Graham Arnold was asked in the pre-match press conference about how his philosophy will translate to the pitch – a fairly pedestrian question that is asked almost as standard at pressers. “I’d rather remove the word philosophy,” Arnold replied.
“For me it’s about principles of the game, because you have to be flexible in any system to play.
“Whether it’s a back four or a back three, it doesn’t matter; it’s all about principles on how to press, how to rotate, how to build up, how to penetrate, how to score goals, and how to defend.”
The semantics inherent in differentiating ‘philosophy’ from ‘principles’, in this context, is less interesting than analysing why Arnold is keen to rid the conversation of that word.
The rigidity that sets in when a manager lashes himself to a so-called philosophy was, manifesting at opposing ends of the spectrum, one of the reasons for the downfall of both of Arnold’s predecessors.
Arnold has never been the kind of manager to fall in love with the romanticised ideal of the manager-as-philosopher, crafting football as much using grand existential concepts as he does crossing drills and witches hats, but this also seems like a strategic manoeuvre.
Differentiating himself from the past two regimes might be a natural inclination, but it’s a wise one regardless.
‘Principles’ allow for pragmatism to sidle into the dressing room, and offer up an opinion.
‘Philosophy’ – at least as stereotypically defined – would faint like an 18th century dandy at the mere sound of pragmatism clearing its throat.
So, what did this 1-1 draw with South Korea – Arnold’s second match in charge – tell us about what the Socceroos will be like under his stewardship?
Arnold started Jamie Maclaren, hometown lad, alone up front. Aaron Mooy and Mass Luongo – the central pairing Arnold seems to like best – were flanked by Matt Leckie and Robbie Kruse on the wings.
Mark Milligan, the newly anointed captain, partnered Trent Sainsbury in defence, with the usual full backs.
Milligan is not playing as a centre back for Hibs, and with Milos Degenek playing so regularly and with such distinction for Red Star, it’s a little odd to play Milligan at centre back. His passing is of course excellent, but so is Sainsbury’s.
It feels as though this is the most elegant solution to the problem of playing all four of Tom Rogic, Luongo, Mooy and Milligan in the same team; one of these players must be played somewhere other than the midfield, and if they all have to be included, Milligan-as-centre-back is the best fit.
(Photo by Simon Hofmann – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Of all the members of this starting unit, only Maclaren hasn’t worn a clear, snug groove at their position in the national team – remember, against Kuwait the striker’s spot was Apostolos Giannou’s, and he scored, but was dropped from this squad.
So, Maclaren aside, there were no surprises, no experiments, no gambles. Perhaps we’ll see some against Lebanon.
Rogic got hearts pumping with an early sighter, hit while running at pace, after fine, busy work from Maclaren, pivoting under pressure to activate the counter attack.
Josh Risdon sent said hearts racing with a snap shot into the side netting, a tantalising mirage of a goal.
With Kruse and Leckie sitting just inside the central corridor, the full backs were gleefully accepting the role of providing attacking width.
As is the customary Arnold mechanism, with the full backs forward, the centre backs split, and it was Luongo who was chiefly dropping back to occupy the gap the centre backs created.
At the other end, the positioning of Kruse and Leckie, and the unexpectedly advanced position of Rogic meant that – along with a roaming, pressing Maclaren – Australia were almost playing with a level line of four central attackers.
All four players were intermingling, harrying the defence as a unit, and splitting organically when they had the ball and were rushing toward goal.
Often Rogic would be ahead of Maclaren, or Kruse closer to the centre than his striker. It was an aggressive arrangement, both in and out of possession.
Aaron Mooy had a 10-pace running start, right onto an Aziz Behich cross dropping onto the edge of the box, with a view to a shot.
It was a cross-and-run that drew a yearn from the crowd; put your boot through that, Aaron. He did, but it flew high. Rogic, by the way, was gliding through the Korean defence like the blade of a scissor through a sheet of wrapping paper.
Then, one long ball sliced as convincingly right through the Socceroos.
Kruse had charged up to press the Korean right back, Lee Yong, but not quite quickly enough to stop him from whacking a length-of-the-field pass up toward the in-form striker, Hwang Ui-Jo.
Ui-Jo ran beyond Sainsbury – who had not been well-placed to guard against the run – and the ball held up on a sopping pitch.
His finish was pin-point, smacked low inside Mat Ryan’s right hand post. A salmon swimming up a coursing stream, the goal had come so starkly against the run of play, its impact was doubly winding.
Korea were bolstered, as teams usually are, by the goal, and Australia’s play – while still positive and conducted with intensity – dropped a little, natural self-preservation tugging on the reins.
Korea had adjusted to Australia’s flying full backs, and were dissuading long diagonals out to them.
