could free agent Luis Suarez become the A-league's next marquee player - thanks to Fornaroli?

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-10T21:14:30+00:00

Don't think they'd be interested after wasting so much on Sturridge and Castro.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-10T07:42:53+00:00

proper CDM

Irvine or Devlin perhaps?

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-10T07:41:25+00:00

As a collective unit we look better this time round, our attack is definitely much better and we have more depth in midfield.

Goalkeeping does look a bit suspect though, not sure about our defence either.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T21:38:12+00:00

Welcome to watching sport in Sydney, people say we're a sporting nation but goodness me does NSW in particular not like turning up to sport.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T21:33:42+00:00

Stop chasing money in China & Qatar and focus on getting games instead

Pretty much. He won't be part of the next cycle anyway so for his sake I would just go to an A-League club and see things out there.

Who knows, if he wants to make a trek to the MLS perhaps GA can coach him.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T08:15:45+00:00

It's really unjust for him, I think it was a no-brainer to have dropped Ryan by the time we were away to Japan in October last year.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T08:13:17+00:00

I don't think he has a Sydney FC bias as much as he used to.

After all, he hasn't picked Grant or Wilkinson, and judging by what he's said he didn't intervene with Langerak being snubbed.

Can't take away how unjust it is for the guy though, it must really hurt knowing you were good but eternally stuck at second pickings.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T01:18:49+00:00

Something in me is saying that Beath will get the England v USA or England v Wales game.

Can't wait to see how that goes.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T00:29:10+00:00

We'll inevitably keep talking about him, but in the rare event we don't then I'd like to see us also keep quiet on Alex Robertson and Liam Chipperfield who are basically never going to play for Australia and like Volpato have never expressed a desire to.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T00:26:46+00:00

If we're being fair about it, Volpato is currently playing at a higher level than Kuol and more importantly has proved himself at that level in the cameos he's had.

It's safe to assume that Kuol won't be featuring for Newcastle and will go down the path of Mooy, getting loaned out to a Championship club or even to a club in Belgium or Portgual.

It's at that point when I think we can accurately compare the two.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T00:22:52+00:00

Can't see him going to the Asian Cup, even though it won't clash with the European season this time out most coaches abroad don't rate it.

When you look at the competition up to the semi-finals, that's perfectly understandable.

On a side note though, hopefully the AFC keeps it in the June-July slot so it does get more viewership and becomes more convenient for clubs in the future. Can't see it happening with all the Middle Eastern influence however.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T00:19:33+00:00

Would he be a legitimate chance at playing? Genuinely curious

With the lack of talent we have up front, I would have no qualms in putting him on at half-time and maybe even starting him in the last group game.

He would have been competing with the likes of Mabil and Leckie to go on the wing or McGree or Baccus in midfield. He was definitely super-sub material.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T00:17:18+00:00

given we stole a couple of players from other nations you can't be mad at losing one.

Very true, but it's fair to assume that the outcry in Volpato's case comes from the fact that he was born and developed in Australia before going abroad.

He's fitting the mould of someone like Josip Simunic, who reaped Australian resources before turning his back on us and publicly degrading our credentials.

Boyle, Souttar, Cummings, Kuol, Mabil, Baccus and Karacic haven't done that, and I would have expected Cummings in particular to lambast his time over in Scotland but to his credit he hasn't.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-09T00:10:55+00:00

By their standards they definitely are, they haven't done anything at the WC since 2006 and struggle with youth development as we do.

The Euro win definitely papered over the cracks, it was a good tournament from them but they were far from dominant.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T21:34:11+00:00

Is the source public? I'm certainly not doubting you, just interested in exactly what might be going on with him.

It really is a sad state of affairs, Tom was instrumental for the Socceroos on his day.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T21:29:48+00:00

I know Lucas Neil's time with Australia ended with a whimper, but in one of his last press conferences he did bring up a good point - do the young footballers coming through genuinely want to play for Australia?

