Asunto: National Team

Basically taking on Singapore in the next few hours. A must win game given that we drew with Israel last week if we intend to march on. In saying that Hirons is still not back from the injury against NZ, but otherwise we've got an entire squad to select from. Few form issues might see some players given a break whilst others a chance to get some game time.

Singapore went in with a very defensive approach against Venezuela last week and still got beaten 5-0. I'm quietly confident we'll beat them by approximately 7 but am hoping to win by 10 to give us the best chance of qualifying in 1st place. Going to be a race between Israel, Venezuela and ourselves for that top spot.

Assuming Singapore stick with this kind of a defensive approach it could be a day where our midfielders really have to step up and provide some quality balls. At the same time we've really got to nail a few early goals to secure the match early on and then hopefully capitalize once their players start tiring in the 2nd half. With that set, aim is to be at least 3-0 ahead at half time, then to pile on 4+ goals in the 2nd half to stroll away with an easy win. Striker efficiency is going to be critical.

Edit: Would be right in saying Hirons recovers just in time for the game, although don't think I'll risk it with his form level.
(editado)

Also, for those who have joined the Association, can those without plus access the forum and stuff now? I've heard reports that it should be working so I may as well test it out as it could be useful for illustrating more tactical knowledge across to other users and the thought process of every game.

Well i can't see anything at all in the aussie associaton.

nah theres only 1 thread there currently.

Pottier
Nikas
Cunico
Kohler
Howarth
Timpano
Broxton
Beauchamp
Willis
Storey
Byers

Ando
Kilkelly
Baveas
Zdrilic
Stephenson

FK: Willis
PK: Byers

Baveas on for Beauchamp
Stephenson on for Storey

both at 60min

Thats the line up and orders for today, Hirons,Thompson,Mangos all dropped for form issues, Baveas relegated to the bench for form issues compared to Beauchamp who gets promoted.

4 at the back, want to make certain they don't score and that's basically about it.

while I'm escaping from the in-laws I'd like to say that Ielati would have done the same job as Nikas today...
Passed the 10 goals barrier, it seemed to take for over to score more goals... fine result though... nice piece of crossing for 90mn...
back to reality...

I would have settled for 12-0 before the game but I'm left thinking of the missed opportunity to put 20 past them and really put Israel and Venezuela under the pump considering we had 9 up by half time. After half time it was almost as if the match engine said ok you've won by a landslide already time to make you miss.

Still it's a win and is 7 more goals then Venezuela got so goal difference wise we should be safe if we draw with Venezuela next week (on the assumption Israel polish them off this week) but we'll need to win next week to secure the top spot for the group.

Solid result.

I think against teams like this we could get away with a back 3 and a sweeper. Even if its just an extra DM rather than a true defender, I think we'll get more use out of them and create as many goals as we concede by doing so.

Yeah I had contemplated actually going in with a 2nd winger in Zdrilic and dropping Kohler to the bench but went for the safety and guaranteed option given their 1 striker often shifted wide and the importance of making sure we didn't allow a soft goal and lost points as a result.

Singapore really need to fix that tactic, if you're going to have 8 behind the ball you really need to mark the wings and prevent sides breaking through.

Israel beat Venezuela 2-0 so the standings should look something like:

Australia - 4pts +12
Israel - 4pts +2
Venezuela - 3pts +3
Singapore - 0pts -17

Since we take on Venezuela next week, a draw will be sufficient to qualify, although the aim is to beat them by 3-4 goals to make Israel work hard to knock us off the top of the group.

Made a bunch of layoffs to reduce our NT squad from approximately 100 down to just over 70. A few noticeable cuts as well to some historic and well liked players but realistically their chances of playing NT matches are quite slim. Anyway here's a list of those cut, either due to not likely to be getting games, they're over the U21 bracket now and need more work to make the squad fulltime, or they're simply not good enough and are left over from competition matches and had avoided the drop until now.

Those dropped doesn't necessarily mean they'll remain dropped and that I don't want updates. They're still in the database (although some of the real ageing players might find themselves off the list but we'll deal with that when and if it happens), the main reason for dropping the numbers was it was becoming a bit cluttered when selecting lineups, viewing for forms whilst at the same time not making a good enough distinction between those who are in contention from those whose time is pretty much over or need more work.

For anyone concerned the complete list of those dropped is below:

Stan Amien
Wayne Augerinos
Stan Bacak
Perry Blute
George Bowen
Marco Choony
Vince Collina
Loyd Coveny
Ben Davidson
Stan Foxe
Jamie Garland
Travis Healy
Esala Hrehoresin
Bill Huxley
Andy Jackson
Brad Moon
Richie Newhill
William Newhill
William O'Neill
Jade O'Sullivan
Gareth O'Sullivan
Dustin Pierce
Karl Pilic
Richie Sterjovski
Jason Stuart
Robbie Villafane
Stuart Widera
Ross Wilkinson

Hehe..."my" lads...:)

Some big names, but no real surprises on that list.

Probably the biggest surprise for me is Dustin Pierce who got a string of games as a defensive mid for a while and then disappeared. I assume he's just one of those guys who was trained to the right level for the time, and was either quickly overtaken when he stopped training, or had sustained form issues until he was overtaken. Either way, it was a bit of a shame he didn't kick on and become a better player for us.

Pierce was one I considered about keeping and was about the only one on that list I was in 2 minds about. At the time our younger generation in Cunico/Mangos/Kohler were still coming through the ranks and Pierce snuck in that way when we needed the extra defensive pressure. However, he lacked in a few other areas and ultimately the up and coming players had. Anyway, I'll check for an update from him to make sure I haven't made any mistakes, has been an awful long time since I had an update from him which could also explain the sudden drop away. Kind of took the stance, haven't had an update for a long while, currently others better in the team (least from the stats I had, would surprise me if things were anything significantly different though) so at least until I get an update that he gets the cut based on being behind the current crop.

A few other perhaps lucky players to survive included Veart (just hanging on), King, North, Scarparaolo so it could get down a few more in the not to distant future.

Collina and Widera would have been dropped sooner but I kept hope they'd get transfer listed when the bot was replaced and they've both now been transfer listed so they've been dropped from the list at long last.
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Looks like I sold Garland at the right time ;)

looks like it :).