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World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

Volrath2002 said:
I don't know if others think similar, but what do people make of Irvine's tempo on the ball for the NT?

I feel the NT team can be super slow with the ball and a large part of that comes down to Irvine slowing down the speed/tempo of the play. Mooy used to also do this a lot with the NT too.

I'm finding I am getting quite frustrated during games seeing this and its effect on the NT not being able to get out of first gear when they need to up the tempo.
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It comes down to the instructions given by the Coach. I think Arnie & Popovic have a very similar style, so you're going to see a lot more of it with Irvine as our Captain
 
point is its not just Irvine to point the finger at incl Poppa having similarity to GA..
Can't people see the elephant in the room overall ?
 
LFC said:
What is his assists anyone for we know its blanks more than anything on the score sheet.
Mabil has been hot and cold for yonks in the NT, maybe good in his club form but not good enough when needed at NT but for the odd occasion and people go oh yer Mabil done good.
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He's got 1 goal and 1 assist and has barely played in the last month. Seems to be the story of his career very up and down and inconsistent. Seems to happen to alot of aussies in Europe, they start strong and after a month or two they barely getting minutes. Leckie was the same in Germany bar maybe that one season in Buli 2. Irvine and Metcalfe are the same you dont know what version you are getting when they run on the field.

Only guy I have seen consistently put in good performances for club and country is Aaron Mooy. Even when he was in China he was still pretty good. I would like to know what the coaches at city did for him because he seemed a different player once he got there.

This new gen with guys like Yengi/Balard are changing the tide though.
 
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SocceroosFan said:
What elephant are you referring to?
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matey it will upset the many here and me for I'm just as passionate as everyone here but I'll put the neck out :) for it is what it is.
Got to stop sugar coating things, we're in a hole and for sometime as we've seen.
Poppa is just a change of the scenery so to speak.
We are a minnow to a degree today, maybe not the right description, others have caught up others have us worked out, we are behind on many fronts, we lack killer, we lack a outlier, we lack goals, we lack pace on and with the ball, we pass and pass, reset reset more back into our own half or around halfway.
We are structured no doubt and mature after all the years of learning to cover our arse, good at parking the bus in the hope of the successful counter but how many counters do we create per game AND how many times do we HIT the target/the GK even...let alone score a few.
Without Goodwin who is the most consistant seasoned flanker who can provide a consistant great cross in the mixer he our main old weapon barring the exceptions.
Souttar and Irvine are on our top scorers list to date.
The Japan away game was amazing getting that stubborn point and they were not on song - amazing and as we know they are the bar.
65 to 35% possession.
17 shots to 3.
5 on target to 2.
9 corners to 0.
1.89 xG to 0.49

In saying that I expect we will and should beat Saudi at home you'd think ??? but BUT I won't be surprised once they have settled in they snag that unexpected goal followed by their niggling terrible tactics expect the unexpected for we are blunt unless our fellas prove it wrong.
Happy to be proven as such.

jas88, yep Mabil is blank for me, how many more chances do you give ? only pick IF we are desparate need ahead.
Yengi I'm still on the fence, he's trying to be too aggressive/braun like as if he's been nutured by Duke, he has alot to learn but - 8 caps early days, 4 goals better than many though pretty light opponents but got to start somewhere.
Max Balard, another hopeful, lets not get ahead of ourselves, we have been through similar countless times, hope he kicks on.
Enjoy fellas and the following banter/posts I'll look in sooner or later, peace.
 
The disappointing thing against Bahrain was the reaction to their tactics. Principal among the problems was Irvine who, as captain, should have been a clearer thinking, especially as he's had a few years in Germany. Fist thing that'll help on Thursday is if we play our game and ignore their antics. That is where the game will be won or lost.
Pragmatism is our lot, with Arnie, and now with Poppa. We wont set the world on fire, but we have to remain focused for the full game. The Japan game gives me hope that this aspect of our game will be better under Poppa.
 
