Arnie has come out today to explain why he’s always complimentary of the team’s performances and why he’s not critical:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/arnie-i-can-t-breathe-how-covid-made-graham-arnold-a-better-coach-20211130-p59dim.html

I'm still furious about this result.

and yes I would be sacking Graham Arnold, he doesn't have a creative bone in his body.

Pretty impressed with Hrustic. He looks hungry and wants to get better. I'd fuck Irvine off completely and plug him into midfield, have him do what Irvine does.

He is much better in possession and isn't scared to take on his man. I know we have McGree as well, so in my opinion we should culture them in DM duties.

Cos Irvine sux. He's very lazy and opportunistic, in the SPFL player mould.

Pretty obvious GA puts more effort into WCQ games than ACF. Having said that though, there is some obvious things playing out.

Behich for example, probably not playing much on top of a boggy pitch and having him be the left winger majority of the game is ridiculous. Bringing on Mabil with about 5 mins left ? Not sure who thought this was a great idea? some idiot in the coaching staff. If no Rogic, No Mooy, No Arzani. why the fuck dont we have Ikon and Mabil Starting WITH Boyle @ ST.

Irvine is not effective with this much ball possession, he is not that skilled on the ball period. He is much better closer to the box, with less defensive attention.

Jeggo is actually a good ball protector, I would even have him over Irvine. Especially playing against parked defenses. Irvine shits himself and runs backwards and NEVER looks up for good passes.

Can't fault Sains or Souttar or anyone, I thought the defense was sufficient albeit a few brain fades. Could have been better and both Ryan's did a job.

Ante's one of the best, underrated actually.

Unfortunately we don't see this kind of analysis with the amount of ex-players involved especially the ones that dont often criticise Arnie, the Oz football media which is quite small but also limited in what it does.

We hope it grows but also the critique gets better which is a sign the game has matured.

Love Ante's use of data and scatter graphs, reckon anyone in socceroos setup doing this sort of data analysis? haha doubt it.

Been churning out some good stuff Ante Jukic. 

Probably because he's not a spineless lapdog like 99 percent of his journalistic colleagues.  

It's time for some hard questions because qualification for 2022 is now 50/50.  Remember that Frank Lowy sacked Frank Farina, would the current administration have the balls to do the same to Graham Arnold if our qualification campaign declined further?  

We should be more than good enough to beat UAE in a playoff but think about the prize at stake for the winner of this "theoretical" game, where the qualified for tournament is being played and who stands to massively benefit from appearing in its second ever WC..... lest pray it doesn't get to this.

cheers was I.
He has players at his diposal to shuffle the deck and thats whats needed.
I mentioned earlier that Arnold plays it safe and ironic Jukic quotes preservation.
I also have said he doesn't want us to press OTT for he's worried about the opponents transition to counter.

He has to change for the next 2 games period.
Having Taggert Mooy Rogic available next will be so important as well as throwing in Atkinson etc.....
Vietnam game coming up is the time to do it - we get that game and build on that momentum again.

Ruka? I have only ever seen him com of the bench for 5 minutes at the end of a game for the socceroos yet he seems to goal regulrly in Israel.

Ruka? I have only ever seen him com of the bench for 5 minutes at the end of a game for the socceroos yet he seems to goal regulrly in Israel.

Ruka? I have only ever seen him com of the bench for 5 minutes at the end of a game for the socceroos yet he seems to goal regulrly in Israel.

Ruka? I have only ever seen him com of the bench for 5 minutes at the end of a game for the socceroos yet he seems to goal regulrly in Israel.

Ruka? I have only ever seen him com of the bench for 5 minutes at the end of a game for the socceroos yet he seems to goal regulrly in Israel.

Yep 👍 think 95% of us forum folk know the problems with squad/Arnold… If only Arnold himself read some comments on here and took action.
 Either ‘LFC’ or ‘johnszaz’ posted that Socceroos have  11 points in 3rd spot, with Japan on 12, and UAE only has 6 points in 3rd spot, Korea on 14 points! - so we still have small chance of making 2nd spot at least? Should be good enough to beat UAE in playoff??

And it's not like Arnold doesn't have options, it's just he won't use them.

The midfield is a problem, its baffling we haven't seen a single minute of Genreau yet too.

Irvine and Jeggo combination has exposed so bad flaws within this team.