Rogic was seen dropping a little deeper now, and the passes between Mooy and Luongo and the front four were connecting less frequently.
Korean players were stepping up, instead of cowing back, and were disrupting the Socceroos’ attacking rhythms.
Two Korean players, including the goal scorer, went down and were forced off with injury. 1-0 down, Australia walked glumly into the sheds at half time.
The second half began tepidly, and it made the memories of the game’s opening flurry all the more melancholic; Australia needed to have capitalised on that early pressure, and put away one of the three or so good chances they created.
Rogic’s pep had cooled slightly, and he missed a wonderful chance to equalise, after Josh Risdon had set him up perfectly.
Risdon had made a right-to-left slaloming run that had dazzled the crowd – he was having an wonderful game.
Robbie Kruse was yanked on the 55th minute, with Awer Mabil jogging on to replace him.
A scorcher of a free kick, narrowly missing Ryan’s top left corner, seemed to rouse the Socceroos, who promptly raised the pace of their play.
Mooy shot from distance, the ball thudding into Kim Sueng-Kyu’s chest. The ferocity of the Australian press bore its teeth again. A second wind had been discovered.
So much relies on Rogic; when Mooy and Luongo are so deeply placed – largely by design, and to varying degrees of suitability – Rogic’s role linking the midfield and the attack is vital.
The team functions best when Rogic has the ball and has turned, is dribbling ahead, with runners peeling off him.
When Rogic is in the mood, this all seems easy; he seeks out the space, or humiliates a marker with some saucy flick or swerve.
When he isn’t, suddenly it’s all tortuously difficult, and this is something Rogic needs to address as much as Arnold’s tactics or team selection.
Mabil and Luongo combined via Mabil’s bicycle-kicked cross, but Luongo’s shot flew wide. Mat Ryan then made a superhuman save, leaping to his right to stop a wicked Ju Se-Jong free kick. Ryan may well be our best player at the moment.
Martin Boyle came on, representing the country the soil of which he had stepped foot on for the first time this week.
Maclaren made way, a quiet night for a hungry player who had not been well-fed. Leckie moved to centre forward.
The Socceroos were slowly building up a surge, and as the game slipped into the final quarter-hour, you could see Korea retreat more than a little.
Mabil was lively, Mooy was finally creeping forward with a bit of zest. Mooy and Rogic, combining deftly to play through Mabil but his shot was blocked.
Boyle had a searing run, but his shot was deflected, then saved, and Behich dithered on the rebound.
All these chances were exactly the kind we haven’t been able to convert over the last three years, and the continuing trend was like a hollow knocking in the mind, a sound we’re all familiar with, if not quite one we can tolerate.
Tomi Juric came on, a late cavalry charge. The dying embers were almost extinguished. A pair of corners came.
And from the second corner, Australia equalised, in literally the last second of the match. The corner, headed out, was smacked back at goal by Rogic, and the keeper spilled the shot.
Boyle – the only one of five attackers who was onside – was charging in, and his shot may have been prodded out from under Sueng-Kyu’s pawing hand.
It spun away, and Luongo was there to prey on an open tap-in. It was a scruffy goal, but a goal nonetheless, and the VAR check for offside was all clear.
1-1, and Arnold celebrated the draw like a win as the final whistle blew.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Australia had begun this game with all the verve and energy befitting a side deployed by a manager eager to impress on his home debut.
The system worked, and the number of early chances we created – against a good opponent – was encouraging in the extreme.
Most of the rest of the night, however, was tinged with a list of familiar issues, with our finishing coming most primarily to mind.
Risdon was excellent. Luongo seemed a slightly ill-fit placed so deeply – his instincts are to play ambitious forward passes, which are riskier when hit from the deep midfield.
Mooy can have spells of sluggish, uninventive passing and listless movement that, because he’s the more advanced of the midfielders, can be damaging.
Mabil looked a better option than Kruse. Maclaren, in this system, is not the answer up front. An engaged Rogic is our most valuable player.
Korea played in the way a great number of Asian sides will play, especially away in Australia; long balls, conservatism, and the hope of capitalising on errors.
It’s no use bemoaning this approach in defeat, and we need to solve our problem with finishing chances.
Arnie clearly wants to place a partition – erected verbally, or otherwise – between his era, and those that have preceded it. Like rising damp, though, the problems of the past cannot simply be walled off.
