Match stats/analysis for recent Socceroo games

[The Flying Bat]

 

[vo2Max]

 

[Decentric]

I'm taking my time doing stats for the Saudi and Bahrain games.

I've added 1v1s - again after a long absence. I've just reinstated passing stats to augment balls played into the box, keeper saves and intercepts, plus shots at goal - including on target. Was going to add to touches in the box, but keep forgetting. Haven't done 1v1s for years.

The most proficient 1v1 winners are usually CBs. They often have better body position in duels compared to attacking players. DMs are often pretty good in this area too. Full backs have the disadvantage out wide of being unable to stop crosses, which goes against their ledger.

ATM against Saudi, I feel really bad saying this, but Hrustic was almost like a cone put on the pitch in Ball Possession Opposition. I was really pleased for him, when just before Hrustic was taken off, he won a tackle - where he could see a Saudi receiving the ball, whilst the Saudi player was blind to Hrustic approaching.

Either Hrustic lacks the energy to close down space like Duke and McGree do in the attacking line, and Villupillay did when he came on to replace Hrustic - in team Squeezing game plans in Full Presses deep in the attacking half, when Saudi had the ball.

Or, he just can't read the play quickly enough to close down the opponent at the correct moment. Or, he is inherently lazy. The rest of the Socceroos against Saudi ( up to the 68 min mark, which I've reviewed) are so keen to force a contest if the opposition has the ball.

Geria has won just about everything in 1v1s. Souttar and Burgess are solid and dominant too. O'Neill and Irvine are winning plenty of hard balls and making intercepts too, from effective reading of play.

I was a great supporter of Arnie as a coach. However, I could never see what he saw in Geraint Jones as a RB? Right under Arnie's nose, Geria has walked into the Socceroos at age 31 to win his second cap. At the 68 min mark of the game against Saudi and his previous games against Japan and China, the Melb Vic RB is pushing for the Socceroo's best player! Yet he wasn't even on Arnie's radar! Admittedly, he is playing Right CB in a back three, which is a bit different from RB.

Tactically, when I used to watch them a few years ago, League 1 in England and the Scottish League, were decidedly inferior tactically to the AL. Haven't seen either for a few years though.

It seems Arnie overrated Scotland - outside the Old Firm ( Rangers and Celtic, both ranked highly in UEFA's top clubs) - and also League One. The Pommy commentators would often state the standard way of playing out that Aus teams deploy in the A L, as it has been inculcated in Aus coaches through the Euro powerhouse revamped NC coach education, could only be seen in the EPL!

What astounds me about these leagues, is when we see players who've made fast progress in the AL at an early age, then go to play in them, if evaluated in a check list of technical skills and match based insight, barely improve - apart from muscular ball winning and possibly match conditioning from playing so much football per season.

Popa doesn't rate them like Arnie did, and appears to prefer AL players who aren't jet lagged!

I thought Hrustic was awful against Saudi too - in BPO, and showing for the ball for Socceroos to pass to when we had the ball - and was pleased Popa took him off - because of his lack of ability to break up attacks from the front.

Yet Andy Harper thought Hrustic was our best player - with no apparent knowledge of his poor off the ball work rate - even on the ball.


Even worse, Brice Djite, last I knew he was Adelaide United Tech Dir, and is ostensibly highly trained as an advanced coach, also concurred with Harper's opinion . Surely, BD must have been aware of Hrustic's inept off the ball performance?


Hrustic was good for a few instances when he had the ball at his feet against Saudi, but nothing like Daniel Arzani.

 

[JS96]

2024 will be known as the year of the bad right back. For a whole year, we planned out formation and system around our worst player. They shouldn't even be in the squad. I'm talking about Jones and Miller. Inverted at Asian Cup hindering any kind of advancement while being rash defensively.

Hopefully next year Metcalfe will fill the RWB slot along with better options.

 

[Pasquali]

2024 will be known as the year of the bad right back. For a whole year, we planned out formation and system around our worst player. They shouldn't even be in the squad. I'm talking about Jones and Miller. Inverted at Asian Cup hindering any kind of advancement while being rash defensively.

