Match stats/analysis for recent Socceroo games

[Decentric]

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?Arjed with al th erecen tdata.

Armed with all the data for China, and with the 1v1 stats as well for Japan, Saudi and Bahrain, I can't find a place for Circati!

Unless Circati plays Right CB in the back three and Geria plays Right Wing Back? Not sure if Geria at age 31 has the engine for Right WB?

Also, for his skill set, I think Metcalfe is perfect in theory as a Right Wing Back. Not sure if he has played it before?

Then again if Burgess is dropped from the EPL starting position, he may regress again. He has really lifted in the past few performances.

 

[grazorblade]

Armed with all the data for China, and with the 1v1 stats as well for Japan, Saudi and Bahrain, I can't find a place for Circati!

Unless Circati plays Right CB in the back three and Geria plays Right Wing Back?

Also, for his skill set, I think Metcalfe is perfect in theory as a Right Wing Back. Not sure if he has played it before?

Circati played rb for Australia which was tough, out of position. He can play rcb

 

[Decentric]

Circati played rb for Australia which was tough, out of position. He can play rcb

Circati played Left CB in a Back Four against the Kiwis. He excelled too. Like Souttar and Burgess he passes well over range, probably better than any other CB.

It has been really tough scoring against Geria, Souttar and Burgess, despite Burgess making the mistake for a lucky Bahrain goal. I suppose he was culpable for the own goal against Japan too. Maybe Circati is more a prospect for Left CB? Geria is playing too well ATM at Right CB.

 

[grazorblade]

Circati played Left CB in a Back Four against the Kiwis. He excelled too. Like Souttar and Burgess he passes well over range, probably better than any other CB.

It has been really tough scoring against Geria, Souttar and Burgess, despite Burgess making the mistake for a lucky Bahrain goal. I suppose he was culpable for the own goal against Japan too. Maybe Circati is more a prospect for Left CB? Geria is playing too well ATM at Right CB.

We will give some teams a headache if we make the world cup with our defence!

 

[Decentric]

We will give some teams a headache if we make the world cup with our defence!

Surprisingly, Bos has struggled a bit in the last few Socceroo games.

It might be time to select Farrell?

I'm also impressed with Bos Junior at Melb Vic at LB - very talented!

Another youngster on fire for SFC was Adrian Segecic. Was supposedly playing DM, but got forward a lot and showed some superb technical qualities on the ball, coupled with blistering pace - and scored two goals.

 

[Decentric]

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

Has the engine for Right Wing Back. Defends superbly from the front too.

 

[grazorblade]

Surprisingly, Bos has struggled a bit in the last few Socceroo games.

It might be time to select Farrell?

I'm also impressed with Bos Junior at Melb Vic at LB - very talented!

Another youngster on fire for SFC was Adrian Segecic. Was supposedly playing DM, but got forward a lot and showed some superb technical qualities on the ball, coupled with blistering pace - and scored two goals.

Bos has moved to the wing for his club recently. Hopefully farrel lights up the a league. Bos was carrying an injury and roos form seems to drop a lot if u aren't 100 percent

Glad segecic finally moved central. Hoping bernando will too

 

[Decentric]

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.

Slow build ups, interspersed with accelerated attacks, are hard to negate. Probing is involved. Faster ball movement catches teams out as they can't keep shifting the defensive shape to negate the fast bursts.

It is easier to sustain possession in the slower parts of the build up, which can frustrate the opposition, because without the ball they can't score. UEFA stats show conclusively that the team who doesn't have the ball works harder than the team with the ball. The team without it has to run more.

However, the quick stanzas of play, are more difficult to mantain possession. The good teams tend to change their rhythm, with the fast bursts more likely to create openings, after slower periods of play. Although the fast bursts have a greater risk of turning the ball over to the team without the ball.

 

[Keeper66]

Circati played Left CB in a Back Four against the Kiwis. He excelled too. Like Souttar and Burgess he passes well over range, probably better than any other CB.

