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Mr Cleansheets (aka Adrian Deans) is a lawyer and journalist but is currently transitioning to full time novelist. He has had five novels published (plus Lawrie McKinna's biography), with several more coming over the next couple of years. Mr Cleansheets was voted by The World Game readers as one of the best ever Australian football books.
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Another game, another limp performance. Some people reckon they can see a difference between Arnie-ball and Popa-ball. I can’t. Sure, the shape at the…
I would have assumed when we picked a new Socceroos coach, that we would be bringing in fresh ideas - instead, we’ve gone backwards.
Given that I am a mild-mannered lawyer and novelist… and given that Tony Popovic is a life-long professional footballer and coach, the chances would…
Glasgow Rangers are in trouble. The Scottish Premiership season is only ten matches in and they are already nine points behind Celtic. I know…
Drawing a line just east of India would be a major benefit for all football countries involved.
Well, that was much better. I’m still not happy with the attack but Tony Popovic, true to his reputation, has put some defensive starch…
Incredible Australia beat China, given how much of it we spent impersonating statues. If you want to play at speed, then the first thing…
At his first Socceroos press conference, Tony Popovic emphasised that he wanted his team to play at speed. Then, just a week later, he…
I’ve written before about the Central Coast Mariners being the great generator of Socceroos over the last 20 years; specifically, players whose first A-League…
Can you imagine what fun it would be to be appointed Socceroos coach? The power! The glory! The unrelenting scrutiny and criticism… Tony Popovic…
Football Australia will not want to sack Graham Arnold. It would be very expensive to pay him off two years early and then hire…
I see Nizz got the winner in a MOTM performance against Motherwell.
Are you watching Popa?
Tame Socceroos haven't changed one bit under Popa, they're still too scared to play football
Didn’t realise at the time of writing that we’d lost Velupillay to injury.
Sigh…
Come back Nestory, all is forgiven: The Socceroos need some fresh spark before there's nothing left to play for
Great article Texi, good stuff.
A riveting 0-0 fight to the finish ... or was this the Socceroos game that never happened?
Thing is… Trump won.
For the Socceroos’ sake, I hope that’s where the analogy ends.
Why Saudi Arabia's reappointment of Herve Renard presents an opportunity for the Socceroos to exploit
Try reading what others have said about Irankunda in that match. He was played as a #10 with his back to goal and closed down by multiple defenders. God knows what instructions he received but – as many other commentators have said – Irankunda needs to be played wide where his pace and power can be employed to beat defenders.
He also needs a midfielder who knows how to feed his runs.
This is why I have zero (and falling) confidence in Popa. He does not understand our strengths and – if some Saudi spy had offered him several million to disrupt our squad – he could hardly have done more to fulfil their requests.
This squad is the weakest in recent memory. Thank god the Saudis are also weakened by injury and suspension because we just don’t have the firepower to dominate them at home.
Piss him off at your own peril: Popa's three strangest Socceroos snubs for World Cup qualifiers
Irankunda was played as a #10 vs China and never received the ball where or when he wanted it. He’s got to be played as a winger or possibly a #9. No-one else we have comes close to his level of threat when played properly.
Yengi has done OK in the past and looks a better option than Duke who is completely ineffective these days when it comes to pressing.
Taggart is just about carrying Perth these days – how you can call him lazy is beyond me. Mind you, all strikers can look lazy at particular moments.
Piss him off at your own peril: Popa's three strangest Socceroos snubs for World Cup qualifiers
Here is one fan’s assessment of Boyle’s performance in lasrt night’s loss…
Boyle, where do I begin? He is a charlatan, he offers nothing, nothing. I would release him,. His strop when he wanted to take that penalty was a riddy. He should have let a proper player who gives a $#@& take it like Nicky Cadden. If we released him tomorrow I would not give a $#@&, if there any decent offers for him on the table, grab them. That penalty was dreadful. Not good enough for our club.
