ANALYSIS: Moment of raw power ends frustrating conservatism but Socceroos need to find another level

Thanks for the analysis Stuart, as always ready with an article! I imagine that Arnold knew UAE would defend relatively deep and try to play on the counter. So his approach was to also play a more defensive method for the first 45 and let the greater fitness of the Australian team allow a more attacking approach in the second half. It didn't work exactly, with an unlucky deflection leading to the UAE goal and the choice of Atkinson obviously wrong. There were, as usual, some perplexing player choices for a win or die game (Leckie up front). Aside from that, it seemed like a decent plan. Going full on attack in the first 45 in an elimination game you would only do if you were certain your team would totally dominate. Do we have a team of players that have those skills? No, not really.

Totally agree. There is a lot of negative commentary about the last world cup but I thought those two games were the best football is seen Australia play for ages. One poor bounce off a ball and we're out. I thought the French team looked perplexed by how things were playing out until their goal.

Should have drawn with France last world cup. Socceroos.looked the better side actually and more than took it to france. It was a only a lucky high bounce that evaded matty ryans upwardly stretched hand just below the cross bar that deprived the roos france of what would have been a more fair result...for France...a draw. Roos were easily the better side against France in last wc. And they drew with Denmark.

Arnold has 4 specialist CFs in the squad ...mclaren, taggart, duke, Dagostino - but elected to start with Leckie upfront. Why would you select 4 cf when you do not intend to use them? Wouldn't it have been better to select players who can be used in positions where they are needed e.g.midfield, defence? Furthermore starting Lecki at cf did just not work. Lecki is one of the best dribblers in the team and is best used on the left ( or right) wing or even as an attacking mid to run at a defense and thread a forward pass thru to another forward. Goodwin could come on later to cross high balls from the left to a taller CFs head. Sure lecki can move into the cf spot when the starting cf goes off and Goodwin comes on on the left but starting Lecki at cf is just not taking advantage of Leck's strengths

There are numerous problems with Arnolds coaching. Putting aside his squad selections and ignoring the fact that 4 age eligible u 23s are sitting on the bench in doha when they could have played up to six games in Uzbekistan ( King, Genreau, Stensness, Tillio (Aitkinson excluded)) and his reactive substitutions rather than using subs to control the game, there are obvious other deficiencies in Arnolds tactics. 1. He always uses inswinging corners - right footer on the left side & left footer on the right side - none of which have ever worked. Stats show more goals are scored from corners from.outswingers not inswingers so it seems arnold has not read this stat and he.persists with the failed tactic. 2. The point of passing backwards and sideways is to draw an opposition player forward to open up space in the oppositions defensive lines so mids and forwards can run into the space to receive a forward pass. However, when the Socceroos open up space they fail to pass the ball to a forward player running into the space that has opened up. Eventually they usually give up on that tactic and end up just lobbing the ball long - mostly inaccurately. They do not use the backward and sideways passing around to their advantage. It even seems that most of the time they do not know the reason why they are passing the ball around at the back at all. They seem to do it pointlessly and because that is what they have seen other sides do. All of this is attributable to poor management.

if he scores that goal (which he normaly would with his eyes close in training) there'd be a different discussion to be had i wouldnt write goody off yet from the 'current' incarnation of the national team he looked excellent against vietnam earlier in qualifying and would be the first to admit he had a poor game by his standards against UAE. goodys got an abundance of qualities that the rest of the forward line doesnt posess - that could be useful against a very defensive peru set up (set pieces - corners & free kicks, crossing, passing range and a natural left footer) if australias chasing a game and resorting to 1980s uk football (as seen at the olympics) goodies the perfect player to be whipping crosses into the box at players like duke, boyle, maclaren or any centreback arnie will push forward lol

peru are a good solid side, theres no questions about that - but the people suggesting peru will put 3 or 4 past australia are crazy - especially when they try and justify it based on the last time the sides met. peru only won because they were clinical (2 shots for 2 goals from memory) australia absolutely dominated every other category that match and shouldve won. south american qualifying was just like that for peru, very tight at the back and they usually will score the 1 chance they get on goal. i think this is a great match up for australia. its going to be a war of attrition, i would not be surprised if it goes to penalties

Werent you saying the same thing 4 years ago? It took a last minute dodgy penalty against us for France to beat us 1-2. And the Danes held us to a 1-1 draw - which could have easily ended up a win. See you again in 4 years.

