Match stats/analysis for recent Socceroo games

[Decentric]

Yazbek - he was nearly always under a lot of pressure on the ball by being closed down by 1-2 Saudis, whilst his teammates were also closed down and marked effectively. He was in tough circumstances against Saudi. Looks to be okay on the ball as a distributor, but there are younger players who are better.

Off the ball he won quite a few 1v1 s, not having tallied his individual score yet, but definitely wasn t as proficient a ball winner as O'Neill.

What I think he may do pretty well and gives him an advantage over his midfield Socceroo rivals is;
-following coaching instructions re team and indiv game plans,
-reading ahead of the play by making intercepts,
-with a good engine being able to keep the defensive shape compact
- and open effective passing lanes when Aus has the ball.

I once saw him outpaced by a Saudi running back to defend.

I'm assuming Popa thinks he is slightly ahead of Ballard?

From what I've seen Yazbek does not have the technique on the ball that Teague showed against China - inferior first touch and not as good a one and two touch passer as O'Neill.

Not as good as the promising tyros Valadon, Youlley, Bozinovski, Okon Jr, and even Deli, who has played little AL football yet. Nisbet is better on the ball too.

How does he compare to Thurgate?

 

[Frankly Speaking]

Japan get 1 goal per 14 pen box touches at the asian cup for comparison. Was a pretty impressive defensive performance

You could flip that and say it represents a notably poor finishing performance.

Something of both, I reckon.

 

[Decentric]

Just before I go through the assiduous task of computing all the stats, a number of G and G posters have had reservations about the current Socceroos, probably have allies in-

the Indo, Japanese and Saudi coaches. Kluivert, Moriyasu and Renaud, all devised game plans when they gegenpressed in Aus's defensive third when Aus had the ball.

Rather than like other opposition teams backing off, if they played beyond the attacking third, they still often had 7-9 players in Aus's defensive half.

All three coaches didn't rate Aus at being able to play out with so little time and space.

It is high risk from these three coaches, with Aus succeeding by playing more through Indo, but Aus hardly ever got through Japan in particular, turning the ball over in the 10 second Defensive Transitions or even the BPO phase of play.

All three teams dominated possession and territory against Aus, particularly Japan, and to a lesser extent, Saudi.

Yet Aus won all three games!

Despite Aus having played less balls into the pen box against all three teams.

What did occur though, is on a few occasions, Aus managed to turn their defences around facing their own goal - which is much harder to do than defend by facing the opposition in front of their goal.

 

[Decentric]

I haven't added up the stats for balls played into the pen bx yet, but Aus played far fewer balls into the Saudi pen box, or Japan's, but weirdly Aus was quite clinical in front of goal.

The Aus balls played in the pen box were of a higher quality, with quite a few on the ground.

In the last 4 games Aus have been quite clinical in front of goal. In the first 6 games , Aus couldn't hit the side of a barn when shooting!

Aus had a lot of shots compared to the opposition in the first 6 games, apart from the game against Japan, in Japan, but struggled to convert.

 

[Cunningstunt]

Just before I go through the assiduous task of computing all the stats, a number of G and G posters have had reservations about the current Socceroos, probably have allies in-

the Indo, Japanese and Saudi coaches. Kluivert, Moriyasu and Renaud, all devised game plans when they gegenpressed in Aus's defensive third when Aus had the ball.

Rather than like other opposition teams backing off, if they played beyond the attacking third, they still often had 7-9 players in Aus's defensive half.

All three coaches didn't rate Aus at being able to play out with so little time and space.

It is high risk from these three coaches, with Aus succeeding by playing more through Indo, but Aus hardly ever got through Japan in particular, turning the ball over in the 10 second Defensive Transitions or even the BPO phase of play.

All three teams dominated possession and territory against Aus, particularly Japan, and to a lesser extent, Saudi.

Yet Aus won all three games!

Despite Aus having played less balls into the pen box against all three teams.

What did occur though, is on a few occasions, Aus managed to turn their defences around facing their own goal - which is much harder to do than defend by facing the opposition in front of their goal.

Interesting point about how our opponents viewed us. I feel like this is new, and not even Japan have pressed us with that level of intensity in previous campaigns.

Is there any weight to not having midfield options with the technical quality as past squads?

The last few campaigns we have had some combination of Mooy, Rogic, Luongo, even back to Bresciano. Someone who is an outlet who can work in tight spaces and play a pass through a strong press. Irvine plays at a high level but isn't this type of player.

