The previous fortnight has seen this column examine the strengths and weaknesses of the Perth Glory squad from defence to midfield. In this final instalment of a three-part series, we’ll examine the potency of the Perth Glory attack as it stood last season and how things are shaping up in 2010/2011.
Statistics can, at the best of times, be misleading. But one thing that holds true is that a goalscoring striker is a priceless commodity for a football team – why else would we celebrate the most prolific amongst us with a golden piece of footwear? Perth’s winner of this coveted metallic boot was none other than former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler, whose nine goals last year placed him equal eighth on the goalscoring charts for the league. Not a bad return, one would think.
Unfortunately, whilst nine goals is nice for Fowler, it doesn’t necessarily mean great things for the Glory overall. For a start the leading goalscorer in the A-League, Sergio Van Dijk, booted seventeen goals just by himself. That is more than Perth’s three leading scorers – Fowler, Mile Sterjovski (5), and Branko Jelic (2) combined. What’s more, two pairs of the seven players above Fowler in the scoring charts come from the same team; Kwasnik and Simon from the Central Coast Mariners, and Solorzano and Barbarouses from title winners the Brisbane Roar. The output of their top two strikers, along with those of Adelaide, both Melbournes, Wellington, Sydney, and Gold Coast United, was superior to the two best forwards at the Glory – leaving just Newcastle and North Queensland fighting it out for mediocrity behind Perth.
If it is your kind of thing, you can point the finger at a number of people. First up we have Mile Sterjovski, our second best striker (apparently) and scorer of just five goals. To put that in perspective, Branko Jelic started six games and scored two goals; Sterjovski started in twenty. Of course, you could just as easily blame the coaching staff – David Mitchell and Ian Ferguson were, after all, the ones who kept trying to put Mile in an advanced central position when he should really be playing on the right wing. And what about the midfielders who are supposed to be creating opportunities for those in front of them?
In any case, it doesn’t matter. It’s time to put the blame game to rest for the moment, because arguably our best forward signing since Damian Mori has come to restore some venom to the pointy end of our play – Shane Edward Smeltz. 21 goals for Wellington over two seasons, 22 for Gold Coast United in a season and a bit. If he makes it 23 for Perth Glory in the same sort of time frame, he’ll be very well received indeed. But just what does Smeltz bring to the table that Glory don’t already have? Well, let’s take a look at the options:
Mile Sterjovski (AMR/ST)
Jesse Makarounas (AM RLC / ST)
Branko Jelic (ST)
Robbie Fowler (ST)
Adam Taggart (ST)
Sterjovski, as we have discussed in the past, should be a premium player at this level but simply hasn’t performed. Robbie Fowler is one of our better performers and has a great eye and a poacher’s instincts, but he is too slow and surely now in his last season. Branko Jelic is in much the same boat, without the Liverpool fanfare; and Adam Taggart is a youngster with a bit about him – but he’s still very raw. As you would imagine is Jesse Makarounas. All are very good at one or two things – but none can claim to be anything like the complete forward that Smeltz is. He’s aggressive (Tando Velaphi and Neil Young can certainly attest to this), is at the peak of his powers and fitness, and eats A-League defenders for breakfast. Best of all for the Glory though, he doesn’t necessarily require a lot of service from midfield, even if some of his Gold Coast exploits came with the help of a very good midfield. That’ll be of some relief to Glory’s master tacticians, then.
But simply pushing Smeltz out onto the park and saying “score” won’t win the Glory titles – or even games. They have to work out a way of fitting him into their overall structure; and find someone to score and/or provide alongside him. In recent years, this has been an obvious sticking point for the coaching staff – finding two forwards that can work together as a coherent unit. At various times, Perth fans have seen Sterjovski/Fowler, Sterjovski/Jelic, Fowler/Jelic, Fowler/Skorich… the list goes on. All tried with precious little success. In fact, you have to go back a few years to the unlikely combo of Eugene Dadi and Nikita Rukavytsya to find a striking duo which both got into double figures (scoring twenty between them). Will Fowler/Smeltz be able to live up to the same high standards?
One must also wonder just how Fowler himself will be used by Ian Ferguson this year. You can’t question his eye for goal, but you must doubt whether he has the pace or stamina to stand up to a full season of A-League games. I’ll admit I was impressed by how many minutes he managed to play last year – 2,197 in total – but you really must question how many times a substitute with fresh legs could have made a difference towards the end of a game. The worry for Perth fans is that owner Tony Sage and the coaching staff he employs may feel a temptation to play their big names, Smeltz and Fowler, as a striking duo regardless of whether this is the best solution to the team’s problems. There was certainly plenty of evidence for this under the David Mitchell reign; no matter how they played, certain players like Jamie Coyne, Jacob Burns, Mile Sterjovski and Robbie Fowler would get a game week in, week out.
Still, Ian Ferguson has promised that he’ll be his own man; so perhaps it’s best to give him the benefit of the doubt. At least until a goalless Sterjovski isn’t being dropped after 15 games…
Shane Smeltz certainly adds much-needed bite to the Glory attack. But one injury could put the club back to square one, so the biggest question will be around Ian Ferguson’s ability to build a formation and make the big tactical decisions on gameday. That really, if nothing else, is what we can take out of these past three articles. After years of underachievement due to poor squads, finances, fixtures, and god knows what else, it is clear for all to see that the past few seasons have only been limited by the ability of the Perth Glory coaching staff and the decisions they make. Surely now even Tony Sage must be aware of that fact – and thus it’s down to Ian Ferguson to make sure the club turns the corner and finally achieves what they’ve promised to fans for so long.
If he doesn’t – well, it’s his head on the line.