It has been really tough scoring against Geria, Souttar and Burgess, despite Burgess making the mistake for a lucky Bahrain goal. I suppose he was culpable for the own goal against Japan too. Maybe Circati is more a prospect for Left CB? Geria is playing too well ATM at Right CB.

While Geria has played well at RCB, if Circati is back at his pre-injury form after recovering from his knee surgery, there is no doubt in my mind that he is superior to Geria as RCB. Also, Circati hopefully has a 10 year international future ahead of him, while Geria is not a long term prospect, being 33 at the time of the next World Cup.

 

[Decentric]

There was a disparity in the games played .

In Passing the total completed passes versus Japan were closer to 800, whilst Bahrain and Saudi were close to 600 passes aggregate between both teams.

Aus shaded Saudi in possession based on passing, with 52% of the passes accrued. Aus accrued circa 40 more passes in the attacking half than Saudi did.

Against Bahrain, Aus had 68% possession based on passes. Aus also had twice as many passes in the attacking half as Bahrain.

Japan dominated, but not by as much as I expected over the full match. Australia had 44% of possession based on passes completed against Japan. The passing in the defensive half was almost identical, but Japan had almost twice as many passes in their attacking half as Aus did in its attacking half.

Japan playing 40 balls into the pen box, with 17 played on the ground, compared to Aus playing only 8 balls into the Japanese penalty box, with 5 played on the ground. This shows a clear advantage to Japan.

With this dominance Japan should have won easily. Japan also had 10 shots at goal compared to Aus's 2. Yet with shots on target, Japan only had 2 shots to Aus 1.

In all three games apart from Yengi's goal in the first few seconds against Bahrain, Australia started slowly. This includes against Bahrain, where immediately after the Yengi goal, they had most of the ball and most of the territory. Like Saudi did and Japan also did.

The difference was Australia eventually overwhelmed Bahrain after their initial burst, and Saudi in the second half. Conversely, Japan kept its possession and territorial dominance over the duration of the match.

 

[Decentric]

While Geria has played well at RCB, if Circati is back at his pre-injury form after recovering from his knee surgery, there is no doubt in my mind that he is superior to Geria as RCB. Also, Circati hopefully has a 10 year international future ahead of him, while Geria is not a long term prospect, being 33 at the time of the next World Cup.

One would think so that based on the clubs they play for. But there are often surprises when coaches put teams together.

When Arnie was coaching after the Bahrain and Indonesia matches, who would have predicted that AL player, Geria, would have dominated as much as he has? Or that Villupillay and Caceres would have performed as well as they have? When all factors are considered all three are infinitely of more value to the team than Hrustic.

Within a few weeks things can change very quickly.

It seems as though Circati is the best distributor we have out of the Aussie CBs, even at his young age of 20. Yet he has a long recovery from injury process, and sometimes players are not the same after serious injuries of this nature. Or it takes a long time to recover to the same level of performance.

The age factor you mention is a good point. Geria at age 33 should be too old at the next World Cup - on paper.

Yet Irvine is about age 32 and is at his peak, whilst other players are declining and even retired at a younger age.

Lucas Neill was well on the downwards slide as a CB at age 30. Yeet Ogger was selected at about his early 30s and did well for a few years as a Socceroo CB. Neill was losing his 1v1 ability, whilst Ogger was improving his 1v1 skills at a similar age.

 

[Decentric]

One big problem for Asian teams playing Aus, based on the recent 1v1s compilation against Japan, Saudi and Bahrain, is Australia physically dominates all comers.

When it comes to 1v1 heading duels, tackling duels, body on body actions, Australia wins out over the 90 mins - usually by some margin. I used to do this 15 years ago for about 6 years. It was the same then. However, Japan have improved immeasurably, and battled well for the 90 mins in 1v1s.

Where Japan clearly excels in 1v1s to Australia is in wide areas. The Japanese wingers and full backs often outpace the Aussies with speed off the mark, acceleration and skilfully dribble around our full backs to play crosses into the pen box. Bos and Miller lost a lot of duels where Japanes wingers dribbled around them and crossed into the pen box. Geria stopped them when he replaced Miller as Right Wing Back.