Hopefully next year Metcalfe will fill the RWB slot along with better options.

To be completely honest this is as good as it’s going to get until the next World Cup cycle. I don’t find Metcalfe to be a particularly good either

 

[grazorblade]

its pretty hard to spot off the ball movement when you re watching the first time. Harper might have missed it? I was more concerned with hrustic not providing a passing lane playing out which meant geria - who doesn't have a long pass and is surrounded by 3 technically limited players in irvine, oniell and miller - could get swarmed


As for rb problems, it might be more than a year to wait.....I remember when we couldn't find a left back and had to convert carney into one

 

[grazorblade]

To be completely honest this is as good as it’s going to get until the next World Cup cycle. I don’t find Metcalfe to be a particularly good either

hopefully metcalf wins aussie fans over
playing at a decent level when fit and doing pretty well at a youngish age

 

[JS96]

To be completely honest this is as good as it’s going to get until the next World Cup cycle. I don’t find Metcalfe to be a particularly good either

For me it's down to tactics. Our coaches keep hindering players from doing things. We see our do good things at club level and they don't emulate it for the national team. Constant back passing and slow build up costs us.

 

[grazorblade]

For me it's down to tactics. Our coaches keep hindering players from doing things. We see our do good things at club level and they don't emulate it for the national team. Constant back passing and slow build up costs us.

Players usually drop a bit in quality when playing international football,

You don't have the same amount of time to build cohesion, even in a major tournament (world cups slightly better)

Euroroos drop further in quality due to jetlag

Complaining about the coaches feels like ground hog day, I doubt they are the problem tbh

 

[JS96]

Players usually drop a bit in quality when playing international football,

You don't have the same amount of time to build cohesion, even in a major tournament (world cups slightly better)

Euroroos drop further in quality due to jetlag

Complaining about the coaches feels like ground hog day, I doubt they are the problem tbh

Our coaches have very little time with our players compared to other nations. We're contending with much more travel. In saying that some national teams have a blueprint where players know what to do. We come across as having little plan, on the ball at least.

The defensive organisation against Japan was excellent.

 

[grazorblade]

Our coaches have very little time with our players compared to other nations. We're contending with much more travel. In saying that some national teams have a blueprint where players know what to do. We come across as having little plan, on the ball at least.

The defensive organisation against Japan was excellent.

Having a national playing style is in principle one of the (more controversial) goals of the ntc

arnie complained during the asian cup that they had all been coaching differently which means they all expected team mates to do different things and couldnt get on the same wave length. Maybe in a few years there will be more cohesion when the roos are made up of only ntc graduates

The tricky thing at the moment is we have a bit of oil and water. We have technical players in their prime, but they aren't our best players. Our best players are workhorses that are demons off the ball but look ugly against a set defence

 

[Keeper66]

its pretty hard to spot off the ball movement when you re watching the first time. Harper might have missed it? I was more concerned with hrustic not providing a passing lane playing out which meant geria - who doesn't have a long pass and is surrounded by 3 technically limited players in irvine, oniell and miller - could get swarmed


As for rb problems, it might be more than a year to wait.....I remember when we couldn't find a left back and had to convert carney into one

And Matt McKay

 

[Decentric]

I've recorded match stats from the recent Japan v Socceroos game in Japan. Stats might not be your thing, but they are becoming increasingly prevalent in world footbal.

Total defensive passes completed: Australia 182, Japan 181.

Defensive Pass Accuracy: Australia 92%, Japan 96%.

Total Attacking passes completed: Aus 116, Japan 207.

Attacking pass accuracy: Australia 82%, Japan 84%.

Full pitch total passes completed : Australia 339, Japan 435.

Full pitch passing accuracy : Australia 88%, Japan 89%.

Possession stats based on passing completion: Aus 44 %, Japan 56%.

Balls played into the Pen Box: Australia 8, Japan 40.

Balls played into the box on the ground: Australia 5, Japan 21.

Shots at goal: Australia 2, Japan 10.

Shots on target: Australia 1, Japan 2.

Keeper saves: Australia 1, Japan 0.

Keeper intercepts: Australia 7, Japan 2.