Arnold will be a superhero if Australia get past Peru. Given our lack of scoring power penalties are a potential way through. I hope they're practicing. In truth we don't deserve to be at the World Cup, but I hope they put in a red hot effort against Peru so we can watch them there.

“Craig is a quandry to me, he produces lovely football when in the ALM but at this level there is something amiss” He didn’t step up in the big moments. Whether confidence, self belief, or ??? Some players don’t make the next grade. I hope he does but on this performance he has a way to go. He is not alone though.

UAE were more cautious than Australia and I it cost them because they attacked well in the first half but didnt have targets in the box. They got the reply straight after because they then rushed players forward into the box but then ran out of juice. The other big factor is the money situation Australia will be desperate because there is about half a million per player on the line, Kiwis even more desperate who get 50% of the FIFA money they have even more lower paid players than Australia. Peru and Costa Rica we don't know. Already Canada are in some dispute, playoffs can represent an opportunity for the players to look for a cut of the money. Craig Foster his famous moment, Confederations cup go on strike for a cut of the money. Drove David Hill to leave the job and bankrupted Soccer Australia some years later.

Just on the amazing, exquisitely time volley by Hrustic, my mind turned to Cahill's left foot strike against The Netherland's in 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7oCfsHwnc

It won’t take a miracle to make the World Cup. It will take winning the next game. Of course, Peru may be too good for us, but at least we got through this one. If we get there, Australia should be monstered by France, and very likely will be. We are also likely to lose against Denmark and Tunisia if the results go with rankings. Who cares? All the team can do is play each game as it comes. Much better to get to the World Cup and lose than not get there at all.

Aiden it might wash against Peru. You wouldn't take a nil-all scoreline after 120 minutes? I think I would.

Doesn't matter what the likes of France and/or Denmark will do in the future, completely irrelevant, the only thing that matters is sneaking one past Peru and keeping a clean sheet. Also, I thought France and Denmark was going to towel the socceroos last WC, but it didn't happen. All these big European countries are capable of poor WCs, especially in funny locations like Qatar will be to them. As for Tunisia, the North African countries can blow hot or cold on any given day. I wouldn't be handing them the 3 points before the end of a 90 minute game.

I doubt there is another level. The Socceroos are below standard and they will get embarrassingly toweled up by France, Denmark and Tunisia if by some miracle they make the WC.

Stuart- Doing an analysis of a game it is normal to talk of a game of "two halves". This game is better analysed as "a game of 2 wingers" In the first half the winger Abdalla tore the Socceroo defence wide open with his determined running, and ,had UAE had other players of such quality, this game could have been finished by half-time. As it was ,after the break, Abdalla faded somewhat from the action, so another "winger" arrived on the scene, and luckily for us it was the Socceroo, Boyle who began to show his class down the right side. Our lads revelled in his service and we got a result, albeit a narrow one. Back to team and performance. The youngster Atkinson, thrown in at the deep end, was never allowed to show his top strength, his attacking flair, due to his immediate opponent's skill and it was this factor that shifted one's attention to who was supplying the defensive midfield role, for when a player is put under pressure in the modern game his team-mates at this level are supposed to supply cover. Unfortunately Mooy's overall lack of condition was causing problems in the "helping" task. Personally ,while watchin Melbourne City in the ALM ,I often wondered why Atkinson was not moved forward into midfield where his attitude and energy would be put to far better use than doing blind runs back and forth as a wing back. With Abdalla's demise Atkinson started to show a back up to Boyle, and in the last 20 minutes showed Arnold how he should, and could ,be used.. At the other end of the team we had Goodwin trying to break down UAE's right defence and at this particular case he was not successful . Craig is a quandry to me, he produces lovely football when in the ALM but at this level there is something amiss and to me there are better choices in the squad,the youngster Tilio with speed that would bother any defender. So we march on to next Tuesday and it' s to be hoped there are some effective changes that can be made to strengthen the overall team performance. Cheers jb.

Was the cautious first half a plan - absorb pressure, let what was a novel Australian line-up settle, get a feel for how the UAE were playing, then up the tempo second half? Or was the idea actually to attack from the start, but that fizzled, maybe due to failure of the novel line-up to connect, or due to dozy initial attitude? Did a half time reassessment and inspiring team talk change everything? Who knows? Not me.

Not really. That approach won’t wash against Peru. It’s certainly Graham Arnold 101. The entire campaign.