Brett Holman was one of the most derided players in the Socceroos squad. He has polarised fans as he doesn’t have the greatest touch in the world and his passing needed improvement.
His constant misses throughout the qualifiers has also earned the ire of the fan. The much silkier Nicky Carle’s omission from the squad and the presence of Brett Holman had caused a great deal of controversy.
Often fans were baffled on the reason why Holman was continually selected in the squad and what Pim saw in him. Holman showed everyone why he was selected this morning scoring a superb goal against Serbia and finishing the tournament as our top goal scorer.
The most obvious strength of Holman was his work rate and stamina. If Australia was playing a pressing game, having Holman was a big advantage in winning the ball in the opposition half and generally no other player was better to cause turnovers throughout the qualifiers. Even the detractors of Holman have realised that he works his guts of for the Australian team.
The strength of Holman was his positioning and off the ball running. His ability to make intelligent runs also created chances for him to finish for the team. His ability to do dummy runs often created spaces for other people in the team to exploit. As much as I like Carle for his flair and his technique, this was something lacking in Carle’s game.
Even during the qualifiers when Holman touch and passing was letting the team down, his entrance to the game has often resulted in Australia playing more fluent and more threatening in attack. Even enough to be singled out for praise by the Netherlands manager Van Marwijk who was quoted saying: “Against Russia with playmaker (Andrei) Arshavin, Van Bommel and De Jong played well but against (Australia’s) Brett Holman they never got control.”
Of course, making intelligent runs means nothing if you can’t put the ball in the back of the net and Holman was often infuriating missing chances after chances due to lack of composure. However, if you look at his goal scoring record in the Netherlands, he has scored almost 60 goals there having a goal in every four games for NEC Nijmegen and SBV Excelsior. It’s a fairly respectable goal scoring record for an attacking midfielder.
Despite Holman missing chances for the Socceroos, Pim kept faith with him as he knew that he has the potential to score goals for the Socceroos. That faith has been paid off with first having a cool finish against New Zealand and then showing excellent reaction to punish Ghana and now a long distance gem against Serbia.
People may be surprised by his ability to hit shots from distance but having seen this video, Holman has demonstrated that he was capable of hitting long shot at club level and that his goal against Serbia was no fluke.
Even if his performance hasn’t won over your support, you have to admire the way he has performed despite being derided by critics and mocked by our own fans. Now that Holman has finally gained his confidence, let’s hope that this is the beginning of a prolific and long career for the Socceroos. Even if he doesn’t push on, at least he will still be remembered as our hero for the Socceroos from this World Cup.
dasilva
Roar Guru
Now Jesse Fink has made his apologies http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/jesse-fink/blog/1010621/Brett-Holman:-a-mea-culpa
tony yeboah
Guest
Great post dasilva, i for one have always hoped that he would prove people wrong because some of the hate directed towards him has been way over the top. Sometimes i think that he was the scapegoat for the lack of attacking impetus that the Australian team has been giving in the last few years. The Carle/Holman debate. I always thought that Carle kept himself out of the team rather than Holman taking his place. He was not playing regularly in a lower league and his pace has never really been there. Watching the frenetic pace that, especially the last two Australian games have been played at, Carle would have been slow as a donkey. Lastly on Holman's technique. I know he is not the best, but someone wrote on another forum that i think sums it up well......his football brain goes faster than his technique can! He so often gets in a great position only to fluff his lines. If they could get closer together you never know. Besides, Culina gave the ball away much more and in more dangerous positions.
dasilva
Roar Guru
I admit, I haven't seen him play at club level that often. He got to good positions many times for Australia but he just ended up missing. However just a cursory look at his goal scoring record sort of shows that he has the capability to score goals from midfield (1 goal in every 4 games is about the same as Tim Cahill (although he is 1 in 5) although adjust to the fact that Timmy plays in a better league). I felt people unfairly dismissed him as being a terrible finisher where just a look at the amount of goals he score at club level or even a bit of youtubing would have dismissed that claim. The question mark shouldn't have been on his finishing ability but more about his mentality and perhaps he choked when he played for Australia and couldn't handle the pressure. That's what I was doubting about Holman the most. However his performance in this world cup shows that there is nothing wrong with his mentality.
rovers2011
Guest
the thing with the hate campaigns, most the people had barely seen him play at club level and were judging on a few national team games. The critics seemed to go beyond saying they were just poor performances, but that he was a poor footballer. Only from a place of ignorance, glad he is getting the stage to prove himself at NT level now.
