[ps. what you watching that wonky-ball shit for old man? ]

Are you trying to get me offside with my fellow Chelsea team mate SJ …?? Let’s just rejoice in that if Zola (ex Chelsea playmaker) were to know of Pimbo’s sudden change of heart to Carle’s worth and the secret practice match he would be delighted to know of the secret plan to start Nicky ….

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KB

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KB

Viduka is 4 years older than the last WC qualification and has lost the fire in the belly.
He keeps getting injured and each time its harder to come back and put in the effort to get back to the same level of fitness.
Viduka has a Croatian wife and his kids were born in Croatia.
He doesn’t have an Aussie wife who gets homesick and wants her kids to grow up in Australia. His wife would rather holiday on the Adriatic coast with her family.

Dukes has given great service to Australia over the years and he should be given credit, but I think he has passed his use by date.
How can young strikers like Bruce Djite, Rukya, Chris Payne, Sean Rooney, Mitch Nicholls ever become the next Mark Viduka, if Pimbo and Wags the Dog keep playing the same old same old team and not give them the same opportunities Viduka got.

How many chances has Aussie Scott McDonald been given to prove himself and yet how many times has he scored for the Socceroos? Never is the answer.
Compare that to the number of times fringe players like Djite, Rukya, Nicky Carle and others have been given a chance to prove themselves.

Bruce Djite could develop into one of the best strikers Australia has ever produced, but we’ll never know will we until we give him a chance and our best support.

And his never-ending movement would have given away his unit’s position to the enemy.

Even the great Nicky Carle calls him a good player in his interview recently on TWG. If Nicky (Australia’s Greatest Midfielder of all Time™) says he’s a good midfielder then he must be bloody brilliant! He has, after all, won the mighty Eredivisie with AZ.

The ship of Captain Verbeek’s may be going down on Viduka’s sea or whatever, but the only way for Holman to go is up!

1 or 2 of them may continue onto 2014 to join the likes of Wilshire, Kennedy, McDonald and maybe Garcia as the experience players with the current crop of 21-25 year olds (Burns, Ruya, Williams, Spira), but I also agree, the current U20 WC team seems to hold more promising players.

I have said all along that the starting XI at 2010 team will be almost exactly the same as 2006.
Sadly, no one has really come up in the last 4 years. This is the last hurrah of the great 90′ generation.

The 2014 team will be a completely different story as I think there will be huge compettion for places as the current crop of under 20′s look to be stronger than the 21-25 years olds.

Any song whose tune he is capable of holding must have some merit.

Dukes is a special player in the Australian sense and his talent is well known … this IMO gives him or allows a coach to give him a little bit more consideration … has he been honest in past dealing .. Yes he has.

So lets look at Pims position … a honest player of great skill… say’s look I am not sure if I am up to it but can give you an answer by XX/XX/XXX … due we say your past record indicates you will be honest .. you have been ouit of your club side … Due we say in this case it is OK and accept his word he will advise Pim if he is not up to playing or at his best .. can any player actually make such a call about themselves … IMO a real Question of Balance… BUT sucker that I am in this case based on his past history combined with his skill and that he IMO will be honest about himself as he see’s … Me thinks he can say at the agreed date I am ready or I am not ready.

If he had gone to a club like Gencler in Turkey where Djite, Jedinak and Troisi are playing then I am sure he would have played quite regularly this year. Lets hope he gets some game time next season.

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KB

While I agree with all that Jesse has written, the missing ingredient is that one has to have faith in Pim’s ability to man-manage this potentially divisive situation so that it won’t be divisive. Man-management has been one of Pim’s great strengths in the job, for example Kewell (as outlined by Jesse). Indeed, so far Pim is handling it well with Dukes: quite clearly he is not ringing up the big man to beg him, and he also seems to have imposed a strict timeframe on accepting the invitation. I can’t see why the other lads in the squad wouldn’t accept that as reasonable. Yes, it is preferential treatment, but if the “lesser” players in the squad can’t see that Viduka has earned the right to a limited amount of preferential treatment, then they probably shouldn’t be there. If Dukes does accept, I wouldn’t be surprised if Pim makes him carry a few water-bottles for a while, just to make sure that he knows his place.

However, personally I’d rather see us do everything we can to improve our chances of qualifying for the second round. If having Dukes gives us a 30% chance rather than a 20% chance I think it’s still worth bringing him.

But I agree with the general view that we need more of a defined strategy to turn our 23-24 year olds into part of a cohesive socceroos team. Maybe that’ll start to happen from now.

Pim will be playing 4-5-1 at the WC. Viduka is the only player we have got that can play as a lone striker. Pim knows that.

Kennedy and Djite can’t hold the ball up like Viduka.

The other candidates are simply not good enough or ready enough at the highest level and others are just not capable of playing the lone striker role. Some people just find it hard to accept.

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KB

Duke’s has done a great service for Australia however appears to have had enough. I’m not convinced that he is up for 2010 and as such it is time to move on.