Saudi also had also a lot of pace over the entire pitch. They won more 1v1s where they outpaced Socceroos and the wingers dribbled around our Wing Backs and crossed balls into the box.

CBs Geria, Souttar, Burgess, Matthews and Rowles, and probably Circati (don't have his data) are rugged CBs, who usually outmuscle the opposition forwards.

Except few , if any, goals have been scored by any of them in the this round of qualifiers from stoppages.

DMs Irvine, O'Neill and Caceres, also win a lot of hard balls too. Miller more than holds his own as well. Bos and Behich not as much.

Out attacking mids and forwards ( with the notable exceptio of Hrustic) also win a greater percentage of hard balls against opposition defenders than their forwards win against our defenders. Yengi, Duke, Borrello, McGree, Goodwin, Villupillay appear to dish out a lot more than the opposition forwards do to our defenders. Oppostion defenders are in for a much harder games against Australia in the defensive halves than other opposition.

It may be a factor in why our best finishers, Maclaren and Taggart, struggle in international football. Have they been physically overpowered? I also think Boyle might be outmuscled too.

 

[Decentric]

People reading this are probably thinking this is a positive picture of the Socceroos WCQ. We are second on the ladder - just.

So where are we falling down?

It appears from all the balls played into the pen box, particularly the number of balls played on the deck, our main problem is scoring goals from chances created. Finishing and composure around goals is a big problem for Aus ATM.

Apart from Japan, Australia has had played far more balls into the pen box, than all the other teams we've played against - but we have scored few goals. Many good chances have fallen at the feet of defenders. Either our better finishers have had few chances to score. Or our worst finishers have had many good chances.

Despite Yengi having scored 2 goals against Bahrain, he had 2 other big chances where he should have scored too - and won the game. He missed them though.

 

[highkick05]

People reading this are probably thinking this is a positive picture of the Socceroos WCQ. We are second on the ladder - just.

So where are we falling down?

It appears from all the balls played into the pen box, particularly the number of balls played on the deck, our main problem is scoring goals from chances created. Finishing and composure around goals is a big problem for Aus ATM.

Apart from Japan, Australia has had played far more balls into the pen box, than all the other teams we've played against - but we have scored few goals. Many good chances have fallen at the feet of defenders. Either our better finishers have had few chances to score. Or our worst finishers have had many good chances.

Despite Yengi having scored 2 goals against Bahrain, he had 2 other big chances where he should have scored too - and won the game. He missed them though.

Have not made much of the recent NT games. Seems like varying forms of inconsistency across the board.. from coaches to players and then style/availability of players that can do whatever in that system. Ive been out of the loop on everything. Pop's got the NT until the end of the 2026 WC?
Suffice to say, Pop has been hired late. GA giving up on the NT like that - unheard of. Must be flat out sick of the NT coaching gigs - because he wouldn't have given up based our current group of player talent pool. That's not in his make up.
Pop from what I remember has a style of defense first and then counter. I guess he'd be looking to lock in Souttar and finding workable pairings.
He usually relies on a decent midfield-front passer iirc (Broich), then pressing midfield to cough up possession. (this is what I remember him being successful with)
Strikers, I guess this is why we've seen Duke a lot recent games.
Based on the ages, mixed with mediocre level talents of this squad, its hard to see them achieving qualification even.
Degenek and Souttar would be a good paring at the back and workable. It's so hard seeing Behich still in the team.
Duke and Irvine you would have to lean on based on caps/goals amongst that lot of players.
Yengi, Hrustic, Mabil, Goodwin and Boyle - all definite nods for me.
Leckie would still have to offer something, albeit off the bench, his caps/goal ratio is a bit woeful and unreliable.
Maty Ryan is still young enough, although he would have to be thinking this is his last WC.
McGree should be pushed and pressured a lot lot more, he is very talented yet we have NOT seen enough at NT level.
All these other players, especially new ones, some are just straight utter shit and should be ashamed of their NT performances.

