The five goals scored by the Mariners on Saturday must surely have convinced even the most optimistic Glory fans that this season, this squad and this coaching regime is heading towards winning only one thing this season - the wooden spoon.
For many fans, the one thing they really want is to see a new coach brought into the club from outside. If I were in Tony Sage's position, I'd be sending Ferguson back to his assistant coach position and bringing in someone like Bobby Despotovski, Damian Mori or a successful coach from the WA state leagues on a 6-month contract. If they can turn things around, then maybe they could have a 12-month extension and if not I'd already have been looking at 'marquee coach' candidates from around the world.
It seems safe to assume though that this isn't going to happen, and instead Glory fans will be putting up with Fergie's coaching talents for at least the rest of the season. Given this, the very least we can hope for is that the drastic changes that are required to try and turn things around do happen. Here are five things (one for every goal conceded on Saturday) Ferguson could do to convince the fans that Glory *might* have a future under his tenure:
1- Banish the dead weight
It's usually considered bad form for fans to jump on the backs of individual players. Most fans, though, don't have to put up with Jamie Coyne. This "player" was directly responsible for the first two Mariners goals on the weekend and regularly makes four or five mistakes in a match that wouldn't be tolerated in a Sunday pub side. He has no place in the A-League and hasn't for his embarrassingly long career at the club.
Naum Sekulovski has improved a lot since his poor first season for Glory, but a calamitous showing against the Mariners has showed that he also is not up to the challenge of turning Glory's season around. Adriano Pellegrino is capable of the occasional magic moment, but for the most part he is simply the first link in the opposition's passing chain. Both these two should join Jamie Coyne in being banished from the first-team squad.
2- Get the best out of your best player
Mile Sterjovski has a lot of critics, but he is far and away the most able talent in the Glory squad. Even this season, his first three or four games were spectacular and he was probably the main reason Glory's losing run was delayed for five games. Lately, he has looked completely disinterested.
While it would be easy to say that he should be ditched along with the rest of the dead weight, I would say that as a capable and technically proficient player Mile should be given the job of controlling the team. Play him in central midfield and get him to string the entire side together. If there is one Glory player capable of being anything like a Hernandez, Flores or Broich it has to be Sterjovski. Give him the keys and let him drive, rather than isolating him up front or out wide.
3- Pack the midfield with technically proficient players who won't give the ball away
There's no point expecting to succeed when you have the likes of Burns, Pellegrino, Coyne and Baird perpetually giving the ball away unnecessarily. If Sterjovski is going to drive the team from central midfield, I would surround him with Neville as the flyer out on the right, McGarry as a narrow left midfielder, Todd as the anchorman and the technically good youngster Andrija Jukic in the attacking midfield position.
This would hopefully give you five players who could string passes together and build an attack, rather than needing to get a defender to pump it long to have any chance of reaching the attacking third. The sacrifice is that you only play one up front, but I would look at giving Tommy Amphlett that job. His speed combined with the quality of passing in midfield would provide a constant threat to the defence, and force them to drop deep creating even more room for Sterjovski and Jukic in the centre of the park.
4- Bring some youth into the defence
If we've moved Neville and Todd into midfield and banished Sekulovski and Coyne to the reserves, we're going to need to bring in an entirely new defensive line. This might actually work out well, because it'll give Ferguson a chance to completely reorganise the way the team defends (at the moment, the defence doesn't seem to have *any* sort of organisation).
Velaphi and Pearson would remain from Saturday's line-up, and Brent Griffiths would join experienced head Josh Mitchell in central defence. Left-back would be filled by whichever of Todd Howarth, Howard Fondyke, Cameron Edwards and Dean Evans could show themselves to be most able to play in the unnatural role during training.
5- Reward Scott Neville
Based on the names I've thrown up for the starting line-up, there is no Robbie Fowler, Jacob Burns or Jamie Harnwell. Andy Todd or Mile Sterjovski might be the obvious candidates for captain, but I would give the honour to Scott Neville. He is the only player who has consistently performed well even as the team has fallen apart and I would like to see him given the chance to lead the team. The message would be that performance and not seniority is what makes you a key member of the team.
So my formation for Wednesday's match would be as follows (with a modified 4-5-1 formation):
-----------------Velaphi-----------------------
Pearson---Griffiths---Mitchell---Howarth/Fondyke/Edwards/Evans
---------------------Todd----------------------
--------------Sterjovski---McGarry---------
Neville-----------Jukic-----------------------
-----------------------------Amphlett---------
SUBS) Vrteski, Burns, Fowler, Howarth/Fondyke/Edwards/Evans
RESERVES) Baird, Jelic, Skorich, Harnwell
BANISHED) Coyne, Pellegrino, Sekulovski
It might not be the perfect solution, but it would be the sort of team that most Glory fans would rather see out on the park and might even convince a handful that Ferguson does have some idea.
