No surprise but article states that Duke likely to start as striker vs France. A 2nd division player in Japan. France have Mbappe -  It’s absolutely insane when you think about it

At least JMac and Cummings are playing 1st division football in better league than J2.

Prove me wrong Duke and score/provide assist vs France and/or Tunisia, Denmark. 

TBH, the french defenders would lap up JMAC. At least duke gave give a bit of sack

Totally agree.
We are the team we are, no point comparing anyone to Mbappe.

I would start Duke in this game too. 

Yep, lock it up, niggle, push, elbow, kick, do what you need for 75 minutes....then let Kuol run at them for the last twenty.

Yep!

agreed but not from 75min mark, I'd get Kuol on 65 mark at least for more time taking them on for lets face it, our backs/mids will take how many attempts to feed Kuol the right ball to run onto behind their backs :)
Duke is perfect to hussle and bussle them, they won't like that - depending how the ref allows play to go on.

Yeah 75 is a bit much maybe plus Duke surely can't do what will be asked of him for that long.

It's a good point re the ref. His personality will have a big say in this game.

If he gives a yellow in the 2nd minute for an overly physical (but not nasty) challenge we will be in trouble aha

God damn I am getting pretty excited though!!!

Seeing Jack White on Saturday night then the World Cup starts.

Bring it on

Maybe we should actually attempt to change this current Socceroo culture, where it's just about fighting and playing rough and dirty. Let's actually start Kuol, Boyle (if fit), players who are going to be positive; run at players and try to create chances.

How are we ever expected to produce good players when the football culture is let's start J2 level Duke because his physical and can throw a few elbows. Because guess what, when Duke comes up against Varane, whoever replaces Kimpembe, and Pavard he's not going to be able to do that against far superior athletes.  

You think the French players got to that level without having a full repertoire of the dark arts?

They'd know every trick in the book and then some. 

You know what, thats not actually a bad call mate... I must admit I was on the side of the others about Kuol coming on as a fresh legs sub in the 60-70min mark but ..... fuck it.....  Start the young fella from kick off. Have Kuol and the cum canine run at the Frenchies HARD for the first 15-30 mins, play some balls to the wall, 3-2-5 shit with Behich and Leckie as touchline wingers ..... It will catch the world off guard... May even jag a quick goal and then all bets are off. 

.hehe cum canine lol, your a funny b itch at times.

I like the blokes thought but nah
changing a culture in critical games coming up sure isn't the best way to test that, mind you I admire the thought but we are not ready for these coming games.
Besides we don't have the midfield to retain possession let alone outplay them.
Duke runs at players, I give him credit for his efforts there despite lacking technical ability, he's a soldier.
Aggressive in your face football has beaten Pep's city of late, they don't like being hussled thinking when a team is that dominate they are royalty, touching up the French isn't to be looked down on, its just a piece of the process, the mental aspect.

You can't change the culture of a team/country an hour before kick off of a world cup.

Also I never said Boyle shouldn't start on the wing at he same time? Just that as a striker I'd start Duke over Jamie no heart any day in a game like this.

I also only said Kuol shouldn't because he has never actually played more than 30 minutes so would be knackered and not tracking back in the last 5-10 minutes of the half and 7 minutes into the second half.

That's reality and I'm actually annoyed at Montgomery for not starting him this season for this very reason.

Exactly LFC.

Wasn't it at the Confeds Cup we coined the term Hard Takka (as opposed to tiki tacka)?

That's how we need to play.
With aggression, in your face, causing turnovers and using pace hopefully even winning a pen early on in the confusion with France all irritated coz we aren't respecting them.

We won't beat them passing it through the midfield, will we?

No I know mate, I was just being stupid :)  Plan B and Plan C should have been ironed out during qualifiers... I was watching the Mean Machine movie the other night and figured the only way we beat France is with a Danny Dyer tap in. hahahahahahahahahah

I get your guy's cautious attitude, but don't think you guys realize that France is physically better than us as well, just because a player is technically shit (Duke, Irvine) it doesn't mean they are physically good. Trust me, Varane isn't going to be put off by Duke running at him or throwing some elbows, more than likely his just going to get sent off, or an early yellow. I agree with you that the lack of game-time is worrying, and Montgomery is some old era fuckwit for having to blood a young player, but there's no way he can do any worse than Duke.