 

[Decentric]

Yengi, Hrustic, Mabil, Goodwin and Boyle - all definite nods for me.

Recent data on the 1v1s is showing that Yengi is a terrific ball winner in physical, body on body battles against opposition CBs. He is also improving his control slightly to be able to hold the all up when pressured by opposition CBs.

Goodwin, helped by playing left back for a while in his career, is also a competent ball winner in physical body on body duels and closing down space in the attacking half. He is also a very intelligent player.

I now have comprehensive data on Hrustic, being a total liability off the ball, particularly against better teams - Saudi, Japan.

Mabil doesn't work hard enough to track back, close down space, contest body on body duels and win tackles, if the Socceroos aren't in possession.

Boyle tracks back well and closes down down very effectively, but is easily knocked off his feet and outmuscled in physical duels. This is amazing since he plays in Scotland - one of the toughest physical leagues in terms of body on body contact - anywhere.

Of course Hrustic, Mabil and Boyle, all have decent technical qualities on the ball though. When one looks at the Under 23s and younger there is a whole generation of younger Aussies coming through with just as good technical skills as this trio, and better, who also work their guts out winning hard balls and closing down the opposition.

 

[Quicky]

Who replaces Hrustic? Noting Popovic likes an inside right forward so also need to be comfortable centrally. I understand he has his weaknesses so this is an honest question.

We're really struggling for depth there. Velupillay's injury is a gut punch. Mabil isn't playing. Boyles handy but slowing down and is better with width.

Can we cap Chipperfield or Volpato?

Should we throw Bennie or Milanovic amonst it and see what youthful enthusiasm can do?

Back to Hrustic you need to accept him for what he is imo. I think he has a purpose in a clearly defined scenario. I wouldn't trust him v Japan but he has some good qualities as an impact sub or against weaker opponents parking a bus that we need to unlock. If we can find someone with a more well rounded game he'll be on the outer at some point.

 

[Decentric]

Who replaces Hrustic? Noting Popovic likes an inside right forward so also need to be comfortable centrally. I understand he has his weaknesses so this is an honest question.

I've got to hit the sack, but will answer this player first, Quicky.

Arzani, Arzani, Arzani!

He replaces Hrustic. Probably apart from shooting and being two footed he does everything else better than Hrustic - by some margin. Arzani has been on fire in the last three or so A L games - and he now does his defensive duties quite well. Comfortable on the left and right flanks too.

As an attacking midfielder, Jake Hollman, is a decent technician and grafter off the ball.

Although his discipline in positional play needs to improve, Segecic, also fits the bill, who has superior technique to Hrustic, but doesn't yet defend like Hollman, who is a defensive beast.

Robertson - based on the cameo he had for the Socceroos, and, reports coming from people I know off forum - but he appears not to want to play for Aus ATM. Volpato is another option, apart from not committing to Aus.

Even though he is battling Arzani for a starting position, Piscopo, has also shown some real technical class as an attacking mid/winger for Melb Vic.

Nisbet.

 

[Decentric]

Back to Hrustic you need to accept him for what he is imo. I think he has a purpose in a clearly defined scenario. I wouldn't trust him v Japan but he has some good qualities as an impact sub or against weaker opponents parking a bus that we need to unlock. If we can find someone with a more well rounded game he'll be on the outer at some point.

Agree with all this, Quicky.

However, I've seen better younger players coming through - as you suggest potentially. Agree, that Hrustic will do well against the weaker teams - and - look like one of our best.

 

[highkick05]

Our impact subs have left a lot to be desired.

 

[Quicky]

Our impact subs have left a lot to be desired.

That's true. It's because the squads selected have been awful. A lot of our best players were left in Europe. The last squad didn't have Irankunda, Toure, Iredale, Silvera, Luongo and that's just from the top off my head. It leaves no depth. That and the system doesn't leave much room for attacking players anyway.