Right, that’s it – I’ve had enough. I’m fed up with it and I’m going to say what we’re all thinking...get rid of Arnold NOW. Not tomorrow or next week. Today.
Don’t even let him go home on the same plane as the players. His influence on the team – what little there has been – has been a scourge on the side. Don’t let him taint them any more.
His ineffective Nice Guy leadership has no place in the modern game.
Scott Chipperfield missed the Asian Cup because his wife was about to give birth. Fair play to him for asking for the time-off – we all know the kind of family pressure he would have been under – but, sorry, he shouldn’t have been allowed.
We don’t have a replacement left back. We needed him. He should have been given time off when his wife went into labour and a couple of days afterwards – but then ordered straight back to the camp.
Fergie sold Beckham for turning up late for training because he was dropping the kids off at school. Can you imagine Taggart’s face if Becks had asked to miss a European Cup Final because Posh was pregnant?
And as for Viduka’s dummy spit over the captaincy… I mean, jeez. What kind of authority does a coach have if players can hold him to ransom like that? How does Arnold not foresee that kind of situation and defuse it before it blows up in his face?
With a defence in strife, he persisted in playing players out of position instead of playing to our strengths. He finally got it right(ish) with the 3-5-2 against Japan…but anyone could have told him after the Singapore game how to do it.
He stuck with Kisnorbo and Holman when all the evidence pointed to them playing like donkeys. Was it just because they play overseas?
And then even against Japan, he took Viduka off for Kewell. What the hell was that about? There’s speculation he was injured but he looked to me to be running fine, still strong and game for the fight.
What possible benefit could that have been? Japan had Viduka firmly marked – swapping him for Kewell merely let Japan switch their marking onto Kewell instead.
Anyone could see Grella was having another poor game – Cahill should have replaced him earlier, Culina switched to Grella’s spot, Kewell on for Bresh and Carle on for Aloisi.
He brought on the right players…but took off the wrong ones and lost the tactical plot. These were basic managerial blunders. And what’s more, we would have finished the game with 11, instead of 10 (although no-one could have foreseen the soft red card).
The players played their hearts out but Arnold’s folly denied them a chance of victory.
Arnold lacks vision, flair, ambition, ability, authority and imagination. He’s probably a great assistant coach, barking out the orders from someone more inspired.
But as a head coach, he sucks. Get him out now and give the new man a chance to build the side back up again – and get us into the top 50 once more, because you can bet we’ll slip badly in next month’s FIFA rankings.
We need to end the decline now – and that means Arnold out, right now.
Phew. I feel better for that. Thanks.
++++
I’m lucky – I missed Australia’s first two Asian Cup games because I found myself on a five star ship off the Kimberley coast without ANY TV, never mind FoxSports.
But the highlights reel was a video nasty. Discipline was appalling, the defence in chaos, the strike force impotent and the midfield all at sea.
This could well go down as Australia’s lowest point in world football.
I’d love to know exactly what was going on in the dressing rooms in Thailand and Vietnam. Were Kewell and Cahill’s insistence that they were ready to start games just mindgames to upset the enemy?
If not, what possible reason could there be for them not starting? It’s mind-boggling.
But despite the poor results, there is some hope for the future.
Craig Moore wasn’t missed. Beauchamp and Milligan showed they were more than up to the job of defence. The played like veterans despite their rookie status.
And Carney has more than earned his spot on the left as a wingback. Doubters questioned his fitness for the role, but he stayed the distance, especially in the Japan game. And he scored his penalty when more experienced heads did not.
Nicky Carle injected pace into the attack when he finally got a decent run-out, thanks to extra time. It might not have amounted to much in terms of goals, but it visibly rattled the Japanese to have someone with his energy running at them.
And he too kept his head from the spot. (By the way, I have always said only the captain should take that vital fifth spotkick in a penalty shootout. The pressure is immense – to have it put on Carle’s relatively inexperienced head was almost inexcusable. It didn’t stop him scoring though…)
All in all, I’m still optimistic for the future. We still need to find a young striking talent (can Nathan Burns step up to the plate?) but the potential for the Socceroos is still good.
