If the Socceroos can’t beat Iraq on neutral territory on the road to Russia, perhaps they don’t deserve to qualify for the World Cup at all.
What on earth do we make of last night’s 1-1 draw on a skating rink of a pitch in Tehran?
There’s no doubt the playing surface hindered Australia’s attempts to play the kind of passing game coach Ange Postecoglou demands of his sides.
But there’s something so frustrating about watching Australia’s midfielders mis-hit pass after pass, mis-control ball after ball and generally make the wrong decision time after time in the final attacking third.
What is the point, for example, of sending Tim Cahill on as a substitute and then trying to dink little balls in behind the defence?
Why would Massimo Luongo choose to hit a low cross with the outside of his foot – the 90 minutes in his legs notwithstanding – when Cahill is screaming for the ball at the far post?
“Sometimes we just lacked a bit of composure,” Postecoglou told Fox Sports at the end of the match – and if it wasn’t for goalkeeper Mitch Langerak, the result could have been far worse.
Postecoglou’s surprise decision to start Langerak in goal instead of Mat Ryan, not to mention switch to a 3-4-3 formation, speaks volumes about a coach determined to avoid complacency.
But as bold as Postecoglou’s selections were, and as positive as he expects his team to be, the question has to be asked of whether a wet PAS Stadium almost cloaked in darkness is really the place to be experimenting?
“Our performance probably didn’t warrant three points today,” Postecoglou told Simon Hill – although had one of several Socceroos buried gilt-edged chances, they would have been well clear by the time Ahmed Yasin hooked home his 76th-minute equaliser.
The team is clearly struggling in front of goal – that’s now three World Cup qualifiers in succession that Australia has failed to score from open play in – and despite a solid performance from Tomi Juric up front, the Socceroos still looked relatively toothless in attack.
Wide man Robbie Kruse had a game to forget, and were it not for his headed goal, the same could largely be said of his counterpart Mathew Leckie.
Meanwhile, the back three looked stretched from the get-go, with Mark Milligan enduring an uncharacteristically torrid time in the heart of the defence.
Yet for all the times the plucky Iraqis sliced through the Australian defence – particularly in the second half – the Socceroos still butchered a handful of chances to win it.
Despite all his stellar performances at Championship high-fliers Huddersfield, Aaron Mooy is yet to truly his stamp his authority on the national team.
And in a performance crying out for some leadership in midfield, Mooy too often looked to push the pass when he could have put his foot on the ball and taken responsibility for the tempo of the game.
Perhaps the standout performance, aside from Juric, came from Burton Albion midfielder Jackson Irvine.
The lanky midfielder certainly has the physique to dominate in the middle of the park, but he was surprisingly fleet of foot on a truly diabolical playing surface.
Irvine will have done his reputation no harm at all in the decidedly English conditions, and he will surely be one of the first names on the team-sheet for Tuesday night’s vital game in Sydney.
If ever the Socceroos needed Sydney’s football-going public to turn out for the national team, it’s now, for a simply must-win game against the United Arab Emirates.
Postecoglou must surely have hoped to have accrued more than ten points from six games played, even if Australia enjoys the benefit of playing three of its final four games at home.
There’s simply no more margin for error, lest the road to Russia turn into our very own highway to hell.
j binnie
Guest
hogdriller - strange question but having been there done that at a much lower level than AP i was not questioning your loyalty to the man,simply that your actual words could be taken two ways and I wasn't sure in my own mind where you were coming from. I can feel some sympathy for AP, his job is an extremely difficult one, but there maybe some good sense in any article whether it is praising or criticising the man. Cheers jb.
hogdriller
Roar Rookie
Nothing but support for Ange, from me JB, but Caltex may have a point. My comment was based in defense of Ange from some of the previous posts from others, but I think they may have been a wee bit tongue in cheek. Wouldn't wanna be a coach for quids, would you, lol.
j binnie
Guest
Caltex - The problem in managing an Australian team in a World Cup competition has very little to do with ego.ambition, or ideals. The blunt truth that has to be faced is that we do not have the players capable of getting to the Final of the World Cup and unfortunately that is the standard that must be aimed at by every team playing for places in the Finals. Cheers jb.