Will
Guest
If Arnie wants to play with 3 narrow attackers i.e he say's 3 No.9s' then i would have Nabbout, Mabil and Leckie as the three. MacLaren is ineffective this is style of system and is more suited to making lone forward runs like his days in Brisbane, on top of that he's pressing isnt good enough and doesnt offer enough in the build up which is Rogic is so close to him. I would like this line up against Lebanon. Ryan Risdon Sainsbury Degenek Behich Milligan Mooy Luongo Leckie Nabbout Mabil
Will
Guest
Unpopular opinion but drop Aaron Mooy, and have Luongo more advanced as the No.8. Mooy and Rogic get in the way too much in the build-up given they are not the most mobile midfielders. I don't think Mooy and Rogic can play together, for Rogic to be at his best he needs a more mobile option close to him and allows him to get the ball to his feet and often than not he can get isolated and therefore he stops influencing the game. As regards to our goal scoring woes, do our players practice shooting? I saw the facebook live training session and even then the shooting was woeful, maybe it explains it.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Agree! Actually, I thought of Grant too. However, where? Maybe, Goodwin, Nabbout Mabil, Boyle Loungo, Grant Behich, Milligan, Sainsbury, Risdon What is your idea?
TK
Roar Rookie
I think the inclusion of Grant will be interesting. On the one hand he is a fouling machine, but on the other hand he's tough, gets forward and puts the ball into useful areas so I'm all for it. Kruse being out is no loss. Goodwin deserves a crack at this level. I hope Boyle starts.
Griffo
Roar Guru
I think your spot on Fadida - ‘pick the same players and you’ll get the same outcome’. Kruse is picked due to his off-the-ball work apparently but this is a game about what you do with the ball mainly and key to that is goals. We are a team that favours attack from width so those crosses have to be quality. While the Lebanon game is as much about Cahill’s farewell as it is Asian Cup prep, it is a good chance to test Mabil for Kruse and Boyle for Leckie as starters, with Leckie to replace Cahill as striker in the 60th. Put Milligan as DM, Degenek as CB, push Luongo forward to replace Mooy. Mooy is great but one strength is how he can control the tempo but Arnold is setting up for fast-paced attack. The ‘Pasty Pirlo’ is a type of antithesis to this ‘priciple’. So too are space runners if their final ball is hit-and-miss which is why I think Kruse needs to sit out the Lebanon game and try other options. Leckie is better but his (lack of) ball control at times is in proportion to how long he has run on afterburner. Again agree the potential of Arzani and his injury at this time cannot be understated as he should be the most likely to replace Kruse in the starting list. Not for the first time I have to feel for Luongo: Player of the 2015 Asian Cup but a victim of the need of managers trying to find room around Mooy and Rogić, Jedinak, Milligan, Leckie, and Kruse. Luongo’s time is now, but higher up the park.
chris
Guest
The Soviets were wonderfully gifted technically in the 80s. What are you talking about?
jbinnie
Guest
Evan - It always amuses me somewhat when I read attempts at what I will call "amateur psycho-analysis" or to keep it more simple, "read someone's" mind. Lets look at the "new" Socceroo coach Graham Arnold. As a coach in local football he has had success at the two clubs he has coached,one a "minnow",CCM the other an HAL powerhouse, Sydney FC If you closely examine the make up of those two teams one finds a strong similarity in their make-up, I will cite what could be the recognised line ups in 2010 at CCM and Sydney FC at 2017. Goalkeepers - Ryan and Redmayne,both experienced ,steady glovemen. Right and left backs Bojic,Grant ,Rose and Zullo. Fast raiding tough tackling players encouraged to get forward at any opportunity. Centre backs - Wilkinson, Zwaanswyk, Wilkinson and Buis. All experienced international class performers. Mid's - Hutchison ,Griffiths,Bozanic and McGlinchy, Brillante,O'Neill Adrian and Brosque. All recognised top performers in their respective positions. Front men -Simon,McBreen,Bobo and Carney all industrious,hard working attackers all with a "goal getting" touch. Now an observer doesn't have to be an Einstein to recognise a simple fluid 4-3-3 formation with certain players given instruction to "slide " back an forth depending on what team has possession. This is a rather functional system that has been around for a long time and one which the big ,tough,central striker, Arnold, would have experienced during his own time playing in Holland. What is facing Arnold now is how to "people " his favorite system with players of like ability to those who have performed in his successful teams from the past. Does he have these players?. Only time will tell. Cheers jb.
