JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Alessandro Circati will retain his place at right-back, but Graham Arnold is set to make "four or five" changes to his starting XI for Australia's World Cup qualifier against Indonesia on Tuesday, with the Socceroos' boss telling ESPN that he wanted to see a strong reaction from his unit following their surprise 1-0 loss to Bahrain.
Arnold will have a full 24-player squad to choose from as he looks to shuffle his deck, with John Iredale jetting into Jakarta as cover for the suspended Kusini Yengi, and midfielder Keanu Baccus and defender Lewis Miller training and able to contribute after missing the Bahrain clash through injury.
The only natural right-back in the squad, it was Miller's absence that thrust Circati into a position he'd last played with Parma's youth teams in 2021, but Arnold was sufficiently impressed that the 20-year-old will retain his place on Tuesday evening.
"It was an experiment to play Alessandro there and I thought the kid did very well for the first game, and he'll start there again," Arnold told ESPN. "He knows more of what we expect from him in that role now [after] having the extra couple of days here and playing that game against Bahrain.
"He showed in the second half he wants to venture forward, and we'll let him go."
Despite their attack ultimately proving blunt, Circati's distribution from the flank showed promise against the Bahrainis and the defender emphasised on Monday the need for the Socceroos to draw Indonesia out of their shape, as well as guard against their pace in transition.
"We've seen them play in a 5-4-1, a bit of a block," Circati said. "They've got some quick players and will try to hit us on the counterattack. They'll be dangerous going forward, catching us not ready, but we'll make sure that that doesn't happen.
"We've got to try and find spaces, to try to drag them out and move them into areas where they're not comfortable to be playing and then find the holes being created. And use these occasions to get chances."
Although they will be the enemy on Tuesday, the 🇦🇺 @Socceroos have received a warm welcome in 🇮🇩 Indonesia thus far! #AsianQualifiers #WCQ #FIFAWorldCup
— ESPN Asia (@ESPNAsia) September 8, 2024
🎥: @joeylynchy pic.twitter.com/JDpuwk6weo
Australia and Indonesia last met in the round of 16 at the Asian Cup earlier in 2024, with the former advancing after recording a 4-0 victory. Tim Garuda, however, picked their moments with targeted bouts of pressing and pressure in that contest gave the Australians pause, only to run out of legs and ship two late goals.
Arnold acknowledged that the Socceroos would need a much-improved performance from their effort against Bahrain to secure a result on Tuesday night, especially given the continued growth of Shin Tae-Yong's side, who secured a momentous 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia in their opening fixture of this phase of qualification.
"On the technical side," said Arnold. "I thought we were sloppy the other night in possession. [We need] more patience. Indonesia is going to be a tough challenge, a tough game. I want to see a strong reaction.
"I watched [Indonesia] against Saudi Arabia. They're well set up. To break them down, we need some individual quality that can do that.
"They've got a different goalkeeper now [Maarten Paes] and some other players. And Indonesia is growing very quickly in football.
"Here in Indonesia, they've got a chairman [Erick Thohir] who is a very wealthy man and is investing a hell of a lot of money in football, which is completely opposite to us."
A notable aspect of the Socceroos' clash with Indonesia at the Asian Cup was the vocal contingent of Tim Garuda supporters in the stands of the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, which defender Harry Souttar told ESPN helped create an atmosphere of danger when their side moved forward. And with the 78,000-capacity Gelora Bung Karno stadium sold out for Tuesday's game, the Socceroos are anticipating -- and welcoming -- an even greater challenge in the coming encounter.
"I think that if there's one thing the boys got stronger at is playing away from home in front of big crowds," Arnold said. "And we need that type of strong mentality tomorrow night.
"It's a privilege to play in front of those crowds. It's a joy. What would you rather play in front of? 80,000 or none? If you ask any player, they want to play in front of a big crowd, and tomorrow night's no different."