Piss him off at your own peril: Popa's three strangest Socceroos snubs for World Cup qualifiers
Here is one fan’s assessment of Boyle after this morning’s loss…
Boyle, where do I begin? He is a charlatan, he offers nothing, nothing. I would release him,. His strop when he wanted to take that penalty was a riddy. He should have let a proper player who gives a shit take it like Nicky Cadden. If we released him tomorrow I would not give a shite, if there any decent offers for him on the table, grab them. That penalty was dreadful. Not good enough for our club.
Piss him off at your own peril: Popa's three strangest Socceroos snubs for World Cup qualifiers
Either I’m wrong or you’re missing a finger…
Piss him off at your own peril: Popa's three strangest Socceroos snubs for World Cup qualifiers
West Asia would only agree to split if they saw a massive benefit so they’d never agree to just three spots.
In fact there are ten up for grabs so they’d play hardball for five before eventually settling for 4.5 which is still a much better deal than what they currently have given the traditional strength of East Asian teams.
The imponderables are the financial and political benefits they get from being part of the whole of Asia. I’m sure these are not insignificant but are not part of the thinking behind the article. There might be some detail of which we’re oblivious that makes the whole thing a non-starter.
The east is the east and west is the west: The Asian Football Confederation is too big and should be split up
The biggest problem with the attack is the absence of Nisbet. That is totally on Popa.
He’s by far the most technically gifted Australian midfielder – and fastest between the ears. If you want to play at speed then he’s your man – but the first player Popa dropped.
Commanding Gauci, back five excel in Japan stalemate - but Popa's attack still needs plenty of fine-tuning
Gauci’s the best of the three for my money, but Izzo is playing – which is worth a lot when it comes to confidence and timing. I suspect Izzo or Gauci may have saved that deflected Bahrain goal – but of course we’ll never know.
Skipper's classy response to Socceroos axing - as Popa leaves everyone hanging on why he was dumped
How was it different? The deckchairs may have been arranged slightly differently but the style of play was pure Arnieball until McGree came on.
By which I mean constantly allowing the opposition to get into defensive shape and everytime we built into a position with an opportunity to take on a defender, or even just pull a defender out of shape, we cut back to recycle the ball yet again. On top of that there was zero movement of players in front of the ball, with the exception of Irankunda who was out of position and just wasted.
We played far too slowly despite Popa’s promise that ball movement would be faster. The whole point of fast ball movement is to stretch the enemy out of shape to open up opportunities through the channels or out wide. We didn’t do that until McGree (and later Bos) came on.
That’s what changed the game – McGree and Bos (and later Vellupilay) prepared to have a go and take on the defence.
Socceroos simply papering over the cracks - Arnieball hasn't gone anywhere
And pretty much all those changes were down to McGree being a dynamo in the middle of the park – and later Bos.
There was zero movement in the first half and Irankunda was played out of position with no discernible plan to get him the ball.
God knows why McGree didn’t start. If Arnie had had him available for the first two matches he’d probably be still in the chair.
Socceroos simply papering over the cracks - Arnieball hasn't gone anywhere
I love the positivity of this article but there are real problems that need to be sorted out by the FA and PFA before football starts to make genuine strides toward the waking of the sleeping giant of which we all dream.
Until the pyramid is unified, we’re tinkering at the edges.
Build it and they will come.
A-League’s upcoming 20th season is a chance for supporters to change their negative pattern of thinking
Clearly he brings something different to his club side. Irvine has been the main offender over the last couple of years when it comes to poor touch and giving the ball away – putting us back under pressure. He used to be a machine re covering the pitch and a monster in defence (making up, somewhat, for his poor touch) but he’s not fast enough to do that anymore. Against the zippy Asian midfields he’s become a liability.
That’s why the omission of Nisbet is such a head scratcher. He’s got the best touch and close control of any Socceroo and (almost) never loses the ball. Has great vision and passing range also – which Irvine does not. He will very much be missed.