BES
Guest
Our current crop of players is simply not good enough. There is nothing more sinister or complicated than that. We were - again - 2nd best in every aspect of the game. The only surprise is that people are surprised.
Mitcher
Guest
News just in: Aaron Mooy is neither Barcelona nor Lionel Messi level. Earth shattering stuff.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
JB, I have the greatest respect for Ange, and what he has achieved with the national team with his football philosophy. However, I get the feeling from his body language and how he conducts his media press conferences---he has had enough, with recent results indicating this (to me). I feel he has lost the enjoyment of being the national coach with all of its travel and wants to go back to being a club football manager with more of a better (young) family lifestyle. I will even speculate we could see him announce his retirement from the national team and head up a coaching position with Melbourne City FC (This is pure speculation on my part, with what I see is happening with Ange). I will end by saying why is Melb C, taking so long in finding a new manager for next season? PS don't be surprised if Graham Arnold, is announced as the new national manager when this all finally comes to a head. Arne, has unfinished business when it come to being appointed as the new national manager. Qualifications: a massive Ego!
j binnie
Guest
Punter - Please don't insult my intelligence, or my admiration for your opinions, by citing Germany's "non reaching" of World Cup semi-finals as a sign they were having to teach their players the basics skills of the game. All of the players selected to play for Germany in the '94 .'98 World Cups would all have been fully professional players, based in clubs in their top league. players like Klinsman, Voller, Moller, Kahn & Mathaus. By 1998 many of those same players were playing with top clubs in Italy and England. Might I dare to suggest that the problem incurred in those two competitions you highlight, could be placed squarely at the feet of the national coach who,when sacked after 1998, went on to a management career that spiraled downwards from Bayer Leverkusan,to Kuwait, to Scotland, to Nigeria, to Azebajan and finally the USA as a technical adviser, all in 15 years. Bertie was ,not teaching them basic skills, or even culture, he just wasn't up to the job!!!. Cheers jb.
j binnie
Guest
Lionheart - These "dirty tricks trumped up " are not confined to Adelaide United my friend. This type of rumour ,,and counter rumour, has been going on in football ,and other areas of professional life, for as long as I can remember. As soon as money is involved and contracts are to be renewed this featuring of "deals" kicks in, with sometime astronomical figures being mentioned that inadvertently puts a new ceiling on any negotiations. You would probably use the same tactic yourself when say, selling your house or car. You automatically inflate the price so that you can "offer" a reduction, thereby giving a "deal" to the purchaser, while getting the original figure you wanted. In football ,agents are adept at this type of negotiating, the recent Jamie McLaren "information" that just happened to" leak" to an ever present press, is a classic example,an example that now sees most Roar fans accepting that Jamie will move on at season's end. Will he???? ,or was the agent simply trying to get him a better offer.???? I believe JA's contract is coming up for renewal. Get the point???. Cheers jb.
j binnie
Guest
Caltex - In asking this simple question you are uncovering a nest of worms. What qualifications does a coach need to be successful at international levels? It is highly unlikely that there is a coach domiciled in Australia with the necessary experience or know how to manage a team in the higher echelons of world football. You will note I use the term "international' football for the requirements in managing an international team against a club side, is as different as chalk is to cheese. I will not go into detail for I think you know what is involved and much as I have searched my mind I cannot come up with a locally based man who could take Australia to a World Cup final, and, after all, that is the main aim. Cheers jb.
