Borrello off the mark, Gauchi excels, but Socceroos out-muscled in Ecuador loss

You've got a point there

I can agree with that

Wes-day. The logic behind your observation can be found when studying the history of a club, Watford, who, under the guidance of a then young coach, called Graham Taylor , took the unfashionable club from division 4 to division 1 in only 5 seasons. This magnificent effort was accomplished with only one player of note, winger John Barnes, the rest would be best described as outstanding "workmen' How was this done you may ask ?. Tayor is widely recognised as using what became known as the "high press" where every player was drilled in the two main principles of football . how to defend and how to attack. These descriptions roll off the tongue easily but when watching teams in our A-League it is obvious that many of our young players are not fully conversant with these 2 principles. Watch a young player as he plays. How often when he, or his team-mates, lose possession of the ball, immediately gets himself to move goal-side of his nearest opponent. Conversely how often does that same player immediately find space when his team regains possession thus creating movement in the defending team. Very few. The resulting observation is called "ball watching". I once watched a game in which Bobby Moore, the England captain, playing centre-back ,went through the game and never committed one tackle, he intercepted every ball that was passed to his immediate opponent, using his in-built knowledge to read the pass before his opponent. That my friend is where the "edge" is created in the modern game. Cheers jb.

A couple of things I found interesting about the 2 games. Game 1, a win and Arnie and the boys receive applause for playing a great entertaining game.......with only 37% possession (we did not have any ball). Game 2, a loss (albeit perhaps slightly controversial). People commenting on how the team was disappointing compared to game 1.......51.5% possession (we did have the ball). We struggled for possession at the Worls Cup and got some good wins also. So what can we take from this? Apparently we still cant play Football. We only get results when we dont have the ball??? Is this concerning for anyone else. I understand in the very modern game, low possession can win games and tournaments, but is that the way we want to play. Absorb pressure, then sneak a goal against play??? 2. At what point did the Socceroos lose their physical edge. We have always been considered a physical team. In fact back in the day that was why many teams played us in the lead up to Tournaments as they new we would put them through the ringer in preparation. It is also what many overseas coaches constantly said they liked about Aussie footballers, hard working, no fuss, physical players. When did we lose that edge?

It is also about public perception. The more that game is splashed across the papers, on the billbords, on the radio..... the more people will start to value it. Last week was a perfect example here in Brissy. All I heard about for the entire week was the Broncos Dolphins game. Every guest that was on the radio was asked which team they supported. Every interview with a local Poly ended with them declaring their allegiance to one or the other. all we heard was "Lets Go Broncos" and "Get your fins up" across all add breaks, billboard everywhere declaring the "Battle for Brisbane". This constant and relentless selling of their game only cements and then reinforces to the wider Brisbane community that it is something of value. It is important. You need to choose a camp. You should care about this. If you are not going or watching the game then you are out of step with the entire city........ That is what the NRL do really well with the obvious bias and vested interest of the major media companies. Lets face it, Rugby League knows how to sell it's clearior inferior code to the masses, and people love it. If the Socceroos had that much exposure.....every week...... The crowds would be there.

personally I think Jamie Young but wikipedia says h’e s elected to play for England..why would he bother? virtually no chance with England

I recommend Shield Pro :stoked:

pronounced chaunce not chaaance :laughing: :silly: its kind of like dhance and daaaance

Give him a break he's got no mates.

I would say he was selected, like everyone else. You said he was at qsac but my recollection is he was the first of the new breed to go through Roar's new academy, after FFA brought in the academy rule and Roar cut formal ties with qsac. Nothing wrong with being biased to SA, Qld knows all about that stuff but hey, some truth please.

Just a small Adelaide mentality.

At this present moment he has earned the right to do so.

Totally with you on Robertson, the exact same thing happened with Kewell, one of the best decisions by Eddie Thompson. I was one who was very critical of Arnie, he proved me wrong, he has gone on to be the most successful Aussie coach at the WC. He deserves the plaudits & has earned the national role on those performances, some may not like it, but.... Now SS may be right & Arnie does fail again, but his performance has earned him the right to Pick & choose who he wants & we as punters (excuse the pun) have to accept it. Always the issue in this country with football to many with their own agendas.

devlin has not got 'it' internationally, just having tenacity in his position will not cut it at this type of level of football bailey wright would be another i'd jettison, he's had more than enough chances to impress and is too inconsistent and also unfortunately a player i have a good relationship with thomas deng falls in the same category (has looked more bad then good when playing for olyroos and now the soceroos) luckily there are several other centreback options available for australia to try.

dont follow english football and you know my disdaine towards it lol. i just googled the player ((to try and get some background on him) because i am unfamiliar and you appear to be right - only 5 matches this season. the fact he was chosen says alot about the english's lack of depth, in that position then - picking a player that has been injured alot this seson and only played a handful of games

i am not disputing he came through roars academy (i even explained how and why that happened) but what a lot of people living on the east coast arent aware of, is the level of patriotism south australia has for its own people that do well. not many people are expected to accomplish anything coming from south australia (small population, small wages, lack of jobs - all the talented children/students leave the state for better opportunities on the east coast when they can etc etc) that why when a success story happens, the people hold onto it and defend it - i havent seen this type of patrionism to this level in any other state in australia. i got sent a soundbyte last night of david davutovic talking about south australian players and he mentinoned that he forget that borello and deng were both south australians as well, he then made a slick comment about us victorians always trying to claim him but he knows hes south australian haha

that is is exactly what i am saying, he has not been consistent enough this season to have been selected (distribution has not been anywhere near where it needs to be) i think joe know he hasnt been at his best either i have no issues with him being a 'train on' player like irakunda, lawrence thomas deserved that start in the second match - hes been the most consistent a league keeper this season

FIL all coaches pick their "mates". Look at Gareth Southgate. He still picks McGuire even though he hasn't played for Utd in ages. Same goes for Kalvin Phillips. And how do you justify Ferguson picking Garry Neville for all those years if he wasn't his mate! :)

I partially agree Aidan. We really have to combat the mentally that EPL is football and nothing else mattersy

Chromecast? and you're the one who sold me on Google TV, works great (except for the well known faults). Mind you, watched bits of last night's match on 10 streaming, was good watching at QPAC during breaks.