Rogic is the star at Celtic … with a performance like last night you realise the Scottish game is just not up there. Spiranovic and Smith were a real worry all night. Our midfield without Mooy is rather poor and where was Troisi? Did we have a striker? Overall a poor performance.
We had two strikers, they were on the bench unfortunately.
Contrary to popular opinion, I think our players are rather good individually but the problem lays with the fact that unlike most of the heavyweights in world football, we don't have the bulk of our team playing in one league with and against each other. We're picking players from all corners of the globe to come back and trying to unify them under one style. Maybe that's Ange's MO, play possession and have an X-factor or two in the team who can play what's in front of them.
No, many countries have the same issue. Our problem is that our players are mostly either not playing (Smith, Milligan, Sainsbury, Spira, Troisi, and most of our bench players) or are playing at a fairly poor level.
Look at Japan they have lots of players playing regularly in the top leagues of Spain, Germany, France, Italy and England. Whereas we have 1 player in the Bundesliga, 2 in the EPL and the rest are in second or third divisions around the globe. And Japan's local players play in the J-League which is vastly superior to the A-League.
This is the weakest Socceroos squad for about 25 years. And they're struggling accordingly. We also have a coach who is trying to play the most advanced and difficult formation in world football, every game, at all costs. A clever coach might try this against some opponents, but realise in certain situations that playing with a back 4 or a more standard formation wouldn't expose our mistakes as badly.
We haven't won in 5 games now and have to smash Thailand to have a chance.
Fair enough that's your opinion.
Japan isn't a football heavyweight, they're an Asian football heavyweight. Spain, Germany, Italy, the bulk of their squads play in their respective leagues, with the rest playing in Europe, generally in premier teams which they'd regularly play against each other in Champions League tournaments. There's a reason why they regularly compete at the business end of the world cup. Of all the top tier nations Brazil is the only real aberration there.
I don't agree with Ange's tactics or some of his squad selections either, I don't think there's cohesion or the right squad to execute that. We'll probably dominate Thailand which will paper over the cracks and get humiliated at the WC.
I suppose it will all come out in the wash soon enough.