The Road to Russia 2018

[Stuckey]

This whole saudi thing where they did not take part in a minutes silence has got a little out of hand.

Its a shame the media did not research why saudi culture does not believe in honouring birthdays , deaths etc. it is not a Muslim custom , its a wahabist custom which is a very strict version of islam.

Yes the saudis have given a minutes silence previously at other games but they had the permission from their religious council. Imagine if they honoured the minutes silence and then where punished by their religious council when they arrived home.

What we saw thursday night was a clash of cultures and not individuals dishonouring the deceased.

No one abused me for not taking part. I was running late and was ordering beers. I didn't realise it was taking place. I obviously would have taken part if I realised it was going on.
There was loads of people the same as me.

[bpowell454]

Didn't bother me that they didn't participate. They are a national team representing their country and religion and politics dictate these things not football teams and their staff. They agreed to let Australia have a minutes silence but declined to participate, they didn't deny us anything.

In other news-

Jedinak is out with a groin injury and Jeggo will take his place in Russia.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[EdDog]

Still gonna stick with 3 at the back now Ange?

[shinAUFC]

Not sure the Brazil game is a good reflection on how the formation will stack up in Asia with a half a strength team.

Although it's clear it's just not working at this stage and something is going to have to give.

The tough part for Ange is how to get our best players on the pitch without leaving talent on the bench yet not having a whole 11 of midfielders .

I'm sure Ange would prefer 433/4231 , but he may be forced to go this route if his experiment does not work soon

[EdDog]

I would assume the formations we are playing now would be how we want to play in Asia, the Cofeds Cup and also the World Cup.

I'm hoping he changes to a back 4 soon but can't see it happening.

[blahblah]

The Japanese are looking a bit brittle, however they still have better cattle on the paddock.

I think we can get a point here, partly as the Japanese coach doesn't seem to have a lot of imagination and some of their better performing youngsters are likely to be sitting on the bench as the older brigade strut about.

A pity Goodwin isn't in the squad as we need wide players that can double as defenders with current formation. Great to see Mabil there and hopefully he gets a cap in one of the two upcoming games.

[View From The Top]

UAE did us a big favour beating the Saudis 2-1.

[blahblah]

UAE did us a big favour beating the Saudis 2-1.

A huge favour indeed. That takes some of the pressure off both us and Japan..

[blahblah]

1-0 at half time. We've looked ok but nothing special. You can tell our back 3 only has one player with regular football at the moment, and that being in the 2nd divison in China.

For some reason we have an aversion towards using Brad Smith on the left.

[sevengoals]

Second half.
Hopefully they will improve.

[EdDog]

We are playing a 3-6.

No striker and 6 mids.

We have the talent but not the coach.

[EdDog]

So we are down 2-0

Meaning we are 2 goals behind KSA with equal points.

So we will need to thrash Thailand to progress if KSA beat Japan.

Or hope Japan beat KSA.

Wouldn't be surprised if Japan let KSA beat them comfortably so we don't progress.

[bpowell454]

We dropped the easy points against thailand last year and now we need to rely on other results too much. I agree eddog, coach is not up to it, we need someone with bigger experience I feel. Being the best coach in the hyundai a-league, at thay time, shouldnt be a direct pathway to the national head coaching role.

[Reds4Life]

Got our selections and tactics badly wrong

[EdDog]

Got our selections and tactics badly wrong

You would have thought selecting players who play football would be easy, yet Ange consistently opts for players not getting any game time at club level.

Smith has played more games since 2014 for the Socceroos than he has for a club.

I give you the new David Carney.

Ange has to go.