Matildas The Matildas Thread

[Bradesmaen]

We've won the tournament once in 15 years.

We've never really won anything.

We've won games against South Korea.

 

[juss]

Useless. Take the 19-0 and piss off. Failed when there's any pressure on and games actually matter.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Players forced him out of his previous NT job I think......

No, FFA did on baseless allegations.

 

[hey shorty]

We've won games against South Korea.

And had many chances to win this one

 

[Bradesmaen]

And had many chances to win this one

And did we?



What a record that is

 

[stax on the mull]

Tactically the No 11 for South Korea did a pretty good job tracking back Carpenter and also keeping her occupied in defence. Didn't really get a lot barnstorming runs down the right from Ellie.

Caitlin Foord plays on the left side of attack but hardly ever uses a left foot. Lost count of the amount of times she tries to take players on and ends up just running straight into them hoping for a free kick.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Didn’t realize but someone just pointed out on Twitter that if we weren’t hosting we would have just missed the World Cup!

 

[swingdog]

The so-called Golden Generation has run its course.

Start planning for beyond the World Cup.

Top priorities are a midfielder who is confident on the ball and a central defense.

 

[hey shorty]

The so-called Golden Generation has run its course.

Start planning for beyond the World Cup.

Top priorities are a midfielder who is confident on the ball and a central defense.

Yep we can't make the same mistakes we did with the mens side.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Fell at the first actual hurdle. Congratulations…

 

[Bradesmaen]

Stajic has got Philippines qualified for the first time ever to a womens WC.

 

[swingdog]

Lots of news reports noting the "Matildas came up against an organised and disciplined side".

This is a recurrent theme. Teams that hassle us on the ball, maintain possession in the middle and keep their structure, tend to beat the Matildas. Our free-wheeling counter-attacking style worked 5-7 years ago but that's not how the best teams play now.

 

[Kappa]

The level of skill for full time athletes is woeful.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Twenty games under Gustavsson since he was appointed as coach in September 2020. Right now, the Matildas have six wins, four draws and ten losses under his coaching, so a win percentage of 30%. The Matildas have scored 47 goals and conceded 39. The Matildas have three clean sheets under Gustavsson's management (against Sweden in a friendly, and against Indonesia and the Philippines in the Asian Cup). By contrast, the Matildas have failed to score in seven games under Gustavsson (six losses and a scoreless draw).

Australia's only win over a European opponent is the 4-3 quarter-final win over Great Britain at the Olympics last year (record is 1 win, one draw (against Sweden) and six losses - against Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden (twice) and Ireland).

The Matildas have played the USWNT four times, for one draw and three losses.

Against Asian opponents, the Matildas' record is three wins (over Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand) and two losses (to Japan and to South Korea).

Matildas' results under Gustavsson to date:

Opponent	Result	Goals for	Goals against
Germany (10 April 2021; friendly)	Loss	2	5
Netherlands (13 April 2021; friendly)	Loss	0	5
Denmark (10 June 2021; friendly)	Loss	2	3
Sweden (15 June 2021; friendly)	Draw	0	0
Japan (14 July 2021; MS&AD Cup)	Loss	0	1
New Zealand (21 July 2021; Olympics GS)	Win	2	1
Sweden (24 July 2021; Olympics GS)	Loss	2	4
USWNT (27 July 2021; Olympics GS)	Draw	0	0
Great Britain (30 July 2021; Olympics QF)	Win	4	3
Sweden (2 August 2021; Olympics SF)	Loss	0	1
USWNT (5 August 2021; Olympics BM)	Loss	3	4
Ireland (21 September 2021; Friendly)	Loss	2	3
Brazil (23 October 2021; Friendly)	Win	3	1
Brazil (26 October 2021; Friendly)	Draw	2	2
USWNT (27 November 2021; Friendly)	Loss	0	3
USWNT (30 November 2021; Friendly)	Draw	1	1
Indonesia (21 January 2022; Asian Cup GS)	Win	18	0
The Philippines (24 January 2022; Asian Cup GS)	Win	4	0
Thailand (27 January 2022; Asian Cup GS)	Win	2	1
South Korea (30 January 2022; Asian Cup QF)	Loss	0	1
Total		47	39

 

[stax on the mull]

Stajic has got Philippines qualified for the first time ever to a womens WC.

Then we can safely rule out Stajcic as Gustavsson's replacement as he'll be taking the Malditas to the World Cup

 

[stax on the mull]

Didn’t realize but someone just pointed out on Twitter that if we weren’t hosting we would have just missed the World Cup!

