Socceroos The Socceroos Thread - The Boss Tony Popovic

[Zidane98]

Also, despite the bad start we are now second thanks to the Saudis getting done at home by both Japan & Indonesia (draw).



We should be aiming to shithouse a draw away to Japan and then beat the Saudis at home. If that were to happen and results went our way elsewhere we'd be sitting pretty for direct qualification.

Bit of a different feel to when we were 1-0 down vs China after dominating most of the game and copping a sucker punch. Felt like a loss, with the Saudis getting a draw, would have seen auto qualification unlikely.

 

[RedStarUncle]

Robertson is a must going forward after FIFA sorts his paperwork.

A midfield of Luongo/Metcalfe/Mcgree actually looks pretty good with options of Robertson, O'Neill, Bacchus, Hrusjtic & Irvine a pretty decent mid on paper. All playing at a decent level in Europe.


For Japan away I'd line up as follows:

-----------------Gauci--------------------

Miller-------Souttar---------Rowes---------Bos

---Irvine---------Oneill-----------McGree

--Goodwin-------Dukey--------Irankunda


Think we looked much better with Bos on at LB. If I were Popa I'd switch Goody to the left side later on in the game and bring on Velupilllay on the right to run at them. He will be on a high after scoring.

I believe Stama would be a better bet up front but in the case of Japan away Duke knows them and is familiar with Japan so I'd start him.

It took a while to get going, but overall I liked the 3-4-3. Miller was good and in particular when Bos came on he was dangerous in the wing-back role.

So I'd be sticking with it against Japan. But start Bos ahead of Behich, McGree ahead of Irankunda, and then I can't decide on Geria, Deng, or Burgess - Deng looked a bit out of sorts but he does have the local experience and Geria looked good against China but might be a relative risk with less international exposure.

Gauci
Deng-Souttar-Rowles
Miller-O'Neill-Irvine-Bos
McGree-Duke-Goodwin