After a World Cup tournament that saw the Socceroos exceed expectations, the mood around the national team was notably positive. But there are plenty of questions to be answered.
Manager Ange Postecoglou was elected under a banner of ‘better football’, but with no concrete sign of that in Brazil, the Victorian has a limited time to implement his patented ‘Roarcelona’ style, if at all.
After a fifth successive defeat and seven matches without a victory, the managerial honeymoon is about to end.
While some hailed a brand new style in Brazil under the new gaffer, there were others, including myself, who failed to see any significant change. In the World Cup, Ange put his tactical ideologies aside in order to preserve national pride.
The crossing and pass completion stats provide evidence of that. But three losses from three didn’t ring alarm bells for some pundits. Hence the familiar commiserative sentiments from overly positive types.
Craig Foster’s blog summarised the performance as, “two close and competitive matches where Australia surprised many and gained a high level of respect and one football lesson”. It’s the phrase “high level of respect”, that has a familiar sound of satisfaction in defeat, that concerns me. As Robbie Slater’s column in the Sunday Telegraph outlined on the weekend, punching above your weight and earning respect means nothing, unless combined with victory.
The Socceroos have a limited time to prepare for the Asian Cup in January, and if Ange plans to implement the Roarcelona style in that short period, he puts Australia’s hopes in peril. Most alarming about a style revamp is the timeline and ability to implement a football philosophy when your playing staff return to club outfits that play in contrasting styles.
Australia have a match against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning (5am, AEST), and two listed for October against UAE and Qatar. These fixtures will provide evidence of the manager’s intentions. With Australia expected to win all of those matches, Ange could be tempted to take the style over substance approach.
Public expectation is high, and the Asian Cup presents a situation diametrically opposed to the 2014 World Cup. The pressure is on, and players shouldn’t feel compelled to play the ball out from the back if they’re not capable.
Fortunately, Postecoglou’s Aussies have not mirrored his Brisbane Roar outfit. With teams like Iran, whose style of pragmatism partnered with technical ability await, I’m crossing my fingers the manager puts style aside for now, and chooses trophies over ideology.
Jack
Guest
Sorry for the delay Alex but have been away. Firstly, I am not new to football. I have played the game for over 30 years and have followed it since I was a kid. I have gone all over Europe watching the likes of Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern, Barcelona (unforgettable experience), Real Madrid etc. I know it doesn't make me a Guru a Pro or an Expert, but it does give me an idea of the game and how the scoring system in major tournaments works. I would also like to thank the people who told me how good Spain were, the potential of Chile and the ever present danger of the Dutch. I did have a reasonable understanding of these 3 teams capabilities. And a question if you don't mind, which of these teams did you expect to progress to the 2nd round of the WC? Secondly, those mysterious panels of experts to whom I was referring were everywhere. There was a panel of experts to every TV and radio station,sometimes 2 or 3. It was the World Cup for God sake and everyone wanted their 2 bobs worth. ESPN, FOX, SBS, BBC, newspapers, magazines etc were agog with information and opinions and it was up to the individual to decide. I particularly was interested in the opinions of past and present players and coaches who have or had been in that cauldron. The very clear and obvious point which all of them came up with was that if there was a drop in intensity, especially after a big win (Holland 5-1 over Spain) it was a dangerous scenario. The expectation of Holland doing a repeat performance over the weakest side in the group, was expected by the media. The WC is littered with examples of this not happening. It does occasionally, but it is more the rule that after a huge high, there is a definite lull. And it was for this reason, along with our pretty good record against the Dutch, that I thought a draw was on. In the end the Dutch held out comfortably for their 3-2 win. It wasn't the 6-1 drubbing (or there abouts) that I believe 90 percent of people we're predicting. The look on Lois van Gaal's face at the end of the game was one of utter relief and he was very happy to dodge a potential bullet. I would be interested in your prediction of the Aust v Holland game before kick off. The game against Chile was virtually over after 10 minutes. A reasonable comeback but the horse had bolted. Sorry to be so long winded about this Alex, but I was also answering a few other remarks from other posters.
Me Too
Guest
We played very good football for 150 minutes plus of the World Cup. Take away the first 15 minutes v Chile, the last 15 v Holland, and almost the entire game against Spain. In between, very good performance. After a poor squad selection in not bringing a Wilkshire as an experienced backup defender nor Kennedy in the (admittedly slim) hope he may be able to be used as a sub late in the last one or two games, and in leaving our best goalkeeper at home (forced retirement) i wasn't confident, and still believe we'd have got something more out of the tournament with those three in the squad. But the team picked was a team for the future (bar bresc and cahill - notice the difference just those two brought to the team) and given a few very good others were absent I thought Ang had them playing a great brand of positive, confident football. Given the time he has had, the squad he has had, and the opponents he has had, I can't really fault him. Now is the time to see how his hand plays against lesser opposition. I expect there will be some hiccups along the way, and don't expect us to be scaling the heights of the previous generation on a world stage, but do expect us to make the semis of the Asian Cup at home. That'll be my own pass mark - because as much as good performances count, results count a lot more.
