Overall a very disappointing campaign by our Olyroos. The illusion of being one win away from getting to the quarterfinals might entice some to say that we did ok, but not this punter.
Considering the creative play that this team showed in qualifying, none of that was on display in the Olympics. I believe we should not go into youth competitions in a negative defensive mind frame.
Youth competitions are a scouting goldmine, and what scout would give a crap about a team that scores only 1 goal. I say go for broke. If you set up to defend, not only will the attack suffer, but the defenders will suffer, conceding only 1 goal from Argentina becomes a team effort, not the good work of a couple of key defenders.
I can understand hesitation and safety in qualification, but when your goal is reached, go for broke. Realistically we were never going to medal here.
Overall Best Player: David Carney. I really hope he gets a run in the Premier League soon. Interestingly he was more of an attacking threat as the RB compared to RM, probably because he had more room to work with.
Most Promising Talent: Matthew Špiranović. What can i say about this kid, just turned 20 and dare I say it, future captain of Australia. He made the best run of any of our players, running past at least 3 Serbian players and putting a shot on goal .... as centre back. His most effective position is DM, and he is much loved by the Nuremberg supporters. Nuremberg were relegated from the Bundesliga so hopefully he gets back to playing top level competitive football soon.
I can't escape saying something about not having Burns and Djite there. SO STUPID!!! Would have guaranteed more goals for sure.
Edit: Found two great articles written by Craig Foster and Les Murray. I really respect these guys and they agree with me entirely (no surprises). FFA have come out to defend Arnold, bloody hell when will it (his career as an Australian coach) end!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Graham Arnold you are an idiot!
title says it all really. what kind of person would not chose burns and djite for the olyroo team?
he has stacked his team with defenders, which is fair enough, we are ranked 15 out of the 16 teams after all.
Even so with the resources disposed to him he has decided to play 3 defenders as midfielders. Milligan as a defensive CM, Carney as LM & Zadkovich as RM. Even with the team he chose, which is not the team i would have chose, you should play Milligan at CB and Spiranovic at CM. Spiranovic actually plays for Nurenberg as a CM and they love him, they think he's great. And you can tell by his solo run late in the first half that he would be quite the attacking threat. Milligan however is useless in that position, he plays it like a CB, comes back to clear, but offers nothing going forward. In fact playing him alongside Musialik, a natrual DM, is too defensive. They cannot make the passes to give it to our forwards and we end up depending on the CBs to bomb it up.
I would have djite playing forward, and Archie playing behind him. I would play Burns on the right and push Zadkovich to right back. On the other side is ok, carney offers enough going forward. milligan and north at the back, and spiranovic in the middle. Maybe Musialik if i was feeling defensive, but sarkies if i wanted to attack.
Troisi and bridge are guys that i would be looking to bring on. so frustrating watching this defensive team, this is not how we played to get into the olympics and it's not good to watch!
i've written this as we are finishing the first half, and if they win then i will eat my words!
who is this idiot that they are playing up front anyway? anyone heard of him!?
EDIT just seeing on wiki that we've already played. wonder how the other games will go.
he has stacked his team with defenders, which is fair enough, we are ranked 15 out of the 16 teams after all.
Even so with the resources disposed to him he has decided to play 3 defenders as midfielders. Milligan as a defensive CM, Carney as LM & Zadkovich as RM. Even with the team he chose, which is not the team i would have chose, you should play Milligan at CB and Spiranovic at CM. Spiranovic actually plays for Nurenberg as a CM and they love him, they think he's great. And you can tell by his solo run late in the first half that he would be quite the attacking threat. Milligan however is useless in that position, he plays it like a CB, comes back to clear, but offers nothing going forward. In fact playing him alongside Musialik, a natrual DM, is too defensive. They cannot make the passes to give it to our forwards and we end up depending on the CBs to bomb it up.
I would have djite playing forward, and Archie playing behind him. I would play Burns on the right and push Zadkovich to right back. On the other side is ok, carney offers enough going forward. milligan and north at the back, and spiranovic in the middle. Maybe Musialik if i was feeling defensive, but sarkies if i wanted to attack.
Troisi and bridge are guys that i would be looking to bring on. so frustrating watching this defensive team, this is not how we played to get into the olympics and it's not good to watch!
i've written this as we are finishing the first half, and if they win then i will eat my words!
who is this idiot that they are playing up front anyway? anyone heard of him!?
EDIT just seeing on wiki that we've already played. wonder how the other games will go.
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