We have seen this all before. Remember back in 2010 when we played Germany first up. Played defensive with no attempt to even play anything and we were smashed, making progression pretty much impossible. So just because we play defensively gives no guarantee of a low score line, you can it imagine now Benzema, Mbappe and Coman peppering our goal from the first minute (it's not going to be pretty)

I guess everyone here just buys in Arnie's fucking bullshit of having 11 boxing kangaroos out there ready for a fight. At the end of the day, it's a football match and I would be much prouder if Australia actually tried to play some. If they actually did this and succeeded, yeah, I think you could change the culture in a single night.   

I appreciate your enthusiasm but just as you try to point out Duke is not a better athlete than their CBs, us deciding we want to try heaps hard to be better on the day doesn't mean it will happen.

You lost all credibility there. Montgomery plays young players for more minutes than just about anyone in Asia. If Kuol had not been picked for the U20 team and had stayed and played with the Mariners he probably would have been starting a few weeks ago. 

Your deluded, but I do concede that Montgomery does play some young players in defense, not really attacking positions though. I think I found a video that sums up your guy's attitude, I'm sure Arnold would love it, as its super boxing relevant.

The Simpsons S08E03 - Moe Saves Homer From Boxing Match With Drederick Tatum #thesimpsons #cartoon - YouTube
(1min-2mins, although after 1;45 will probably be result I'd much rather see that)

You guys must be a joy to be around, the cautiousness is amazing. 'Fingers crossed I only get beaten 2-0 this week'.
I can't believe the attitude is 'let's play super defensive and lose' instead of lets actually try and do something and lose. 

Seems like YOU are the one accepting we will lose and want to "lose with pride".
I don't want to lose!
I want to scrap, niggle (and bite if we have to aha) my way to a point or 3 the way every underdog in football has ever done that.

Like I said, I'd love seeing us develop into a cohesive pressing and defensive unit But its not there.
Hey we might and I hope get the chances to expose our pace but that needs in your face approach in any case gaining territory in the midfield.
Varane and the likes can't push the boundries as well, there is a whole lot to play for.
Their 2018 squad was just as good as this one - its not about lapping up arnie ball its about fight period, when isn't it in our circumstances without a core of top flight players.

All an easy being gun ho pre game, I'd sooner us sticking it up them any which way possible but its piece by piece, 1 half then next, only a headless chook goes out blazing in the HOPE of finishing against the tide.

The French will know our reputation for being physical like everyone else does and will exploit that like they tried to last time.  We could easily end up with a man down inside 20 minutes playing that way.  They will let us have the ball in our own half as we "play out from the back" , press hard and then get us on the turnover.  I'd go long and direct at every opportunity.  Element of surprise and all that.

.We need to see the 3 games as 3 parts.  Part 1 is the first game.  This actually isn't the most important match in the group.  A boring 0-0 draw a 0-1 loss will do just fine. No point in entertaining beltings.

If we sit back, we won't get a draw or a 0-1 loss we will get absolutely thumped just like we did against Germany. 

Not saying that at all, but if we play super defensively, we will. The only chance we have on getting a point or draw is actually trying to score goals. If we sit back, they will eventually score and even a point will be impossible.

If we play rough and dirty the way your suggesting, it just proves that how much of a lower-class Australian football is, and if that's the loser culture, we will never see Australian players in anything other than pox level Championship, SPL, and of course GA's favorite J2. 

We could have  had Messi play for us that day and we'd still ship 4 goals.  Garcia could have scored on the line.  And Cahill could not have got red carded-which gets back to my earlier point about playing aggressively.  Open up the space and their front 3 will cut us to shreds.

We don't have the cattle.

5-5-0 requires no striker