With the possession Ten had about 30% possession for Aus. I think anecdotally there may have been quite a few instances where Japanese players made some long runs when Running With The Ball /Dribbling.

It would have added to their possession.

Maybe they had some lengthy periods in possession in the defensive half where the Socceroos didn't Squeeze them as intensively? They had time on the ball as they were passing too.

The massive differential was that Japan had nearly double the passes completed as Aus in the attacking half.

Moreover, that Japan played 40 balls into the pen box compared to Aus's 8, is a really dominant performance.

The last two stats are significant factors that Japan dominated the game, and should have won.

I recorded complete match stats for the Saudi and Bahrain games, including 1v1s.

Then I decided it would be interesting to compare the Japan game in terms of 1v1s. So I've added the 1v1s in the Japan match to the passing stats, possession stats, balls played into the pen box, shots at goal, keeper saves and keeper intercepts.

There were another approximate 50, 1v1 duels per game in the Japan fixture than the Bahrain or Saudi game.

Australia won 118, 1v1 duels, whilst Japan won 91.

16, 1v1s had no outcome.

In a ratio of 1v1 duels Aus gained the ascendancy in a ratio of 12: 9 duels contested.

In terms of percentages, Australia won 57% of 1v1 duels, to Japan's 43%.

Once the three games are looked at, with the accompanying 1v1 stats - adding to passing stats, balls played into the box, balls played into the box on the ground, balls repelled by the opposition touching the ball first in the pen box, shots at goal, shots on target, it provides a pretty comprehensive picture.

I'm going to call for one current player to be dropped from the Socceroo squad, based on his appalling stats in some facets of play. I'm sure Popa is aware too. There are AL players not playing in the current Socceroos, who exceed this player in every area. There are some surprising current Socceroo stars, probably not recognised by the public, and definitely not a lot of the Aus sporting media.

A few current popular players amongst fans aren't travelling as well either.

Who would you predict are the unsung stars, and who would you predict to be dropped from the squad?

Also, based on the stats we should have comprehensively beaten Bahrain, and Saudi, but not as dominantly, and definitely lost against Japan, despite beating them in 1v1s. One could say we should have 6 points from the Saudi and Bahrain fixtures - and - lost 3 points to Japan.

 

[Decentric]

Australia 0, Saudi 0.

Passes in Defensive Half: Australia 159 completed passes. at 93% passing accuracy. Hence another 12 attempted passes were mishit in the defensive half. Saudi completed 176 passes at 91% accuracy.

Attacking Half Passes : Australia completed 134 passes at 84% accuracy; Saudi completed 98 passes at 80%.

Total passes completed over the full pitch: Aus 293, Saudi 274.

Possession based on completed passes: Aus 52%; Saudi 48%.

1v1s contested: Aus won 88; Saudi won 48.

21, 1v1s had no outcome.

This is an approximate ratio of 9:5 in Aus's favour.

Aus won 64% of 1v1s contested; Saudi 36%.

Balls played into the pen box: Aus 38; Saudi 23.

Balls played into the pen box on the ground: Aus 15; Saudi 8.

Balls played into the pen box repelled by the opposition touching the ball first: Aus repelled 15; Saudi repelled 13.

Shots at goal: Aus 10; Saudi 3.

Shots on target: Aus 2; Saudi 0.

Keeper saves : Aus 1; Saudi 2.

Keeper Intercepts: Aus 9 ; Saudi 11.

 

[Decentric]

Australia 2, Bahrain 2.

Defensive Passes completed: Aus 228 at 95% passing accuracy ; Bahrain 104 passes completed at 94%.

Attacking Passes: Aus 182 at 86% ; Bahrain 92 at 75%.

Total passes : Aus 410 ; Bahrain 196.

Possession based on total passes completed : Aus 68% ; Bahrain 32%.

1v1s : Aus won 112 ; Bahrain 45.

12, 1v1 duels had no result.

Ratio of 1v1s won is 22:9 in Aus's favour.

Percentage of 1v1s won : Aus 68%, Bahrain 32%.

Balls played into the Pen Box: Aus 33 ; Bahrain 15.

Balls played on the ground into the pen box: Aus 16 ; Bahrain 3.

