has them playing the same way.

I saw maybe 4 or 5 really nice pieces of play between a couple of different players in that last game and everything else was individuals doing something good to get the ball back.

Yengi stood offside the whole game during our build ups, clearly telling Bahrain that we are not going up the middle and will attack up the wings.

Our 6s moved laterally with our backline's side passing and all game you could see that a quick and accurate pass to O'Neill would have drawn two or three players to him immediately as the Bahrain players were ball chasers. He could then have passed back to whoever gave him the ball and Bahrain's high press was moved around and forced to make decisions - giving us opportunity. But we did not pass anything into the middle and the two or three forward Bahrain players just had to jog back and forth to keep the middle clear.

We have the players to do better if we play a way that allows them to do better.

Nisbet is a brilliant player. Irankunda has vision, individual flair, pace and power. He would make a difference being in the starting side regardless of his inexperience because the defenders can't just keep him wide like they do with our standard Arnie wing attack. He will cut in, take players on inside or outside, and in the middle of the flurry he can spot and pass to a player making a run and open up behind.

But Arnie will not change his system and if he brings these better players in he takes away the very thing that makes them effective. If he plays Nisbet he will no doubt make him isolated up front and put high balls to him all night. When he plays Irankunda he will isolate him just as badly by directing traffic up the wings slowly and safely until the defence is settled around him then expect the cross field pass to unlock the set defence and free Irankunda.

I am really tired of reading and writing the same criticisms of Arnie and our playing group to see nothing change. We can just visit the last 'Arnie Out' type of thread and it will all read the same. That game was disgraceful on every level and one of the worst live experiences I have had with football.

It is once again all on Arnie in my eyes and he just will not change anything with his blinkered and negative views on our chances, his expectations of players and favouritism/laziness, and his 'One Notion' system. Our opponents know how he plays - he needs to earn his huge salary by working on alternative systems.

We do not deserve to be where we are in the World Rankings and it shows with every minnow that pushes us around. I do not have unreasonably high expectations of what we can do - but we are definitely not doing what we could do with Arnie as our manager.

is it the same danish coach that couldn't break down an (aussie) low block in Qatar? If so it's hard to see it as an improvement!

Oh careful careful were talking EUROPEAN pedigree here though. Clearly an upgrade :D You make a really good point. He was highly acclaimed at one point. 

It's true Hjulmand lost the team from mid 2022 until his recent departure. His Euro 2020 was much better. We definitely need a coach who can see the decent technical players we have and make a team of them. 

I wonder if the euro run was because he was good against teams that came out to play?

Seems hard to find a coach good at both

Interestingly robbie slater is on team sack him

I do think he screwed up last night but will be curious how he adjusts and whether he still has his mojo against the teams in the group that like to play

Besides Vince no one asked him the hard questions should come under scrutiny with that performance no excuses it's on him. Tuesday will be telling for him question is as Football Australia got the balls to chop him.

Ok for Mat Ryan who hasn't played for 6 months 

You both have it right.

Those that think Arnold is going anywhere are delusional. Yes he will be under scrutiny by FA. He should be - that is their job. But realistically no Australian manager would want the job and only a small handful of foreign managers have actually done a good job with the Aust NT (Guus, Pim and I would argue Venables). The other foreign managers have been dire. That is not to say he will be safe if results and performances are poor - but the pile-on is just that after a poor performance by both manager and players. TBH even some players that people say played well played poorly by their standards. I thought Rowles, Circati and O'Neill didn't do too much wrong. Boyle hasn't recovered from his ACL and Goodwin looked well off his best and Yengi and Duke both missed what should have been regulation goals. 

When people talk about a lack of creativity with the three CM we had I was happy to have O'Neill there. But I can't see Metcalfe and Irvine and Boyle both being first choice in six months with Robertson, Nisbet, McGree, Arzani, Irakunda and possibly Voltapo to come into the midfield somewhere 
Behich also will probably leave the squad as Bos and Farrell fight for the left back role.  

I actually think we will qualify directly for the next WC. There is a lot of football to be played and this squad will be markedly different in 3 months, six months and 12 months.GA has always built his teams on a solid defence before adding attacking flair. I think we are very much a work in progress,  

What do you base your opinion on " Nisbet is a brilliant player " ?
I think he is decent wee player, but he was a free agent for months and the best he could get was Ross County, hardly where a brilliant player would end up.

We need Robertson in really if Arnie can't get him to join the team then it's further proof he needs to go 

I base it on watching him a lot in the aleague.

When he plays as he can he is fast and creative on the ball and determined and effective at high turnovers. He forces opposition teams to mark him heavily or pay for it - still able to contribute despite close marking in the same sort of way as Irankunda.

He is a player who can take a locked defence and move the pieces around and he rarely has an off game.

You obviously didn’t watch him much in the last A league season.
 I’m confident that clubs who rejected the idea of signing him will rue their missed opportunity.

Ops wrong thread lol

I will bet a metaphorical house on us not qualifying directly. 

This is concerning for two reasons. 

1) There are four core concepts taught at the SAP level. 1v1 is one of those core things. If players at International level do not have that ability, then what is going on in our development and pathways that they can get to this stage, and not have the ability to take on opposition players in a 1v1 situation. I get that even players with that skill would struggle if going up against the very best. But when you are going up against a side ranked 80, that is very worrying if your players cannot do that. 

2) Arnie has been manager since 2018. He has had more than enough time to have no identified this issue and corrected it. If he has not corrected a core skill that is meant to be taught at the U13/14 level, then what is he actually doing? 