Mark Young
Guest
Darling harbour went BEZERK when he kicked that goal this morning! BEZERK I TELLS YA!!!! Great to see him perform so well
drew777
Roar Pro
By my count Holman only gave the ball away through a bad pass once last night...
dasilva
Roar Guru
Yeah, I really found those hate campaigns against Holman distasteful. Even if you don't believe the person doesn't deserve to be picked. Booing your own player is just not on (Personally the only justifiable reason you should boo your own player is if they have done something unsporting)
drew777
Roar Pro
HAHA! Maybe his parents wrote that?
Aka
Guest
It'll be interesting to see how Carle goes this season He's been away for 2 seasons hasn't he? The A-league has improved IMO, and I expect it will continue to improve.
Al
Guest
Unfortunately two Wilkshire howlers (the miss against Ghana and the failure to clear the ball from danger before the pass from the bi-line which led to the penalty against Ghana) may have cost us, however outside of that he has been immense.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
We can only hope Scott Macdonald hits the net against India in the Asian cup and a similar transformation takes place.
Jason
Guest
Just wondering if his 'redemption' raises the issue of the vociferous public denigration of players. Whereas it can be argued that the likes of Thierry Henry for example might have deserved vilification, surely it's harder to justify character assassinations the likes of which Holman has endured. (Much to his credit, he never really bit back). Or was it really not that bad? To wish him injuries and being smeared in forum after forum and even on a dedicated Facebook site smacks of something rotten in fan culture. Or is it just to be expected? I don't know. I just felt mighty happy for him. Two goals in a World Cup - one opportunistic, one a screamer - is a stat most players would envy. From a midfielder.
The Bear
Guest
Defending from the front. Verbeek forgot his mantra....
Al
Guest
I cringed everytime Holman played during the qualifiers, he looked uncoordinated and never looked remotely close to scoring. His goal against the Kiwis must have given him a fair confidence boost and he really did step up this world cup campaign, even against Germany he looked good. His goal this morning was beautifully taken and I think he will really now step up and make a name for himself from here.
Kazama
Roar Guru
Brett, if you are reading this, I am sorry. You were one of our best players at the cup, and have finished as our leading scorer. Here's hoping that you continue this form into the Asian Cup and then 2014. Well done, Holminho.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
I think we will see the debate rise again because Carle should have a great A league season which will make him quite visable. Some people even suggested Brosque for the national team with a straight face! .... I'm allready dreadding the Carle topics return. That said I think the Holman hype is in danger of going overboard and no doubt their will be some Holman haters ready to jump as soon as he misses a pass. I really only started defending him because I thought he was a solid squad player and the boo boys were way over the top (i don't like too see any Socceroo booed). I had little idea he had an eye for the spectacular but I knew he covers a lot of distance and gives the team a lot of energy. Makes it easier for them to play through the middle and coupled with Emerton you get enough running in the team to make up for being down a man.
dasilva
Roar Guru
Only if Holman keeps on performing. However a few more mishits and then the debate will begin again. His poor touch will always be a divisive quality amongst the fans. A I honestly thought the Carle/Holman divide reached it's absurdity during TWG when the SBS pundits where selecting their ideal squad. Foster's squad omitted Holman and put Carle in there as a striker. I have no problems with people thinking Carle was better then Holman but there's no way people can argue that Carle's a striker (his goal scoring record is pretty mediocre even in the A-league) and that he is a better striker then Holman. I honesty feel that is pretty much the only way Carle can break back to the Socceroos squad. He has to be a reliable scorer as well as someone who can dribble a bit.
punter
Guest
Holminho, abit like Crouchinho (great strike rate for England). I was one of his critics, I accept the humble pie, he had a great WC. But does deserve to stay in the socceroos, yes for now, but I'm watching you Holminho.
dasilva
Roar Guru
I agree. I have written before about the absence of Holman for the first game was baffling especially when Holman has more claims as a striker then Garcia
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
The question has to be asked why wasn't he chosen to start the Germany game? I hope it wasn't media pressure but if your going for a defensive plan the pressure Holman puts on opponents is much better than what Garcia offers.