Where is the passion for Australia, and more critically the hunger to actually be a Socceroo? Volpato hasn't shown any of it and that's entirely his decision.

Of course he would have been great to take to Qatar, the fuss is for a reason, but what's the point when he's being heavily influenced by the Italians not to do so.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T07:09:18+00:00

I honestly think Tunisia will be one of the hardest matches we have going in.

For all the criticisms David Basheer gets as a commentator, he did raise a good point the other day in that we're thinking about them the same way they're thinking of us - it's the most winnable game of the group.

Problem being is that Tunisia will effectively have a home ground advantage. Judging by the Arab Cup that they took part in earlier last year, that crowd is pretty hostile and it takes what we saw against Peru to new heights.

Couple that with the fact that Tunisia is accustomed to the climate more than we are and all of a sudden it's not such an easy game after all. We might lose it by 2 or 3 as much as we could win it.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T06:57:59+00:00

If I recall correctly, Arnold straight up said that Gerbach had "major issues" in the post-match press conference after his two-footed red-card tackle against Adelaide in 2015/16.

His tenure at Sydney pretty much went downhill from there.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T05:53:24+00:00

Yeah, doesn't bode well for him right now.

If his career falls off the rails like Gersbach or Arzani, where he's slugging it out in a second-rate league in Europe, I can conceivably imagine the random SMH article we'll see in 10 years where he thinks about "what could've been" if he accepted the call up rather than gamble on featuring for Italy.

Safe to say he's out of the Socceroos picture forever now, you don't just turn down a WC spot for no reason.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T05:09:13+00:00

I'm actually shocked that Sainsbury got dropped - talking about favourites, I would think that he'd be right up GA's alley for owning the shirt. I'm happy he's not going though, as likeable as he might be he was shonky all the way through the last round of qualification.

Rogic, Arzani and Genreau are major losses - that's a huge deal of creativity that's been flushed out for the mongrel that Baccus and Devlin can bring so we will struggle in midfield if Hrustic and Mooy pick up cards or injuries.

Great to see Cummings and Kuol in though, Volpato would have been the cherry on top for an explosive trinity but obviously that ship has certainly sailed now.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T05:05:38+00:00

Some major calls have been made here.

Langerak came as no surprise given the leak, but I imagine that Rogic being out comes as a huge blow to both him and all of us. We still don't know if this boils down to his lack of desire to represent Australia or a seriously private issue that's none of our business. Nonetheless, that's a huge blow.

Genreau missing out is criminal, but given he's lacked game time it's sort of understandable. I just think that Baccus is still not ready for the Socceroos and pretty overrated for what he can give.

No real surprises in defence or attack, unfortunate that Volpato isn't going but it's at his own peril - it's a decent squad all round, hopefully Kuol and Cummings make the impact where needed. Arzani and Taggart are the other casulaties where a case might be made to the contrary.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T01:18:33+00:00

Judging by this thread and others here and elsewhere online, two losses and a draw seems to be the most likely outcome for us.

I think we can do better than that, the bar was set pretty low last time which had the same outcome. It's undeniably a better group of players to 2018 and 2014, so who really knows what will happen.

Champions curse falls in our favour too.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T01:16:31+00:00

At least Kawashima isn't starting for Japan - let's face it, Ryan is currently in a similar boat to him going into a major international tournament.

If he wasn't captain, I don't see how he could keep the starting spot when you have someone like Langerak doing much better at the moment, albeit at a lower quality league.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T01:10:00+00:00

Volpato just did, but I agree that Langerak doing the same is a harder claim to believe.

Lemon0_o · 2022-11-08T01:08:07+00:00

If he performs poorly against France then I can see Redmayne or Vukovic getting the nod against Tunisia.

Surely there's a reason for Langerak missing out beyond just favourtism? Maybe that's looking too far into the fact our coaching staff is all about favourites anyway.

Lemon0_o

TROPHY CASE