OK, it's the off-season at the Jets and there are hardly any games to discuss. And not being a journalist, I have generally been too lazy to generate content from my own mental machinations (unlike our esteemed 442 Perth commentator, who seems to be able to come up with dossiers of material). There's the occasional pasting of a local league team by the Jets but not too much else.
So recently I contacted the Jets and their publicity company and secured some time with Branko Culina. I was very happy to find that the Jets promotional group were easy to get along with and very happy to facilitate a meeting between a lowly blogger like me and the guy leading the Jets charge for the next few years.
After a training session last week, I met and chatted with Branko for some time. He proved to be a willing interview subject. So much so in fact that I would ask a question and then five minutes later he would finish responding, and by that time on a completely different subject.
Before I get into what Branko said, I should say that there were a few players missing from training, being Jason Culina, Marko Jesic (in camp with the Olyroos), Nikolai Topor-Stanley, and Tarek Elrich.
Those who looked particularly sharp in training were Ruben Zadkovich on the wide right and Ryan Griffiths coming in from the left.
I started by asking Branko about the style of football he intends to play this coming season.
BC - We'll be playing a 4-3-3 formation primarily. It'll be a more attacking formation, but one that can be varied depending on the way the game is going.
(I can't work out who's going to fit in this 4-3-3 formation. I'm guessing it actually be a 4-2-1-3 with Wehrman and maybe Wheelhouse of Kantarovski as the defensive midfield and Jason Culina in the hole behind the three forwards, but where does that leave Jesic and Abbas? Unless of course the midfield three is just Wehrman at the base with two attacking midfielders in Culina and one of Abbas or Jesic. We'll have to wait for the first game of the season to see...).
So, is that a short passing game and a high pressing game, or will you use counter-attack? I noticed last season that you would sometimes play a passing game but on many occasions the players would be hitting the ball over the top and then Labi, Jeremy or Marko would try to beat the defender to it.
BC - that will depend on the game. We'd like to play a passing game, but you can't always be Barcelona. How we play can also depend on the fitness of the players and which players we have available. We need to be able to play on the counter if necessary and it will depend on how the game is going if we press high or drop back once we lose possession.
If we always play a pressing game there is the risk that we use too many players higher up the field and are vulnerable to the other team's counter attack.
How will you play Jason this season? When he joined the Gold Coast, there was a lot of talk about Jason playing a more attacking role in a No. 10 position. What I saw was him running all over the pitch, trying to cover where other players should have been, in a more defensive midfield role.
BC - Yes, he dropped deep a lot there. But you see, at the Gold Cost, there isn't a strong structure or formation to hold players and there was more errm "freedom" (he smiles slightly) to go wherever they wanted to. The Jets will have a more defined formation, with Jason being used to link the midfield to the attack. But in saying that, there will also be Marko and Ali fighting for those midfield positions too.
What are your comments on the strikeforce? It didn't deliver many goals last season. Why will this season be any different?
BC - Ryan was just coming back into things when he joined late last season, he wasn't fully fit and hadn't played any competitive games for months, and as well as that we often didn't have a full strength squad playing. With everyone fit and trained to play a certain way, we will be more successful.
Also, this season we'll have Jason being a provider to the attacking line and we believe that will lead to more goals. We have a number of good striking options, Ryan is playing very well. In addition we'll have Chris Payne coming through, he has very good touch on the ball and can finish as well. In addition to that, some of the midfield boys will be looking to contribute more with goals, guys like Ali, Marko and Ruben. They know that they need to bring more goals into their game and we've been working on that. And then there's Jeremy, who has strength, fitness and finishing ability, or Labinot, who has the ability to run at defences and can finish well but doesn't have that whole of game strength. So there are plenty of striking options.
To finish where we did last season, after all the issues and injuries, was exceptional and the boys should be given big credit for that, for the mental strength. At one point they didn't know they would be payed, then we had key players injured or missing. Last season we couldn't get into the flow, there were so many disruptions and each week something new would happen and we would have to adjust again and again. With players, adjustment to a new squad and manner of playing isn't instantaneous. That disruption and the constant changes didn't allow us to build up momentum. With a full strength team, we were one of the best teams in the comp, we were able to beat anyone.
Can you comment on Marko Jesic? A lot of us had really high hopes that he would be a golden boy and score a hatful of goals for us last season and it didn't really eventuate. Do you still have faith in him and where will you play him?
