A LOT of you may expect this blog to centre around one Matthew Breeze. Sorry to disappoint but the man doesn't deserve the words I would waste on him.
To blame him for Perth not getting the three points against Gold Coast would be akin to blaming the rain for being wet.
Snatching a Draw From the Jaws of Victory
After 20 minutes of the Perth-Gold Coast encounter, it seemed that we were watching a Perth team that had finally 'clicked'. Victor Sikora had scored another goal from the left wing, Branko Jelic had moved further ahead on the club's goalscoring list, and Naum Sekulovski was terrifying defenders from his position at left back. At one point amidst the euphoria of the two goals, a portion of the Shed had even begun singing, "In your Gold Coast slums." Whether it was a piece of clever satire or an ill-thought-out chant I'll leave to you readers.
As a loyal supporter of the Glory however, one knows that a multiple-goal lead at half time is never enough- refer to that Grand Final if you have any questions. Thus when the boys took to the field in the second half and looked slightly off the pace, the warning signs were there for all to see. In fact, it seems almost inevitable that the car crash that followed was going to occur. In the end, one could consider Perth lucky to even escape with a draw. Had Tando Velaphi not made a miraculous reflex save in the second half, we probably would have lost 3-2. That's without considering what might have happened if Shane Smeltz managed to find himself one on one with our new 'keeper' Jamie Harnwell at the end of the game.
Mitch, What Were You Thinking?
Sunday's substitutions were clearly driven by injury concerns, right? They just had to be. Why else would you pull off one of the most dangerous wingers in the league in Victor Sikora and replace him with Amaral, a central midfielder who has been disappointing for the majority of his stay this year? In fact, the entire left side of attack was nullified when Sekulovski was brought off for Todd Howarth. Finally, in possibly the most spectacular substitution of all, David Mitchell took off influential midfielder Wayne Srhoj (whose second half volley could so easily have been goal of the season) and replaced him with defender-cum-striker-cum-
With such significant changes being made during the second half, you'd probably expect a reshuffle of the formation. But the new lineup was easily the worst Mitchell has put on the park all year. With the new legs of Amaral, Howarth, and Harnwell on the field, this is approximately how the Glory lined up:
Velaphi
J. Coyne --- Todd --- C. Coyne --- Howarth
Pellegrino --- Burns --- Harnwell --- Sterjovski
Amaral --- Jelic
You may rightly ask, "What insanity is this?", and the simple answer is I don't know. Frankly, I'm not sure anyone knows, Dave Mitchell included. A 36-year-old defensive midfielder playing as a striker, when you have Mile Sterjovski on the left wing or Jamie Harnwell in central midfield? Harnwell is known for his versatility, but surely sticking a big man like him up front and dropping Amaral behind to supply him would be the obvious choice?
Groundhog Day
Anyone who has been watching the Glory since back in the NSL will know that late game fade-outs are not a new phenomena. Earlier I alluded to one of the most famous (or infamous) games in Perth's history, the Grand Final against Wollongong at Subiaco Oval. Three-nil up at half time, the Glory defence shipped three goals in the second half to send the game to penalties, during which the Wolves shot truly to win the 1999/2000 NSL Championship. So for the Glory losing games at the death isn't a new trick- it just seems they have become very good at it in the A-League.
Under Ron Smith's reign, home matches would inevitably be lost in the final minutes, or a late (and very softly conceded) equaliser would ensure a draw was the best Glory would get. With David Mitchell at the helm, Perth have been far likelier to hold out for a win at home, but Glory still seem especially good at dropping points. The Wellington game saw Perth denied a draw by a deflected Bertos thunderbolt; the loss to Central Coast could so easily have been a point gained, and the Gold Coast fadeout cost them another two. A total of four points that could have so easily have been Perth's; and if picked up would have put the Glory in second place on the A-League ladder!
Root Cause
Several possible explanations have been put forward to describe the cause of Perth's fade-outs this year; the first is the age of the squad relative to others in the league. Certainly, the Glory possess a number of players over the age of thirty. However, this alone is not enough to explain Perth's problems. For a start, Glory also have a number of younger players around the 20-22 year-old mark. If fresh legs are required, they're certainly available to be used. Then there's the playing staff of Perth's competitors- Miller, Moore, Tiatto, Aloisi, Muscat, Corica, Fowler, McBreen, Petrovski, Vignaroli... these aren't exactly spring chickens we're talking about here.
The excuse that Perth's players don't have the match fitness to last 90 minutes also seems to be off the mark, considering the fact that the Glory this year have a full-time strength and conditioning coach for the first time in their A-League history. The pedigree and quality of the playing group can't be questioned either, being the equal of (if not superior to) most teams in the league. No, to me the problem of losing games at the death is not a physical one, rather, it is all in the mind.
Where's Your Head At?
At the end of the day, footballers are only human- and humans seem to have a weakness for patterns. We build models of maths and science upon them. We gamble according to them. We rely on them to produce psychological profiles. We even form superstitions because of them- when I was playing indoor cricket as a kid, I used to wear a cap to games because for a couple of innings I'd batted well whilst wearing it.
Ignoring the recent draw with the competition's best side, my theory is that the Glory have spent so long losing on the road, that they've become accustomed to the pattern of losing these games. Anyone who has experienced a run of losses as a player knows what I mean- you start well, everything seems tight and competitive, then someone makes a mistake, heads drop, and you're all thinking "Well, here we go again...".
This of course is rubbish. Plenty of teams have won games, sometimes by a large margin, after going down by a goal early. But the Glory have become so used to losing on the road in the last few years that this doesn't seem to occur to them. Of course, there's been a large turnover of players in that time- but all it takes is for a couple of heads to drop and the team is behind the eight ball. In part, the competitiveness on the road this year is probably due to the new faces not having this mental baggage; and it's up to the likes of Burns, Chris Coyne, Todd, Jelic, and Sterjovski to keep the rest of the team on their collective toes.
In my experience, the only way to work yourself out of this pattern of losing is to turn those losses into ground-out draws, then try to turn those draws into wins. I suppose the Glory are working their way towards that goal; last year, they lost by three goals to Central Coast. This year they lost by a solitary goalkeeping error. Even so, the points will need to start flowing away from home if the team wants to keep touch with the top two.
Home Truths
Considering the success of last week's home truths- whereby a third were declared invalid thanks to the opinions of my readers- I thought I'd give it another crack. Here are five for this week:
- Jamie Harnwell is awesome, but he's no central midfielder.
- Amaral is not, never was, and never will be, a striker.
- The Glory still struggle to defend set pieces.
- Ultimately, the buck stops with David Mitchell for all of the above.
- It may now be "Brisbane" Roar, but it's still a f***king stupid name.
Looking forward now to the Roar match. It shall be interesting to see if Mitchell's new squad can achieve what no other Glory side has since 2007; a result- any kind of result- away in Brisbane. In fact the Glory have not defeated Queensland-cum-Brisbane on their home turf since the A-League began; and they haven't beaten them at all since 2005, when their sole victory against the Roar came in the very first meeting between the two sides at ME Bank Equity Stadium.
With a record like that, combined with the away form of the past few years, one imagines that it will be very difficult to achieve anything come Sunday afternoon. Then again, it might just be the inspiration that the side needs to go out there and get a result?
In any case, I await our starting lineup with fascination; will Mile Sterjovski be played as a central defender? Will Jamie Harnwell start in goals? Will Amaral make a triumphant return to the striking role he made his own last Sunday? Only David Mitchell knows the answer...
...we think.
