Asunto: National Team

So without Van Gisbergen, Sutton and Bracken from our usual midfield lineup, we were able to come away with a 1-0 win against Dominican Republic. That's 2 wins in succession now so small steps. Played the game well and truly in our attacking half and gave them almost nothing to do when they had the ball except for 1 dangerous scenario where our defender got tackled. Still though, we struggled to create shots on goal despite looking a little bit better through midfield. In the end we scored when Trajcevski tackled one of their defenders.

Still a work in progress but thought today's win felt a lot more comfortable than that 2nd half against Honduras last week.

Happy for thoughts/suggestions as to how to potentially open up sides a bit more. I'd really like to be generating 10-15 shots per game but preferably not at the expense of 20-30 the other way.

Does look like Dominican Republic went with their 2nd XI, so there's probably a little scope for them to have done a bit more.

With an eye on future….how many striker trainers do we have?
Realise that’s a bit of an old school question with new training mechanism in place….as I’ve now pulled some promising U21 attackers.…just need to get my head around training them as I’ve traditionally trained DEF in the past.
My training now for what I see as my future first teamers is -
3 DEF (Groom & U21x1…& maybe Tong)
3 ATT (Zillman, McColl, Oliviera)
That’s 6 youngish Oz players….plus 3 of my senior Oz DEF aged 25-26yo.
Training just the 1 international, but only whilst I wait for next Oz player.

So in terms of striker trainers, I think Achmid would be better placed just simply due to longer exposure in the NT system and gets the first look at what's coming through with the U21's. I know of at least a few striker trainers in Aus prior to the new training system. (myself, vivski, I think oscar was as well, philly I think was). It's become a bit murkier since the training change as I've sort of moved into a hybrid (still have Crampton/Greenwood and Panopoulos as strikers - all past 21 though, but I've also got a few mids, defs and a keeper in training). I suspect many others have now started doing hybrid training. Considering we need fresh players every season basically for U21's I think you'd get a better picture of who's training our upcoming strikers from seeing our current crop of 20's,19's and 18's etc (so Achmid would have that info ready as I haven't gotten around to working out if we want to combine our records together or how we should do it). I still consider myself predominantly a striker trainer but my youth production has hit a dry patch and a few of my current crop of strikers are getting closer to the end of training life then they are the start.

I think the most important thing is to ensure our best prospects regardless of position is getting trained as best as possible. The tricky part is probably more so around what coach setups we have now as to who should go where. That's the hard part now trying to train multiple positions (it can't be feasible in div2 I wouldn't think as it would just cost too much in wages - maybe it's still possible if it's 2 positions or the 3rd utilises a skill you already need for the other 2).

Probably what we should do with this new setup of training is to set up some thread so we can keep track of who's training what and where in the cycle they're at, since it's possibly not as simple anymore as training strikers/mids/defs etc. I might give it some thought and check with Achmid regarding if we should do something like this and how it might be achieved given the current flexibility in the training system.

Yeah, thinking along those lines....if it would help to know (at least at U21 level) who's training what, & seeing if it can be split consistently to cover all positions....if some have that flexibility.
My one spare slot doesn't need to be DEF or ATT as current Oz trainees are probably at a high for me (in terms of numbers)...so for example, if a MID needed training, I'm open to that.

Just chipping in here. Cometer named the traditional striker trainers in Aus, a couple I know are still training mainly striker due to finances and not being able to afford a coach that can train all or most positions.

I think the best thing people can do is regularly post their youths to the youth thread, and ask for updates where their player ranks compared to those around them. Having the best trainees within Australia, regardless of position, will be best, as we know they will get the best training.

The younger someone is, the harder it is to predict how good they will be, so if I say your defender is 9th, theres every chance by the time they are 21, with talent, they could be top 3.

We can definitely pick up the training thread again and see who is training what, or at least, what they are open to training

McColl is one of my u21 trainees & it would be good to get opinions on how you guys want him trained....MID or ATT? YS 10 pops in 30 wks with 14 coach -
Currently - 6/7/6/10 - 2/10/10 (20yo)
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Disappointed with the draw against Honduras. Felt we were the better side all game and they rarely troubled us. Unfortunately we just don't have the same luck when it comes to breaking through defender tackles repeatedly and that gave them the lead. They had one other chance which came from a defender hoofing the ball back to their players and then playing their strikers onside but that chance was saved. The other shots all came after I had switched tactic over. Felt we should have easily got another 1 possibly 2 with Crampton missing a one on one with the keeper off his line in the 88th (beat the keeper, hit the crossbar). Glad we didn't lose at least but disappointed that we conceded off the one real chance they had.

Myburg out of the lineup hurt us a little I think.

Damn. I'll take the 1-1 draw with Czech Republic, think that's an amazing effort with Traj struggling for form, Myburg, Sutton, Bishop, Lohy all out through injury. Would have been nice to have come away with a win though. 9 shots to 8 seems fairly close though I think they may have had the better chances in the end and probably should have won. Draw is a great result given the difference in team strength.

Nicely done mate

Would anyone like a fringe-Socceroo, when he pops to unearthly striker?

Guess Who, age: 25, height: 181

stamina [11] formidable, keeper [0] tragic
pace [14] brilliant, defender [7] good
technique [14] brilliant, playmaker [6] adequate
passing [4] weak, striker [15] magical
(editado)

Who? Hay? :D
Tempted but not sure have the funds if goes above $7M as keeping a pot for a MID. Would defo give more training if I can nab him.

Awesome to get a draw despite giving up 9 rating points.

Doing great with the NT

Started a little shaky and wasn’t happy with the drubbing we copped from Panama but overall it’s been a reasonable start. Will get better and easier once we start getting some of our young strikers into the system. Started seeing it with Crampton but we’ve still got Boyd, Parkinson and Greenwood all closing in to give us options if any of our strikers have some form issues. I’m a little concerned we’re still short in the midfield area compared to other sides. Most of our mids lack at least one skill to make them stand out (a lot missing two).

It's ok, we only need 4, and Sutton has 1/4 of that covered ;)
There's a lot of great MIDs coming through (as I know you are aware), most of which are trained by Aussies too!

I’m a little concerned we’re still short in the midfield area compared to other sides. Most of our mids lack at least one skill to make them stand out (a lot missing two).

I've got a handful of good ones coming through but they're probably three seasons away I'd guess.

My NAT pipeline dried up for a bit. I had a golden generation of mids coming through to the NATS for a while there (Hammond, Bracken, Haugland, Prince, Curcija, Vasilevski, and finishing with Van G.) and I think because I had that crop my next ones are a bit of a gap away. I might need to get better with my age staggering.