Repelled by the team touching the ball first in pen box first against opposition attacks : Aus 11 ; Bahrain 10.

Shots at goal : Aus 8 ; Bahrain 5.

Shots on target: Aus 5 ; Bahrain 2.

Keeper Saves: Aus 0 ; Bahrain 1.

Keeper Intercepts: Aus 5 ; Bahrain 6.

 

[Quicky]

I'm going to call for one current player to be dropped from the Socceroo squad, based on his appalling stats in some facets of play. I'm sure Popa is aware too. There are AL players not playing in the current Socceroos, who exceed this player in every area. There are some surprising current Socceroo stars, probably not recognised by the public, and definitely not a lot of the Aus sporting media.

Hrustic is my guess based on the stats you're looking at.

 

[grazorblade]

Tha ks as always

it is good to get a different perspective from fotmob and sofascote stats

Hrustic is entering his prime, it's a shame for both club and country he has declined as he was a key player last cycle. Wonder what's wrong?

 

[Decentric]

My guess is Hrustic.

Well done!

Must admit you've posted quite a few posts I've taken great interest in recently, but haven't responded.

Another is your perception of the Scottish League is exactly the same as a mate of mine who has been a recent NPL senior assistant coach, who originally hails from Scotland!

As to Hrustic. I hope nobody here is a relative of his. It is all the data showing up that exposes him.

On the ball is his strength. His first touch, handling speed, dribbling ability in 1v1s, free kick taking, often shooting at goal, when having time on the ball makes some killer passes, plus combines well in some passing and moving sequences in tight spaces - is all easy for the fans and even some pundits who ostensibly have pro football backgrounds rave about him excelling! True. But we have A L players doing everything Hrustic does as well and better - and - who don't have his weaknesses. Can't believe Bruce Djite can't see these weaknesses as AU's Tech Director.

Weaknesses - with all the 1v1s I've had a really close look at players' tackling, stealing the ball, speed duels, body on body duels, heading duels, jockeying, showing delaying. Hrustic is easily the worst player we've had on the pitch against China, Japan, Saudi and Bahrain, whenever he has been on the pitch in 1v1s and off the ball efficacy. I was delighted a few times where he won the odd heading duel, or tackled a player and won the ball cleanly.

Off the ball when the team is in possession he rarely shows for the ball - creates space by opening a passing lane and shaking a marker, or creates dummy runs. So he isn't moving all the time to support the Aus ball carrier, like fellow forwards/ attacking mids - Duke , Borrello, McGree, Villupillay or Goodwin. Also, Leckie and Kruse were great at this.

Defensively when the other team has the ball he rarely closes down quickly, forcing turnovers, making intercepts, or hurries the opponents into a mistake. I'm not sure if he reads the play more slowly than others? Saudi played down our right flank because Rene had done his homework on him being so much easier to play around than McGree on our left side.

The better the opposition, the less effective Hrustic is. Against weaker teams who give more time and space on the ball, Hrustic is a decent creator, with his technique on the ball. He doesn't have to work hard to get it, because they aren't Squeezing space like Japan and Saudi to a lesser extent do. So he is a flat track bully - against those weaker teams. At times Hrustic is our best technician on the pitch.

Albeit against weaker opposition, in the AL, compared to evaluating Hrustic against international opposition, Arzani is a better technician on the ball, by some margin. He has faster handling speed, a more silky first touch in limited time and space, shields the ball well, has more tricks to beat opponents 1v1 ( body serves, la Croquetas and Elastics), and has better vision to bring teammates into the game when being double marked, and is harder to knock off the ball.

Plus Arzani has had his guts flogged by Popa and Kisnorbo to defend, track back, tackle, close down space in aggressive team Squeezing, show, delay, jockey, and really use his body to win hard balls.

Moreover, Arzani shows for the ball to open passing lanes when Melb Vic are in possession.

Brattan really struggled to create 1v1 duels against Japan, because he wasn't used to their speed of of play and rapid ball movement. However, when he could get to 1v1 duels quickly enough, or, was in possession, he shielded well, or outmuscled his Japanese opponents with no trouble, or knocked them off the ball by fouling them!. He isn't nimble enough though.