Think the teams that lose the quarter finals in the Asian Cup are going into playoffs now for World Cup qualification because the next Women's World Cup will have more teams competing.

Unless we're hosting, Matildas will have to go the long route to qualify against minnow teams for a place in the next Asian Cup place. That actually might be a good opportunity for the fringe players.

 

[juss]

Twenty games under Gustavsson since he was appointed as coach in September 2020. Right now, the Matildas have six wins, four draws and ten losses under his coaching, so a win percentage of 30%. The Matildas have scored 47 goals and conceded 39. The Matildas have two clean sheets under Gustavsson's management (against Indonesia and the Philippines in the Asian Cup). By contrast, the Matildas have failed to score in seven games under Gustavsson (six losses and a scoreless draw).

Australia's only win over a European opponent is the 4-3 quarter-final win over Great Britain at the Olympics last year (record is 1 win, one draw (against Sweden) and six losses - against Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden (twice) and Ireland).

The Matildas have played the USWNT four times, for one draw and three losses.

Against Asian opponents, the Matildas' record is three wins (over Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand) and two losses (to Japan and to South Korea).

Matildas' results under Gustavsson to date:

Opponent	Result	Goals for	Goals against
Germany (10 April 2021; friendly)	Loss	2	5
Netherlands (13 April 2021; friendly)	Loss	0	5
Denmark (10 June 2021; friendly)	Loss	2	3
Sweden (15 June 2021; friendly)	Draw	0	0
Japan (14 July 2021; MS&AD Cup)	Loss	0	1
New Zealand (21 July 2021; Olympics GS)	Win	2	1
Sweden (24 July 2021; Olympics GS)	Loss	2	4
USWNT (27 July 2021; Olympics GS)	Draw	0	0
Great Britain (30 July 2021; Olympics QF)	Win	4	3
Sweden (2 August 2021; Olympics SF)	Loss	0	1
USWNT (5 August 2021; Olympics BM)	Loss	3	4
Ireland (21 September 2021; Friendly)	Loss	2	3
Brazil (23 October 2021; Friendly)	Win	3	1
Brazil (26 October 2021; Friendly)	Draw	2	2
USWNT (27 November 2021; Friendly)	Loss	0	3
USWNT (30 November 2021; Friendly)	Draw	1	1
Indonesia (21 January 2022; Asian Cup GS)	Win	18	0
The Philippines (24 January 2022; Asian Cup GS)	Win	4	0
Thailand (27 January 2022; Asian Cup GS)	Win	2	1
South Korea (30 January 2022; Asian Cup QF)	Loss	0	1
Total		47	39

Goals scored massively inflated due to the outlier game against Indonesia, so our record not great with GD either.

 

[hey shorty]

I wonder if the Phillippines girls are whinging that Staj is working them too hard ??

They'll force Tony out despite him being only a part of the problem.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Didn’t realize but someone just pointed out on Twitter that if we weren’t hosting we would have just missed the World Cup!

Apparently, this isn't quite correct. The Matildas would not have automatically qualified for the World Cup by losing the quarter-final, but would still have a second chance at qualifying through some playoff machinations.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Reading an article by Ante Jukic published by ESPN Australia/NZ. Under Gustavsson, the Matildas love the long ball. In the group games, the Matildas averaged 45.63 "long passes" a match, and the average pass distance was 20.78 metres (second only to Iran at 21.01 metres). The other group winners, China and Japan averaged less than 6.5% long passes per game, but 9.22% of Australia's 495 passes per match in the group stage were long passes. Australia scored 24 goals in the group games, and 17 of those came from shots outside the penalty area, transition and set pieces, while averaging 69.7% possession in that period. 39% of Australia's attacks came from the right side of the pitch (Carpenter and Fowler).

It's time to get real with Gustavsson's Matildas

The Matildas' Asian Cup quarterfinal exit should hardly come as shock; it's hard to see the red flags when you're wearing rose-coloured glasses.

www.espn.com.au

 

[juss]

Reading an article by Ante Jukic published by ESPN Australia/NZ. Under Gustavsson, the Matildas love the long ball. In the group games, the Matildas averaged 45.63 "long passes" a match, and the average pass distance was 20.78 metres (second only to Iran at 21.01 metres). The other group winners, China and Japan averaged less than 6.5% long passes per game, but 9.22% of Australia's 495 passes per match in the group stage were long passes. Australia scored 24 goals in the group games, and 17 of those came from shots outside the penalty area, transition and set pieces, while averaging 69.7% possession in that period. 39% of Australia's attacks came from the right side of the pitch (Carpenter and Fowler).

