What a stupid risk to take, extremely short sighted given Kruse’s history.
That’s just an invitation for one of ours to end him.
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Bang on to score the winner
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TMac.jpg
the most alarming thing from that article is
“there’s no doubt the absence of the 75-cap Socceroo has been keenly felt”
How the fuck did that happen?
Hey, hey, hey, don’t forget he contributed 5 (!) goals in those 75 caps.
Ange happened. And Kewell, Emerton, Carney got old. And also Rukavytsya, Vidošić, Burns, Halloran, Troisi, Oar never got all that good. And Leckie took quite some time to develop.
He’s also one of the few Aussie players to play in the bundesliga. And probably would have made it there had he not been so injury prone. National team scapegoat and far from as bad a player as the internet says
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5 goals in 75 games.
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He’s 12th on the all-time list of Socceroo caps. That’s staggering for a guy in the front third who contributes fuck all to the attack - Schwarzer 109, Cahill 108, Neill 96, Emmo 95, Tobin 87, Wade & Bresc 84, Ratboy & McGilligan 80, Jedinak 79, Tony Vidmar 76.
I assumed his assists tally would be single digits too, but appears it’s now up to 13. Would love to see his chance creation numbers cos it sure as shit doesn’t seem like he’s put a bunch on a plate for others to go full Mifsud. Really, you expect guys to maybe rack up 30 or 40 caps over a few qualification cycles until they find their feet at NT level. It’s been abundantly clear for the last half of his tally that he’s just not up to it, hence the frustration of the masses (mind, I’d say exactly the same about McKay or even Leckie who offers little more for the NT on the other flank. Mabil and a fit Boyle look massive upgrades).
Hopefully the link works - 8 most overrated things in Melbourne
Yeah , he’s not terrible. He was OK by Bundesliga standards, he brought a fair bit of pace and at one point he was the most fouled player in the league which usually indicates that you’re doing something effective enough for other teams to feel the need to foul you (although probably partly to do with his lanky physique and slightly unorthadoxed/uncoordinated movements). He was good at getting in behind lines, and I think he’s one of those players that by making a run off the ball can open up spaces for other players. I think his biggest issue was that he tended to make poor decisions once he got into a good position, and his finishing wasn’t great. And when he did make those poor decisions, or others didn’t do what he expected he’d get a bit sooky.
I’ve never really liked him that much, but I hate that people constantly feel the need to give him shit.
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Given Viduka got 11 in 43 in the Green and Gold playing as a #9 and is regarded as an all time great and just about the high bar for Australian forwards, I don’t think that’s that bad for someone who played wide.
The fact that he played so many games in B1 and B2 under a variety of manager and despite a track record of injuries would have to indicate a quality player.
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He has the most punchable face in football, if not world sport. Is that not reason enough?
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I’d give you a slight upgrade with the former.
Absolutely no idea with the latter. Tearing Lebanon a new one is something I’m not ready to hang my coat on. His club numbers (I can’t comment on quality as I watch less SPL than I’d like to) are fine, but, hey, SPL and everything.
And yes, Kruse’s face is eminently punchable, and I personally never was filled with joy at seeing his name in the Socceroos line up, but people get far too excited as soon as a new player runs fast for a bit, and need a reality check on the fact that we are shit and generally have shit players.
Just to go back to the topic of this thread, and I’m still staggered that MV failed to anticipate needing to postpone some games on international windows due to call ups, when even us part-timers on this forum immediately spotted this threat to our team and had concerns about it. From the off season, we all worried about the players we are losing plus Kosta and potentially O’Neill, and clearly so did the club, and they addressed it.
Did they not think their internationals counted since it wasn’t for Australia? Someone at that club should get an arse kicking for the poor prep. It still doesn’t mean the league’s playing through international breaks (or kind of… a bunch of clubs with no internationals seem to have a week off) isn’t a terrible idea, but the club should be making their plans around these shit rules.
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So Viduka’s 1 in 4 is comparable to Kruse’s 1 in 15?
Ok.
They didn’t even know who was responsible for player recruitment for a large part of the off season. Hardly surprising that there was no forward planning regarding the international windows.
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Viduka is a striker, and he was playing with an ace team for his whole career. And 1 in 4 qualifies as an all time great despite 1 in 4, being pretty poor for a #9.
Kruse is a winger. He is expected to run a lot. He has to defend more. He also played in an increasingly average team.
I’m saying that if our all-time greats are getting an underwhelming 1 in 4, playing in a position more conducive to goal-scoring, then someone who clearly isn’t and all time great, isn’t going to be doing great things if you’re just using that metric, and people should get less hot-headed about him a a result.
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Viduka also genuinely played back to goal a lot, and was very good at bringing others into play. Even those defending Kruse seem to indicate his greatest ability is making runs (i.e. getting the fuck out of the way) for others to actually do something.
TL:DR, defend him in the NT thread if you must. In here it’s tard loving of sickening levels. 
We still have an Asian +1 spot, right?
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