Comments on: Australia v South Africa – Match Report

By: Dazzhimself

Dazzhimself — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:57:28 +0000

Nicky played as a defensive midfielder last year for his championship team, he has more depth in his game then most of you are making out.

By: xfirestormx

xfirestormx — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:41:55 +0000

i am impressed with carle, dont get me wrong, but i think he needs to work on his game. he can do all kinds of fancy tricks and wow audiences, but is that what the team needs?

well, yes and no. if he can play as well as grella or the other midfield without all that razamataz, and then add the fancy dancy moves in, then he could be a good asset. but at this point, he has not had an impact with his championship teams, and should work on fitting into multiple styles of football rather than only being able to impress in certain conditions.

its not as if pim has kicked him off the squad. i think verbeek will play him when he is ready and fits into the team. at that point, we can expect to see a whole lot more of him.

By: clayton

clayton — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:28:13 +0000

seems like carle doesn`t fit verbeek`s picture of good football. unless he absolutely sets the championship on fire, and gets richer teams begging for his services, he won`t force his way into this australian team. verbeeks first comment about carle was that he dribbled too much.

can`t forget that we have a results first guy as coach.

the game vs china is a good example.

clayton

By: Bobby Freakout

Bobby Freakout — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:41:51 +0000

Agree with your comments regarding Wilkshire being played at RB in our 4-2-3-1 formation. It also frees Verbeek to play Emerton in an attacking right midfield role, giving us legitimate depth on the right hand side of midfield with Sterjovski and Garcia also natural right wingers.

I’m continually confounded by Verbeek’s refusal to play Nick Carle. Surely he could have been afforded 15-20 minutes in this meaningless fixture. He’d certainly offer us more in the middle of the park than the increasingly ineffectual Jason Culina.

By: xfirestormx

xfirestormx — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:22:56 +0000

I think Garcia will have better games. One training session on a level a player has never been at before (the international level) is pretty intimidating. I’m not necessarily a fan of his as I have never seen him play, but I think that he should not be judged on this performance alone.

Wilkshire would be terrific at right back in my opinion. I have always been impressed with his play, even though it is not the most eye catching. He always seems aware, and has good vision. If Spiranovic can develop enough, he will be a good replacement for Chipperfield, which will be good for 2010 if australia qualifies.

Djite needs to step it up on the international level. He has a very good opportunity to establish himself into a striker role, and should be played more. I’ve heard a lot about the pairing of McDonald and Kennedy, but I think Djite and Kennedy or Djite and McDonald would be better, IF Djite can break through and start scoring goals.

I think a lot of things are still in the dark at this point though, and the game against the Netherlands will be a better showing of the team, since there is more preparation time and better opponents.