 

[Decentric]

Some surprising players have excelled.

Geria - our best 1v1 ball winner ATM. Whereas Souttar also wins a lot, Burgess too, and Matthews when he replaced Geria, ( but not as well as the senior three), Geria covers more ground to anticipate where the play is heading, because he reads the play so well. He has won so many tackles, heading duels, body on body duels, it is incredible Arnold had no idea of his talents.

When I watch Victory I always look at his flashy attacker and midfielder teammates, and don't notice Geria much. Along with Souttar, he is the best player we've had since he has joined the team. One weakness is he can't pass over range like Souttar and Burgess can much more proficiently. H e is still pretty good on the ball though - rarely turning the ball over against Japan.

Also, the cohesion amongst the back three when he is on the pitch is really good. Popa's back three have been outstanding - but particularly since Burgess has played some EPL games. These three, Geria, Souttar and Burgess, have just steamrolled the opposition forwards in heading, tackling and body on body duels. Keeping Japan to 1 goal was outstanding! Plus they've given few free kicks away, judiciously delaying, showing and jockeying and not committing to challenges until forced.

Also, our attackers, McGree, Duke, Borrello, Villupillay and Goodwin win a lot more hard balls against opposition CBs, than the opposition forwards do against our tough back three.

I think Rowles is going backwards, or even stagnating in Scotland - like most players who have gone there, unless playing for the Old Firm. Atkinson also seems to have stagnated. Two who have improved have been Miller and Baccus.

However, Miller and Bos were often dribbled around, even outmuscled and outpaced by the Japanese wide players. Miller is a real mixed bag. Struggled against Japan, but excelled against China, and was hot and cold in his other games.

Geria was more solid than Miller as Right Wing Back, and I thought Baccus was surprisingly decent as a R Wing Back in one game where he replaced Miller late in the game.

Bos also lost a lot of 1v1 duels against Japan. He also spectacularly outpaced them a few times with some good ball running and dribbling sequences.

 

[grazorblade]

Some surpsising players have excelled.

Geria - our best 1v1 ball winner ATM. Whereas Souttar also wins a lot, Burgess too, and Matthews when he replaced Geria, ( but not as well as the senior three), Geria covers more ground to to anticipate where the play is heading, because he reads the play so well. He has won so many tackles, heading duels, body on body duels, it is incredible Arnold had no idea of his talents.

When I watch Victory I always look at his flashy attacker and midfielder teammates, and don't notice Geria much. Along with Souttar, he is the best player we've had since he has joined the team. One weakness is he can't pass over range like Soutttar and Burgess can much more proficiently. H e is still pretty good on the ball though - rarely turning the ball over against Japan.

Also, the cohesion amongst the back three when he is on the pitch is really good. Popa's back three have been outstanding - but particularly since Burgess has played some EPL games. These three, Geria, Souttar and Burgess, have just steamrolled the opposition forwards in heading, tackling and body on body duels. Keeping Japan to 1 goal was outstanding! Plus they've goven few free kicks away, judiciously delaying, showing and jockeying and not committing to challenges until forced.

Also, our attackers, McGree, Duke, Borrello, Villupillay and Goodwin win a lot more hard balls against opposition CBs, than the opposition forwards do against our tough back three.

I think Rowles is going backwards, or even stagnating in Scotland - like most players who have gone there, unless playing for the Old Firm. Atkinson also seems to have stagnated. Two who have improved have been Miller and Baccus.

However, Miller and Bos were often dribbled around, even outmuscled and outpaced by the Japanese wide players. Miller is a real mixed bag. Struggled against Japan, but excelled against China, and was hot and cold in his other games.

Geria was more solid than Miller as Right Wing Back, and I thought Baccus was surprisingly decent as a R Wing Back in one game where he replaced Miller late in the game.

Bos also lost a lot of 1v1 duels against Japan. He also spectacularly outpaced them a few times with some good ball running and dribbling sequences.

When circati returns would u recommend having geria at rwb and circati at rcb? Or do u think miller, metcalf or an alrague roo (Atkinson, talbot, adamson) would be better there?