Bondy
Guest
Tom Nonsense, Uruguay beating Italy is no surprise Costa Rica drawing with England no surprise there, Englands record at the last few world cups is more or less the same as Australia's .... __________ Terry You speak more nonsense .......
Alexander Mitchell
Roar Pro
Kudos to the Algerians as well i was very surprised by their quality. Hmm Ill accept England and Italy - I reckon Deschamps' side played rather well though.
Alexander Mitchell
Roar Pro
@Jack You realise many tipped Chile as the competitions' dark horses leading into the World Cup?? The oranje speak for themselves too... Not sure if you are new to Football?
The Minister
Guest
Shall we amuse him? I hope he's up for it. But he's probably taking a nap in the Granny flat at his mum's place right now...
Punter
Guest
Yes TM, comedy comes in many different ways!!!!
The Minister
Guest
There he is! Bless... :-)
Terry
Guest
The Asian cup needs to be won by the socceroos to justify the approach taken by Ange in brazil of clearing out the old guard and replacing them with the so called 'next generation'. The Australian public will surely not take the humiliation suffered by the socceroos in brazil lightly unless it was part of a medium and long term strategy. The FFA as well will surely take a dim view of Ange's approach if they are not the winners of the Asian cup in January 2014. I presume that given the paucity of quality opposition in the Asian cup anything other than winning the cup must be grounds to give Ange the boot.
LewDub
Guest
Thanks for reading. I'd say there was improvement but no "significant change", in Australia's style. What we saw was something that harked back to previous eras, i.e. helter skelter. The renewed enthusiasm shouldn't be mistaken for the full blown Ange brand known as Roarcelona (getting a bit sick of that word myself). It's in your face, extreme close up footy, which I don't mind because the Socceroos are still lame ducks when it comes to the officialdom, who when in doubt call an Aussie foul. My major concern is tht Ange tries to pull off the winning with style thing too early. Let's get ourselves a trophy this summer!
eric1
Guest
Craig Foster also said"We lose now so that we can win in the future",which I agree with.Why be so concerned with results of friendly games where Ange is still testing new players?Does the author want a Socceroos team that just park the bus, I don't understand what he wants from Ange?
Realfootball
Guest
Shoulda coulda That's all you have to quote really.
striker
Guest
Looks like Australia going down the path of the croats for player development. http://footballcentral.com.au/australia-finds-its-romeo/
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Tom If Holger had encouraged players to have a go & we'd lost by the same margin as Ange's teams, I wouldn't have been upset. But, Holger's teams - since the Asian Cup - have been unimaginative & uninspiring. If such football produces 1-0 wins against the big nations, I'd be willing to put up with it. But, when it resulted in consecutive 6-0 losses, I'd had enough.
Fadida
Guest
Uruguay beating Italy is hardly a giant-killing. Two evenly matched sides. Costa Rica were admirable but their group was easier than ours. Italy and England in particular are very average. It's only reputation that paints them as anything else. Keep scrabbling around for that stick to beat AP with Tom Or should we say Herr Osieck? :)
Fadida
Guest
Or China
AZ_RBB
Guest
Huge kudos to Ghana for drawing with Germany. Saw that game live and was incredibly impressed with their quality. France, Italy and England are nowhere near the standard of the 3 teams in our group. Chile should have been disappointed for drawing with Brazil. I thought they really under performed in that game. If they took on Brazil with the same energy as they faced Aus and Spain, they would have won that game easily. But the atmosphere created by the home crowd was intense and imo the deciding factor.
Tom
Guest
FIFA WC 2014 underdog achievements: Ghana draws with Germany Uruguay beats Italy Ecuador draws with France Chile draws with Brazil Costa Rica beats Italy Costa Rica draws with England
The Minister
Guest
Since when did the size of the population come into it? Ask England...
Fadida
Guest
Osieck would have taken a very old side, sat back on his own 6 yard box, lost heavily and cowardly, and then blamed the "young players", whom he wouldn't have even played. We'd then go to into the Asian Cup and WC qualifying needing to start again having been shamed on the world stage. AP's passport is irrelevant. It's his bravery in going for a positive style with a much younger group of players that many like. Osieck's old boys would have been absolutely humiliated.