Socceroos The Socceroos Thread - The Boss Tony Popovic

[Macpotata]

What do you blokes think about Arnold in charge? Not sure I trust him at International level. He won't pull any punches though and has some balls about him.

Does he have the tactical nous to lead us to some footballing success internationally however?

{ success meaning win games of importance }

 

[Harry#7]

Hard to know. Last shot at it not so good. Is probably a better coach though now, who knows ? Certainly willing to give him a chance unlike many who have already written him off. People like Slater, Foster ect who are constantly critical of everything done at national level will probably back him because he is from Sydney, and he is a socceroos old boy.

 

[Hawks1994]

I'm still not sold on him being in charge of the national team but the one thing he does have going for him is the fact that he likes his sides to play positive and assertive football, something that we have to base our future development on. Ange had the right idea, but used the wrong setup, so will be interesting to see how another Australian coach molds the squad

Either way, what we need to progress is to have a lengthy period of time where the style and setup doesn't change drastically. Intriguing 6 months or so coming up for the Socceroos

 

[Dav]

Probably the best option we had. Hoping that Harry Kewell is the trailblazer that leads to more Aussies coaching in England and Europe because I think that will give us better options. Personally I wouldn't mind Kewell being the next Socceroos coach as long as he manages at least at League 1 level.

 

[Great8]

Have heard that Rene Meulensteen has been appointed as Arnold’s assistant

 

[go you pups]

Have heard that Rene Meulensteen has been appointed as Arnold’s assistant

Don't mind that if so

Learned from the GOAT

 

[Sippa]

Hope arnie has some balls to try new players .. pretty buoyant on the 18-22 year olds we have developing in Europe or Australia to be honest hopefully they come on and get opportunities ...

 

[Krex]

What do you blokes think about Arnold in charge? Not sure I trust him at International level. He won't pull any punches though and has some balls about him.

Does he have the tactical nous to lead us to some footballing success internationally however?

{ success meaning win games of importance }

It's like America hiring Bruce Arena. Yeah Arnold is one of the better Australian coaches and one of the better A-League coaches, but he has never managed a high level team, and at best, his Socceroos will likely be more of the same.

The reality is, until we make wholesale changes to the way we develop players in this country, it's always going to be more of the same unless we strike another golden generation, which comes around maybe once a century. America have the exact same problem, and it's so bad they didn't even qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

 

[Topkent]

Hope arnie has some balls to try new players .. pretty buoyant on the 18-22 year olds we have developing in Europe or Australia to be honest hopefully they come on and get opportunities ...

Lol like who?
Arnold doesn't stand a chance, look at the players we have to choose from vs the rest of the countries in the WC. Our squad was level with the likes of Costa Rica and Iran. Extremely lucky Asia gets as many spots as it does because we don't really deserve to be there. With Cahill retiring as well as Jedi and Milligan geez we are devoid of talent. Arzani looked ok but if he is all we have our hat to hang on for the next cycle we are ****ed.
Next Kewell? Kewell was already a superstar at 19. Arzani has to reach the level of a Lazaridis or Bresciano before the Kewell comparisons.

I remember Amini, Leckie, Kruse, Rukavystya, Burns, Djite etc all tearing it up in the a-league. Only one of those blokes I'd consider a good international player at this stage.

 

[Sippa]

Lol like who?
Arnold doesn't stand a chance, look at the players we have to choose from vs the rest of the countries in the WC. Our squad was level with the likes of Costa Rica and Iran. Extremely lucky Asia gets as many spots as it does because we don't really deserve to be there. With Cahill retiring as well as Jedi and Milligan geez we are devoid of talent. Arzani looked ok but if he is all we have our hat to hang on for the next cycle we are ******.
Next Kewell? Kewell was already a superstar at 19. Arzani has to reach the level of a Lazaridis or Bresciano before the Kewell comparisons.

I remember Amini, Leckie, Kruse, Rukavystya, Burns, Djite etc all tearing it up in the a-league. Only one of those blokes I'd consider a good international player at this stage.

Susnjar, Deng, Arzani , carter (just signed with Benfica ) Piscopo, Aiden O’Neill , Ikonomidis , theohaurus, Pasquali , mcgree, hrustic,

Like I said developing ... between 18-22.. no one could know if that list will be much but they’re promising at this stage getting opportunities in Europe .. like I said arnie needs balls to try some of them .

