Australia's Asian Cup defence comes to a bitter end

There is obviously an extreme lack of depth in the Socceroos! Mainly in the Coaching Department! the sooner Arnie goes to Scotland, the better. It might end Fox's obsession with the idea that football coaching in Australia begins and ends with Muscat & Arnold. Muscat should have been banned from the game for life long before he ever became a coach, and we now allow him to teach that to our young players, Crazy! Arnold doesn't understand the modern game, he likes the way Liverpool play, but he does understand how it happens. He still wants to play old fashioned hard men! The game has moved on!

With the likes of experienced players in Mooy not available and inexperienced ones who have shown to bring in that extra in Arzani and Boyle, this tournament has exposed the lack of depth in the national team pool and beyond. Especially up front, with the lack of quality which is quite stark. On top of the advancements made by the Asian countries especially the lower and middle tier nations and it will only get harder from now on. The FFA have fallen on the wheel when it comes to our player development or has not invested enough in an area where Asia have recognized this as an area where their national team can get more competitive, and if we are not careful it could get worse. If this is a wake call for the FFA to take urgent action in all areas from the curriculum that needs evolving, to the need of more professionalism at elite development, evaluating the player pathway and grassroots then this might be the right time to do so. If they leave it anymore late i can see us further stagnating as a national team.

. . . apart from all this "business " fluff you keep reverting to, ratings would still have to be an important popularity metric surely ...

My view is Arnie is not the problem. I actually think he had the team well organized and motivated probably as well as anyone could have in 4 months. He did well to instill a sense of belief within the team off the park they remained pretty well organized and composed on it. No, unfortunately the problem is the players are not as good as we as supporters would like to think/hope. The problem is mistakes and lack of quality, simple as that. The attackers made too many mistakes with the chances they were provided with and the defenders too many mistakes at the back. Nothing to do with systems, preparation, selections, game management or any levers a coach can pull. Simple fact of too mistakes at the back and at the front and that comes down to the players unfortunately. One could argue that more creativity would have led to more chances to score, at that is true, but that probably comes down to quality as well. Now I'm not saying the players are complete crap, far from it, they are at a good level. But clearly on average not the very best in Asia. They did well to battle through to the quarter finals, being kept scoreless in 3 of 5 games and only really dominating one game of the 5. In hindsight getting through to the quarter finals and getting knocked out at that point is probably about right.

Never been a great fan of Arnold, but unfortunately I think the injuries suffered prior to the tournament hurt our chances. It would have been a far better side with the absentees but with a glass half full scenario we uncovered Ikonomidis and Mabil. But the way we play is never going to help any striker, Mark Viduka anybody? Unfortunately world class strikers dont fall out of trees, and we have been crying out for one for quite some time. Happy to give Arnold the benefit of the doubt, but the template has been set and we will need to find a solution to what teams do against us. But it's been a long time since somebody went back to back in the Asian Cup, so all in all, well done lads.

The common theme and evil here is Foxtel/pay TV. Now that they have got hold of 50 over ODIs and some.BBL, people are losing continuity and interest which what happened to basketball and NSL. What the FFA needs I'd FTA TV, perhaps ABC or SBS and to be promoted strongly. AFL does well as it is still widely see no on FTA TV.

Apologies, this was a drunk comment! Wrote this after being congratulated on UAE's win above

Yeah but Kangas imagine if these AFL superstars took up sokkah instead of AFL? Never mind the internationals against the Ireland powerhouses which we can't win...we have World Cups to win!

RF I enjoy some of your posts as they can be insightful and well thought out. But lately all you do is say that the sky is falling down. I mean it's just becoming really difficult to read. It's ok to criticise but do you have at least one positive thing to say?

I don;t think you even watched the match, Matt Ryan only made one save which was hit straight at him. The better save was at the other end off Giannou. Australia had some good chances but the Jamie McLaren excuse squadron always plays them down to keep him in the team that he never gets service.

Switched from Foxtel to Kayo, I’d be curious as to how many others have done so. The extra $65/month in my family’s pockets will certainly not go astray. Do Kayo viewers get counted in ratings?

W-League is awesome. I stood in torrential rain and though Victory was second best to Roar at Lions Stadium back in December, the spectacle was worth the drive to Richlands from Deagon. FFA should promote the hell out of it as a bona fide women’s sporting comp. The A-League is often criticised as it doesn’t have the world’s best players yet the W-League has some of the finest players in the women’s game. Leverage that for heaven’s sake!!!

BBL suffering from the Channel 7 factor. 10 promoted the hell out of it as they had no other sport. 7, however, has a greater master, that shall not be named. Besides, Channel 7 is so daggy. Home and Away and Sunrise, who even watches that rubbish anymore?

Spot on Nem. Tournament football is like that. Dreadful mistakes being punished. Strokes of luck being rewarded and reminiscent. That’s what makes football beautiful. That’s what sets it apart from sports where “Test” matches against the same opponents are the peak. Think of the powerhouses of the game. Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, England. They’ve won trophies over the years but they’ve also had some shocking tournaments as well. England being eliminated by Iceland in 2016, who’d have thought? Only for England to make the semis of a World Cup two years later. And what’s even more beautiful? We get to go again. There’s a World Cup in 2022 that we must now try to qualify for. And an Asian Cup in 2023 (not sure where it’s to be held yet, hoping for South Korea as I’d love to do a tour of duty there as a supporter of our green and gold). And so on and so forth.

I not only know what I do for a living, but I also know what you do for a living: nothing. You can’t possibly be employed and spend the amount of time you do on these threads. Your alleged law degree and business consultancies are clearly fictions. Over the years you have made one utterly absurd and baseless claim after another, a list of which have been displayed recently by other posters. Do you honestly think that reading these reports gives you any insight into the operational realities of television networks? Your naivety is astounding. To lump Netflix, Foxtel and Optus into one group only demonstrates the depth of your ignorance. You are, in the end, nothing but a noxious blend of hot air and narcissism.

19K on a friday night? that's a terrible crowd!...jesus christ that must be gutting.

No the worst Socceroo's coach ever is Rudy Gutandorf and Graham Arnold is coming a close second ,and where are you Robbie Slater, I cant hear you !!! load mouth

no u right mate R Grant wow full of skill what smooth and refined player, Anorld should get more Sydney boys and give more cheap shirts like J o'niell ,zullo and all the gang from the cove

don't believe everything nemesis tells you

Arnie's style is as uninspiring as Bert..