Popa said he wanted Socceroos to play with pace, then snubbed the man best equipped to make it happen
Good question. I think 352 is the best set-up against a low block but I’d want the creativity of both Bos and Goodwin in my side. They’re similar-ish players in where they like to go so you’d need a strong understanding between them with Goodwin playing slightly more centrally than usual, enabling Bos to go around him on occasion.
They’re intelligent players so you’d hope they could work it out.
Popa said he wanted Socceroos to play with pace, then snubbed the man best equipped to make it happen
Thanks KW. No, it’s not looking great for the Mariners right now but they are out of season and started slowly last year.
The article wasn’t so much about the Mariners and their form as about the vast number of players who’ve started their AL careers at the Mariners and become Socceroos. It’s hard to see the next CCM Socceroo in the current lot although Di Pizio has a pretty high ceiling. Thing is, he’s up against a lot of very good young players about to be banging on the door for the NT so he’d better lift his game and consistency fast.
Something in the water at Gosford: Who are the next Socceroos to come out of the Mariners gold mine?
Was rumoured to be going to Europe last January, but the deal fell through for reasons never disclosed.
Needs consistency but shows flashes of genius.
Something in the water at Gosford: Who are the next Socceroos to come out of the Mariners gold mine?
Not a fan I gather?
Don’t forget they lost their first four AL matches last year before doing the treble.
Something in the water at Gosford: Who are the next Socceroos to come out of the Mariners gold mine?
Tragic, obviously.
Does the door open for Triantis? Or too soon?
Forget Popa's 'dynamism' - the changes Socceroos need to turn around WCQ campaign
As I said, matter of opinion.
The Huddersfield fans regarded him as the greatest player ever to pull on their shirt after he dragged them up to the EPL and single handedly kept them up.
He then transferred to Brighton, who’ve been a very successful club in the last few years, before taking the money in China. Once the Celtic fans got over their (usual) anti-Australian sentiment they also raved about his class.
If you don’t see it, that’s fine. Matter of opinion…
Forget Popa's 'dynamism' - the changes Socceroos need to turn around WCQ campaign
Matter of opinion.
Try watching the WC 2018 game against France in which the BBC voted him MOTM against the likes of Pogba and Kante. At his peak he could’ve played for anyone.
Forget Popa's 'dynamism' - the changes Socceroos need to turn around WCQ campaign
You may have a point re Goodwin and Bos, but I’d bet on them to adapt with games. Given that we will mostly face the low block in Asia, I think there’s plenty of meat and veg in the above team. It’s a very solid three at the back – and the others (even Irankunda) can all press and defend well. It would be a very aggressive team but I doubt we’ll see it unless we do actually make the finals. By then it would probably pick itself.
Forget Popa's 'dynamism' - the changes Socceroos need to turn around WCQ campaign
Great article.
I have a couple of theories about why we don’t produce attackers (much) but I’ll keep it brief:
The obvious reason is that kids don’t play enough football these days to develop the kind of outstanding technique required to find time and space in the box. The ones coming through now tend to be ethnically African and spent time in their youth (sometimes in refugee camps) kicking a ball about with friends because they didn’t have the options other kids have; and
The less obvious reason is that defending is easier than attacking. In older football cultures where the football escalator exists to winnow the wheat from the chaff, the attackers are forced from a younger age to lift their game against elite defenders and thereby hone their skills. In Australia, the escalator exists, but attackers aren’t challenged to the same level as players of the same age are in other countries. Then, when it gets to NT level, we tend to hold our own in defence – even against top nations – because (defence is easier than attack) but the opposition have better defence than us and our attack is not equipped to trouble them.
There are exceptions, but Australia will always find ways of screwing it up – mainly by not picking the few excellent attackers we have at our disposal. Like Irankunda, Arzani, Nisbet, Toure, Kalik etc
Our football fan culture and defensive playing style are worlds apart: Will we ever truly appreciate the Socceroos?