1. The final audition for the striker role commences

The starter against Kuwait in October, Apostolos Giannou, has been drafted out to welcome the return from injury of Jamie Maclaren and Andrew Nabbout. Despite scoring his first international goal for Australia, Giannou’s target man presence has been subsided for the pace and dynamism of Maclaren and Nabbout. Both arguably deserve as much a chance as any to stake their claim on a role in the Socceroos squad, especially as Arnold’s renewed system appears befitting their attributes.

Stepping up at international level is an entirely different ball game though, a concept Tomi Juric knows all too well. A return of 8 goals in 39 Socceroos caps is one that understandably draws the ire of Socceroos fans, although Juric looked lively in his cameo appearance against Kuwait. Juric’s ability on the ball has long been underrated and he effectively displayed that as he linked up with Awer Mabil and set the winger through on goal in the Kuwait match. Finishing is where Juric has underwhelmed far too often. No doubt someone needs to step up, especially as the ever present Tim Cahill waves his final goodbye to the Socceroos next Tuesday night.

  1. …but who replaces Arzani?

Missing Tim Cahill is an issue in itself but arguably the loss of Celtic winger and youth sensation Daniel Arzani is a further pressing matter. Arzani’s season ending knee injury came at an ill fortuned time as he began to make strides towards the Celtic first team and was set to make his mark on next year’s Asian Cup. The repercussion of such an injury is that for the Socceroos his x-factor skillset and talent is ultimately irreplaceable. Arzani’s on-pitch awareness, silky movement, desire and unfazed confidence to take on the opposition set him apart massively from Australia’s other attacking stocks.

Yet, it does provide ample opportunity for A-League barnstormer Craig Goodwin and star for Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland Awer Mabil to leave an impressive enough imprint on the squad to warrant selection for the Asian Cup. In addition, having recently acquired Scottish born winger Martin Boyle may be the exact figure Arnold has been looking for to complement his desired style.

  1. Will it be enough in time for the Asian Cup?

It goes without saying, there is uncertainty going in to the Asian Cup about whether the Socceroos have it in them to notch back to back continental titles. The counter is though that within the Socceroos camp self-belief has been built in to the fibres of the players, with Graham Arnold searching for ways to give the players the tools to go about their business in a confident and bold fashion. Simply put, Arnold wants the Socceroos to play their football with optimism.

In order for the current generation of Socceroos to endear themselves effectively to the fans they must play with a disregard of past, present and future doubting in their ability as players. An energised, ruthless, exciting and ultimately refreshing Socceroos side is capable of being unearthed, it is simply a matter of turning training ground joy in to results on the pitch.