 

[Topkent]

Susnjar, Deng, Arzani , carter (just signed with Benfica ) Piscopo, Aiden O’Neill , Ikonomidis , theohaurus, Pasquali , mcgree, hrustic,

Like I said developing ... between 18-22.. no one could know if that list will be much but they’re promising at this stage getting opportunities in Europe .. like I said arnie needs balls to try some of them .

Sounds like a list of nothing to me. We always have kids developing around Europe. None of them get game time and end up back in Australia in their mid 20s.

Carter is about to turn 24 and is playing in their reserves team

Susjnar made 7 appearances in the Czech league.

Piscopo is 20 years old playing in ****ing Serie C.

Can't even be bothered with the rest. If that's our future we are completely ****ed.

 

[Established1870]

Can't even be bothered with the rest. If that's our future we are completely ******.

Show's how much you know anyone who's watched the A-League knows Riley McGree is a jet and Hrustic is a starter for Gronigen who are a decent side in the Netherlands and was being aggressively pursued by the Bosnian NT. O'Neill is tipped to make the grade at Burnley (and look how they're doing). Deng is going to be a great RB for us. Piscopo was on the books for Inter Milan and Torino and only went into Serie C for game time.

Then we have McLaren tearing it up for Hibs in Scotland and Brandon Borrello pre-ACL playing well for Kaiserslaurten. Our youf is fine you just sound like a pessimistic dick.

 

[Topkent]

Show's how much you know anyone who's watched the A-League knows Riley McGree is a jet and Hrustic is a starter for Gronigen who are a decent side in the Netherlands and was being aggressively pursued by the Bosnian NT. O'Neill is tipped to make the grade at Burnley (and look how they're doing). Deng is going to be a great RB for us. Piscopo was on the books for Inter Milan and Torino and only went into Serie C for game time.

Then we have McLaren tearing it up for Hibs in Scotland and Brandon Borrello pre-ACL playing well for Kaiserslaurten. Our youf is fine you just sound like a pessimistic dick.

At the age of 21
Kewell was a superstar. Dukes was starring in the SPL for Celtic an about to move to Leeds.
Emerton starting for feyenoord. Cahill a milwall star in the championship. Bresciano an Grella starting for empoli and Parma. Craig Moore starting at rangers. Lucas Neill starting at millwall. Aloisi starting for Portsmouth. Etc etc

Who cares of a bloke was on the books at Torino Or inter. Every year those clubs shed about 30 kids who won't ever play in a top league. Deng.


Go back 10 years ago and check out where some of our youngsters were playing. Majority of them don't make it same for that list of crap you put up. Compare that list with any other nation in the top 50 in the world an we look in some serious shit.

 

[Established1870]

At the age of 21
Kewell was a superstar. Dukes was starring in the SPL for Celtic an about to move to Leeds.
Emerton starting for feyenoord. Cahill a milwall star in the championship. Bresciano an Grella starting for empoli and Parma. Craig Moore starting at rangers. Lucas Neill starting at millwall. Aloisi starting for Portsmouth. Etc etc

At the age of 21
Harry Kane was thought of as nothing but a run of the mill striker who wouldn't amount to much. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose were both seen as average shit trucks. Harry Maguire was barely playing for Hull City. Kieran Trippier was some run of the mill Championship full back. Nick Pope and Jamie Vardy were both in the Conference.

Hey wait a minute am I just listing players from England's WC squad?

Who cares of a bloke was on the books at Torino Or inter. Every year those clubs shed about 30 kids who won't ever play in a top league.

A lot of those kids also leave for opportunity and if you know anything about youth football in Italy then you'll know it's severely ****ed.

Go back 10 years ago and check out where some of our youngsters were playing. Majority of them don't make it same for that list of crap you put up.

"I've never heard of Riley Mcgree and Brandon Borrello before they must be shit"

Compare that list with any other nation in the top 50 in the world an we look in some serious shit.

Yeah I'm fairly certain we have better youth coming through then Bulgaria, Costa Rica, DR Congo, Tunisia, Montenegro, Paraguay, Venezuela and Slovakia and they're just the certainties.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

I'm not too optimistic about the future under Arnold. IMO, he had a better group of players last time he was in charge (2007 Asian Cup) and did quite dismally after the euphoria of the 2006 WC under Guus. He will have (probably) a lesser capable team in 2019 at the Asian Cup and will be right up against it if we want to try and defend the title. We were the only AFC team to not pickup a win in Russia which is a bit of a worry. I'd point out the quality of our opponents but the fact is there are no easy games and we shouldn't use that as an excuse if we ever want to progress as a footballing nation. South Korea defeated the reigning champions, Saudi Arabia defeated a Salah led Eygpt, Iran saw off Morocco and got a draw versus Portugal while having a narrow loss to Spain; and Japan came within a whisker of progressing to the quarter finals.

