Socceroos ASIAN CUP-GROUP A THREAD (Australia. South Korea. Oman. Kuwait)

[kangaspurs]

---------------------Ryan------------------
Franjic - Sainsbury - Wilkinson - Davidson
-------------Jedinak----Milligan------------
Luongo----------Kruse-------------Leckie
----------------Cahill---------------------

play that side against China i'd say

That's not the midfield formation we've played all tournament and I highly doubt we'll play it in an elimination game. Jedinak, Luongo and probably Troisi will start as the trio in central midfield. Since when has Luongo ever played on the wing either?

Franjic was ******* terrible, much worse than Behich. If he was even semi-competent defensively it would have been 0-0. Franjic should be the one dropped, not Behich. I'd go with:

Ryan
Herd - Sainsbury - Wilkinson - Behich
Jedinak - Luongo - Milligan
Kruse - Cahill - Leckie​

Herd is out of the tournament with an achilles injury, he's been sent back to Aston Villa for treatment. Apart from that I don't mind this side, the only change i'd make is Troisi for Milligan. Troisi offers a lot more going forward and there's no need to have two defensive-minded midfielders.

 

[go you pups]

Jedinak in is huge, means one of the A League flat trackers misses out. Juric goes back to the bench where he belongs as does Troisi.

China strangely enough might be the easier quarter final.

Troisi was hard done by imo, had our best chance of the first half, looked a lot better in central areas rather than out wide on the left, would of played Oar on the left over Troisi (if Leckie had to be rested) and play Troisi at either CAM/RW.

 

[go you pups]

Herd is out of the tournament with an achilles injury, he's been sent back to Aston Villa for treatment. Apart from that I don't mind this side, the only change i'd make is Troisi for Milligan. Troisi offers a lot more going forward and there's no need to have two defensive-minded midfielders.

Troisi interchanging with Kruse on the right wing/CAM would be the go. Luongo in a double pivot with Jedinak. That left wing is Matt Leckies.

 

[Groupie_]

Typical aussies the lot of ya

already think we've beaten china and are into the semi

beware the chinamen

 

[Big Sauce 21]

---------------------------------Ryan------------------------
Franjic-----------Wilkinson--------------Sainsbury---------Davidson
--------------------------------Jedinak--------------------------
Leckie------------Bresciano--------------Troisi-----------------Kruse
--------------------------------Cahill-------------------------

 

[Willo_]

---------------------------------Ryan------------------------
Franjic-----------Wilkinson--------------Sainsbury---------Davidson
--------------------------------Jedinak--------------------------
Leckie------------Bresciano--------------Troisi-----------------Kruse
--------------------------------Cahill-------------------------

No Luongo?

 

[Big Sauce 21]

No Luongo?

Just think we need a bit more stability in the middle with bresc coming in. Argument could be said Luongo V Troisi but i'd pick Troisi.

 

[Buckleys Jocks]

I'm going to be in the minority here and say that I hope we start Juric again and bring Kruse in for Burns. Juric still looks raw at times but his link up play and ability on the ball makes us a far more balanced and fluid side in attack IMO. Cahill doesn't offer much in the way of build up play and it often seems like the game plan goes out the window when we're chasing a result, as it suddenly becomes all about speculatively whipping crosses into the box in the hope that Timmy can get on the end of it.

 

[peternorth]

I'm going to be in the minority here and say that I hope we start Juric again and bring Kruse in for Burns. Juric still looks raw at times but his link up play and ability on the ball makes us a far more balanced and fluid side in attack IMO. Cahill doesn't offer much in the way of build up play and it often seems like the game plan goes out the window when we're chasing a result, as it suddenly becomes all about speculatively whipping crosses into the box in the hope that Timmy can get on the end of it.

i applaud the courage of your convictions

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

---------------------------------Ryan------------------------
Franjic-----------Wilkinson--------------Sainsbury---------Davidson
--------------------------------Jedinak--------------------------
Leckie------------Bresciano--------------Troisi-----------------Kruse
--------------------------------Cahill-------------------------

Nice team but I think Luongo has to start over Troisi.

We need Bresciano's set pieces next game.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

Wait till after the tournament to judge whether this was the right call, but you have to question whether an extra 70 minutes rest for leckie/Cahill/kruse > getting back to Melbourne away from planet mothra, and avoiding japan till the final. In that regard

- china are no laughing matter this tournament, they've had a very impressive group phase have got a monster support group in the crowds and they've been good in Brisbane. Would prefer Saudi to them tbh.

