Australian National Discussion V3

[Sithslayer1991]

51 minutes ago, Edinburgh said:

Article on The World Game the other day "Australia will hope to avoid countries from the middle east in the Asian Cup draw on ......"

That worked out well!

My exact thinking hahaha. Look its a tough group and would not be surprised if all 3 do a number on us

Edited May 4, 2018 by Sithslayer1991

[Burgerman]

On 06/04/2018 at 11:52 AM, Davo said:

Could be worse I guess. Check out the training shirt.

Also it looks like the work experience kid who designed the kits was also responsible for the Photoshop job of putting the Caltex logo on the photo.

I like the jacket and them strips would look better on the jersey. 

[mack]

5 hours ago, Paul01 said:

Lets see if Arnie can get out of this group. Jordan has been our bogey team in the past and don't need to say anything about Syria. My prediction is that he won't get out of the group and continue his abysmal record is Asia especially with better referees.

 

 

This expanded version has 4 of the 6 teams that finish 3rd going through if we can't make it out it would be a monumental disaster.

[Edinburgh]

48 minutes ago, mack said:

This expanded version has 4 of the 6 teams that finish 3rd going through if we can't make it out it would be a monumental disaster.

We'll get 3 draws. And the others will each get a win, a draw and a loss.  Job done?

[Carns]

 

[mack]

Our defense is awful.

[Edinburgh]

4 minutes ago, mack said:

Our defense is awful.

There's 10 defenders listed add a goalkeeper and we have a starting 11 with 3 keepers on the bench.

[MartinTyler]

9 minutes ago, Edinburgh said:

There's 10 defenders listed add a goalkeeper and we have a starting 11 with 3 keepers on the bench.

We wont be taking 4 keepers to Russia

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

23 minutes ago, MartinTyler said:

We wont be taking 4 keepers to Russia

we were going to take four to south africa but jones pulled out late.

[Carns]

45 minutes ago, mack said:

Our defense is awful.

Van Marwijk should be a lot more pragmatic so hopefully they won't be so horribly exposed as they would under Ange. Teams like France will still tear it apart though.

At least players like Sainsbury are playing again (albeit as a defensive mid).

[mack]

12 minutes ago, theguyyouwishyouwere said:

we were going to take four to south africa but jones pulled out late.

Would have been in the traveling party but picking four gks in the 23 man squad is wasteful.

[Paul01]

Vukovic had 5 put past him this morning. 

Vukovic out, Langerak in

Edited May 7, 2018 by Paul01
Correction

[Edinburgh]

4 hours ago, MartinTyler said:

We wont be taking 4 keepers to Russia

Yeah, I know.  So that's the only flaw with my proposed teamsheet?

[btron3000]

Thought I'd pull this from the Media thread to here:

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/bizarre-conspiracy-theory-emerges-cahill-selection-controversy-044051122.html

Quote

 

The timing of the marketing campaign’s announcement had a number of fans theorising that Cahill had been selected more for commercial reasons than football ones.

Gallop strongly denied the theory at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I say have a look at Tim Cahill’s track record.”

“He’s a guy who has produced for the Socceroos and Australia so many times.

“He’s going to Turkey, he’s got a few weeks of intense training and he’ll be right up there [for final selection].”

 

I would normally say that van Marwijk wouldn't let anyone tell him who to pick, but the comments from Gallop make me think it's possible they told van Marwijk he had to be in the 26 but then he could decide the 23. Only because the CEO shouldn't be trying to defend any decisions in this situation. He should just say "No commercial reasons were taken into account when selecting the sqaud, the coach picks the team".  Instead he gives us some half-arsed commentary on Timmy's background.  I looked around for a straight denial and couldn't find one. 
 

[btron3000]

On the cuts - McClaren has to consider himself unlucky.  We've only got an injury-prone Juric and a 38 year old who can play striker. I wonder if van Marwijk has seen his hat-trick now (apparently he was aware before the game) and is second-guessing his decision.  Actually, nah, it's pretty unlike Dutch coaches to second guess themselves, so probably not.

Alex Gerbach has to be considered just as doubtful a decision. Not sure what he has to do. Played well in the only opportunity he was given at Confeds Cup, then got "rotated" out. Is apparently doing well in France.

Thank god Bailey Wright is cut though, he's appalling.

[wendybr]

FWIW - not much I know - but I'm really sorry to see McLaren out.

Sigh.

[luisenrique]

I can understand why McLaren was cut...he's done absolutely nothing at international level so far...scoring a hat trick in the SPL on the last day of the season is no guarantee that he's going to be any different against teams like France. He always looks lightweight at international level. I mean I would have picked him because we don't have great strikers, but I can understand the reasoning. That said, it looks like Arzani who's never played a senior international is gonna go. 

Would have liked Gersbach to make it too, but ultimately the main thing is Bailey is out, and for that we can all be thankful.