I think the problems with the game here stem more from the administration of the code by the FFA - and perhaps that negativity clouds some bias towards Arnold's appointment.

Certainly I hope he can prove me wrong - he is a better coach than he was 11 odd years ago but personally, I would have preferred either a more well credentialed appointment or someone brand new (like a Millicic etc). If Rene Meulensteen being appointed as assistant manager is true, that does improve my confidence for the future.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Susnjar, Deng, Arzani , carter (just signed with Benfica ) Piscopo, Aiden O’Neill , Ikonomidis , theohaurus, Pasquali , mcgree, hrustic,

Like I said developing ... between 18-22.. no one could know if that list will be much but they’re promising at this stage getting opportunities in Europe .. like I said arnie needs balls to try some of them .

You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater because *some people* are apparently bored with the current team.

Facts are that the team you're apparently bored of are still Asian Champs, defending that title in January; and that football in this country is entirely dependent on WC qualification. Unfortunately we don't have anything like the production line of talent to be able to go young and know that we'll still qualify, or to be able to replace a young player who isn't going to make it with another young player.

The majority of the guys you list are either not getting much game time and/or have only showed a little bit in the A-League and/or we've seen more than a bit of and are probably just not Socceroo standard.

Deng couldn't even get a start at Victory ahead of Donachie. For all we've heard about him, Ikonomidis certainly didn't tear it up at the Wanderers. Pasquali is an U19 player. McGree has shown potential, but not much more.

I'm not even convinced that Arzani is that good. People blew their load over him at the WC because he'd come on vs tired players and beat 1 guy. He's a ****ing attacker, that's what they're supposed to do! At best, he might be Matt Leckie - I doubt he's going to be Harry Kewell.

And you want to literally bet the next 10 years of Australian football on a crop of players who, individually, might be good - but not all of them will be, which renders the whole experiment moot anyway.

 

[Macpotata]

I'm not too optimistic about the future under Arnold. IMO, he had a better group of players last time he was in charge (2007 Asian Cup) and did quite dismally after the euphoria of the 2006 WC under Guus. He will have (probably) a lesser capable team in 2019 at the Asian Cup and will be right up against it if we want to try and defend the title. We were the only AFC team to not pickup a win in Russia which is a bit of a worry. I'd point out the quality of our opponents but the fact is there are no easy games and we shouldn't use that as an excuse if we ever want to progress as a footballing nation. South Korea defeated the reigning champions, Saudi Arabia defeated a Salah led Eygpt, Iran saw off Morocco and got a draw versus Portugal while having a narrow loss to Spain; and Japan came within a whisker of progressing to the quarter finals.

I think the problems with the game here stem more from the administration of the code by the FFA - and perhaps that negativity clouds some bias towards Arnold's appointment.

Certainly I hope he can prove me wrong - he is a better coach than he was 11 odd years ago but personally, I would have preferred either a more well credentialed appointment or someone brand new (like a Millicic etc). If Rene Meulensteen being appointed as assistant manager is true, that does improve my confidence for the future.

That's a very good write up actually. I forgot Arnold was our coach at the Asian Cup back in 07. We did have a very good player crop on the back of a strong world cup showing.

Anyway he's got more coaching experience under his belt but look at the teams he's managed. He's not one of my first choices I'll tell you that much.

 

[hey shorty]

Well Arnie is still starting Robbie Kruse.

Big thumbs down.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Well Arnie is still starting Robbie Kruse.

Big thumbs down.

Yet Goodwin can only be a train-on player. The coaches clearly see something in Kruse that we don't or else he wouldn't be starting matches. It's not like he's the best option available either given Goodwin is far superior.

 

[GreekLunatic]

He had a better squad first time around and went crap so hopefully he has learnt

 

[FISTO]

Robbie Kruse is doo doo

 

[Van_Dyke]

Yet Goodwin can only be a train-on player. The coaches clearly see something in Kruse that we don't or else he wouldn't be starting matches. It's not like he's the best option available either given Goodwin is far superior.

who doesn’t love a player who shoots as well as Kruse did a few minutes ago

 

[GreekLunatic]

How can u take a shot that ends ina throw in

 

[drd23]

We're 10 mins in and Andy Harper is gushing about Arnie already

 

[carnthemlions]

Love to discover promising young prospects like Milligan and Kruse