Stepping out against a disinterested opponent always makes a team look good. But even so, Australia looked very, very good here.
Mark Milligan’s versatility counts for him in a tournament situation. Bert van Marwijk has clearly decided Milligan’s best position is at centre back, which in turn means Mile Jedinak – though he didn’t appear in this game – will probably be used exclusively in the midfield during the tournament.
Partnered with Trent Sainsbury, the centre back combo made for a pleasing pair on the ball, with both capable of passing confidently out of defence.
The striker position is the most curious selection discussion; why call up Jamie Maclaren when Tomi Juric got injured – assuming Juric was first choice – if not to use him? Was Andrew Nabbout still auditioning in this friendly?
Nabbout has now started two of the three matches under van Marwijk, both at striker. The former Jet isn’t really an out and out striker, at least he wasn’t used – outside of filling in when Roy O’Donovan went down – in that role at Newcastle.
Is van Marwijk planning on utilising Nabbout’s energy and industry as a sort of disruptive influence in the forward line, a defensive striker, if such a thing exists?
Certainly Nabbout is at his best charging up the pitch from deeper areas, or on the wings cutting inside. He isn’t the best at when it comes to straying offside either, a pretty crucial trait for a lone striker playing off the shoulder.
A pragmatic operator, van Marwijk nurses an admiration for graft; the very criticisms levelled at his Dutch side, of how physical it was, how starkly it departed from the cherished aesthetic of Dutch football, are far less applicable to the van Marwijk Roos.
Australia’s team is relatively limited, more suited to the agricultural; there is no shame, like the Dutch decried, in making the Roos, simply, hard to beat.
Van Marwijk may see this approach as our best chance of getting a result, certainly against France, in the World Cup. Nabbout, Matt Leckie, Jackson Irvine, Dimi Petratos; they’re all workers, triers, capable of filling a deficit of quality with huff, puff and toil.
(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
The team settled immediately into a 4-4-1-1 formation when out of possession, with Rogic hanging ahead of a flat midfield four of Leckie, Aaron Mooy, Mass Luongo and Robbie Kruse, but behind the lone Nabbout up top. Nabbout was haring around helping his midfielders triple-team Czech players, pressuring pass-backs to the goalkeeper, and generally revealing the full capacity of his lungs.
Leckie and Kruse appeared to be fairly flat, almost defensive wingers to start with, level with the two centre midfielders.
A defensive miscarriage appeared within five minutes, as the Czechs passed cleanly through the middle, finding huge gaps between the Sainsbury and Behich on the left. Only a scrambling slide tackle by Sainsbury thwarted things.
It was an odd collapse onto the ball carrier by the Roo midfielders, allowing runners to streak beyond the lines, runners that were easily found with first time passing.
It was clear the centre backs were, by design, to be incorporated into the passing build-up. Mark Milligan struck a lovely long pass up to a streaking Behich in the 12th minute, a few minutes after a fine sequence saw Milligan and Sainsbury combine with Mooy and Luongo to play their way out of a high Czech press.
Mark Milligan. (Peter Macalpine – Flickr)
Multiple times the centre backs and central midfielders would pass triangles among themselves, arranged in a box formation in front of the defensive line, while the full backs crept up the pitch; all of them good passers with soft feet, the risk of turning the ball over with the full backs out of position is reduced, though by no means eliminated. Here’s an illustrated example of it from the second half.
The opening goal was the product of the first real incidence of side-to-side passing for Australia. Milligan’s chipped balls, or speared passes into the final third from Mooy had been frequent, but as soon as Rogic – who had been quiet – was activated, receiving the ball in central space from the left, then the move became dangerous.
Rogic sent a perfect pass out into space on the right, and Risdon’s cross flew out to Kruse on the left side of the box. He cushioned a ball back across goal for Leckie to tap home. Swooping lateral passing had completely flummoxed the Czech defence.
Australia had also done a great job of getting men forward; the lateral passing increases the chances forward runners will be involved, as opposed to vertical balls aimed usually at a single forward runner.
The variety the team seemed comfortable exercising in attack was hugely encouraging, and cut a starkly different silhouette from the blunt monotony that occasionally plagued the late-era Postecoglou Roos. Faced with a high Czech line, clipped balls in behind the defence were a viable method of approach; this led to the defence dropping a little, and now lateral passing – utilising Rogic more – produced some lovely sequences.