I'm sorry, but Arnold has had two chances at this gig and has failed on both occasions. Yes he may have a 60% win rate, but that hides the turgid style of football, and the regression of player talent. We can't dish out jobs for mates at this level. He needs to go. 

Until Australian football moves away from its obsession with pace and power at all levels we will continue to struggle to develop enough players with strong 1v1 ability at the elite level it’s not to say we don’t have any but when we do have players they are in the minority sadly.

Its not to say that physique and power has a say especially at the top level but the basics on 1v1 is technique and skill all the top players developed that when they were young and added the other parts of their game such as the pace and power as they got older.

Im not sure what’s goes at youth level these days but it seems we still get it all wrong here when pace and power is prioritised over technique, and yes it seems the curriculum or the implementation of it hasn’t done enough to improve on this regard.

The way this is developed is NOT small sided games. It is street/backyard football. When you are playing with 30 or 40 kids and rarely get the ball you develop your 1 v 1 skills for 2 reasons. First there is no room for passing, so keeping the ball is a must. Second, if you want to keep the ball you have to develop the skills.

Sure but that ain't happening anywhere except a 3rd world countries. How are the Germans and Spain achieving this. Street football isn't a big thing there like it is in South America.

SAP is trying to address this.

Australian culture lacks creativity, initiative and imagination.  This is seen across all sports that require such skills in this country.  Importing players who possess such abilities is the only hope for Australian football, however if they come over too early that will be coached out of them.

The other headwind is that Australia has a small population AND is in the middle of football nowhere.  There are no nearby rivals with strong football culture to hone skills against and learn from.  There will never be a UEFA champions league or any other UEFA league equivalent in our region that players will aspire to play in.  The TV money on offer from those leagues that float all boats in Europe will never be available here.  

Its not the fault of other sports, those other sports thrive because they're low hanging fruit and the public can see players competing at the highest levels of those sports, whereas with football they'll only ever see 4th rate players and this isn't a good spectacle.

It existed here before video games. During the 70s we would spend every minute of daylight with a ball. It's a choice that kids aren't choosing. SSG are no substitute because they offer nothing in terms of a similar length of time playing with the ball.

Are you suggesting Australia should go back to Oceania and become a big fish in a small pond, that way national team players would be more visible? 

It wouldn't make a difference as with 48 team world cups qualification is virtually assured anyway.
I'm simply being realistic about expectations of the Australian national team.

We do have some technical players and a handful able to beat a man but Arnie aint picking them.

Craig Goodwin can beat a man (but he does get picked). Riley McGree also (but injured).

Irankunda can always beat the first man and usually the second. Also plays excellent passes in and around the box.

Nisbet never loses the ball, has a great eye for a pass and can definitely beat players when running with the ball in broken play.

Arzani can beat a player.

Yengi can beat a player in the box (if he gets the ball).

Mo Toure can beat a man.

Max Balard and Jacob Farrell can beat a man.

Barring one world cup appearance we were no good in the 70s and had virtually no one playing in Europe. (For a myriad of reasons granted.)

You can't turn back the clock and video games exist in all of Europe now so it's not that simple as blaming phones, video games, TV etc etc..

SSG is an attempt to make sure players have dozens of touches per game rather than the 10 they might get playing on a full pitch.

They're not playing morning till night so they have to do something. If you want to say kids are spending not enough time then that's probably true but if your beef is with SSG then get specific.

It's either SSG or something else that needs doing. What is it?

(Not trying to be rude. It does read a bit like that. Apologies.)

I definitely coached this with my U14s NPL side last year. We had some sessions where the focus was specifically on 1v1. We had a great TD who had a clear structure for each year level so that players were developing with certain skills and ideology all the way through the ranks. Unfortunately he got usurped by one of the board members mates who was quick to get rid of certain coaches. He kept the coaches who didn't turn up to the TD's training sessions and such.  

In saying that, certain clubs are trying to do the right thing. There is a massive disconnect between club level and A-league level. It's like the FA and the respective state organisations don't talk to each other. It's almost like everyone is doing their own thing. Our biggest issue is having heads of organisations who play everything as some sort of political game. 


I read your other posts as well as you sound extremely cynical. Not many players from Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, England etc are playing street ball. They all developed in small sided and built from there. There is also no chance that people are playing matches agaisnt 30 or 40 kids. Even in places where they do play street football, those numbers are not realistic. 

SSG can definitely develop the skill, but it all comes down to the player and how they approach it and apply it. 

our players that have gone through v1 of sap are better but either injured or mostly too young to break through. Bos, irankunda, circati,robertson, toure, neiwenhof, triantis, italiano, Volpato (if we get him) all are getting game time when fit but we've had a bit of an injury crisis


I don't think it's arnies job to improve their 1v1 much - it's too late by the time you get to this age

I think our main issue is lack of pathways as it has been throughout the a league era.

A league expansion, A league academies and nst will help, as will a full h&a NYL. We probably see the benefits of academies by the end of this season or next season with all the youth getting game time in europe. We still have a problem where our athletic players who are good off the ball have better success in europe than our technical players. So if you put all our best players on the pitch at the same time it is an athletic and defensive side

feels like I've heard this all before around 15-20 years ago... this next generation will be the one... they're coming... just you wait... :laugh:

Robertson development is largely due to England, not Australia imo. I doubt he would be where he is if he had stayed in Australia. Probably making appearances off the bench for an A-league side.