j binnie
Guest
Hogdriller - Contained in this statement is a group of words that could be described as ambiguous. I refer to- "the question should be what's wrong with the one we have now?" I 'm not sure how to take those words, Are you implying there is something wrong with the coach we have or are you showing support for the man. Let's try to analyse the man and his performances to date.As a club coach his history is somewhat "multi coloured". Having played in a successful South Melbourne team in the NSL he graduated into coaching when he inherited a successful team and they, the team, continued with their success unabated ,so that he showed 2 NSL championships on his CV. He then graduated away from "club football" into national football at Youth level and his problems in that genre are well documented. He then was given another chance at "club " football at Brisbane Roar, a team devised by an investment team, put together from the ashes of what had been one of the most successful club teams in Australian football,not on the field, but off the field, Brisbane Lions having being an extremely well developed football club with unmatched asset values. This was to prove a significant move for AP, for such was the management "make up" at Roar ,he was almost given a carte blanche to do as he wished in the football department. Again, his success with what could be termed his introduction of possession based football into the HAL, has been well documented but there were some among us that questioned his decision to leave the Roar set-up for the undoubted "greener pastures" of Victory, where, it could be said, his job description would undoubtedly come under pressure that he had not had to contend with at Roar. However, his Victory stay was not to last ,and it came as no surprise when a desperate FFA, under huge pressure from fans ,tired of the defensive football tactics that had got us to two World Cup finals!!!!, turned to this young man who had set the Australian coaching scene aflame with his,at that time, revolutionary tactics,tactics based on what a Spanish team had been entertaining with for a few years. Once again AP was back in the "international" scene and he set about changing the "defensive mind set" that had pervaded the previous 2 coaching appointments.That he succeeded, there is no doubt, but it was now that among the thinkers in our game, that doubts began to creep into AP's methodology. Football tactics had moved on since the Barcelona "roadshow", and opposition coaches were hard at work developing strategies (dare I say based on good defence), on how the game should be played in order that success could be achieved. It is at this point we have to examine where AP is in his coaching career. He is in a genre again ,where results are essential,for international football is only played at best in small leagues,seeking, after widely diverse dates, advancement to the next phase of the competition. Now this is an extremely difficult area in which to try and develop a team away from a perceived method of playing, into a type of play that the coach has as his "ideal". Personally I feel that is where AP is at today, he has an "ideal" in his head as to how he would like his teams to play but the blunt truth facing him is that, nether the time frame,nor the geographic spread of his players allows for a wholesale re-education of the players at hand. This latest "tickle" in his team formation is just another sign that AP is finally recognising that his "ideal" has to change to something more achievable in the area of his operations as national coach. His is not an easy job, for one with such high ideals. Cheers jb.
albatross
Roar Pro
Well I don't like vodka anyway. If we've got to boycott a FIFA World Cup 2018 and 2022 seem the ones we should not be at.
hogdriller
Roar Rookie
"A few footballs to ever school in NSW and QLD is an easy decision to make"..... and that's my point Swampy. The impact was noticable and not only just for a week or so. And I realise the mega bucks the AFL have compared to our round ball game, what I don't get is the bunch of execs we have at the FFA paying themselves over half a million a year, for what?
hogdriller
Roar Rookie
Easy.........Ross Aloisi. Lol, ok I'm kidding. Not even going to entertain naming any new, homegrown NT coaching prospect, the question should be, what's wrong with the one we have now? And yeh, I have no doubt the days of an o/s NT coach are gone, with the half million dollar plus salaries our FFA excess pay themselves these days.......we wouldn't be able to afford one.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Well since we are confessing our past positions... I was an AM and dead ball specialist, with an occasional LB (who still had to take the corners and free kicks) and rarer FW (ditto) :twisted:
Fadida
Guest
He did well, but the game was a championship hoof-fest which suited him.
Fadida
Guest
I'm a libero or a DM. Great reader of the game. Can always predict the next move
Fadida
Guest
Ha! :)
Midfielder
Guest
Ben My position was a DM... good call...
Lionheart
Guest
there's only one way to help assure our future success on the world stage, and that is to get behind the game, starting with the A League. We'll get nowhere without a strong HAL.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Fad, we are discussing a home base A-League Socceroo team. Last I heard Sainsbury is a squad bench player for Milan with no game time yet. Perth, are in the top five so Djulbic can't be doing too badly.