 

[Decentric]

Interesting point about how our opponents viewed us. I feel like this is new, and not even Japan have pressed us with that level of intensity in previous campaigns.

Is there any weight to not having midfield options with the technical quality as past squads?

The last few campaigns we have had some combination of Mooy, Rogic, Luongo, even back to Bresciano. Someone who is an outlet who can work in tight spaces and play a pass through a strong press. Irvine plays at a high level but isn't this type of player.

Maybe Bresc, Culina, Grella, Mooy, Rogic, possibly even Milligan, in a combo of three, could have played through them, but the likes of O'Neill and Teague aren't far behind in this facet of play.

It is the likes of Okon Jr, Valadon, Youlley, Bozinivski, Jake Holl, Deli, Thurgate, etc, who are pretty proficient ball playing central mids. Arnie rates them as better than anything we've had prior.

Circati is good in this facet of play, plus Trewin as a CB is a decent distrib too, as are FBs Atkinson, Bennie, the Bos bros. However, it is probably the case that Aus needs a team as good as Popa's teams off the ball in Ball Possession Opposition, and needs to have the skills of the emerging 23 yos and under on the ball, who are still improving.

Indo, Japan and Saudi have really shown up this weakness - or - I'd like to see how Argentina, France, Japan B, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal play against their intensive Squeezing.

Saudi did beat Argentina at the last WC. They have been one of the few recent teams to beat Argentina.

 

[LFC]

Yazbek - he was nearly always under a lot of pressure on the ball by being closed down by 1-2 Saudis, whilst his teammates were also closed down and marked effectively. He was in tough circumstances against Saudi. Looks to be okay on the ball as a distributor, but there are younger players who are better.

Off the ball he won quite a few 1v1 s, not having tallied his individual score yet, but definitely wasn t as proficient a ball winner as O'Neill.

What I think he may do pretty well and gives him an advantage over his midfield Socceroo rivals is;
-following coaching instructions re team and indiv game plans,
-reading ahead of the play by making intercepts,
-with a good engine being able to keep the defensive shape compact
- and open effective passing lanes when Aus has the ball.

I once saw him outpaced by a Saudi running back to defend.

I'm assuming Popa thinks he is slightly ahead of Ballard?

From what I've seen Yazbek does not have the technique on the ball that Teague showed against China - inferior first touch and not as good a one and two touch passer as O'Neill.

Not as good as the promising tyros Valadon, Youlley, Bozinovski, Okon Jr, and even Deli, who has played little AL football yet. Nisbet is better on the ball too.

How does he compare to Thurgate?

Yazbek is just 23yrs.
Just starting to mature and shows OK signs - he is NOT far behind those slightly younger tbh and his youth started at Marconi/SU/WSW/SFC then to Snr SFC games.
Point is as mentioned he was under the pump whenever he recieved ball deep in our zone PLUS it was just his 2nd Roo appearance, give him the slack being thrown in the wolf pit.
He reads the game rather well in general play having watched him many times in the past.
Don't think you have by this review.
Teague is a natural just needs more experience.
Okon Jnr - have you seen him play ? I doubt it, he has played NO Snr football in the AL.
Under the deep block game Poppa played be it JapB Saudi even Nisbets experience and touch would have been wanting against either.
We have NO idea of the promising tyro's till thrown into the fire pit in Snr games.
Great showing their wares in Jnr Roo games but Snr's is whole next level.
Such a huge work in progress.
Alot of crystal ball stuff but I appreciate your time and effort.

 

[Decentric]

Just a question for @Decentric - you have explained a lot in your analysis using stats and thank you for that. However, while you may say that the central midfield did not get much ball, how do you account for whether or not the central midfield make themselves available as an outlet to transition to the ball into an offensive phase.

The defensive midfield were frequently closed down by the opposition.

It was pretty high risk for both Japan, and Saudi in Saudi, but to pass to any of Teague, O’Neill or Yazbek from the Aus keeper or CBs, was often high risk.

It was the antithesis of both games against Bahrain, China first game and first half of second game, and even later in the first Saudi game. Those teams in those games, or part of games, enabled Aus to have a lot more time and space to play out in central midfield.

Moriyasu, Kluivert and Renaud in the second game, thought differently.

