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I needed to calm down for a couple of days after watching the Socceroos performance against South Africa on Monday night. I was exhilarated, confused and depressed all in the space of 90 minutes.
So rather than writing while the blood was still pounding and the analysts were overseeing the potato paddock of the Olympic Stadium, I wanted to leave things for a while and clear the head.
However, as an ex-goalkeeper I realised that having a clear head is never going to happen, so here we go.
The first thing to be taken from the game is that Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou is not going to coach his side to sit back and absorb the pressure of the relentless pounding that the attacking forces of Chile, Netherlands and Spain will no doubt serve up.
This will be a Socceroos team that will die on its feet rather than live on its knees, to pinch a quote from Midnight Oil.
They had 14 shots on goal in the first half against Bafana Bafana, and while I haven’t checked the stats, I suspect that’s more shots in one half than the national team had in Holger Osieck’s last four games in charge.
That they committed 14 fouls to one in the first half also showed a desperation to press high and win the ball back as often and as quickly as they could. Apart from South Africa’s opening goal, it’s hard to remember a period in the first half when the Socceroos were on the back foot defending. Much of their “defensive” work took place in the middle and front third of the pitch.
Mathew Leckie and Tommy Oar looked sharp and dangerous both out wide and when they cut inside towards the penalty area. Both have speed, a necessary ingredient for a wide player, but both need to work on their crossing accuracy and the timing of their delivery. Leckie especially had opportunities to cross early and against better opposition than South Africa those opportunities will not present themselves often.
James Holland’s display seems to have polarised opinion. The Fox Sports pundits liked what they saw – The Roar‘s own Tony Tannous did not, and that was a line of demarcation that was echoed through a lot of football colleagues I talked to. In many ways, it’s a moot point. The position is Mile Jedinak’s once he is fit, unless Ange plans to have Jedinak play higher up in midfield, in which case I’d see Mark Milligan as a better option for a lone screening role. Of course, maybe Ange wants to play Holland against Holland just to confuse the Dutch.
The Socceroos fadeout in the second half was at the time distressing, but in hindsight probably understandable, as they were on the back end of a reputedly very intense two-week training camp. But if they are to play the kind of attacking game we saw in the first 30 minutes, then they have to do it for longer than thirty minutes. The last stages of the game saw a bit too much “lumping” of the ball and Postecoglou himself commented on a lack of patience and waiting to play the right pass being paramount to his side’s chances in the harder games ahead.
However, a lack of composure in front of goal cost the Socceroos a comfortable three-goal lead heading into half time which, had those goals been posted, could have seen a more composed and refined second half display.
Which leads me to Tim Cahill.
Super Tim. The heartbeat of the Socceroos for three campaigns. My favourite player and I know I’m not alone. But is he playing up front because he’s a good number nine, or because he’s too indispensable not to play somewhere?
I still maintain that Cahill’s best position is tucked in behind a striker, arriving in the box a little later, operating on the fringes of the front third – where he did the damage on countless occasions in the past, including in Kaiserslautern in 2006 against Japan.
It means the Socceroos have to find another number nine, and I’m not saying that Cahill is not useful in the role, but would playing off the speed of Leckie in a central position be an option? With Ange possibly switching to a system that could go from 4-3-3 to 4-1-4-1 quite fluidly, perhaps this gives the option of having Cahill play a little deeper beside James Troisi, Tom Rogic or Dario Vidosic.
That being said, Cahill’s extraordinary aerial ability came to the fore again on Monday when he turned a frankly awful cross into another goal for the highlight reel.
It was immensely pleasing to see the Socceroos attack from the opening whistle, and if anyone is willing to buck conventional wisdom it’s Postecoglou. He shows no signs of parking the Mourinho-style bus which might be the time-honoured approach to the attacking talents he will be faced with in the Group of Death in Brazil.
He has no fear of reputations but is capable of making them, and the game against South Africa may have revealed a willingness to place his faith in the goal-scoring potential of his largely inexperienced attacking players.
Okay, those two days have helped. I’m feeling better about things. Bring on Chile.
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