Socceroos lacked cutting edge: Irvine

As disappointing as it was to go 3 games without scoring, we should take stock of things. We were playing with a drastically shortened bench for most of the tournament. Never got to see a game featuring Leckie, Rogic, Nabbout, Arzani, Boyle, Mabil and Ikonomidis all at full strength. The latter two give some much needed competition for spots when everyone is fully fit. And the last time we had an underwhelming tournament and lost to a 'minnow', that 'minnow' went on the win the whole thing. Qatar and UAE have both disposed of strong teams and could well go on to beat Japan.

I partly agree JB. We are not Spain and we do not have the gifted players that they have. Our game under Ange and Arbold is simply too slow and and combined with our lack of top quality creative players we suffer indeed. However remember also that Bert Van Marwijk coached the Socceroos in a different way for WC 2018. Our game at the WC was based on quick transition yet still we could not score a single goal (not counting penalties). My conclusion is that we lack players (both upfront and in defence) who are 'good enough' to perform at that level which is required, regardless of style of play/tactics .

Very true JB. Football is about 'involving one touch, accurate distribution, and fast moving players'. Look at the Liverpool front 3 as an example. However, look at which teams have evolved quicker, the teams that play possession football & valued possession as opposed to the teams that used to hoof it down town. Hence why you see teams like France, Spanish clubs, Italian clubs all thriving, while the more traditional more direct countries (either banging it long for a big centre forward or speedy wingers) like England, Scotland, Sweden & Australia are struggling as they don't have the touch players. You can clearly see this in the top English clubs, they are relying less & less on the British players. Australian players have far less touch players then the British players & you can count on 2 fingers Australian players ever with world class touch.

Volley. Jackson Irvine's comment surprises me just a little. In the last few years "possession" football has taken on a completely different meaning from the Barcelona football of 5 or 6 years ago. Teams not as well gifted with the super stars of Barca have developed a new edge to the tactic and it involves the fast retreat away from the inane square passing that goes on across the back four/three and defending mids, in other words, "play with the ball as much as you like, as long as it's in your own back/mid third, but when you finally decide to come forward you will find 9 or 10 men blocking your way." In other words the "high press". Tactically football has moved on from that type of game and if one cares to watch good teams playing in different leagues one will find the ball is being moved after one controlling touch to a team-mate who has accelerated into a more advanced position. This means ,if done accurately and speedily, the retreating defensive players are put under huge pressures,not just by ball movement but also speedy player movement. I watched the Japan v Korea game which Japan won 1-0 and to my surprise the game was extremely entertaining due to the fast transition across the middle of the field by both teams involving one touch, accurate distribution, and fast moving players. Watching our Aussies, who everyone knows have a finishing problem,use 4/5/6 or even 8 cross-field passes to keep "possession" is a dead giveaway to opposing coaches who simply wave their charges back while this non aggressive passing goes on. And so the goal drought goes on. Cheers jb.

The Shockeroos

In the past 2 tournaments regarding of style of play, or who was coaching we have the same problem - we simply can't score against teams that are discipline in defence. At the same time we also make defensive mistakes that cost us goals and we saw that as well at last year's WC. IMO we not only lack top quality strikers, but also defenders. Once upon a time I used to tell my friends, 'we drew with Chile at the Confed Cup .. we should have won', 'we should have beaten Holland at WC 2014', 'we should have beaten Denmark at WC 2018', 'we should have ... we should have', ... . I stopped saying those words after WC 2018. The truth is we are just not good enough and Asian teams have all learned how to defend well. When you have difficulty scoring goals it is absolutely imperative that you don't make silly mistakes like a poor back pass to the goalie, poor marking etc. We have focussed so much in attack that we seem to think we can outscore any opponent. The are a a few things that are obvious to me: 1. we won't do well with either Nabbout or Maclaren as lone forwards, 2. we need a big guy up front to aim crosses at or to hold up the ball, 3. we simply cannot keep making silly mistakes in defence. Our defence has been part of the problem.