Why Pim's formation is a winner

I went back over the 2006 WC. I can't recall whether Guus used the same 4231 formation. Anyway, here's the team based on most appearances. Apologies if some players are out of position. Starting XI: Schwarzer(gk) 3 games Neill 4 Moore 3 Chipperfield 4 Bresciano 2 + 1 sub Culina 4 Grella 4 Kewell 2 + 1 Cahill 3 + 1 Emerton 3 Viduka(c) 4 Bench: Kalic(rgk) 1 Wilkshire 2 Popovic 1 Aloisi 0 + 4 Kennedy 0 + 2 Sterjovski 3 Neill, Chipperfield, Culina & Viduka played every minute of all 4 matches. Hiddinck used 17 players in the squad. Aloisi was the super sub, alternating between 15-30 minutes in all 4 matches. There's a serious core of talented players likely to back-up in 2010.

Agreed about Emmo slotting into the Midfield. ALSO, whoever is selected as a screener needs to push more into CM on more occasions (in co-ordination with the OTHER screening middie). This has been the bane of Pim's detractors re: overly defensive play. 4231 looks much better when the midfield transitions effectively.

My only concern about the 4-2-3-1 is this....how does Holman get selected? the idea of a 4231 is to have players whoh can hold the ball up and be able to look for space or get the ball to feet. Holman has the pace, but cant pass at all. He is closed down quickly and when he does pass the bal it goes to an opositionm player. he has had one gaem where he looked good. From then on he has been terrible. A player like Muddoca, Tood, Mackay, Bridge, Ruka would do the job ten times better and players like Carle, sterjovski, Troisi or even dropping back Djite would be better then Holman. To me Holman is there only based on the fact he plays in Holland. When PV does go, I hope the firtst thing to happen is the next manager drops him for good. The thing about a 4231, it can be altered into a 442 easily. Ie, moving HK, Sterj or Timmy to partner the striker. As well, Culina should start getting more forward in a 4231 and leave Grella as the only holding player when he is back to peek fitness. Emo when back to full fitness is my pick over Bresc as well. To me Bresc could be more of an impact player and can play on the wing or behind the striker.

I'm not implying that Emerton should be a super sub at best, I believe a fully fit Emerton is a must starter but I said he may be a super sub if he continues to battle injury concerns. His best position is attacking right and if he can prove to be a better performer than Bresciano upon return from injury then it will be hard for him to miss out on that spot. But at the moment Bresciano has been solid and with Australia enjoying a period of great success I think it is his spot to lose. I don't mind the Harry Kewell up front idea at all though! Could definitely see it working with Bresciano switching to left and Emo on the right. As you go on to post below dasilva, there are some important matches coming up where our questions will be answered!

You mightn't like Pimbo [myself included], you mightn't like his style of play, but fark - you just can't argue with the results. Best record of any WC manager we've ever had. Who says he won't get further at SA 2010 than Guus did in Germany 06?

Yeah he was average against Uzbekistan However he also played as a sole striker against Iraq at home and he was easily the best player of the Australian team which saved our bacon that day. He surprisingly played the target man role to perfection winning a lot of headers, holding the ball and playing off team mates and scored from his head. We shouldn't expect him to deliver regularly for that position but he is still a decentish option and he perform better in that position then the likes of Scott Mcdonald or even Kennedy (despite the goals) has for Australia (although Scotty played really well against Ireland, let's hope that continues). We also have six matches schedule before the world cup September 5 - South Korea - Away October 10 - Netherlands - Home October 14 - Oman - Home November 18 - Oman - Away January 6 - Kuwait - Away March 3 - Indonesia - Home Expect a fair amount of friendly matches after the indonesia game. I think there are rumors of a friendly with Italy coming up next year.

DaSilva - You are right, Harry was striker against Uzbekistan. However I watched the game and didn't think he was too flash in the position, although alot of that could be attributed to the fact that the Roos as a whole did not play well. Does anyone know how many matches we have left before the WC?

I probably should have posted that as a reply to Mat Bartnik who suggested that Emerton should be a super sub and say that Bresciano must start. In any case, I think my line up with Kewell as a sole striker was used against Uzbekistan away so there is a precedent for that line up.

das good call - depending on the opposition, it's something Pim might consider - but you're right that Emo is not droppable (has anyone suggested that he is?) It's not that hard to imagine Harry as a sort of Tottiesque trequartista/forward.