[FCWanderers]

https://www.sportsradio.com.au/tim-cahill-reveals-just-how-hard-hes-been-working-to-stay-socceroos-ready/

Interview with Tim Cahill that give some insights into the Socceroos team and Bert van Marwijk. I think the main characteristics of the team will be fitness and adaptability.

[Paul01]

Yelloe card Jedinak still not on the way to training camp. Now in the playoff to get Aston Villa back into the premier league.

[btron3000]

13 hours ago, luisenrique said:

I can understand why McLaren was cut...he's done absolutely nothing at international level so far...scoring a hat trick in the SPL on the last day of the season is no guarantee that he's going to be any different against teams like France. He always looks lightweight at international level. I mean I would have picked him because we don't have great strikers, but I can understand the reasoning. 

I think your last sentence is really important here. We have two strikers! What if Juric gets one of his muscle strains? I guess we could go Kruse, but really...

Also, if we’re chasing a game (a very high probability) then who would you want coming in feeding off the scraps of crosses aimed at Cahill’s big head? One of the others or a little jack-in-the-box who’s in form.

I get that he ain’t a great player and France etc. will deal with his style of getting in behind pretty easily, but it’s not like he’ll be asked to lead the line for 90 minutes and you’d think he could be in the squad to add something different.

Anyway, too little is known about what Bertie is gonna do to really complain. He’s been handed a pretty tough job. And yes, cutting Wright earns him massive brownie points!

Edited May 16, 2018 by btron3000
Added “big” to describe Cahill’s head haha

[luisenrique]

I think Bertie regards Nabbout as the other striking option, even Petratos at a stretch. Obviously neither of them are proven at this level either, but I guess he thinks they offer more variety since they can play in more than one position. I read an interview with the Brazil coach where he said that sometimes players who 'deserve' to go don't make it because others offer more useful characteristics to the squad, even if they aren't as good. Like I said I would have taken him, but I'm guessing he weighed up the options and figured he didn't want a one dimensional player taking up a squad space, when he probably would only get significant time if someone got injured.

[btron3000]

Nabbout I can handle, he could thump home a screamer against anyone, but geez if we're relying on Petratos...

aahh what am I talking about, we're toast anyway.

[wendybr]

1 hour ago, btron3000 said:

Nabbout I can handle, he could thump home a screamer against anyone, but geez if we're relying on Petratos...

aahh what am I talking about, we're toast anyway.

Lol.

The reality is likely to be brutal enough.

We're allowed a fleeting moment of hope now and then...before reality sets in, I think.   

[btron3000]

7 hours ago, wendybr said:

Lol.

The reality is likely to be brutal enough.

We're allowed a fleeting moment of hope now and then...before reality sets in, I think.   

My fleeting moment of hope was destroyed when we started talking about Petratos! Not that he's horrible, he's obviously good enough for an extended Aussie squad at least. But in comparison...

For us to do anything our midfield is gonna have to play the tournament of their lives, because the defence is horrible and the attack is just ok. And the goalie is gonna have to stand up at some point. Or multiple points.

[Paul01]

U19 Asian Cup (Indonesia)

18 Oct - 4 Nov 18

Group C

Vietnam, Korea Republic, Australia, Jordan. 

Last squad included Tate Russell, Mathieu Cordier, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Noah Pagden, Fabian Monge, Kosta Grozos, Marc Tokich, John Roberts

It also included former Wanderers Ramy Najjarine and Moudi Najjar.

[Davo]

FIFA wouldn't let us wear green and gold kit because they were worried that not having an all dark/all light kit would lead to clashes.

Meanwhile in the rest of our group, France have half light half dark and the Peru v Denmark game will be red and white vs white and red...

[btron3000]

Why can’t they just let all teams have TRADITIONAL KITS except where they clash??

I swear some administrators feel they have to do stuff to justify their job.

I am colour blind and I reckon finding a teammate in all yellow against a grass background would be much more problematic than having dark shorts if the other team was wearing all dark.

[btron3000]

Was thinking on the way home - signing Arnie to a long-term deal before the World Cup is even underway was basically a white flag from the FFA regarding this tournament.

I mean, if Bertie takes us all the way to the final (lol), or even Quarter Finals, what would they do? They'd receive millions so the money wouldn't be a factor, and they'd have a successful coach on the books. So basically the FFA's decison to sign Arnold was an admission that we're going to stink it up in Russia.

[Smoggy]

5 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

 

or even Quarter Finals, 

baaahaaaahaaaa 

Aim realistic.....like getting a point....

Edited May 21, 2018 by Smoggy

[Carns]

33 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

I mean, if Bertie takes us all the way to the final (lol), or even Quarter Finals, what would they do? They'd receive millions so the money wouldn't be a factor, and they'd have a successful coach on the books. So basically the FFA's decison to sign Arnold was an admission that we're going to stink it up in Russia.

Disagree, I don't think FFA were willing to fork out for his wages long term regardless of how we performed.

Arnie is the cheaper option and they're hoping he can replicate some of the success Ange had (and maybe less of the frustration).

To me it is all monetary, as most things are for FFA.