 

[Decentric]

Yazbek is just 23yrs.
Just starting to mature and shows OK signs - he is NOT far behind those slightly younger tbh and his youth started at Marconi/SU/WSW/SFC then to Snr SFC games.
Point is as mentioned he was under the pump whenever he recieved ball deep in our zone PLUS it was just his 2nd Roo appearance, give him the slack being thrown in the wolf pit.
He reads the game rather well in general play having watched him many times in the past.
Don't think you have by this review.
Teague is a natural just needs more experience.
Okon Jnr - have you seen him play ? I doubt it, he has played NO Snr football in the AL.
Under the deep block game Poppa played be it JapB Saudi even Nisbets experience and touch would have been wanting against either.
We have NO idea of the promising tyro's till thrown into the fire pit in Snr games.
Great showing their wares in Jnr Roo games but Snr's is whole next level.
Such a huge work in progress.
Alot of crystal ball stuff but I appreciate your time and effort.

ATM the Poparoos are playing very well in Ball Possession Opposition, LFC.

Against Indo, Japan and Saudi, in the last 4 games, Aus have gone from one extreme to another! Incredibly intense Squeezing!

It is tough to know how some of the underage players would go, or even AL players would go?

The underage Aus national team players often look pretty good against their own age group at international level.

Against that intensive level of Squeezing of senior Japan, Saudi and Japan.

Japan often had 9 players in Aus def half. Saudi 6-8.

Didn’t count Indo’s.

It was well organised and well coached too!

 

[LFC]

ATM the Poparoos are playing very well in Ball Possession Opposition, LFC.

TBH GA days they did similar for thats GA's game as well due to our cattle, its the Roos survival code for a long time.

Against Indo, Japan and Saudi, in the last 4 games, Aus have gone from one extreme to another! Incredibly intense Squeezing!

Thats Roo football, highs and lows pick up the get out of jail card end of the game.

It is tough to know how some of the underage players would go, or even AL players would go?

Yep hence the crystal ball mention, history shows only a small % of very young age players can deal and adapt to competitivce NT levels against strong ones let alone mid level.

The underage Aus national team players often look pretty good against their own age group at international level.

Thankfully the current U23's won that tournament after so many attempts, an achievement and a half we shall wait and see who kicks on and can perform at Snr level.

Against that intensive level of Squeezing of senior Japan, Saudi and Japan.

Japan often had 9 players in Aus def half. Saudi 6-8.

Todays football normally is about squeezing when you have the squad capable - we're at the level atm against strong NT's to sit back/hold stations/can't wait for the day we have the cattle who can reverse this better and play out of trouble/squeezing with aplumb.

Didn’t count Indo’s.

It was well organised and well coached too!

Indo - go figure the surprise package, kudos to them making us look as such @ their home.

 

[grazorblade]

When I get the strength I’ll put all the stats up with percentages.

I have had a good look at a few new players - because of all the playing back 10second passages of play to determine a 1v1 duel winner, or whether a pass was completed.

Mo Toure - apparently has scored 9 goals this season for Randers in Denmark. Really put himself about against Saudi - being physically strong, using his body well - and - quick over the turf. Not sure if he had any shots or scoring chances, but posed a physical challenge all the time to Saudi CBs.

Would love to hear from G and G posters who’ve seen him play a bit in Denmark.

Circati - if he isn’t already, will soon be our best player. Good on and off the ball.

Mo toure wins duels in denmark that look like lost causes. Sometimes he will be outnumbered 2v1 in a transition moment with the opposition getting the first touch and somehow he appears on the other side with the ball

 

[Decentric]

Some of the better aspects of Aus qualifying in Asia.

- The huge travel distances and logistics for Aus in Asia mean Aus has to be resilient and mentally tough. Comparatively, Danish football stakeholders thought Denmark could struggle against a much tougher, mentally strong Socceroos used to playing in West Asia in Qatar. Denmark had 10 WCQ games just close by in Europe in easy time zones. Aus played at least WCQ 20 games, many in Qatar.

- IMO the average calibre of the Asian opposition in this last round of 10 WCQs has really improved. I can’t remember 3 teams putting us under such intense Squeezing pressure off the ball.

- Indo’s new Dutch based Eredivisie infused team means another Asian powerhouse emerging as they get used to travel and logistics, plus Indo heat and humidity.

 

[Decentric]

Mo toure wins duels in denmark that look like lost causes. Sometimes he will be outnumbered 2v1 in a transition moment with the opposition getting the first touch and somehow he appears on the other side with the ball

Thanks, G.

Excellent news!

I thought a fresh Toure was a handful for a decent Saudi defence, after Duke’s initial donkey work.

Mo T looks to be an improved player.

 

[grazorblade]

Thanks, G.

Excellent news!

I thought a fresh Toure was a handful for a decent Saudi defence, after Duke’s initial donkey work.

