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Often teams match the coach’s persona, and Ange Postecoglou’s demeanour in recent times has shown a coach who has lost his composure and is unable to get his team to play the way he wants them to.
As a matter of course the FFA must remove Ange Postecoglou as Socceroos coach.
The most significant issue is that he has made it about him. His tactics, coaching and selections have become a personal battle about him being ‘right’.
Take the Aaron Mooy selection. If a coach did not think he was the right person, why send him on as a replacement? Mooy’s form against Syria proved Ange was right. The attacking midfielder looked out of sorts, showing poor touch and generally making Australia look out of kilter.
Generally most teams take on the personality of their coach. This was plainly evident versus Syria. Ange’s personal angst infected the team’s psyche. Disjointed going forward, the players looked tortured by their coach’s indecision and subsequent anger in getting tactics and selection right.
As a former NRL coach recently said, 90 per cent of your coaching is directed to ten per cent of your players.
What has Ange done about our poor finishing? In two years no new strikers have come through. We end up with Timmy Cahill again saving our bacon. Honduras will double-team him and we will struggle up front.
Struggling on the park, Australia looked like lamp posts. Only when the ball was moved at pace down the flanks did we look like scoring. This is symptomatic of a team struggling with tactics and structure.
The players looked hamstrung. “Can we play the way Ange wants us to?” He seems to like individual players but can’t develop team synergy.
Massimo Luongo was the most valuable player at the 2015 Asia Cup. He has gone backwards under Ange. Like the England rugby team at the last Rugby World Cup, a coach who can’t get his starting team right is doomed to failure. Pick and stick. Think Queensland Maroons. Pick Luongo as holding midfielder and build the team around him.
The end of last night’s match was again emblematic of Ange-team persona issue. Ange was arguing with the Syrian coach, and he looked lost trying to find players to congratulate. One thinks he has lost the dressing room.
There weren’t too many Socceroos rushing to hug their coach. He looked tortured sending Mooy on. Again, he can’t find his starting XI.
This cannot end well, even if we do qualify. Graham Arnold, the FFA is on hold.
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