I only went for Steve Armstrong…

 The veteran entertainer and fan favourite was invited back as Perth attempted to celebrate 15 years of Glory, and for a brief few minutes he rewound the clock alongside Glory Gorilla to remind us of the old NSL days of high class entertainment both on and off the field. Then it was back to reality as Ian Ferguson sent his boys out onto the field and lined them up in a 4-4-2 that featured Jacob Burns and Adam Hughes in centre midfield with creative central midfielder Liam Miller on the right wing. Yes Glory fans, it looked like a long night ahead – and these fears were further compounded by a first half that featured hoofball, isolated wingers, and a Sydney goal on the stroke of half-time.

While the first half had presented some scattered opportunities for Perth with Mehmet, Miller, and Smeltz all having fairly tame shots saved, Sydney didn’t look particularly troubled. Most Perth attacks came from a ‘hoof’ through the centre of the park, or through Andrezinho and Miller on the flanks – players who tried hard but were gradually nullified as the half went on and Sydney worked out the wings were Perth’s only source of creativity going forward. It was clear that something needed to change at the break; and when Perth walked out and the second half began, it was equally clear that nothing had.

But then something odd happened – somewhere around the 56th minute, Ian Ferguson made a tactical substitution that turned the game on its head. Travis Dodd replaced Josh Risdon, who had struggled with Nicky Carle earlier in the night, and Brazilian winger Andrezinho was perhaps unlucky in being dragged for Mile Sterjovski. The result was, initially at least, a bit of a mess as players slowly adjusted to the formation the coaching staff wanted them to play. At one point, Liam Miller was at right back doing defensive duties and it seemed that we had yet another reason to roast the Perth coach. But to give credit where it’s due the players reorganised into a 3-5-2 with Dodd and Sterjovski on the wings, and most importantly Liam Miller in the centre of midfield.

The result was a kind of football we haven’t seen at nib stadium for years. Miller provided passes all over the place and started running into channels and beating defenders. Smeltz began to latch onto through-balls and break past the last man, drawing saves from Liam Reddy who was excellent on the night to keep Sydney in it. Dodd and Sterjovski showed good touch for the most part and had a part in building up some excellent attacks on the Sydney goal. Even Adam Hughes looked somewhat revitalised and was desperately unlucky to miss with an absolute screamer from outside the box, only able to rattle the crossbar and upright. With the Glory playing in such an improved brand of football in the second half, and the crowd being drawn into the match more and more, the question must surely be asked as to why Ian Ferguson’s side didn’t start the game with the same amount of verve and energy?

At the post-match press conference Ferguson labelled the second half performance “outstanding” and praised Sterjovski and Dodd for coming out and playing as they did after not making the starting eleven. He also justifiably praised Chris Coyne, who was a rock in defence and even contributed to a few attacks going forward. When asked about his side’s first half performance though, Ferguson responded that he didn’t think Sydney caused the Glory any problems, the goal excepted. Furthermore, he stated that on the whole if we keep playing at the same level as that match, the club would do well on the road against Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar.

Unfortunately, for this author at least, I think Fergie’s missing a few things – or at the very least, glossing them over. Glory may well have played a very good brand of football in the second half, as entertaining as any I’ve seen them play in the A-League, but the first half was abysmal. Ferguson may be right in saying that Sydney did not trouble Perth too much – but Glory troubled Sydney even less. What’s more, if you didn’t know the game was being played at Perth, a neutral would struggle to identify Perth as the home team given the way they lined up on the field in the first half. With a central midfield pairing of Hughes and Burns attempting to contain the likes of Antonis and Carle, it almost seemed like the Glory were content to earn the draw despite being the home team in the night’s contest.

Ferguson’s “she’ll be right” attitude towards the Melbourne and Brisbane games is therefore somewhat worrying, because if Perth were unsuccessful in containing a team on their own turf, how will they possibly hope to do so away from home, especially against a team like Brisbane who have so far proved far superior to teams like Newcastle and Central Coast – both of whom the Glory lost to on their travels recently. It should be clear to the coaching staff by now that the first step to rectifying this situation is placing Liam Miller in the centre of the park, where he is harder for defenders to isolate or double-team in the tight spaces that are common along the sideline. Pushing Miller to the centre leaves the wings for players like Dodd, Sterjovski, and Andrezinho who all showed on Saturday that they have the ability to cause problems for opposition defences, especially when the Irish playmaker is sitting in the middle ready to feed or receive (that said, I’m not sure that our Brazilian winger should be trying any more mid-air volleys given his effort late in the first half).

The Glory manager’s chief concern about playing Miller in the centre may just be that it weakens the defensive capabilities of his team in the middle of the park. That’s fair enough – there’s no doubt that the likes of Hughes and Burns are going to tackle and scrap in a far more effective manner than the Irishman. But the strategy of throwing him out wide in a 4-4-2 is clearly leaving the team without any attacking impetus up its spine, and this was displayed in the first half on Saturday with a series of long balls up the middle to the heads of Billy Mehmet and Shane Smeltz. With two very tough away games coming up, the Glory will need to strike a balance between nullifying the opposition and still creating opportunities for themselves – something they struggled with during the first half against Sydney.

To do this, I feel that the best route available to Ferguson would be to bring Miller into a central attacking midfield position in a 4-2-3-1, lining up similar to the following:

Andrezinho------Miller------Sterjovski

------------Burns------McGarry----------

I’ve opted for Steven McGarry as I feel his passing and link play is superior to Adam Hughes, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Ferguson stick with a player he moved Miller out wide for in the first place. On the bench I would expect to see one of McGarry and Hughes, as well as Todd Howarth (left sided cover for midfield and defence) and Billy Mehmet (as much as I like the big man’s effort, I feel Smeltz more likely to break away from defenders on a Miller through-ball). Whilst a 3-5-2 might be an interesting option to look at when playing at home, the extra defender should definitely be played away from nib stadium – especially against teams like Brisbane who tend to play with three attackers half the time anyway.

It’s interesting to note that the 4-2-3-1 was trialled and trained on early in pre-season, yet from what we’ve seen of the Glory so far this year the focus has been 4-4-2 with the occasional move to a 4-3-3. The latter saw Miller in a more central position, but did seem an odd choice considering that a) we were away from home and b) Travis Dodd didn’t quite seem to fit the formation up front. Seeing as the players should be familiar with the formation, and we’re desperate to get a bit more creativity just behind our star striker, moving to this formation for the next two games at least seems a straightforward decision.

Still, I’m not on the Glory coaching staff, so we’ll just have to see how the team lines up next time against the Victory. One thing’s for sure though; how Liam Miller is used will go a long way towards deciding which of Saturday night’s Glory teams turns up, and just how far they will go in terms of the league table in A-League season 2011/2012.