2010/11 starting 11

Personally feel that this kind of set-up is the best for the kind of players we have.

Bare in mind that Slovakia, Italy, and Paraguay were all better teams than us so that's to be expected.

I definitely wouldn't start Lia. Too much of a liability. We'll get maybe 5 games out of him, and then he'd be suspended. That's if he doesn't earn himself a red in one of the games.

Manny should play in the defensive mid position that Vicelich played if we play a back three, means we have a good back to fall back into that position if we need to push North or Siggy wide to defend.

I dont think forcing the likes of Bertos or any other wide mid to play a majority defence game is wise, not when they're our best pace on attack.

That why instead of adopting the wing-back roles, i think the back 3 should learn to shuffle left or right, with Manny slotting into the middle of the backs if we need to step back and defend.

This.

Bit hard to put a comparison on Italy and Paraguary, when we'll be up against Brisbane and the Fairies.

We'll be more on level playing field, or even the more dominant team looking at our roster.

Are well thinking of 2008/2009 Lia or something ?

He was superb in the second half of last season and but for Reddy heroics would have figured pretty highly in player of the year voting.  He didn't even pile on the cards (partly thanks to the quality of A-League referees).

Lia is the only guy in our team who can consistently make the big cross field pass, the number of times in the second half of last year he was able to pick up Leo or Troy or Lochy out wide from a fair distance away was outstanding.

Apart from the format fail I agree. I would just swap out Hearfield for Muscat, and, at least to start with, have Greenie in ahead of Toto.

mjp22010-08-02 15:34:56

Yeah, the staring XI is open to discussion, but that's the kind of shape I'd like us to adopt.

Haha, oops. Minor details. What I meant to say is Toto in front of Brown and Behind Iffy if we're feeling bold, Lia next to Brown if we're not.

i really think that this is one of our greater starting teams: Man_utd_fan2010-08-02 15:46:36

valeo2010-08-02 15:49:20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lJJig2kyHc - 4.30 in

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How much do we think Marco will feature this season?

About as much as Kosta

probably less...Costa was really knocking on the door last year...

Hope he kicks it off the hinges this year

hamezilla2010-08-02 19:36:12

If Bambang signs the contract then i reckon he would have too much prob with 3-4-3. Indonesia often play with that formation.

For the youth spots, I think Pavlovic will feature off the bench often, Musa might get a run over January when we could possibly lose both North and Durante for the month with the AFC cup, but sadly cant see Rojas getting alot of time.
Ryan's Rovers2010-08-02 21:17:49

Yep, would mean a hell of a lot of injuries if Rojas got on

Don't think he is far enough along in his development really, anyway - he's a couple of years behind Kosta

He's also crocked at the moment.

So, it's likely no North for the first game because of Socceroos call-up. liverpoolfan12010-08-03 15:35:41

Hopefully Dura isn't called up

I'd say

------Paston--------
Manny-Siggy-Dura-Lochy
----Brown----Lia---------
Leo-------------Ifill
--------Greenie------
------MacAllister-----

So we are all decided that we Disco on the bench?

I would say Toto and Daniel have got to be on the bench too. So for me its a fight between Troy, Bambang (if signed) and maybe Pav?



I do have an odd suspicion that Lochhead may not be fully ready for game one?  Is he fully fit yet?

Just wondering, will we be missing North the first game? He has been called up for the Slovenia match on the 11th

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/175131,berger-brings-back-young-faces.aspx

Yep - already covered

Didn't check, my bad

Exactly!!!! God help us if we play a back three with siggy being one of the wide three. I like siggy a lot but as a central defender!

How to the Australian teams usually line up?

4231/433 seems to be the trend in Europe, with the passing/holding players in front of the defence.

4 at the back for me. I think they fit our personnel best. Remember NZ shifted to 3-4-3 mainly because the lack of a decent right back. Not an issue for the Phoenix.

I think variations of the current prevalent formations of 4-2-3-1 & 4-2-2-2 (particularly the latter if Greenie & Big Mac are deemed as forwards) fit our squad well. Forcing it to 3-4-3, I feel decidedly uneasy about.

One other thing for the Lochy knockers. While he is a tad enigmatic, remember how poor we were without him on our mini away tour late last season (done like a dinner at Perth and Melbourne) that almost cost us our play-off berth. His absence was noticed.

So Lochy and Manny as our starting outside backs would be the way to go, with discoTroy as the option to keep them both on their toes (Manny can go to left, but I wouldn't start the season with him there).

Likewise, we have so many options in other positions. Won't go through them all, I think we all know them. A good space to be in.

But I do tend to think that 4 at the back (provided you have the personnel to do the job), can give you more options in the attacking 2/3rds than 3-4-3.

Can't wait.

Playing 3 at the back is like playing 3 central defenders..

It is interesting that Ricki is looking at a 343 when he has supposedly just signed a midfield playmaker in Toto. In a 4231, the midfielder (or even support striker) behind the striker (up top midfielder) has the luxury of having 2 deeper midfielders so they don't have as much defensive duties and can move into more attacking positions. The game between the two defensive lines is further apart than a few years ago (new offside interpretation has resulted in this) and there is more space to exploit between the opposition defensive and midfield lines.

The 343 used in the WC was based on only 2 cm, both with defensive duties. It will be interesting to see how the defence/midfield is setup to reduce the space between our midfield and defence. Could be something like Mexico (http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/05/27/mexico-tactics-world-cup-2010-javier-agurre/)in the WC, or even Spain (http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/07/16/sergio-busquets-world-cup-final/)

Overall I do think that a 4231 works well for us, especially against opposition that play with one central striker with the old adage: you should always have one more defender than attacker. If we have 3 cd and the opposition only has 1 striker we will be outnumbered elsewhere, most likely in midfield.

Anyway, really liked Germany's setup at the WC. If Toto is any decent we could easily adopt a similar approach.
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/08/germany-world-cup-2010-tactics/
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/27/germany-4-1-england-tactics/
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/14/germany-4-0-australia-germany-tactics/

I don't think Ricki has confidence that Toto can truly cement that AM role - I'm still not sure why we signed him, to be honest.valeo2010-08-04 15:41:57

I agree.

if Toto isn't the answer to the creative attaking midifelder then who is? daniel and Ifill have to be the wide players, is Diego up to it? or can Leo play a more central attaking role?

It worked ok last year, most of our creative players were out wide and with overlapping fullbacks we stretched teams and created chances that way. CM were mainly ball winners and try get the ball wide, and in Brown's case get forward onto the end of all those crosses. I think the guys on Fox said that we had something like 45 crosses or deliveries into the box against the Jets in the playoffs.