Socceroos Asian Cup Squad 2011

Keepers

Mark Schwarzer

Brad Jones

Nathan Coe

Defenders

Lucas Neill

Sasa Ognenovski

Matthew Spiranovic

Jade North

Jon McKain

David Carney

Luke Wilkshire

Midfielders

Tim Cahill

Brett Holman

Jason Culina

Mile Jedinak

Carl Valeri

Neil Kilkenny

Matt McKay

Brett Emerton

Tommy Oar

Strikers

Harry Kewell

Scott McDonald

Nathan Burns

Robbie Kruse

Pretty happy with the squad picked really with the only noticeable omissions that I would have liked to have seen being Rukavytsya in place of Kruse up front and a younger, more promising DeVere in place of McKain at the back.

In reality, the previous 'golden generation' has well and truly passed us by and we don't have the same pool of quality players to pick from any more. The squad Holger Osieck has picked is as balanced as we could have hoped for and overall should do the job of pushing for the tournament victory.

As for formations, I have offered up two alternatives that I think we should look at playing:

First of all a very attacking 4-4-2 that I would love to see used against the weaker opponents throughout the group stage:

-------------------Schwarzer

Wilkshire--Ognenovski--Neil--Carney

--------------------Culina

Emerton----------------------------Oar

--------------------Cahill

-------------McDonald--Kewell

The most important aspect being giving McDonald a partner up front to try to get the best out of an obviously good player. I just feel that if he can get a goal then the floodgates will open. McDonald doesn't fit into the system when we play 1 up front. It's not rocket science.

Secondly, a more conservative but still quite attacking 4-2-3-1 that should get more of a look in come the end of the tournament:

-------------------Schwarzer

Wilkshire--Ognenovski--Neil--Carney

----------------Valeri--Culina

Emerton-----------Cahill-------Holman

---------------------Kewell

Just to finish up on, I am a big believer that we took the wrong attitude into the last tournament. The culture in Asia is something totally different to our own. It's all about being humble, respectful and getting on with YOUR business. I wonder if we will have learnt anything from the past?