Mo T looks to be an improved player.

I Believe the start of his club career is the 3rd best in aistralian history

He would need to lift though if he keeps that trajectory as mcdonald had a breakout season as a u22 scoring 15 goals in 27 games

 

[Decentric]

Australia 1, Japan 0.

Total defensive passes completed - Aus 156 passes at 92% accuracy; Japan 177 passes at 96% accuracy.

Total attacking passes completed - 65 passes at 71% accuracy ; Japan 240 passes at 86% accuracy.

Total passes - Aus 221; Japan 417.

Possession based on passes - Aus 35%, Japan 65%.

1v1s contested were 141.
Aus won 85, Japan won 42, 14 had no outcome.
Aus won 67% of 1v1 duels.

Shots at goal - Aus 6 shots with 3 on target; Japan 8 shots with 1 on target.

In those shots for Aus 1 was outside the pen box, with 3 shots going close to the outside of the woodwork. Japan had 2 shots outside the pen box, with 3 shots going close to the outside of the woodwork.

Keeper saves - Ryan made 1 save with 7 intercepts; Japan made 1 save and 1 intercept.

Balls played into the pen box - Aus played 10 balls into the pen box, 1 was repelled or ineffective, 7 were effective and 6 were played on the ground.
Japan played 33 balls into the pb, 18 were repelled or ineffective, 7 were effective, and 15 were played on the ground.

Corners - Aus 4, Japan 3.

Fouls - Aus committed 9, Japan 11.

 

[Decentric]

One difference between Japan A in Japan and Japan B in Aus, was that Japan A was the most competitive team against Aus in 1v1s.

I've been scrolling through the pages and can't find it, but Japan A won about 46% of 1v1s against us, whilst Japan B only won 33% of 1v1 duels.

 

[Decentric]

Should have all the Saudi stats up later today.

 

[Decentric]

Australia 2, Saudi 1.

Played in Saudi.

Defensive passes - Aus played 131 at 95% passing accuracy in the defensive half. Saudi played 150 at 97%.

Attacking passes - Aus played 74 at 83% passing accuracy in the attacking half. Saudi played 240 at 86%.

Total passes - Australia 221; Saudi 341.

Possession % based on passes - Aus 38%, Saudi 62%.

1v1s - 137 duels in total. Aus won 77, Saudi 52. 8 had no outcome. Australia won 60% of 1v1s, Saudi 40%.

Shots at goal-
Aus had 8 shots, 3 on target,
3 close to outside of woodwork, 1 shot from outside the pen box.
Saudi had 8 shots, with 5 on target,
3 were close to outside of woodwork, 3 were from outside pb.

Balls Played Into Pen Box-
Aus played 9 into pen box, 4 were repelled or ineffective,
5 were effective, and 4 were on the ground.
Saudi played 38 into pb, 25 were repelled or ineffective,
12 were effective and 15 were on the ground.

Keeper saves - Ryan made 4 saves and 1 intercept. Saudi had 1 saves and 0 intercepts.

Corners - Aus 3, Saudi 3.

Fouls - Aus committed 11, Saudi committed 8.

 

[Decentric]

I'm now doing every player's 1v1 tally and which type they won and lost. It is taking ages!

 

[Decentric]

Progress report on Japan game re 1v1s at about a third of th eway through tallying 1v1s.

ATM despite thinking Boyle is easily pushed off the ball, he has won 4 out of 7, 1v1s contested. It astonishes me!
Boyle has won 2 body on body duels, 1 heading duel and dribbled around an opponent on 1 occasion. He is usually easily beaten in body on body duels and heading duels! I expect him to beat players by dribbling, as he is a decent technician with the ball at his feet.

O'Neill has won 4 out of 4 contested thus far - 2 tackles, 1 heading duel and 1 body on body duel.

Out of 6 contested a resurgent Degenek has won 5 out of 6 contested - 3 heading duels and won 2 out of 3 contested body on body duels.

Behich has only won 2 out of 5 contested.

Nothing much is coming Teague's way, or he isn't anticipating them, or he is choosing to stay on his feet, jockey and not commit, or keep the defensive shape compact. He has won 1 tackle out of 1 contested.
Importantly, I like the way he sliding tackles with his non- preferred foot , like Tom Rogic and Aaron Mooy. All three tackle of the the correct foot with both feet. Many others always use their preferred foot, meaning their body shape is less than ideal at times.

Most contests are being contested by Miller. He is growing on me as a Socceroo RB - always combative!