The game against Perth was kind of painful. Not even haircut jokes could lift my spirits. And it was spirits of the other kind that were necessary to appease Blackmac and others.
There were two major reasons why the Jets failed against Perth Glory. The first was the decision to play a defensive 4-2-3-1 and hope for the nil-all draw. The second was the lacklustre performance. OK, three reasons. Perth played better and with more verve. At the end of the game I felt probably like Branko did - pretty shirty.
Gone was the strong pressing that the Jets had employed in the previous two games. For the first 20 minutes, the Jets stood off Perth, and Perth obliged by keeping the ball and passing it around to each other. What a novel idea. Passing from the Jets was wayward and they struggled to keep possession. Zadkovich and Wehrmann played a very disruptive game in defensive midfield and it seemed to be keeping Perth at bay.
The game evened out somewhat in the second half of the first half and both sides were reduced to long-range shots which failed to make any mark. Perth were tying to break into the Jets box by flopping long crosses over and it really wasn't working. That was until someone decided to watch the ball floating over rather than defend it, leading to a cracking volley from Howarth. The rebound goal, when it did come, after a fine reflex save from Kennedy, was from the same area of the body that saw Harry Kewell red carded at the World Cup. So how do you defend against that kind of luck? The answer is that you don't allow the chance to occur in the first place.
But it's not all gloom and doom. Perth is a tough away trip and *on paper* Glory have a strong team (although I still think they'll fall away from the top two places as the season progresses and other teams find their feet). Now this is no real excuse, but it is also a hell of a long way to Perth. I travelled there last year for a week and felt groggy and jet-lagged for almost the entire trip. So I can imagine how it must feel to have to chase a ball around a field feeling like that.
And to come away from an away trip like that with only one somewhat contentious goal, is not bad. Oh, and to stop the delightful Robbie Fowler from scoring too. Not bad. But, there were weaknesses that need to be fixed.
Obviously losing Topor-Stanley in defence meant Ben Kantarovski had to move into that position. That then limits his ability to get forward and link with the forwards. He's also not as strong as Topor-Stanley in defence. Wehrmann played some weird long balls to no-one, in amongst some decent passes and gifted possession back to Perth. Not good.
Also, the Jets were using a cross-field tactic to move the ball rapidly from one side to a free-runner on the other side. This is a great tactic and will reap rewards if the ball is placed in the right spot and the runs well timed. It just didn't happen this time. On one occasion, around the 35th minute, Wheelhouse played a ball across to an on-rushing Jesic, but missed. Perhaps more time on the training pitch practising those moves is needed.
In the second half, Abbas came on for Wheelhouse and the formation changed. Unfortunately, the approach didn't change and Ljubo and others at the back were too slow to move the ball forwards when they won possession. Ljubo was also too slow getting back when the sprightly Jelic whipped past him and fortunately missed a gifted opportunity in front of an open goal. If Sterjovski hadn't come off with an injury in the first half, I think the game would have ended 0-0. Jelic was the pace injection and the niggle that Glory needed.
When Bridges came off around the 65th minute, Labinot Haliti came on but I wondered why. Bridges is the bright creative spark in that forward line and while Labi might run around all over the place, he's not likely to be the creator that you need to force a way through in that late stage of the game. In the end he skyed a shot at goal which had it been better directed, might have beat the keeper. Why is it in the A-League that players think they can get two points for a conversion over the post? Take a look at Frank Lampard - watch how he hits the ball just inches off the turf but with real venom. It's obviously not an easy skill to acquire but worth attempting.
Lastly, the goals. Where are they? The Jets look a lot more potent in the final third than they did this time last season but are still not banging them in. It's a concern. Will the Chinese striker provide extra impetus? Is the service from midfield good enough? What is the answer?
But despite all that, and Branko's best red walnut impersonation at the post-game interview, I still think they came away alright. Ruben Zadkovich has impressed on his return to the A-League. His first touches are very clean, his passes accurate and his energy seemingly endless.
The effort the Jets put into attacking Perth in the last five minutes was admirable, even if it was 10 minutes too late. In parts, the Jets managed to keep the ball well and play a composed game out from the back. Tarek looked very sharp on his return.
And Jesic's set-pieces are fantastic, both corners and free kicks. His free-kick that hit the cross-bar was hit with real pace, it cleared the wall and dipped when it needed to, just not quite enough unfortunately. But it was on target. It's moments like that that decide games.
And finally, mumbling cedit to the Perth and the Perth crowd. Mumble mumble, something else, mumble.
