Is Graham Arnold the right coach for the World Cup?

Yo! Nice chat. I'm more or less on the same page.
Yes, he takes us to the world cup.
No, he's not and has never been "the best" man for the job- what a concept!

Australia could definitely have someone with experience in a top league – or silverware at some kind of international level… or even just someone who COULD get a gig at a nation of a similar standing to the socceroos- Arnold might get a gig for an India or Iraq at best but Saudi, Japan, Qatar? You look at who they've had – heck look at who we have had- Arnold sticks out.

He got the assistant job because he was the former socceroo who spoke Dutch and was retired within the decade.
That's still the most appealing credential on his resume.

That said- some coaches- like Big Sam or Mick Mccarthy – they become mavericks when the pressure is on, predictable when it is not.
Their simplicity can embibe their players with clarity of mind and allow them to synchronise-effectively-faster- than say if they were trying to play "Ange Ball"

This you would think would suit the Socceroos – the arrival of a genuine free kick threat in Hrustic is timely.

You'd like to see Souttar back in the team ASAP as a threat from corners and the rock of the defence – looked imposing when selected, scored for seniors and had a good Olympics.

Arnold has shown a maverick streak.

My concern is the big fellas inability to string together offence.

He's always relied on a Lynch pin.
Think Simon, think Duke.

The trouble is- Australia has no obvious choice.

He goes with Duke – Duke 31 has not the credentials ability, physically, mentally – he's not the answer.
He gave up on oikonimidis and a host of others – and perhaps rightly – but as he acknowledges we have a great batch of ollyroos players – he promotes d'agostino – wrong player.
Atkinson- long time coming because he was too loyal to grant.

He tried fornaroli, he tried McLaren, Duke Duke Duke, leckie (ffs) and then Duke Duke McLaren etc.

Now the pressures been on – he's found us Boyle and some others who've added a lot. Stensness may be a great inclusion after coming from Nz.
But Wales ? Kuol? Pierias ? Genreu ? Metcalfe ? Mgree? Smith ? Francois ? Volpato ? Glover ? I also really like the look of Hassan toure, deni juric is worth a look *ahead of Duke at least
The younger kuol.

I feel like until we get players with seriously limited potential ala Duke out of contention and lower the age demographic for several generations of socceroos teams in a row – we'll never find the best players – they'll be poached by other national set ups or neglected due to work permit restrictions- or desperate foreign endeavours that don't work out.

Careers are short and we are way too slow to capitalise – declare and nationalise (should be our slogan)

It's funny people blame the way we are structured and so on for Jordan and co closing the gap, its like yeah they've got an impressive foreign coach and a dozen foreigners nationalised at great expense through their own pro league

Ditto Qatar, Saudis etc etc
Australia as a long history of doing this- but we're making a habit of avoiding handing out caps to players at a young age to declare them- I'd argue when Duke is leading the line that's why we can't bloody score. It's painfully obvious. How nice would it be if we'd had a go at Cummings or even given kuol 15 against someone and had him in the picture instead ?

So yeah- arnie knows.the Australian landscape, he's plucked some excellent players and done alright in a bloody difficult qual campaign.
But his lack of versatility and fwd thinking ambition re selection is disappointing and barring some excellent improvement from the likes of Rowles and Atkinson and co we'll be doing well to not go backwards when the likes of the CRUCIAL Aziz Behich retire (most important player for ages- gets a hard knock because of the sheer amount of responsibility he is given in Arnies system ditto Atkinson)

I personally don't love.bailey Wright as a choice (was responsible for UAE goal for example) would much prefer Souttar. And perhaps twist rogics arm into replacing Duke- then kuol instead of d'agostino and find room for some more youth ie Wales, pierias, metcalfe, mgree (to lesser extent but at least all will be there next cycle )