Michael Bridges: Daniel Arzani loss sets goalscoring alarm bells ringing for Australia
WITH Socceroos starlet Daniel Arzani poised for a big move overseas Australia’s lack of genuine scoring threats is a massive concern warns an expert in the trade.
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SOCCEROO starlet Daniel Arzani is poised for a big move overseas but Australia’s lack of genuine scoring threats is a massive concern and points to a “dying trade” which must be revived, warns former Premier League striker Michael Bridges.
English giants Manchester City are reportedly close to taking the 19-year-old from Melbourne City with the plan to then loan him out to Scottish champions Celtic.
The 19-year-old, who caught the eye with his cameo displays at the World Cup, would link up with Socceroos teammate Tom Rogic in Glasgow.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers told Scottish reporters: “All I know is that he is a young Australian, a very talented player and went to the World Cup where he looked very, very good.”
Bridges sees great promise in Arzani, but worries that too little attention is being paid to arming other would-be hot shots with the skills they need to hit the goalscoring heights.
Former Leeds United and Newcastle Jets striker Bridges wants to play his part in boosting Australia’s attacking options, putting the football curriculum focus firmly back on the goalscoring art and teaching youngsters the crucial tricks of the trade — shooting, working with your back to goal, positioning, bringing others into the game and holding the ball up.
Bridges covered the 2018 World Cup in his role as a media pundit and before a ball was kicked could name with a good degree of certainty the No.9 for each side in Russia bar one — Australia.
Tim Cahill has called it a day at international level and former Socceroo striker, now Brisbane Roar coach John Aloisi, recently highlighted the dearth of homegrown striking options post Russia — with Adam Taggart a rare example of an Australian striker pencilled in as the key scoring threat in an A-League side.
Bridges echoes this fear. He also points to his latter playing experiences as an example of priorities changing.
“It’s something I feel very strongly about. I go to (non-A-League) clubs and talk to players, do shooting drills and in a lot of cases it’s something they’re not doing regularly, sometimes at all,” Bridges told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s repetition, repetition, repetition. You practise and you keep practising. It’s brain training.
“It’s something I had as a young player but later on at a particular club, and I won’t name names, I was doing extra shooting after training and was told to come off because a fitness coach at the club talked about it using up energy the equivalent of running a certain distance. I couldn’t believe it.”
Bridges was fortunate enough to play with two of Australia’s greatest-ever attacking threats in Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka.
“I’m not just talking about shooting, but all the elements of being that goal threat,” he said. “I played with Mark Viduka at Leeds. Absolutely brilliant with his back to goal, his great positioning but I can’t see anyone like that now. It’s a dying trade. I worry the current (footballing) curriculum is taking away from that.”
The England national team has a striker training program/attacking coach but Bridges, who retains coaching ambitions himself, will continue to roll up his sleeves and preach the importance of an attacking focus here.
He is happy with the introduction of an A-League loan system for under 23 players — a move that could open the door to more young Australian strikers getting senior experience.
“It’s a positive initiative,” he said. “It gives young players a good opportunity to get senior game time and coaches aren’t going to make these moves to then not play them. It’s win-win.”