- the benefit of not playing Japan till the final is it gives another week for a possible fluke result to knock them out, which is always a possibility in the sudden death phase. That's pretty big, probably a 10-20% chance of going the whole way and not facing them, amazed that we basically chucked that away by playing a b grade side. It's not like Cahill and co have played huge minutes in games 1 and 2.

Other than that, hmm. Certainly that should be the last of brickfoot troisi out there spazzing it up and juric should be used more sparingly from this point onwards - just lacks the touch against good defenders. The major thing IMO is it needs to be him or Cahill, putting them both out there at the same time is a very unbalanced look. Burns should be persevered with, he's been dreadfully close several times this tourney.

At the back there's not really much you can say other than that if we want to win this tournament we can't afford the kinds of shambolic defensive lapses that have resulted in both the goals scored against us so far. Good teams take those chances and sit back and defend.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Would of been good if we could have avoided suncorp. Field is a mess.

 

[happy_eagle]

We were always going to have to face Japan at some point
Provided of course we can get passed China

 

[Loonerty]

What a disaster that pitch was. Wowee.

Pretty frustrating performance. Lazy lazy defending cost us top of the group. Korea only looked threatening otherwise late in the game when we were striving for a goal, although you could argue that this was only the case because they scored early.

Shame it's another game in Brisbane on an unbelievably subpar surface, but Jedinak back in and Kruse+Leckie+Cahill starting should help greatly.

 

[Groupie_]

Still can't believe Kruese couldnt put that shot in

 

[hey shorty]

Typical aussies the lot of ya

already think we've beaten china and are into the semi

beware the chinamen

Whilst I agree, their style suits us better as they dont like our physical play.

Troisi must be dropped IMO. Sure he does some nice things on the ball but with our full backs being suspect we need more than that and he simply doesn't provide anything defensively. Perfect option to impact off the bench. Burns was great but Kruse and Leckie provide more and if we are to start Juric he needs a rocket to stop believing his own hype.

Jedinak has to play if fit, Mckay out for mine as Milligan is the better player and Davidson come back in for Behich. Id almost drop Franjic too but we dont have much else. The one pleasing thing was that we still bossed a game against a big team and looked largely comfortable in defence, we just went to the Awer Mabil finishing school during training.

 

[peternorth]

i dont see what mckay offers. short, small, no pace.

 

[peternorth]

i understand positivity and optimism, however the "we have to beat japan at some stage" mantra interests me.

was the same doctrine offered when we drew chile, spain and holland?

 

[Mile High Tiger]

Still can't believe Kruese couldnt put that shot in

Agreed, but watch the ball pop up on that cow paddock a split second before he hits it.

 

[Mile High Tiger]

So much BS here and Monday's experts. The team Ange put out dominated the game, had 515 - 255 advantage in possessions and created 4 clear cut chances that should have gone in. It was hot and humid, and he's got three more games that must be won, with very little rest in between. Don't be coming back here calling him a genius if we pull this off.

 

[eth-dog]

i understand positivity and optimism, however the "we have to beat japan at some stage" mantra interests me.

was the same doctrine offered when we drew chile, spain and holland?

What? Japan is no where near that class.

 

[Mile High Tiger]

Arrogance gets Ange again and Juric for that matter. Granted the Korean keeper pulled a couple nice saves as well as rolling around but we just thought it was gonna happen.

First 2 results mean nothing now and we also lose our best defender for a knockout final

Mate, they secured us a 1/4 final berth

 

[hey shorty]

Mate, they secured us a 1/4 final berth

I meant in a sense that those results were ones we needed, the one last night meant more from a tournament winning perspective.

 

[Redalert]

So much BS here and Monday's experts. The team Ange put out dominated the game, had 515 - 255 advantage in possessions and created 4 clear cut chances that should have gone in. It was hot and humid, and he's got three more games that must be won, with very little rest in between. Don't be coming back here calling him a genius if we pull this off.

But the point is they didn't. All that matters is the result. Ange needs to sit down and figure out why the side wasn't able to break Korea down, despite controlling possession and playing reasonably attractive football. The impotence is in attack is concerning, we were found out yesterday against a well organised defence.

 

[Mile High Tiger]

But the point is they didn't. All that matters is the result. Ange needs to sit down and figure out why the side wasn't able to break Korea down, despite controlling possession and playing reasonably attractive football. The impotence is in attack is concerning, we were found out yesterday against a well organised defence.

When you've got players one on one with the GK, you have broken them down. It was just one of those nights. We dominated one of the best sides in Asia who defended well. We still broke them down and should have scored. I'm more concerned about the way we conceded.