07 Jan The “big worry” that could derail Australia's Asian Cup defence

Former Sydney FC goalkeeper Clint Bolton is concerned about the Socceroos’ lack of creativity after their shock 1-0 loss to Jordan in their Asian Cup opener.

Despite dominating possession, Australia failed to translate their territorial dominance into clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities against a Jordan side ranked 109th in the FIFA world rankings.

Bolton says the 5-0 drubbing of Oman in the Socceroos’ pre-tournament friendly papered over the cracks in attack and the lack of cutting edge is a major headache for coach Graham Arnold going forward.

“Possession is one thing; effective possession is another and that is possession that leads to chances created, and that is the real worry for the Socceroos,” Bolton told SEN Breakfast.

“It’s nothing new, we scored a few goals in the lead up matches but that was against opposition that aren’t to the level of a competitive team like Jordan, so we get ahead of ourselves a little bit.

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“I’m thinking back to the last goal we scored in open play and the last one from memory was the Tim Cahill header in the World Cup qualifier well before the World Cup.

“We’re relying on set-pieces for goals, so the big worry is we aren’t creating enough chances and then we don’t have the quality of striker or player to put the ball in the net when it really counts in competitive matches.”

Australia face Palestine on Friday in a must-win match to keep their Asian Cup defence alive.

Listen to Clint Bolton's chat on SEN Breakfast with Nigel Carmody and Nick Dal Santo in the player below