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Socceroos World Cup 2022


Torn Asunder
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Couldn't see a topic for this ... so here is one

I predicted a 4 nil loss to France so pleased we at least scored one.

Mbappe was in beast mode, Nathaniel needed some more cover 

Thought Arnold could have brought on our young attacking options a bit earlier to try and help us get forward a bit more, but the truth (reality) is Framce is 3 classes above and could have scored 8

Just as a note, the following players that played day have all had time at Melbourne City (Heart)

Behich (our best player today), Goodwin, Leckie, McGree, Mooy 

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50 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

Couldn't see a topic for this ... so here is one

I predicted a 4 nil loss to France so pleased we at least scored one.

Mbappe was in beast mode, Nathaniel needed some more cover 

Thought Arnold could have brought on our young attacking options a bit earlier to try and help us get forward a bit more, but the truth (reality) is Framce is 3 classes above and could have scored 8

Just as a note, the following players that played day have all had time at Melbourne City (Heart)

Behich (our best player today), Goodwin, Leckie, McGree, Mooy 

Plus Atkinson of course. I don't think we'll ever see "caution to the winds" stuff from Arnie, but with Denmark and Tunisia to come why not just give the younger players their chance now. We won't win by being defensive.

Edited by jw1739
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We were good early obviously, but in classic Arnold style we fell back so quickly and easily and struggled to take the game to France in any meaningful manner. France were great, and we were horribly outclassed, but we deserved what we got to a degree with our inability to hit back. 

Atkinson struggled, but he was against Mbappe, so no surprises there, and his defensive side has never been his strength anyway. Unsure what Dengs pace is like but he may have been better suited and save Atkinson for slightly weaker opponents where he can carry the ball more. 

I thought Duke was good early but by the 40th minute I was sick of his half hearted press attempts with exasperated arms out. Thought Behich was clearly our best, CB pairing was mostly good, Irvine was decent and Mooy was fine early but struggled in the second half. Our inability to retain the ball or move constructively meant our attackers were basically redundant from the 20th minute onwards, and while the likes of Cummings, Kuol and Mabil didn't seem to offer much I'm unsure if they stood a chance anyway. 

Goal was sweet though, all three players involved nailed their moments. 

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I felt for Nathaniel ... he was brutally exposed ...  Mbappe is a beast of a player.  One on one, even at Champions League level he tears players apart.  Arnie's plan of having an inexperienced young defender on him was a sheep to the lions scenario.

France very quickly worked out how to completely annihilate us all over the park.  I reckon Kewell was on the money, we needed to be a bit more aggressive at times, but this would have meant making subs much earlier.  3 at the back with two wing backs may have worked better and given us more cover ... Tilio should have got some minutes 

Without sounding dire, I doubt we will win a game this cup.  Tunisia will overpower us, and we will have no answer for Eriksen.   

To me, that is where Football Australia fucked up - they should have brought in a new manager (someone with serious credentials) and instructed them to use it as a platform for next world cup, rather than a regression in result from the last cup

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9 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

they should have brought in a new manager (someone with serious credentials) and instructed them to use it as a platform for next world cup, rather than a regression in result from the last cup

I'm not sure that isn't what we are doing.

Probably over half the squad will still be around and in their prime come the next one. The keeper group should have one up and comer in it (although Gauci and Glover are the best candidates and it's hard to justify picking either at this stage), but aside from them the only ones who won't be around are Behich, Wright, Mooy, Leckie and Duke. 

Think it'd be a hard sell to get a manager in for a 5 year period who is actually good and also won't stuff up somewhere along the way and need a reset. Arnold has basically covered our rebuild period, now we should be looking out for a 3 year manager to build us up to the next one. 

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19 hours ago, The Aardvark said:

I'm not sure that isn't what we are doing.

Probably over half the squad will still be around and in their prime come the next one. The keeper group should have one up and comer in it (although Gauci and Glover are the best candidates and it's hard to justify picking either at this stage), but aside from them the only ones who won't be around are Behich, Wright, Mooy, Leckie and Duke. 