Hillbilly55 said:
The disappointing thing against Bahrain was the reaction to their tactics. Principal among the problems was Irvine who, as captain, should have been a clearer thinking, especially as he's had a few years in Germany. Fist thing that'll help on Thursday is if we play our game and ignore their antics. That is where the game will be won or lost.
Pragmatism is our lot, with Arnie, and now with Poppa. We wont set the world on fire, but we have to remain focused for the full game. The Japan game gives me hope that this aspect of our game will be better under Poppa.
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The trick is with these pricks is to score first.
 
Kusini Yengi asked about former Portsmouth teammate Alex Robertson after making himself unavailable for Socceroos:

"He is a bit confused with what he wants and what he doesn't want.

"He has some decisions to make and I'm sure when the time comes, he'll make that decision."
 
A lot of the slow play was due to Arnold. Barking 'hold' every time we had the ball. Led to nothing. At times players went off script and broke forward and it looked fine.

Poor selections against low block teams didn't help. Games against bigger opponents saw our players move more naturally in attack and we used space and created chances.

Popovic has a better pragmatic balance. I just hope the instruction is to release forward quickly when the chance presents itself.
 
The 11 feels almost too obvious for Thursday.

Gauci
Geria Souttar Burgess
Miller Bos
Balard Irvine
Boyle Duke McGree
 
Hillbilly55 said:
The disappointing thing against Bahrain was the reaction to their tactics. Principal among the problems was Irvine who, as captain, should have been a clearer thinking, especially as he's had a few years in Germany. Fist thing that'll help on Thursday is if we play our game and ignore their antics. That is where the game will be won or lost.
Pragmatism is our lot, with Arnie, and now with Poppa. We wont set the world on fire, but we have to remain focused for the full game. The Japan game gives me hope that this aspect of our game will be better under Poppa.
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I think we've really regressed in this respect. You can't let the gamesmanship frustrate you and dictate your behavior. It's naive. I thought we were over that naivety.

It should be an easy thing to fix. We need to get on with it like pros. I think when it starts up we need switch into keeping possession, denying the ball and ride it out. It usually happens in patches based on the game situation.
 
JS96 said:
The 11 feels almost too obvious for Thursday.

Gauci
Geria Souttar Burgess
Miller Bos
Balard Irvine
Boyle Duke McGree
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That'll be it. I'd prefer Yengi to Duke. Boyle is in better form that he gets credit for.
 
Quicky said:
That'll be it. I'd prefer Yengi to Duke. Boyle is in better form that he gets credit for.
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I'm concerned it's going back to the old ways. Still got nightmares from the goalless draw last time. Any win will suffice. Really don't care how. Saudi totally new now albeit with some injuries. They'll either be very poised or will be a bit shaky.
 
JS96 said:
Kusini Yengi asked about former Portsmouth teammate Alex Robertson after making himself unavailable for Socceroos:

"He is a bit confused with what he wants and what he doesn't want.

"He has some decisions to make and I'm sure when the time comes, he'll make that decision."
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Im hoping we see both him and volpato around asian cup time.

Even if one of them makes themselves available afyer qualifiers, popa is unlikely to give them a shirt after others have done the hard work
 
grazorblade said:
Im hoping we see both him and volpato around asian cup time.

Even if one of them makes themselves available afyer qualifiers, popa is unlikely to give them a shirt after others have done the hard work
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That's kinda my concern with the older guard too. While succeeding is good we're falling into the trap of not regenerating.

Age isn't important if you're top not but Grant among others just isn't the direction I'd like us to go.
 
JS96 said:
That's kinda my concern with the older guard too. While succeeding is good we're falling into the trap of not regenerating.

Age isn't important if you're top not but Grant among others just isn't the direction I'd like us to go.
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I do get the impression thay popa is partial to old players

Mooy struggled to get a run when youngish at wsw, kasey bos last year too...any other examples?
 
JS96 said:
I'm concerned it's going back to the old ways. Still got nightmares from the goalless draw last time. Any win will suffice. Really don't care how. Saudi totally new now albeit with some injuries. They'll either be very poised or will be a bit shaky.
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Yeah. First game for Saudi since changing coaches. They may get fired up for it.

I so just want us to win. It would be great if it is a fun game to watch but I feel it might be a more tight nervious game.
 
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