Finally back in England and settled, I opened the laptop Sunday morning in anticipation of another good game from the new-and-improved Perth Glory.
That’s right - this isn’t the old A-League Glory who play in fits and starts, show promise but never deliver, and are coached by a man whose one tactical masterstroke is to scratch his stubbly chin now and then - this is the real thing, a return to the good old days of attacking football and players who put in the proverbial 110 per cent for the shirt every game.
Or is it?
Sunday was a horrible game to watch for a Glory fan. Not so much because we lost - every team loses once in a while, no matter how good they are - but because of how we lost.
Just about every single player looked like they were off with the fairies. We didn’t fight hard enough for the 50/50 balls - and when we did fight, we did it without thinking.
Jacob Burns is a hard man, fair enough - but he’s normally tough but fair. He’ll pick up a yellow now and then and he’ll certainly leave a mark on you, but it’s not that level of Kevin Muscat or Danny Tiatto thuggery that sees someone throwing in double-footed challenges or giving you a stealthy elbow to the head.
On Sunday however, Jacob should have been sent off, probably twice over. Not because of a straight red, but because of a bunch of undisciplined challenges that should, I say should, have earned him a collection of yellows you could wallpaper a small room with.
Thank god then that a completely incompetent display from Matthew Breeze stopped that from happening. That’s not to say there weren’t a couple of Gold Coast players mighty lucky to have ‘no-card’ Breeze running the show too; but Jacob, you’re better than that. You’re our captain for god’s sake. You screen, mark, and tackle hard - but you do it in a way that’s an example to the rest of the lads. Normally, you’re a fine player. On Sunday, you were arguably our worst.
Then there was the defence. Jamie Coyne, Naum Sekulovski, and Scotty Neville lost their men about a hundred times between them, great if you’re ploughing forward, not so good if you’re defending a corner.
Tando Velaphi, for all his critics, had a decent game on the weekend and essentially stopped us from losing by more. But you can’t possibly stop everything going in if your defenders think standing 5 metres away from their assigned man is going to nullify his attacking threat!
Jamie Harnwell was solid, but at the same time it’s clear his lack of pace is something every team will try and exploit going forward. ‘Sir’ Andy Todd cannot return to the back four soon enough... sort them out, Andy!
Then we’ve got the midfield. Oh, the midfield. We pushed and we prodded and we kept getting to the box and then... oh dear, a Gold Coast player - whatever do I do? I know, let’s just pass it to him, or perhaps one of his teammates! What were we thinking? Yes, the bus was parked beautifully in the second half, but it doesn’t mean you can’t walk around it!
So time and time again we would try high crosses into the box, in the hope that Mile Sterjovski or Robbie Fowler could somehow out-muscle three men each and score. That didn’t work (obviously) and so Jamie Harnwell was thrown forward. Okay, so he’s a little bit bigger - but still, crossing to a situation where it’s two or three of our guys against six of theirs probably won’t work. I haven’t even talked about the “accuracy” of those crosses either.
Up front, Mile Sterjovski had a poor game. Along with Burns, he’s supposed to be a leader in this team. So did he make blazing runs into the box? Did he use his guile to draw two men then thread a great through-ball? Did he unleash a Exocet missile from outside the area? No. Despite his well-known ability to do all these things, Mile seemed to think that the best strategy was to... well, fall over. Not diving so much - just going down when a man was running with him or grabbing hold of his shirt. Works sometimes, but here’s a hint - if you do it all game, the ref - even those with the intellect of a pygmy marmoset - will kind of get the gist of what you’re doing, and not give you a damn thing in return.
So Mile fell over for a bit, meanwhile poor Robbie Fowler is completely isolated thanks to teammates passing to the opposition and his strike partner looking like a giraffe on rollerskates. He made a couple of beautiful passes and had some nice touches, but he was ultimately ineffective. Which isn’t surprising when you’re one of a handful of players actually trying on the day.
Right, so that’s the players covered in this little rant - what about the coaching staff?
After watching the first half, I thought two things. One - I need more coffee, because this is making me sleepy. Two - David Mitchell is going to take these boys into the rooms, tell them that was a disgrace, and they’ll come out firing in the second half. He’ll probably also make some changes to shuffle things up a bit. So, second half the lads run out and I’m thinking “Okay, here we go - we’re going to get out and- WHAT THE !@$!# WAS THAT!?”
Something like 30 seconds into the second half, the Glory had given away a free kick on the edge of the Gold Coast box. Seriously - it looked like they had decided to give Miron Bleiberg’s team the points on a plate. “Let’s get this over with early lads, and maybe nice Mr Breeze will blow the whistle a few minutes early. We’ll get a cuppa tea after”. Whatever Mitchell and co. had said had absolutely no effect. If anything, it just made the team more slack. Mitchell finally made a correct move by subbing on Andy Todd - but the decision to throw the already-tired Jamie Harnwell up front was questionable at best, especially given the success our ‘cross at all costs’ tactic was having already.
Branko Jelic and Anthony Skorich were introduced far too late into the contest - and Gold Coast knew by this stage that all they had to do was soak up some pressure, look to counter now and then, and the Glory would panic once the ball was out of their half.
There was no patient build-up with a killer through-ball from Fowler; there was no gut-busting run to create space from the wingers, fullbacks, or strikers; and frankly, there just seemed to be no interest in winning the game.
At the 85 minute mark, when Mitchell should have been up on the sideline screaming instructions at his players, the television cameras showed him stroking his stubbly chin with a blank look on his face. “Hmm... should I have the chicken for dinner tonight? Maybe the mince... I’m not sure how long it’ll keep...”
After the match, Mitchell said his players weren’t at the races and that they’d just have to put it down as an ‘off day’. What? Dave, it is your job to make sure the players are at those very races! If they’re looking complacent before a match, you need to bloody well let them know that’s not acceptable. If they’ve had a bad half, tell them to pick up their act! Motivation, discipline, whatever - this is what you’re employed to do, and answers like “just put it down to bad luck” or “must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed” just don’t cut the proverbial mustard!
You might think this blog a little ranty. Frankly, it is. But my frustration is warranted - the performance we saw on Sunday was the performance of a Perth Glory team from three years ago. Disjointed, dispirited, and disgusting. I’ve seen beer league teams play with more pride and effort. If this really is going to be the year that the Glory step it up a notch and start trying to earn a place among the A-League’s heavyweights, they need to stop regressing back to their old habits. Those old habits need to die - and their death needs to be swift and painless.
To relapse now would be to risk all the gains we have seen so far this year - crowds over 10,000 on a regular basis, renewed media interest, and the feeling that Perth Glory is no longer the town’s sporting basket case. We cannot allow this to happen.
I fully expect we shall lose further games this year - but never again do I want to see such an inept performance from players and staff. If we do, heads must roll. Tony Sage has invested so much money - and the fans have invested so much patience - that 2010/2011 cannot afford to be a season of mediocrity.
In the meantime, I shall go forward by telling myself that the team will wake up and we’ll be back to our winning ways soon enough. The rant this week is a knee-jerk reaction, the result of pent-up frustration and the inability to be singing and drinking at games each and every week. It is by no means a reflection of an imbalanced squad and an under-par coaching staff. We are, after all, still second on the ladder and scoring well. She’ll be right, mate!
By the time our next few home games roll around, this will all be an overreaction.
...Right?