TK
Guest
I agree Lionheart. My brother in law organised out tickets and we were on the corner adjacent to the usual Den and the view was fine, in fact it was not a bad perspective on the game because you were at a sufficient angle to see the whole game running up and down the pitch but with perspective across the picture rather than side on. For example we had an excellent view of that save from Matt Ryan which from where I sat looked for all money to be goalbound, which people sitting more side on would have perhaps not had.
rob charlton
Roar Rookie
So clearly this was written before the match against S. Korea where our familiar failings in front of goal surfaced yet again. Australia's failings in this area get down to one simple issue, I believe - lack of control. That's lack of ball control (because of inferior technique) and lack of spatial control (because of poor tactics or poor implementation of agreed tactics). Virtually all of Australia's goal attempts vs S Korea were rushed. Mostly this is because the attempts came from players under close defensive pressure, though some, like Mooy's abysmal attempt in the first half, came because players did not realise the space and time they had, or did realise but failed to use it. Robbie Slater's commentary on Mooy's attempt gave him a huge "get of gaol card", but on replay Mooy's assessment of the situation and Slater's commentary were both incorrect. Mooy had time and space to use his instep and place his shot. Instead he blazed away and the ball ended up closer to Warwick than Brizzie. Am immediate priority for Australia's coaching staff MUST be to teach coolness, patience and precision in front of goal. Players like Mabil and Boyle could clearly help by injecting some flair and pace, two characteristics that defenders hate. However, our key failing is that we do not play attackers into positions where they have time and space to shoot and, importantly, are facing goal. In most other respects, apart from the MK Dons or Australian local all-age style goal, a hoof down the middle, Australia tore S Korea to pieces in the first half. With the lead, S Korea made it a whole lot harder by playing 'keep the ball', which they did very well to be fair.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Good comment. We could end up with an avalanche of wide attacking talent. If midfielders can become defenders, why not a wide player become central.
TK
Guest
And that right there is a stupid policy from head office. How is it that a strip club can promote itself off the socceroos game then? Apologies for the double post - the new website looked like it had denied my original post so I retyped it - then it went to moderation....anyway. If FFA want to promote the A league, then why not off the back of crowds who go to the socceroos? "hey crowd, did you enjoy that, well instead of waiting four years for another chance to come to suncorp and watch football, why not come back in two weeks time? Here's our invitation for you to attend."
coolncold
Roar Rookie
As Rogic and Kruse are out (https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/socceroos-squad-v-lebanon-tom-rogic-and-robbie-kruse-ruled-out-as-craig-goodwin-gets-chance/news-story/41d8ff6eaf8e7b28956fef5b65c90816), change the lining up team. Play a 4-2-2-2 formation. This system worked well when Protecoglou was in Melbourne Victory. Two left wingers and two right wingers. The idea is that there is no good number 9. Then, just omit number 9. Goodwin, Nabbout Mabil, Boyle Milligan, Luongo Behich, Jurman, Sainsbury, Risdon Ryan The defense is solid as Milligan replace the slower Mooy. Let the four wingers play in the attack according to their instinct. It can change to an old 4-2-4 easily.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Hard to imagine anyone follows Serie D, which is basically amateur level. If your team drops out of the Serie C into the Serie D (and the team I support has been tottering down the bottom for a few years due to point penalties for corruption), it basically signals the time to stop following the team.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Yeh, nothing wrong with your assessment. He's a different type of player, he does bring a bit of unpredictability, and does have the capacity to worry defenders, but the truth is, we get a little bit too much Y, and not enough X factor.
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
It doesn’t make a difference. The South Korean goalkeeper made a howler, it was probably overdue considering how many shots were fired at him. If we can’t put the ball in the back of the net properly, without relying on goalkeeping errors, we don’t deserve to win or even draw.
pacman
Guest
Fad, we dominated physically as I mentioned in my earlier post. Korea, however, was the more technically competent team. History has demonstrated so many times that the more technically proficient team will, more often than not, succeed. With regards to the definition of "dominate", let us see. According to the stats I have viewed, we enjoyed 48.7% possession, with the remaining 51.3% enjoyed by Korea. Duels won went in favour of the visitors 51.7% to 48.3%. But, and I think this is the catalyst for claims of "dominating", we were unsurprisingly victorious in the aerial duels by a generous margin, 57.1% against 42.9%! Can a mathematician advise what the non-aerial duel stats would likely be? I suspect the figures would be embarrassing.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Redondo, we are combative team, always have been. Rarely have we produced players who can make it all happen in the final third. Only Harry, Dukes & maybe Bresc, plus of course Timmy could put that ball in the back of the net. We now have players like Azani, when not injured, Mabil & Boyle, while not in the same class, needs to be given the chance. The football world has gone thru a transition & players are extremely professional & all players have to work hard, even the great ones.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Sir (newly) Kenny Dalgish rates Rogic quite highly, but yes I agree, does some brilliant things then some very poor passing & decision making.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Kangas - it’s a funny old sport isn’t it. Despite the chronic passing problems, this team was very competitive against the eventual world champions in the recent World Cup. What’s depressing is that, overall, these guys must be pretty good at Football, but for this particular key skill they often fall short.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
That’s quite some leap there: from finalists in 1988 European Championships to 4th div Italy. How do you even watch 4th div Italy?