Fixing the Socceroos central midfield
Roar Guru By John Davidson, 17 Nov 2011 John Davidson is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Carl Valeri, football, Mile Jedinak, Socceroos
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After a dismal display against Oman on Saturday, the Socceroos backed it up with another lacklustre performance in Thailand on Tuesday night.
A loss and tight win has meant Australia still goes through to the next stage of World Cup qualifying, but with our wings a little dented after some earlier great performances under Holger Osieck.
The Socceroos remain the ever-unfinished article, and as the recent games have shown there still needs to be marked improvement in this team.
A lot has been said and written about the role Tim Cahill and Brett Holman should play, not to mention Harry Kewell, and the pairing up front with Josh Kennnedy. The central defence has also been discussed vigorously, and the ageing nature of several players.
But I think it’s time we case a critical eye on the team’s central midfield. Carl Valeri and Mile Jedinak are both competent players, who have grown into their roles as Socceroos and made significant strides in their careers.
But I don’t think either should be automatic first choices for the team, or the first selections made for every Socceroos squad. To me Neil Kilkenny is a better option, with a better tackling game and attacking instincts to get the ball moving forward quickly and effectively. Both Valeri and Jedinak seem too defensive-focused and are not quick enough at transitioning from defence to attack.
Who should partner Kilkenny? This is a tough call, as there is a number of candidates to consider. Jason Culina would be front and centre if he was fit, but unfortunately that is a long way off, if ever. Hopefully he can return.
Rhys Williams can play in the middle, and it would be interesting to see him in that role in the dead rubber against Saudia Arabia. He may be an option there, although he could be better suited to the backline. Time will tell.
Chris Herd is another who could handle a central midfield role, as the Aston Villa star has tremendous versatility. Terry Antonis is tipped as a future Socceroo star, and it is perhaps too soon to throw him in the deep end now. But he should capped sooner rather than later.
It would be good to see him amass a few games before Brazil 2014, and a friendly against lowly opposition – similar to the recent match against Malaysia – would be a good opportunity to ease him into the set-up.
We are missing the class and superior technique of a Culina, Josip Skoko, Ned Zelic or a Paul Okon, and it shows. Competition for places will breed a better outfit, and that is what we need at the central nervous system of our national team.
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The Crowd Says (11) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Carl Valeri, football, Mile Jedinak, Socceroos
November 17th 2011 @ 10:55am
Nick said | November 17th 2011 @ 10:55am | Report comment
Valeri was magnificent in the second half against Thailand; he would be my first-choice defensive midfielder. However I think we only need one with a defensive mindset, and can warrant throwing Cahill, Herd or Mitch Nichols in the centre to partner Carl. There is no way Holger will replace Holman in the role behind Keenedy, so it may be up to Timmy Cahill to adapt into a less attacking minded role.
November 17th 2011 @ 11:37am
john said | November 17th 2011 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Get rid of holman. Problem solved.
November 17th 2011 @ 12:11pm
Davo said | November 17th 2011 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
here here. he can’t control the football
November 17th 2011 @ 11:41am
Nick Sculley said | November 17th 2011 @ 11:41am | Report comment
So naive john (the commenter, not the writer); on the open market in Europe I would guarantee that at this point in time Holman would be Australia’s most expensive player. He is a gun, and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you haven’t watched a Socceroos or AZ game in the past 18 months if you still think he has to go.
November 17th 2011 @ 11:45am
Mato-Bateman said | November 17th 2011 @ 11:45am | Report comment
Nichols, Paartalau, Leckie, Oar, Vidosic, Carle should be considered for next game. As well as Carney if his playing for his club side in Spain. How come Rukavytsta is not being considered? His got speed and talent to burn, sometimes his finishing leaves alot to be desired sometimes but he should be considered again.
November 17th 2011 @ 11:49am
Nick Sculley said | November 17th 2011 @ 11:49am | Report comment
I doubt Holger will look at either Oar or Leckie in the short-term as they have been playing very little for their respective club sides, whilst Carney only just had his first start for Alcorcon so will take time to find his groove again. The four A-League lads should all be considered, although Carle and Vidosic play a very similar role to Holman and Cahill.
November 17th 2011 @ 11:45am
Roarchild said | November 17th 2011 @ 11:45am | Report comment
It was a win not a draw against Thailand, On the same night Korea lost to Lebanon.
The two screeners makes for a pretty unimpresive central midfield and I would love to see Mckay in the centre but realistically we have a pretty mediocre collection of players and when we play good teams we are going to have to do it ugly and will probably need both of them.
November 17th 2011 @ 12:05pm
John Davidson said | November 17th 2011 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
I agree with you Nick Sculley, I saw an AZ game in Holland in July this year and Holman was very impressive with his club side. He leads the line well, makes good runs and was one of AZ’s most dominant players.
November 17th 2011 @ 12:10pm
Davo said | November 17th 2011 @ 12:10pm | Report comment
get rid of Holman Valeri and Jedinak.
Have a midfield triangle with one defensive midfield. Have Paartalu at the bottom points and Nicy Carle and Timmy Cahill at the the top points.
November 17th 2011 @ 12:54pm
dansportzblog said | November 17th 2011 @ 12:54pm | Report comment
To be honest, I think Australia tend to struggle against Asian Opponents. We as Aussie supporters expect them to win easily because we consider most of the Asian teams as minnows compare to the players we have or maybe even had in the past(playing in the EPL).
I don’t think Australia has adapted fully to playing Asian teams that can very inconsistant. We are more adapt at playing European Teams, and tend to be more happy with the way we play against them. Even when we qualified for the last World Cup, there were some average performances against the Asian Teams to qualify, and also in the Asian Cup.
So I’m not sure what to make of it. Yes the last two performances didn’t fill me with confidence, but we’ll see what happens. I think the midfield was a little poor against Thailand (Who player really well, probably better then Australia), and was one of the main reasons why Michael Zullo was exposed so easily. It was far to easy for the Thai team to hit those long balls over the well advanced Socceroos defence from the middle of the park. More pressure boys.
November 17th 2011 @ 1:18pm
Nick Sculley said | November 17th 2011 @ 1:18pm | Report comment
Have to agree with you here. Is it no coincidence that perhaps Australia’s best performance in Asia was against Uzbekistan, a side which plays more like an eastern European side.
But the comfort when playing Asian opponents will come with time as we play more qualifiers and progress deeper with A-League sides in the Asian Champions League. At least now, being in Asia, we can identify our deficiencies more accurately than when the Socceroos were winning by ridiculous margins in Oceania, which made it difficult to gauge.