BC - a lot of people don't realise how much having three knee operations can affect a player, and as well as getting back up to full fitness, there is the issue of confidence. Marko needs to get confidence back that he can perform physically to his full and also have confidence in his ability to beat players and to finish. Marko is a very good athlete and has a lot going for him - strength, ability to read the game, as well as fitness and finishing ability. (So yeah, it seems like Branko is still firmly supportive of Marko).
Please comment on last season's injuries - What have you done differently this season to prevent the same things happening?
We've done heaps more this year. We've got full time physios and strength and conditioning coaches in Rob Dingle and Adam Waterson, we're doing a lot to make sure that the squad comes into the season fully fit and with proper recovery.
How is the team better than last year? You have mentioned previously that Ryan will be more effective than last season because of the players around him, but they look the same to me.
Look, judge us when we've got everyone from the first team on the field. (Insert Branko rant about how there were too many disruptions last season). When we were fielding a full strength team, we could beat anyone in the comp.
We've got Michael Bridges working with the attackers and Craig Deans working on defence. We restructured the team behind the players as well as the rehab. But there's still more work to go - look, we're training at a hockey field because we don't even have our own facilities. It's a long term process.
Is there anything you would want to get out to the fans? This is an opportunity to do so.
Fans sometimes expect that we can play like Barcelona, but don't get to see what is going on behind the scenes. There's a lot that drives how we play one week or another depending on the available players, and a lot of these things happen so quickly that you just don't have time for the team to adjust properly before another game is upon them. Last season there were times when games were only a few days apart, so if there was a player out and we had to reorganise, we didn't have time at all to rework the system or to get the new player coming in to understand the system as well.
I hear fan criticism that I don't bring through young players too, but ask those who say that, who identified and worked with a young Viduka, a young Emerton, Jason Culina, Zdrillic, Milicic? And now with guys like Marko and others, I'm always looking to support and bring through young talent.
Robbie Middleby told the Herald in May that the Jets were in the hunt for an overseas Marquee striker, but now we hear that's not the case. Which is it?
We'll just have to see. What we don't want happening is the squad being disrupted by the expectation of someone new coming in. We want peace and tranquillity and we want the team to learn how to play together cohesively, as the squad is now. If someone new comes along, then great, but we're not going to bank on it.
There are still fans out there wishing for a Joel Griffiths return (say, January). Is there any likelihood of that happening? What about Frannie Jeffers?
(Smiles) Never say never! But seriously, yes, of course we've been in touch with Joel Griffiths, we've been talking to him. As well, Ryan talks to him regularly so we'll just see how that pans out. We'd obviously like him to play for us.
Previously in the papers, you've mentioned there are three phases to your pre-season. Can you tell us what they are?
The first phase is fitness. The players didn't come off a good base last season and we wanted to improve that. You can only play certain kinds of football if you have the fitness to do it. With the squad last year, some players just didn't have that fitness so we had to alter the play depending on the players. People have criticised me for Sasho Petrovski not being played more often but he didn't have the full game fitness or to play certain kinds of game. If you look at Brisbane, they have a lot of young, athletic players and so they can play that fast passing game for 90 minutes.
Also in the first phase is also mental toughness and discipline, taking players outside their comfort zone and keeping them there so they develop mental strength. For example, getting them to do things they're not used to, like 6:30am starts for training, for 8 sessions a week. That just builds up a discipline and strength.
Phase two is getting the structure right in the formation, building discipline on the field and the players learning the system and how to best play within it.
The third phase is building up intensity, with small sided games, and by playing competitive games against local teams. We're at that stage now and we'll go on to playing against some Premier league sides down in Sydney as well.
Now what about you personally as a coach? Which do you prefer? Guardiola or Jose Mourinho?
Somewhere in between. You see, Guardiola has all these things handed to him on a plate, extremely good players, facilities, but we don't have that luxury, we have to adapt to the circumstances and sometimes that means being more pragmatic and dropping back when we lose possession rather than always playing a very pressing game.
But as a coach, I hope people know that I like to play creative, attacking football with a lot of goals. We won the Premiership in 1997 with Sydney United with an average of 3 goals per game, so we're looking to bring an exciting attacking game that fans can enjoy.
Can you tell me about the Nathan Tinkler revolution and your long term tenure at the club? That's a pretty extraordinary deal for a football coach isn't it...?
(TO BE CONTINUED...)
