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Roar Rookie
Joined September 2022
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Anyone but Musky. His cynicism has been evident since the Australian Youth team, and there is no place for a character as cynical as Musky at the national helm. We need to inspire, not corrupt them.
Graham Arnold 'can’t possibly' pick A-League players for the World Cup
I’m sorry but I can’t agree. Foord was quick and dynamic, but her efforts very rarely led to anything because she doesn’t seem to have any idea what to do or where to pass. She needs a huge amount of coaching, or to be used as a high-impact substitute. Her most effective position has always been in defence as a wide fullback.
Frail Matildas downed by Canada as pressure on Gustavsson ramps up
“It was just (yet another) one of those days”. Rather than rationalising ‘those days’ away, we need to stop having them. The Matildas in the first half were disjointed, unfocussed and uncoordinated. There was no pressing, just one-out runners working individually to no avail. For a time in the second half they looked much better, but they still looked a lot like a Sunday arvo scratch team with a few good players, compared to Canada’s teamwork and organisation
Emily van Egmond has been one of the Matildas greatest players, but I fear that the past tense (has been) applies. She never gets above a gentle lope, almost all her passes are backwards, her defence is almost non-existent, and she controls the ball into defenders rather than turning and finding space. She regularly converted fast-moving attacks into slow, bogged-down passing along the back. If Gustavsson thinks she is essential to the midfield, he’d better graft some rockets onto her. Chidiac was sitting on the bench, and would have been a far better option, while Cooney-Cross was already on the field and improved things greatly when she finally moved into midfield. Courtney Nevin is a seriously poor judge of tackling, and she should have been sent off for her elbow(s) on Leon. She is a repeat offender, and should not be back in a Matildas shirt unless her attitude changes greatly. Gielnick was anonymous for much of the time, and made some poor decisions with the ball. What a contrast when Courtney Vine came on, which raises the question of why she wasn’t on from the start. While there was some good attacks, there were also some incredible wasted chances – Sam got the ball to the byline, and there were no Matildas in the middle, they were all back 20 metres loping along and watching to see what Sam could achieve. For long periods of the game, it seemed that the only tactic was to boot it to Sam and watch what she did, and the Canadians lapped it up. The goal came from a set-piece, where the Matildas failed to count up and mark the players at the far post, and then when the ball got there, didn’t move up on the attackers, but stood and waited. The covering defender came from 8 metres behind Leon, so of course didn’t get there in time.
It wasn’t all bad, Lydia had a good game, Charlotte Grant did well against a difficult opponent (Prince), the centre-backs were mostly in control, and Luik did well as a stand-in (but Tony, why is a 37 yo midfielder the stand-in central defender?). Mary Fowler and Katrina Gorry were pretty good, and Crumber did OK when she came on. Cooney-Cross worked hard, and Sam didn’t have her best night, but considering the lack of support behind and beside her most of the time, you can’t complain. Yallop also did well when she came on.
Tony Gustavsson has now had the team for a large number of games. He does not seem to have yet come to grips with Australia’s strengths (full-spirited play, quick transitions, self-belief) and has shown little sign of addressing our weaknesses (poor ball control, poor passing, poor decision-making in attack, poor organisation in defence/pressing). We have some great players, and a fair number of good to very good players, but he is selecting players who are not performing, and leaving out players who can really lift the team (e.g. Courtney Vine). There is no sign of a plan, and no sign of a guiding intelligence to get the players performing at their best. When a player swings an elbow right in front of the coach, and inexplicably is not sent off, why would you leave her on the field to do it again? This is not the mark of a coach who has a vision and is in charge, and I fear for the future. Prove me wrong, Tony, or go and let a real Australian coach take the reins before its too late.
Matildas squander chances, going down to Canada during international friendly
Yes, our regular team won’t really scare the opposition, but add in Tilio and a couple of players like him and we may start rocking some boats
Graham Arnold 'can’t possibly' pick A-League players for the World Cup