Another cracking piece by Ante Jukic, this explains the team's deficiencies as a whole not just the China game.

https://www.espn.com.au/football/australia-aus/story/4523531/australias-world-cup-qualifying-troubles-were-as-predictable-as-they-were-inevitable

I remember this discussion when Arzani broke through, that his 1v1 would be coached out of him while in Oz and it pretty much was.

Dougall, Genreau, Holland, Stensness, Devlin - deserve a shot at least. Could they really do any worse than Irvine atm??

Who do we have available that actually is reliable in front of goal? Mooy would at least test the keeper a good percentage of the time, but likely wouldn't be in the position to shoot in the first place. Metcalfe seems to reasonably decent in front of goal, but has only been tested at A-League level. Who else is there?

Sick of Arnold going with ‘big engine’ players who can run all game but lack skills such as Irvine, Behich, Leckie, Grant. Irvine missed 2 very decent scoring chances in box - 1 in Saudi game, 1 v China - scuffing both of them. 

quickflick, the above is quite relevant re players with individual ability to your recent posts.

I've said it elsewhere or in this thread we lack leadership and more so a player who wants to grab the game by the scruff of its neck instinctively turns it upside down and either creates a goal OR scores himself.
We once had a player who filled that role by de fault re results was Cahill as example.

Rogic for all his clunkiness can in some games turn it around, turns and takes on 1/2 players and direct but its not again and again and again as you say, same goes with Mooy.
Beautiful player on the ball - don't know what it is with him last few years but just isn't as hungry nor fit enough as we know now.
At the end of their game sadly.
Our only other X facter player is Arzarni but we know whats occurred there.
The rest are not entirely the breed that have had their "individulism" coached out of them mind you "tactics" prevail, 2000 born onwards have had it screamed out of them but they now are very skilful, better than the current gen imo.

Overall our cattle is struggling to keep up with our fellow opposing nations.
GA is playing too safe for one thing is for sure he can see he/we don't have the fire power against the stronger NT's to me no matter the screaming of taking arnold down.
I'm with some here we need to test the waters though, despite lacking experience Atkinson/Elder/McGree and the likes need to be thrown in the lions den and see how they survive.

johnsazs, your whole review just tells me what I see watching each game and mentioned earlier, lack of vision, taking wrong option, fundamental errors, execution etcetc......
This is our players, people keep harping about arnold but on the pitch making the errors are the players.
Not taking a fundamental corner properly at that level is sacralidge for eg......

15/16 on was the bigger decline for the Gooners onwards, don't buy the cattle at that level your mid table and less as we've seen.
Arteta's recovery this this season is interesting to see and where they finally finish.

Exactly. And the reality is that mastery is only achieved after thousands of attempts. If you try 1 vs 1 stuff, you're going to fail a lot before you get to the level where you dribble (or turn) past defenders on your own with all the ball control, speed, agility and awareness.

So they need to be encouraged to try it and the failure needs to be expected.

But in Australia, they get shouted at for being selfish.

And the NT can't break down opposition defences. Quelle surprise!

That's the common statement. The individual side has been coached out of them. There's also a difference between a hog who can't do anything vs one who'll grab the ball and deliver each time. It would also be evident that many players with more youth time abroad have that. 

Ah gotcha not as old as all that.

One thing, to think about...  when we talk of the guys in the Arsenal Golden Era, I really think we should emphasise the balance between individualism and teamwork. I feel as if, in this country,  many in the football community have misinterpreted what technically-proficient football is. They think it only involves teamwork. Those people are mistaken as that's not the only one aspect of technically-proficient football. There's also technically-proficient individual football.

Post Golden Generation in Australia, my impression is that many Aussie youngsters have had the individualism coached out of them. Whereas the Arsenal of yore knew that that individualism is crucial, just as having the ability to craft a team goal is.

Oh no I'm referring to Arsenal of about 10 years ago that were incredibly painful for their fans. Your list were a brilliant side. 

In fairness, one of the world's richest clubs did sign Arzani. But obviously his relationship with Man City is different to that of someone such as Bernardo Silva, for example.

Northern Ireland drew with Italy a few days ago. The Northern Ireland players held their own against the European champions.

Does that mean that Whyte, Davis or Flanagan are, overall, at the same level as Jorginho, Chiesa and Bonucci?

No, of course not. Upsets happen. If you get Italy and Northern Ireland to face each other in 30 matches, you'll almost certainly find that the Italian players are streets ahead. And that's why their market value is far higher than the market value of the Northern Irish players (overwhelmingly).

The same if you consider any world class team and Australia.