The forward line was constructed to be able to execute both methods, and the passing present in the defence greased the wheels for all of it.
Josh Risdon did excellently, in a fairly demanding role. With 15 minutes remaining, he was seen dancing across the edge of the Czech box, before giving it away. He then appeared, seconds later, tackling in his own defensive third, atoning for the error with pure searing hustle. That will have pleased van Marwijk, and it seems like the right-back spot is his for the World Cup. The manager congratulated Risdon when he was subbed.
[latest_videos_strip category=“football” name=“Football”]
Nabbout scored the second goal, showing a sense of poise and precision in finishing that the 50 prior minutes of hard running must have made difficult. Running onto a spinning through ball, Nabbout twisted Thomas Kalas this way, then that way, before striking low and hard across the keeper and into the bottom corner.
When he’s feeling it, Nabbout is a emphatic finisher; the question was whether he could warm his touch up enough in the frenetic surrounds of international football. This was the most breezy, pressure-less of international matches, so although his performance here was promising, the World Cup will be another matter entirely.
The Jackson-Irvine-as-No-10 experiment continued when Irvine replaced Rogic, and took up the same position. He showed the intended effect not long after coming on, bursting onto a Mooy long pass that had been headed up by Maclaren, also a sub. Propelling physically into the final third is what he does best, but his lack of ball-playing ability – compared to Rogic – means he shouldn’t be first choice at No. 10.
Aaron Mooy of the Socceroos. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
It was Australia’s first friendly win on foreign soil in 11 games. It was, just about, the most accommodating friendly warm-up one could want; the Czechs weren’t awful so much as they were, well, absent. It was the football equivalent of sparring against an opponent strictly instructed to only perform the very minimum in response.
Still, such as it was, this was an excellent sparring session for the Roos, and the ability to switch between attacking approaches was very encouraging. Luongo was the unsung hero, playing the full 90; he was central to the stability Australia enjoyed for most of the game. Daniel Arzani was given a very short spell at the end of the game; here lies the most tantalising morsel to think on before the next friendly against Hungary.
jbinnie
Guest
brains trust - My "criticism" of Dimi's overall play was not in any way meant to be vindictive,,it is simply based on experiences I have had when watching him playing with both Roar and Jets. The modern midfield player is expected to work " box to box" both in attack and defence modes and with this in mind a close scrutiny of Dimi over 90 minutes show him up in the defensive duties,he chases-yes,he harries-yes, but seldom ,very seldom, does he ever "win " a ball in a man to man confrontation. I watched a game when Jets had three players toiling hard in midfield and Dimi appeared to be given a free hand to work just behind the strike force.He was outstanding in that game. The 3 players who toiled to get the ball to him were Kantarovski,Ugarcovic and Hoffman (who I think was supposed to be playing on the right wing) all big strong forceful characters quite capable of maintaining a high press on opposition. Since then with players coming back from injury that "formation" doesn't appear to have been repeated and Dimi's overall game has suffered accordingly. Cheers jb.
BrainsTrust
Guest
Your analysis shows the real problem in the A-league. Foreign and older players are given a free ticket to bludge. I have never seen a Roar fan complaining about how little Broich did as he got older.. Somehow Petratos who had started off with a good work rate has been dubbed the bludger because he didn't do double overtime to compensate for the others. Petratos work rate has declined the more his attack has improved but still above most attacking players in the A-league. Was Vargas one of the hard workers at Newcastle ?
j binnie
Guest
CC - There is an even more glaring example of multi country representation than those you mention. The great Alfredo Di Stefano, who led the Real Madrid line for years, actually played for 3 countries. In 1947 he played 5 games for Argentine scoring 6 goals,then in 51/52 he played 7 games for Colombia, scoring 5 more goals, then between 57/62 he managed 31 games for Spain,scoring 23 goals. In his "Spanish sojourn" he was also joined by another great ,Ferenc Puskas , who had played 65 games for Hungary before featuring in 4 games for Spain. Cheers jb.
jupiter53
Roar Pro
the whole squad apart from anyone suspended
Cool and Cold
Guest
This is a record. How many times Socceroos had won an European national team? Even so, just won with a small margin. How, this time, it is a big win of 4-0, the biggest win on an European national team. The last big win was 4-1 over Argentina in 1988. But Argentina was not an European team.