It's time to get real with Gustavsson's Matildas

The Matildas' Asian Cup quarterfinal exit should hardly come as shock; it's hard to see the red flags when you're wearing rose-coloured glasses.

www.espn.com.au

Gustavsson is rubbish.

The results (or lack of) speak for themselves.

 

[swingdog]

Reading an article by Ante Jukic published by ESPN Australia/NZ. Under Gustavsson, the Matildas love the long ball. In the group games, the Matildas averaged 45.63 "long passes" a match, and the average pass distance was 20.78 metres (second only to Iran at 21.01 metres). The other group winners, China and Japan averaged less than 6.5% long passes per game, but 9.22% of Australia's 495 passes per match in the group stage were long passes. Australia scored 24 goals in the group games, and 17 of those came from shots outside the penalty area, transition and set pieces, while averaging 69.7% possession in that period. 39% of Australia's attacks came from the right side of the pitch (Carpenter and Fowler).

It's time to get real with Gustavsson's Matildas

The Matildas' Asian Cup quarterfinal exit should hardly come as shock; it's hard to see the red flags when you're wearing rose-coloured glasses.

www.espn.com.au

That all seems fair and accurate. These problems have been obvious for a long time and the mark on Gustavsson is that he hasn't addressed them because he's playing for results (or the players are incapable of buying into a game plan).

The big problem is the gameplay is 5-10 years out of date. Teams are better organised now aligning with the general raise in standards in women's game, especially at European club level.

Combined with a lack of technical skills (interesting to read about Alex Chidiac moving to play in Japan because she wanted to improve her technical skills) in both a lot of the current players and those coming through, and the future isn't looking bright. Imagine if we got bundled out at the group stage in a home World Cup, which is entirely possible.

 

[stax on the mull]

I read that Jukic article this morning, and also saw him talk about it on a podcast on Sunday night.

Other thing is that Gustavsson wants to attack at high tempo so there's no patient control of possession through the midfield. Juric points out how we sometimes painstakingly criss cross in the backline waiting for that midfielder to start a chain - and then what happens is predictable. One of the fullbacks has to get involved. Sometimes Catley on the left, more often its Carpenter, and then its all the eggs in one basket. Fly down the sideline and try and cross a ball into the forwards to catch the opposition out.

There's no playing through the midfield and Jukic reckons that there weren't any players in the team vs Sth Korea that are capable of doing that - which is probably fair. He doesn't include newcomer Wheeler and he's quite critical of Van Egmond because she doesn't initiate the movement to receive and often goes missing against better quality teams as a result (fact) - and also that she was a disaster defensively when she took over Wheeler's role in the South Korea match. (Gustavsson when asked said Wheeler was subbed by necessity with a cork injury). Jukic does concedes that Van Egmond is the one player with the technical ability to draw in players and pass away in a tight situation.

I'm not so critical of Van Egmond because she had played the most tournament minutes but we took a squad bereft of true midfield options which was compounded after the 1st game when Yallop caught Covid. In the initial squad they had also selected midfielders Katrina Gorry and Taylor Ray but they couldn't go. Taylor Ray tested positive for Covid in Australia and Gorry declined because she's recently given birth.

Chidiac is one player they should look at going back to. She only had limited opportunities under previous coaches. Anything is better than using Fowler and Symon as midfielders.

I don't know who else they can pick. I'm liking how Rachel Lowe is playing now that she is starting at Sydney FC and has been given more responsibility. I was not a big fan of Gorry even when she was Asian Footballer of the Year. I reckon Kennedy is too much of a clumsy player prone to screw ups in the deep the defensive position she plays as one of the back 3 or 4 but could play in front of that formation because she distributes the ball well. Would it be too much of a risk to play Carpenter as a midfielder and find another right back?

There must be some others. They've really go to make the next season of Women's A League prior to the World Cup a strong competion, extend the length of the season boost the quality of the teams with some good internations to raise the level, and Gustavsson (if he's still coach) has got to be based in Australia to watch as many games as he can.

 

[swingdog]

Think you would lose too much playing Carpenter as a mid - Lyon isn't going to play her there so she'd be a makeshift every time she plays for Australia.

Basically, they either need Kellond-Knight to make a full recovery quickly or have that kind of player replace her.

 

[revo333]

The team really has been revered the last 3-4 years.

Maybe the players have believed their own hype and got abit ahead of themselves.