IF YOU'RE an Arsenal fan who followed the team prior to Arsène Wenger, a supporter of a team in the Blue Square Premier, or a Central Coast Mariners member for the past few years, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “boring, boring ”.

Judging by the past few weeks of the Hyundai A-League, there might be a new team to apply this phrase to - Perth Glory Football Club.

Perth Glory may now have surpassed Gold Coast United in the 'undefeated streak' stakes, but it would seem that this has come at the expense of attractive football. Granted, Perth were never 'Barca-esque' at the best of times in the A-League, but the games against Brisbane, Newcastle, and North Queensland seem to have plumbed new depths of ordinary.

The Fury game was especially painful; playing against a team at the bottom of the ladder, one would expect Glory to come out attacking with the ferocity of a Townsville cyclone. Instead the team played like a draught creeping in through your laundry door. Players seemed more interested in falling over and trying to win free kicks than they did playing football; it made for painful viewing.

A rubbish game controlled by a dire referee was made even worse by the two completely inept teams doing battle on the pitch. North Queensland showed very little going forward, while Perth's midfield was either by-passed by long balls or spent energy running up the wings only to dribble the ball out of play. At best, one could describe both teams as having 'efficient' defences.

Looking at the Fury game, the question must be asked as to why David Mitchell and his players felt the need to play a scrappy, defensive brand of football at home against the bottom team in the league. If the game were in Queensland and we were trying to eke out an away win, it would be understandable. But on our own turf, at ME Bank Stadium? Mitchell certainly didn't offer any clear reasons in his press conference post game, stating:

"We had a chance to get a win and go to the top of the league and we didn't take it. But I'm thinking maybe that's a good thing because it would've covered over the cracks if we got the win. We need to look and say is there a problem? What is the problem? And how do we overcome it? We have to look at it seriously as a team, a manager and a club."

So then, there was a problem- but we don't know what it is or how to fix it. But I'm sure we'll look at it. Someone will look into it, surely...

I want it all...

Games like Saturday tend wind up a football fan something chronic, and for all the wrong reasons. Perth Glory fans are no exception, and thus in a bid to capture the mood of some of the most passionate supporters of the purple shirt, I asked a simple question over at the Perth fan site Gloryboys.net- "Is David Mitchell is doing a good enough job?".

Responses were quick to arrive, at time of writing more than 60 in total, and the question soon triggered debates of its own. In the end, 18% of responses said Mitchell was doing a good enough job, whilst another 23% wanted to wait until the finals before passing judgement. This left 59% of people thinking outright that Dave Mitchell's work wasn't up to scratch. Fair enough then.

With this in mind, and complaints being aired about how Perth haven't been playing an attractive brand of football, I asked the same forum a new question; "What should be Glory's priority on the park?" with two possible answers; playing attractive football, or getting points on the board. Around the same number of people responded (so one assumes it to be the same forum users, or near enough) and the results were somewhat one-sided.

Only 26% of respondents wanted attractive football to be Glory's top priority, which left a whopping 74% of people happy with just picking up the points first and foremost. This conjures up a bit of a conundrum; 74% of respondents want David Mitchell to focus on picking up the points, and as of round nine Perth are sitting fourth on the table with 14 points, only two away from the league leaders. Yet according to 58% of those same fans, the coach isn't doing a good enough job.

This then seems a bit harsh on 'Mitch', does it not? Two points off first place, no losses in the last four games, and we say his job is simply to get Glory some points by any means necessary. What more can he do? To those who say we should be challenging for top spot, is two points not a small enough margin?

Of course, Glory have been mediocre at times this year, the last four games especially. But the whole league has been mediocre; who are Perth to rise above the rest of a salary-capped competition? Gold Coast certainly haven't, despite their bravado. The 'glamour' club has been playing woefully lately; perhaps worse than Glory themselves.

A tale of two Mi(t)ches...

A long time ago, Glory played the attacking, beautiful football that some fans lament is now missing. Defending wasn't a top priority under much-loved coach Bernd Stange, as Glory adopted a "you score four, we'll score five" attitude to their play. The club had the money and the popularity needed to make impressive signings like Con Boutsianis and Damian Mori, who formed one of the most lethal strike partnerships of the late NSL era with Bobby Despotovski.

The team made it to the finals numerous times under Stange, playing some wonderful football, and they participated in one of the greatest matches in Australian footballing history; the 1999/2000 NSL Grand Final at Subiaco Oval, which Glory lost after leading Wollongong Wolves 3-0 at half time. Stange was an incredibly popular figure in the west; but he never took the club to a NSL title.

The man to replace him was called, coincidentally enough, Mich. Not Dave Mitchell - then coach of Parramatta Power - but Mich d'Avray, a South African coach who had formerly been a midfielder with Ipswich Town in England. d'Avray took on the role and in the space of a year or two Glory became, well, boring. The 4-4-2 formation was in, and all of a sudden Glory were conceding less than a goal a game; but at the cost of a lot of the excitement they'd provided in the years before. In Stange's last season, Glory scored over 70 goals. In d'Avray's first, they scored only 52.

Under d'Avray, who would become Glory's technical director in their first A-League season, 5-3 wins were a thing of the past; replaced with 1-0 grind-fests. Exciting 2-2 draws were replaced with dull 0-0 scorelines. Creativity and flair were sacrificed for the sake of a rock-solid defence. To top it all off, Mich had the nerve to lead Glory to back-to-back NSL Championships.

At the time, Mich had his detractors. Following on from media darling Stange was always going to be a hard task- and Mich's 'flat' personality hardly helped him- and fans didn't exactly approve of the departure from flair-laden attacks. That being said, I don't know a single Glory fan who would trade the titles Perth won under him for the sake of more attacking football.

Perhaps then, the secret to winning over fans with a 'boring' style of football is to win things - who'd have thunk it? Fans didn't appreciate the move to a more 'standard' formation under Mich d'Avray, but when the championships were won they gave him high praise. Turning back to the present, and would anyone turn down the A-League Premiership or Championship should Dave Mitchell win it with Glory's current style of play? Furthermore, given Glory's recent history, would they turn down a top four place?

We football fans are fickle creatures. We'll bitch and moan and complain about tactics, formations, and personnel that we believe don't work. But at the end of the day, no matter what the quality of play is like, if you give us a trophy we'll forgive you forever and a day. Therefore, the way forward is simple.

Mitch, keep Perth playing your boring brand of football... Just make sure we've something to show for it at the end of the year, okay?