IT'S ONE of the inevitable things about watching an A-League game. At some point, someone is going to make a mistake so bad that Geoffrey Boycott would swear that his mother could do it better

Don't get me wrong - it's a high pressure environment, and even players from Liverpool and Real Madrid have bad days. At times though, it seems as though some A-League players struggle with even the simplest of footballing skills.

I was at MES last year to see Newcastle's Jobe Wheelhouse attempt what I think was supposed to be a simple step-in tackle, but manage to somehow turn it into a flying body check. Frankly, I've no idea how that happened - and I don't think the referee knew quite what to do about it either.

Before the abuse starts flying into my inbox, Perth Glory is no different to the rest of the league. Since the debacle that was FFA ownership and Ron Smith's "coaching", we've had some players come and go that have had all the technical skill of a blind hippopotamus.

We've been shown the masterclass that is Billy Celeski's "How to dribble the ball out of play" seminar, and been amazed at the "Pass the ball back from your own attacking half to give the opposition a corrner" trick of Anthony Danze.

Current Glory alumni like Jamie Coyne teach us how to pass the ball directly to an opposition player with stunning accuracy. Among a few of my friends and workmates, this is the sole reason they've stopped watching the A-League as a whole. "Give me an hour a night and I'll cross better than Nicky Rizzo within two weeks" they say, often followed by "I'm fitter than half these players" and "I could have sworn the aim was to not let the opposition score..."

Most of the time, these are jokes made at my expense - the guy still bothering to follow a team that's essentially been castrated since the demise of the NSL. The unfortunate thing is, these jokes have roots in reality.

There are some ridiculously bad players in the A-League; both from Australia and from overseas. A winger for example, should be able to run a line and put in a cross. If he can't, he's pretty useless as a winger.

Unfortunately a typical A-League coach would say, "oh- but he's versatile." No, he's not - you've signed a winger who cannot cross, so don't try and make him a central midfielder, defender, or striker for the hell of it.

You should have signed players for those positions already!  Anyone remember the days of the NSL when the Glory actually signed left backs to be played at left back?

Happily, the standard of the A-League will improve in the coming years. I don't think that it will be as a result of overseas players or ex-Socceroos coming to our shores, but more from the products of the National Youth League and the "Dutchification" of our grass-roots football.

A Culina or Burns might be able to play at a European or even International standard, but that's not much use if they're passing the ball off to complete donkeys. However, a nationwide program to improve the skills of children, teens, and young Socceroos will eventually flow through and improve the base level of the league as a whole.

In the meantime there's a lot of work that can be done by Glory and other A-League clubs; and I've got a suggestion for them. How about, instead of trying to play a beautiful brand of football, or have players doing fancy tricks, we just try to master the football bit first? It's a pretty simple concept.

As a coach, play strikers in striking roles. Play left backs at left back. Play a basic formation, get it to work with your players, then tweak it. Credit to Dave Mitchell, he's managed to get that ball rolling already. A simple 4-4-2, though derided by some sections of the fanbase, managed to get some traction with the team at his disposal towards the end of last year.

By playing Rukavytsya slightly off Eugene Dadi, through balls and headers to some very quick feet became the order of the day - and Perth managed to finish with two of the most potent strikers in the league. (A pity the defence was made up of two cripples, a midfielder, a striker, and Nikolai Topor-Stanley.)

Once the team has a formation, there's still plenty of work to do. Jimmy Downey for example, needs to spend an hour or two at every training session with Victor Sikora teaching him how to cross a ball on the run.

Naum Sekulovski needs to work on his positioning and tracking back, something that youth team assistant Scott Miller can probably help him with. Wayne Srhoj might still afford to spend some time in the gym and improve his mobility.

Jamie Coyne needs to go through passing drills continuously, even if he's going to be played at right back again. It sounds like very basic stuff - and it is. But historically it's stuff that some Glory players, along with many others in the league, continue to screw up.

As a player, Gareth Naven didn't have the flair and creativity of a Despotovski, or the screaming free kicks of a Boutsianis- but he worked hard, knew how to make a good tackle, and knew when to track back and mark oncoming players. He didn't score many goals, but he was valuable enough to the team to rack up 143 games and a swag of trophies.

