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tomdartnell11

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Joined March 2012

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"England have the best fans in the world and Scotland's fans are second-to-none." - Kevin Keegan

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Great article. Found your argument quite persuasive considering I’m not in agreeance.

Firstly though, I have to say I think the chorus of positive feedback is in regards to the result GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, both prior to and within the game. We’ve heard plenty about the stifling conditions and physical toll on the Aussie players of playing Oman in 40 degree heat so recently, so no-one should be overlooking that. Secondly you’ve got to consider the way the draw has played out so favourably for Japan, who came into the game full of confidence with 6 points in the bag from two convincing home wins. They were under far less pressure to get a result.

Then look at the shambolic refereeing performance, which just about evened itself out. A lot of the praise is, I think, directed towards the Socceroos’ ability to limit the damage to one goal conceded whilst playing so long with 10 men, until they finally got their lucky break with the soft penalty awarded.

Regarding the young players not getting a run, I agree I would love to see more pitch time afforded to Rukavystya, Jedinak, Tommy Oar, Chris Herd and others but the reality is you can’t risk experimentation in WC qualifiers with so much on the line and experience is largely going to win out.

The fullback positions aren’t as weak as you suggest, Rhys Williams is a very promising player waiting in the wings and Wilkshire usually returns to defence when Emerton is available to play wide. On the left side David Carney has proved servicable, whilst Michael Zullo is a good option if you’re looking for real drive.

And Matthew Spiranovic is just plain unlucky that Sasa Ognenovski has played so well since his late rise to prominence. Spiranovic is touted as a technically gifted central defender who can facilitate playing out from the back, which is a potential foundation of our future play so look forward to the time when he gets an extended run.

Australia’s playing style, like Osieck said when he took the job, is a malleable and flexible one. Some nations will just always be better than us at playing football. When we come up against a very good side we adapt a pragmatic gameplan, of defensive solidarity and targeting a specified weakness of the opposition. Japan are a very good side, and I think we effectively attacked their arial deficiencies. When the manager feels we can dominate another team, we’ll try to. Look for us to control much more of the home games against Oman, Jordan and even Iraq.

Socceroos: Always happy with one point?

Good quick coverage of the shocking events of this morning, all over it mate. I’m devastated and praying that a solution comes about which will resuscitate the Jets – great club both within the community and the A-league (past champions), and showing a very progressive style of passing football under Van Egmond.

FFA has countered Tinkler’s version of events by saying that HSG were responsible for any breakdown in communication. An agonising wait to see what happens next…

Newcastle Jets grounded by FFA's inept management

Spot on about local managers. Ange and Arnie definitely torch-bearers for quality Australian coaching. Proof is in their results and extraordinary feats of fast, effective transformation of Roar & Mariners into successful, elite-tier clubs. Both are now setting the domestic benchmark.

Arnie and Angie take the A-League to another level

Well well, this has put the cat amongst the pigeons. Apology or not, Holman has undoubtedly changed the perception around him and improved his standing in the national team picture over the last three years.

Memo: Brett Holman, we're sorry

Dan, got to say I loved reading this piece and agree with what you’ve said here. Both ends of the top six being hotly contested makes for exciting viewing, regular season is going down to the wire for both the premiers plate and last finals spot.

I’m really hoping Melbourne Heart cement their top six spot as their season has certainly deserved it. Victory on the other hand have been shambolic throughout, and had they scraped in it would have papered over some serious managerial/personnel problems.

I wrote about the need for Heart to grow their fan base in a blog post – http://tomdartnell11.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/melbourne-needs-a-bigger-heart/ – and I actually reckon that within Melbourne there’s a fair portion of fans who just want football, and have less regard for which Melbourne team is playing. So hopefully with Heart as the Melbourne representative in the finals they might gather some more supporters.

Drama is the best thing for the A-League

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