- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
With Frank Lowy making it clear last night that the race for the next Socceroos boss would be between the three outstanding local candidates Ange Postecoglou, Graham Arnold and Tony Popovic, I delve into the pros and cons for each aspirant.
Ange Postecoglou The case for:
Showed at the Brisbane Roar that he isn’t afraid to come in and make the tough calls, turning over an ageing squad and accepting full responsibility for the decisions and performances.
At the time he demanded full autonomy and to be judged after two years, and after two titles in his first two full seasons, playing swashbuckling football, it was the most favourable of judgements.
While he fell short in his first full season at the Victory, he showed that he can adjust their playing style and identify the players to suit his preferred system, bringing through kids like Nick Ansell, Andrew Nabbout, Scott Galloway and Connor Pain, and getting the best out of Marco Rojas.
This season he has done some impressive pre-season work around identifying his weaknesses and plugging the gaps, including plucking Rashid Mahazi out of the state league and bringing in the likes of Kosta Barbarouses, Mitch Nichols, James Troisi and Pablo Contreras.
Tactically, he has shown a capacity for innovation, evidenced by the use of two wide strikers and two creative midfielders .
He has also shown adaptability in playing style, adopting a 4-3-3 at the Roar and a 4-2-2-2 at the Victory, finding a template and style he felt would be most effective.
What he as also demonstrated is an ability to manage the myriad of stakeholders, particularly the media, while the fact he has no clear links to the current squad should allow him to keep an objective distance.
The case against:
Postecoglou’s modus operandi, at both the Roar and Victory, has been to produce a proactive brand of football featuring control of the opponent largely through control of possession, be it the patience at the Roar or the more rapid penetration at the Victory.
With our current list of players not at the level of the 2006 crop, there may be an argument for a more reactive game-plan, built on defensive organisation, and the question remains whether he is capable of producing such a strategy.
Certainly the evidence of his work for the A-League All-Stars is that he struggled to come up with a more negative strategy based around being difficult to break down.
While he only had one week with the All-Stars, and didn’t exactly get to pick the entire squad from scratch, it was nonetheless disappointing to see his side struggle with a back three, and his selection of Nigel Boogaard in the centre of defence raised a few eyebrows.
There’s also evidence of a ruthless streak to his management of youngsters that don’t fit his plans, as evidenced by his treatment of the likes of Petar Franjic, Matthew Foschini, Sam Gallagher and Lawrence Thomas last season.
Graham ArnoldFor:
After getting a taste of the Socceroos job in an interim capacity throughout 2006 and at the 2007 Asian Cup, Arnold has come away from his experiences with the national team and improved out of sight.
His three seasons to date at the Central Coast Mariners have been nothing short of sensational, winning one premiership, one championship, finishing second on the ladder twice and getting to within a few seconds of another championship in 2010/11.
In that time he has show a capacity to build and foster a strong, united squad, often despite limited resources, and get the best out of his men.
He has also shown a capacity to build a base from the back, something the Socceroos desperately require, using a tight 4-4-2 featuring a midfield diamond in his first two seasons, before switching to a more proactive 4-2-3-1 in last season’s success.
Arnold has been able to showcase a style that suits many of the strengths of Australian football, including power, pace, organisation and team spirit, and sprinkle it with creativity, and this could well be a mix that gets the Roos competitive.
Against:
When he had his opportunity to coach the Roos in 2007 he simply wasn’t strong enough.
He allowed some of the senior players to have too much influence over his decisions, and this had a detrimental effect on performances.
Even the following year, when in charge of the Olyroos, he was out-foxed my most of his opponents and never appeared in full control.
Even at the Mariners, while producing a solid system, he has often been caught short on the tactical front, not always making the right calls to alter the control of games.
While he’s matured significantly in three excellent A-League seasons, the FFA will need to consider whether he’s too much of a risk given his past attempts at national roles.
Will he have the strength to make the tough calls given some of the players he has coached and played with are still around?
Tony Popovic For:
Ultra impressive in just about everything he has done over the past 18 months at the Western Sydney Wanderers, he is a man of extreme detail and conviction.
Not interested in mental games, he’s the type that brings calm and rationale to a dressing room, demanding high standards, invariably having a well thought-out solution to any problem.
Like Guus Hiddink, he is a hard-worker with a plan, approaching each match with various options and contingencies.
Tactically he has been superb, able to consistently effect the control of a match with his substitutions, as we saw again at Bluetongue on Saturday.
As with Arnold, he showed last season that he is able to develop from a solid defensive base, and while there aren’t many frills about his 4-2-3-1, he has proved he can produce a consistently competitive unit that gets results.
Popovic’s man management and technical detail suggest he’s got the goods to get the job done.
Against:
Popovic has only been in the top job for just over a year and has so far stuck rigidly to his preferred system, not yet showing the type of adaptability that might be required at international level.
For example, he has yet to demonstrate that he can produce a more proactive plan that features the goalkeeper and central defenders playing out more consistently.
This is something that might be necessary after the World Cup and in the lead up to the Asian Cup, where the Socceroos, at home, will expected to be on the front foot.
Having yet to experience any tough periods in his short caching career, there also remains a question as to how he would handle such a trough.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.