Cool N Cold
Guest
This is a record. How many times Socceroos had won an European national team? Even so, just won with a small margin. How, this time, it is a big win of 4-0, the biggest win on an European national team. The last big win was 4-1 over Argentina in 1988. But Argentina was not an European team.
Lionheart
Guest
Question - how many bench players are there is a World Cup match?
AGO74
Guest
Re your point on Rogic struggles (which I agree with) - combining this with the question of where does Jedinak play given his own good form of late and the good performances of mooy/luongo last night is it a solution to drop Rogic and push mooy or luongo further forward into the number 10 position? I agree with you on Irvine - unless we are chasing a goal late in the game and we need to get agricultural I don't see him getting many minutes.
Bondy
Guest
It must be said that former Newcastle Jet Andrew Nabout was man of the match, he's better than Robbie Cruze & Mathew Leckie who've been bludging in the national team for years .
Fadida
Guest
No evidence, but I suspect past exploits LH. Troisi was once a must for the squad but has tailed off. Dimi has yet to create an impact at NT level. Potentially both could miss out. We have Rogic, Luongo, Irvine who can all play as 10
Griffo
Roar Guru
Agree Nabbout has a bit of an engine and showed he can harry opponents. He also can run the ball direct to an opponent and make something of it, which is a likely scenario during the World Cup. Which is what BvM likes (directness).
Griffo
Roar Guru
Jedinak will screen, but it just depends on the opponent, and if he has any niggling injuries, and whether Luongo is preferred over Jedinak. Milligan has been told he’s a centre back and that’s it. Milligan is a better passer of the ball at any rate.
Griffo
Roar Guru
An interview with BvM and he says Rogić and Irvine and Jedinak and Mooy (or Luongo) are the two interchangeable depending on opponent and style of play required. I would think that, between Luongo and Jedinak that Luongo would start due to pace alone and a better passer. Both seem to be capable of screening while I trust Luongo more to get into position when Ryan is trying to pass out from defence vertically.
AGO74
Guest
I think Karacic and Brillante should be nervous given that when he took Risdon off, neither played and instead he sent on Degenek who can play as right back (in fact I think he started with Socceroos at right back). Besides those 2, I think it'll be McLaren and Troisi (I think he will take Ruka for his pace as a potential sub for harassing opponents should we be defending late leads)
AGO74
Guest
I don't think its a matter of him not liking to track back. Its just that hes not as capable as say a mobile and powerful player is such as Nabbout.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
What's wrong with the defensive pressure in an A-League game. Let's talk relatively. That's our biggest ever win against a European nation and the Czech Republic's biggest ever defeat. The Czech's had better technical skills and ball control than us, just like France will. Czech's are ranked 37 by FIFA, three places above us.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
A change of national team cannot occur if a player has been capped at senior international level in a competitive international match, such as a World Cup qualifier. Senior friendlies, therefore, are not deemed sufficient to tie a player to an association. However even if you played a competitive senior game there are lots of exceptions where players have still played for two countries. But you can only change it once. Player Original association Switched to Kevin Prince Boateng Germany Ghana Nacer Chadli Morocco Belgium Diego Costa Brazil Spain Faouzi Ghoulam France Algeria Jonathan Gonzalez USA Mexico Jack Grealish Republic of Ireland England James McClean Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Thiago Motta Brazil Italy Taulant Xhaka Switzerland Albania Wilfried Zaha England Ivory Coast Etc., etc., etc., FIFA Executive Committee have the power to overrule at any time. All it takes is a nice letter to the FIFA Executive Committee and a brown paper bag stuffed with lots of Swiss Francs.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
The Czechs were more skillful than us on the ball too. Aussie Bert plays to the teams strengths and shapes a winning attitude. As he says, he doesn't want the best players, he wants the best team. He's obviously going to play the pressing game against France and try and catch them out on the counter. No point in playing a back 3 and trying to keep the ball off France like Yokahama Ange would do. Thrilled for Nabbout, who will surely travel to Russia now and may even start against France. He tracked back in defence a few times as well which is what Bert wants them to do. Attackers are defenders too, its a team game. Juric doesn't like to chase after the ball.
Lionheart
Guest
any evidence that Bert would choose Jim Troisi over Dimi?
Waz
Roar Rookie
“MacLaren – overcome by desperation he’s gone” ... unfortunately I agree with that. His time will come though.