Regarding North and Milligan. Isn't the other way around The reason why North was picked despite playing in Asia is because he isn't getting any game time for his club while Mark Milligan was omitted from the friendly because he was a regular starter for the Chinese side. In fact he is becoming a star for the club and really impressed Pim Verbeek. Pim Verbeek was quoted by saying that Mark looks like a completely different player then what he saw in the A-league. That's why Milligan was selected in front of North for the Bahrain game (he was only omitted for the japan game because he got a yellow card for the bahrain match) According to wiki, Mark milligan has played 16 times for his club while North only played 8 times I have more confidence in Mark Milligan making the World Cup Squad then Jade North

The only way I can see Wilkshire, Kewell, Cahill, Bresciano and Emerton in the same team. Is to put Emerton on the right wing, Bresciano on the left (he plays in that position for Palermo), Cahill behind the striker and have Kewell as the sole striker and drop Kennedy and Mcdonald. Not the worst option Pim can make. In any case, Emerton to me is undroppable if fit. I think people forget that Emerton in the first stage of the group was consistently our best player in all of the matches. Pim has shown that he has benched Bresciano for Emerton before. Bresciano has a tendency to go missing. He also went missing in the last World Cup as well (although he did have injury issues) while Emerton was consistently one of our best player in that tournament. IMO Emerton should always be picked in front of Bresciano.

Sheek don't be fooled by these blokes!!! Always remember: drive for show, put for dough.

Onside, I presume this is one of Pim's strengths - he has picked a formation & style that suits the players at his disposable, as Mat alludes in his post. It may be simple common sense, but then, how uncommon is common sense generally?????

Gee, as someone whose football knowledge is still moderate, reading you guys is awesome! When I discuss football with my football-savvy workmates, it's The Roar footy experts who help make me adequate! BTW, totally agree with what Pim is doing. Very astute guy, much smarter than people give him credit for. Which I think is good. Hopefully, some of the major football nations will take us for granted next year. We can make that work in our favour.

Pim the pragmatist.The socceroos picked the formation ,not Pim. Pim has to go with what he has got.McDonald looks ordinary for the Socceroos because he does not receive quick ball in the box. At Celtic he receives quick ball. The Socceroos lack those one or two players who are very fast by international standards. Our lads struggle to get behind the back four from where passes to McDonald could be lethal. Likewise Cahill is more dangerous from crosses in a similar position. Kennedy is also dangerous when he receives the ball when facing the goal , opposed to receiving high crosses in from forty metres out.It's easy to defend against at the elite level. None of this can happen without those players with exceptional pace. Pim has cut his formation cloth accordingly.

DiCanio/Lmacca It's a nice dilemma for Pim to have (who to stick on the right). As we go through the WC campaign, hopefully to a 4th game - we will all be very thankful that Pim had these excellent options available (i.e. we won't see the same 11 blokes playing all 3 or 4 games).

Though the article makes the point that this formation gets all our best players on the park, the reality is we're still faced with 4 not going into 3. I'm with those above who think that Emerton is best at an advanced role. He was one of our best players in the Qualifiers - especially in the away legs in the Middle East. I remember him carving up Qatar quite easily, with his spped and strength. As long as he doesn't shoot from distance, I think he's first choice at RAM (Right Attacking Midfield). So then it's Cahill for sure as the CAM, and then Kewell at LAM. Which means Bresciano misses out, though I would love to see him out there at all times. The only way to do that would be to either play Emmo at RB and put Bresh in, or play Kewell up front and stick Bresh on the left. Neither one is as satisfactory as my first option. Anyone care to refresh my memory of Guus's formation and first choice team. I get the feeling Bresciano wasn't in that selection either for much of the World Cup.

Ghost - Thanks for agreeing but I didnt say I would use him as a sub :) Pip I agree re: Bresciano. The ability to switch him and kewell is a great little audible Pim can use. Ok SO wilks is locked in on the right. What about Emerton at Left back. Can he do it to a standard higher then Carney and Chippers? I just want to get the best 11 on the field. Emmo is in that 11 for my money.

DiCanio Luke can fill in at LB - but that's a bit different to saying he can play it (especially at WC level). What I mean is, if we need some re-casting mid game, yeh, Luke can hold down LB for 15 to 30 minutes. But would you bank on him holding down LB for a whole WC campaign? No, absolutley not. The evidence we have is his attempt to play the first two games of the Asian Cup at LB - where he played it to the level you expect of an emergency LB. Someone mentioned earlier about the Emo/Wilkshire partnership down the right - and that's true enough. Let us just say that it's one of those selection decisions that a manager would rather have than not. We're more than adequately covered down the right. It's down the left where we're looking a little lean, or where the contenders are on the wrong side of 30. By the way - it should be remembered that Bresh is as good on the left as he is on the right.

I agree with you DiCanio re Bresch. If I was the gaffer he would be on the plane but on the bench as super-sub and/or cover for Cahill and Kewell if either gets injured. I like Emmo further forward, so I think our RB combination is Wilks with young Williams as the understudy if he keeps up his tasty early form. On the left I've really liked Carney / Kewell combo a few times this year especially Vs Japan at the MCG.