We have a new generation of genuine home-grown talent coming through and sliding confidently into the first team. We just need a head coach that can use them to their best. Have I mentioned that Arnold must go? I think I might have…
Anyone have Houllier’s mobile number? Hopefully the FFA does…
Don’t even let him go home on the same plane as the players. His influence on the team – what little there has been – has been a scourge on the side. Don’t let him taint them any more.
His ineffective Nice Guy leadership has no place in the modern game.
Scott Chipperfield missed the Asian Cup because his wife was about to give birth. Fair play to him for asking for the time-off – we all know the kind of family pressure he would have been under – but, sorry, he shouldn’t have been allowed.
We don’t have a replacement left back. We needed him. He should have been given time off when his wife went into labour and a couple of days afterwards – but then ordered straight back to the camp.
Fergie sold Beckham for turning up late for training because he was dropping the kids off at school. Can you imagine Taggart’s face if Becks had asked to miss a European Cup Final because Posh was pregnant?
And as for Viduka’s dummy spit over the captaincy… I mean, jeez. What kind of authority does a coach have if players can hold him to ransom like that? How does Arnold not foresee that kind of situation and defuse it before it blows up in his face?
With a defence in strife, he persisted in playing players out of position instead of playing to our strengths. He finally got it right(ish) with the 3-5-2 against Japan…but anyone could have told him after the Singapore game how to do it.
He stuck with Kisnorbo and Holman when all the evidence pointed to them playing like donkeys. Was it just because they play overseas?
And then even against Japan, he took Viduka off for Kewell. What the hell was that about? There’s speculation he was injured but he looked to me to be running fine, still strong and game for the fight.
What possible benefit could that have been? Japan had Viduka firmly marked – swapping him for Kewell merely let Japan switch their marking onto Kewell instead.
Anyone could see Grella was having another poor game – Cahill should have replaced him earlier, Culina switched to Grella’s spot, Kewell on for Bresh and Carle on for Aloisi.
He brought on the right players…but took off the wrong ones and lost the tactical plot. These were basic managerial blunders. And what’s more, we would have finished the game with 11, instead of 10 (although no-one could have foreseen the soft red card).
The players played their hearts out but Arnold’s folly denied them a chance of victory.
Arnold lacks vision, flair, ambition, ability, authority and imagination. He’s probably a great assistant coach, barking out the orders from someone more inspired.
But as a head coach, he sucks. Get him out now and give the new man a chance to build the side back up again – and get us into the top 50 once more, because you can bet we’ll slip badly in next month’s FIFA rankings.
We need to end the decline now – and that means Arnold out, right now.
Phew. I feel better for that. Thanks.
++++
I’m lucky – I missed Australia’s first two Asian Cup games because I found myself on a five star ship off the Kimberley coast without ANY TV, never mind FoxSports.
But the highlights reel was a video nasty. Discipline was appalling, the defence in chaos, the strike force impotent and the midfield all at sea.
This could well go down as Australia’s lowest point in world football.
I’d love to know exactly what was going on in the dressing rooms in Thailand and Vietnam. Were Kewell and Cahill’s insistence that they were ready to start games just mindgames to upset the enemy?
If not, what possible reason could there be for them not starting? It’s mind-boggling.
But despite the poor results, there is some hope for the future.
Craig Moore wasn’t missed. Beauchamp and Milligan showed they were more than up to the job of defence. The played like veterans despite their rookie status.
And Carney has more than earned his spot on the left as a wingback. Doubters questioned his fitness for the role, but he stayed the distance, especially in the Japan game. And he scored his penalty when more experienced heads did not.
Nicky Carle injected pace into the attack when he finally got a decent run-out, thanks to extra time. It might not have amounted to much in terms of goals, but it visibly rattled the Japanese to have someone with his energy running at them.
And he too kept his head from the spot. (By the way, I have always said only the captain should take that vital fifth spotkick in a penalty shootout. The pressure is immense – to have it put on Carle’s relatively inexperienced head was almost inexcusable. It didn’t stop him scoring though…)
All in all, I’m still optimistic for the future. We still need to find a young striking talent (can Nathan Burns step up to the plate?) but the potential for the Socceroos is still good.
We have a new generation of genuine home-grown talent coming through and sliding confidently into the first team. We just need a head coach that can use them to their best. Have I mentioned that Arnold must go? I think I might have…
Anyone have Houllier’s mobile number? Hopefully the FFA does…
