What we learned from Socceroos vs Hungary

Onside- Hate to admit it but most of the Socceroo team are "lads" to me. The worrisome thing is that a "first touch " talent is something that should be mastered by professional players long before they reach the standard of football our Socceroo team is going to meet in a week's time. Today if you watch a top class game you will undoubtedly be struck by how often a ball is controlled and passed all in the one movement. That factor plus the constant movement of players "off " ' the ball is a feature of how the tactics of the game have changed over the years.The author cites the Dutch teams of the 1970's as having brought this style of play to the fore but by doing so he shows a shallow knowledge of the tactical history of the game. There is some evidence that the Russian team Moscow Dynamos played a system of constant player positional movement as early as 1945 when they complete an undefeated tour of British clubs. There is another story of Jack Charlton passing an opinion of an apprenticed Craig Johnson "to go back to Australia and learn how to control a ball". Craig took the advice and set his own program at Middlesborough and we all know how he succeeded. That is what we need at the grassroots of our football if we are to succeed.Cheers jb..

Postecoglou walking out was the best thing that could have happened to Aussie soccer. Hard to be too negative about this win. This is a team that was drawing to the likes of Thailand under Ange.

5 things I learnt from the Footballroos game against Hungary: 1. I became too optimistic about Australia's chances after the Czech game 2. Arzani needs to learn a good post-goal-scoring-celebration routine 3. Brad Jones is not an international standard goalkeeper 4. Aussie Bert doesn't give us much hope of beating France 5. Mark Milligan and Josh Risdon are not the answers to our defensive problems.

Took something from the France USA game too. The French looked a bit tired and made some defensive mistakes too. Would be ecstatic with a 1-1 against France going into the Denmark game. Might be who recovers the best before next Saturday and how well we acclimatise to the big occasion. We have an excellent backroom team and confident we will arrrive in top shape for the first game. It will be France's to lose I think, so maybe still a glimmer of hope.

So how much were those defenders affected by a heavy training week? Bert VN indicated that there was some carry over from a heavy week, and to see such a major step back by Risdon in particular, and Millsy, was a surprise. I think they'll do much better and I hope at least, that we don't really have a dilemma as the article suggests. Jedi has to start. Otherwise, Arzani's selection v France is going to be interesting to say the least, bench or start?

Hi JB, understand and accept your observations, but the 'lad', Mabbout, is 26 .

Aussie Bert is a realist and will start with a back 6 against France - 4 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders. Another shaky start in defence and some below par performances so Aussie Bert will lose some sleep this week before he decides on his final starting line up against France. Arzani won't get a start but will come on at some stage especially if we go down a goal or two by half time. Look for Caltex Cahill to come on in the 89th minute to score the equalising header after some brialliant lead up work from Arzani. No need to give up all hope yet.

Yup, follow the logic. Although Arzani might be a form of damage control, we have few, if any other, players that might force France to modify their tactics. Arzani can do that.

I would start Arzani off the bench and give him half an hour against France. Cahill would be unused. In the other two games, i'd start with Arzani. And have Cahill off the bench. It would be nice to get a result against France, but BVM will more or less think of damage control.

jb. I’m not going to argue with you, the WC qualifying campaign was a bit of a shambles with a new system never successfully bedded down seeing us scrape through in the play-offs, only to then have a change in management and indeed in playing style - less than ideal. There’s nothing in the last two years performances that’s going to help, now I didn’t see last night’s game as I was up early this morning for coaching duties away to Brighton, but the Czech game had enough alarm bells in it to scramble a fleet of fire engines. There is no magic wand for BVM to wave here other than turn every game in to a cup tie and hope we punch way above our weight. I think our defence will cause our problems and can’t see the likes of Mbappé bring successfully shut out, nor can I see our midfield exerting enough control. Arzani will make a difference the question is how much? His presence on the pitch should provide a threat that France will have to be wary of as he can both create and score goals, and he’s tricky so good for a penalty or free kick. But he’s not an impact player imo (we already have one of those, he’s called Cahill) and will need time on the pitch - at least 60-70 minutes - to work any magic against superior opponents.

Waz - Despite what the author might see as a "saving grace" for this Socceroo team the flaws that are inherent in this side are not to be cured by a few positional or manual changes. Now that we have moved away from the standard of football played at Asian qualification games it is becoming more evident when we play against European football teams even though they have not qualified for the tournament finals. As games progress the level of ball turnover is still far too high for us to challenge the world's top sides. Taking Mabbout for an example,the lad gives more than everything in his attempts to play the non stop, ,ever challenging lone front man,and yet time after time when he does get in a challenge his first touch attempt sees all his physical output nullified when he loses possession. The lad is not alone in this observation,all around the field we see players give away possession due to bad selection of when and who to pass the ball to. In his 15 minute cameo the kid from Melbourne made far more accurate telling passes than many of his 90 minute team-mates and the pity is he was alone in this department. BVM s not a magician,he has no magic wand to cure this problem and I'm afraid until we get eleven players who can consistently play one or two touch football and can move a ball accurately and speedily like we see in top football around the globe, we will struggle to achieve what is possible. Until then we can but hope. Cheers jb.

It’s hard to see any unforced changes from this starting eleven for next week, unless it’s a bluff to the French to conceal the true starting side lol? But I’d hope he’d find a place for Arzani from the start, there’s no point in having an impact player if we’re 3/0 down when they arrive. Arzani’s constant threat will force France to play a bit deeper than they otherwise might do let’s have him on from the get-go. The other option might be to go to a back 5 as the USA did this morning, but that seems even less likely. Played poorly but got a 2-1 win all the same. Bank that ?

Reckon we need Jedinak in the midfield Play Arzani from the bench against France as an impact player Consider starting him for second two matches depending on how things go Kruse should have done better with some chances Mooy is doing OK

So another journalist says the Socceroos are in for a hard day against France . Wow ?

I would replace Milligan with Jedi- Kruse with Azani against France.

Rule #1 when writing an article on a sporting game. Always mention the score.