Okay I've thought about our underage teams and performances as of late.
1997 - lost to NZ (u-17) lost to Japan (wyc)
1998 - draw/lost to China. Raul lost to NZ again in the Confed Cup
1999 - lost to South Korea/Ireland/Mexico. Needed extra time to beat nz
in semis of oceania quals.
Les got/gets the best out of poor players, but can he get the best out of better players? He is a defensive coach, which given some of the early teams we had, was reasonable, but increasingly outdated today.
The individual quality of our teams has increased (or been stagnant) every WYC. From the splash the 1991 team made at Portugal to the failure of the 1999 team to make the second round, the results have declined as the talent has got better.
Futhermore, this edition saw the likes of Bosnar, Colosimo, Wilson (a major surprise), Grella, Bresciano, Culina, Emerton, Maisano and Sterjovski all attend. The only notable absentee was Rizzo. A pretty heavy lineup don't you think?
Les stuffed up bigtime with Bosnar at sweeper. Bosnar, I have been informed, plays every game for Spirit at marker. Colosimo on the other hand is a sweeper. I think Les wanted to play a bit more aggressively - with 3 players committed to defence, that allowed the midfield and forwards to play more aggressively. But had Colosimo played sweeper, Les could've argued that it was too much of a risk to allow him upfield and the resulting counter attack would expose us.
Les pulled the rabbit out of Wilson, a great surprise. He went back to square 1 by playing Wilson at marker, thus depriving us of vital width in the game against Ireland. Terminello is no flanker.
The midfield - Grella, Bresciano and Culina. Well perhaps I was expecting too much out of them, but who wouldn't? Emerton was serviceable, but to me is the one player the major failing of Les. Emerton is virtually a fullback under Les/Raul (as we saw in the South Korea games) but really deserves to play upfield more, as he did when breaking through for Olympic. I was expecting Grella to emerge as our key player - it didn't happen. His passing has improved with both feet, but after 6 months at a Serie A club... Bresc faded in and out.
At least Les didn't persist with Maisano, who looked out of sorts. Shades of 1997 when he played Curjica the entire tournament without a goal. Sterjovski looked better as the tourny wore on, he was out of depth in the Korea games but his improvement was pleasing to see, great goal too.
Our results over the last couple of years at youth level with Les/Raul as coach has really seen us go back a bit, compared to the heady days of the early/mid 90's. We simply stink against Asian teams in particular and I'm convinced they now know how to play against Les and Raul.
Our next edition *could* see the following lineup:
John/Turnbull
Byrnes/Laurie..
Ferrante/Edds/Stojevski/Brain/Carle/Grbac
Garcia/Di Orio/MacDonald
Alot of talent in that, and it's even 2 years away!
Just summarising. Les came in when there wasn't much talent around. The talent is now coming through (thanks in part to Les/Raul), but Les seems confused at how best to play it or adapting his teams to fit. It is time to start with a new coach, one able to get the best out of existing talent.
The 2000 olys will be a great send off, and a fitting reward for 2 men who have taken us a long way. Time enough for a change.