Think it'd be a hard sell to get a manager in for a 5 year period who is actually good and also won't stuff up somewhere along the way and need a reset. Arnold has basically covered our rebuild period, now we should be looking out for a 3 year manager to build us up to the next one. 

I don't think that we need to do a lot different. Arnie is Arnie, and IMO he's always coached in the same way. He always seems to me to be the "we're the underdog, tough as a group, backs to the wall, defend to the death" type of manager - and there's nothing wrong with that. At times that's what you need. But it's noticeable, I think, that in in this World Cup Finals series so far the surprises - and quite a few already - are coming from the teams that are committed to attack and determined to take it up to their more-fancied opponents.

Probably Arnie can't change his style so we're looking at a new manager. But we don't need to throw away everything. Just change our mindset and focus on free-flowing football and IMO that's what the game needs in Australia.

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26 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Arnie is Arnie, and IMO he's always coached in the same way. He always seems to me to be the "we're the underdog, tough as a group, backs to the wall, defend to the death" type of manager - and there's nothing wrong with that.

I think that attitude contributed to our qualifying difficulties, contributing to both the team mentality and his stodgy coaching. It also becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy in a tournament. He's the anti-Ange.

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10 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Well, if there was one manager that knows how to park the bus, it's Arnie😂

A very important win: Leckie, Mooy, Behich and Souter were immense.

The Heart/City Scholars and Old Boys Club had a few representatives last night - Goodwin, McGree, Jmac, Leckie, Mooy and Aziz.

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Well barring a Tunisian win over France, a draw against the Danes sees us through to the Round of 16. I think the game in Australia will get a significant shot in the arm from the Tunisian win anyway, but geez theres some real potential to lay some significant foundations if we can progress here. 

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It's a tournament played in the middle of the season, so many more first choices players seem to be unavailable because of injury, and teams have only had one week together to prepare, unlike the usual one month. We can see many teams aren't ready. I also think that the hot and humid Qatar weather is taking a toll, not necessarily during the match, but it does affect training.

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5 hours ago, belaguttman said:

It's a tournament played in the middle of the season, so many more first choices players seem to be unavailable because of injury, and teams have only had one week together to prepare, unlike the usual one month. We can see many teams aren't ready. I also think that the hot and humid Qatar weather is taking a toll, not necessarily during the match, but it does affect training.

Agree, and i think its also a reason the Asian teams are doing a bit better than usual. Most other teams don't get to play in conditions like these that often, albeit its in conditions of the year that are far cooler than what you cop throughout April to September, and the asian teams are much more used to it.

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20 hours ago, bt50 said:

Agree, and i think its also a reason the Asian teams are doing a bit better than usual. Most other teams don't get to play in conditions like these that often, albeit its in conditions of the year that are far cooler than what you cop throughout April to September, and the asian teams are much more used to it.

Yep, generally speaking weather is always a leveller. Extreme wet,wind, heat generally makes it more of a battle and and disadvantages the more technical teams.

We have a genuine chance to progress and to me that's a huge achievement considering the playing stock, ( not being disrespectful) but none of the players you could consider top level. Credit to the collective and Credit to coaching staff in particular Arnie who I don't rate as a national coach but has exceeded my expectations. 

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On 28/11/2022 at 4:08 PM, bt50 said:

Agree, and i think its also a reason the Asian teams are doing a bit better than usual. Most other teams don't get to play in conditions like these that often, albeit its in conditions of the year that are far cooler than what you cop throughout April to September, and the asian teams are much more used to it.

I think it's more than that. IMO we're seeing a renaissance of exciting and free-flowing football coming from the African and Asian teams.

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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

I think they should be heavily fined. The final matches are played simultaneously to try and stop matches such as the infamous Germany-Austria 0-0 draw, but now we have this sort of thing.

The best way to ensure that we went through was to do what we did: win. That made other results irrelevant; the French will do whatever they think is in their own best interests in the tournament, as they should be doing

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6 hours ago, belaguttman said:

I'm left a little frustrated, it's a game we could have won

If Kuol had somehow managed a goal (and I don't blame him) then I thought that in extra time the Socceroos would have overrun them. Argentina were visibly knackered.

None the less a $1.15B  vs a $60M team it was a great go.

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