If Glory can focus on making their players follow the examples of the Navens, Miller, Shaun Murphy, etc. and avoid recruiting selfish players like a Billy Celeski or complete flops like a Brian Deane or the Simpson brothers, they might actually stand a chance of making the finals.

So far, the recruiting has been pretty spot-on. Perth have cut a lot of dead wood, brought in some good young talent, and mixed in some experienced and skillfull players like Jacob Burns and Bundesliga striker Branko Jelic.

Get the basics right first, then add a touch of class. When you're working with a salary cap like the A-League has, it's what you should be doing from day one. Furthermore, Perth players now have even more reason to increase their work ethic and practice their skills, as anyone who went to a Glory Youth match last season will attest.

Scott Neville looked a better player than most on the pitch in his debut senior game. Jukic isn't going to forget how to create or score goals any time soon, and Boi and Vittiglia aren't going to stop piling on the pressure either. Hayden Doyle and Dean Evans have also shown their abilities in defence for the junior team.

If you saw these kids in action at MES, you'd have noticed how their passing accuracy and possession play was at times well above that of the senior team. Is it a lower standard of play? Perhaps. Or maybe they've just been honing their skills and training their nuts off to get into that youth team from the state league.

Now that there's a senior team for them to get into, they're not going to just back off and relax. If I were all but a few senior players at Perth Glory FC, I'd be staying back and working on some practice drills... because a few more crosses along the floor and you might find yourself playing with those kids in the youth league.

 

The Local Game

Speaking of the state league, it's good to see the Glory youth team going back to their local clubs during the off-season. It keeps them focused on their football all year round, and helps in their development and the maintaining of their physical fitness.

It's great for the local game, too- one of the best things about watching state league football is seeing the emergence of young talent. My own local club has produced players that have been snapped up by visiting EPL scouts, and they're hardly alone in that respect.

Indeed, state league sides are often criticised for having their youngsters bought up by teams from England, Croatia, Italy and Scotland before they can reach the national league. But let's face it - the A-League teams have just as many opportunities (more, actually) to watch these kids develop and sign them up.

One of the lads who Glory should seriously be looking at signing for the future is 19-year old Callum Roberts of Floreat Athena. The guy has some serious pace and looks to be a total natural in the penalty area, scoring two goals in the win over ECU Joondalup at Litis Stadium on Sunday.

Incidentally, two of the goals in Floreat's 3-0 win were fed by ex-Glory player Josip Magdic - still only 23, he's on the way back from injury and seems determined to try and prove his worth once more. Not that Joondalup didn't have their own talent on display - a great young squad drawing on players fresh out of their academy system - a system which has seen transfers to Middlesborough and Aston Villa in the past decade, with Portsmouth rumoured to be circling one or two players at the moment.

It strikes me as ridiculous that certain people can complain about there being a lack of Australian football news during the A-League off-season, when all the time their local state leagues are running. If you really love your football and you find yourself with a spare Saturday or Sunday afternoon, what's stopping you from heading down to your local club? Scary ethnic types? Please.

Spare me the 90's-era sensationalist media dribble and go have a look for yourself. The closest I came to being threatened at the Athena match was the kitchen lady telling me that I couldn't have sour cream in my kebab (I went for sweet chilli instead). And this was at a club run by those scary, thug-like, flare-throwing, corrupt Greeks everyone's always going on about!

Honestly, go have a look for yourself. You'll find that for the most part the standard isn't too far below the A-League; and in cases it might actually be above it (Exhibit A: Perth v Wellington at MES last year). The players know to pull their heads in and not try anything outside of their own skill range, sticking to what they do best.

The local game is full of characters, too - referees who banter with the crowd, coaches that will take the time to talk to supporters after a game, and the dedicated fans who turn up each week - they all help to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere around games.

You can also enjoy that atmosphere whilst sipping a full strength beer which hasn't nuked your wallet, and without being harassed by some narky and aggressive security guard whose idea of customer service is to slash beach balls or tell people to put away an umbrella.

You can't go in with an expectation of La Liga standards of play or massive stands packed with people, but that's half the fun. You can grab your curry, or kebab, or chips and gravy, complemented with a nice full-strength brew, have a seat in the winter sun, and chill out with some friends.

It's a reasonably cheap day out where you can go back to grassroots and see where all your current A-League stars began. Who knows, you might even see someone capable of threading a pass or two...