Warren Joyce seems to be an intelligent pick-up for City so far, with maximum points being taken from the first two matches, as well as an early implementation of a form of positional play.

Muscat’s problem: building up through the middle

Melbourne Victory are not a team short on talent by any stretch of the imagination. Many would argue that they have the best squad in the league on paper, with Socceroos James Troisi and Mark Milligan coming straight back into the starting line-up after having missed last weekend’s Big Blue due to national team duty.

Building up through central areas has been an important part of Victory’s strategy in possession for the last few seasons, who generally look to take advantage of the qualitative superiority that they usually enjoy. However, Joyce combated this by taking a defensive approach which has not been commonly seen in the A-League in the past, giving Stefan Mauk clear instructions to block the passing line to Mark Milligan as frequently as possible. 

City’s Stefan Mauk blocks the passing line to Mark Milligan during the build-up phase

As pictured above, Mauk restricts the ability of the Victory centre-backs to introduce Milligan during build-up, which has flow-on effects to the rest of the defensive system.

First, Ross McCormack is responsible for applying pressure on the ball carrier, with the closest winger acting as the second defender and closing down the relevant full-back. The opposite winger shifts medially to sit next to the free centre-back in order to remove the viability of a passing option.

In behind Mauk, the passing line of the ball-side midfielder is cut by one of the City holding midfielders, with the other man-marking the remaining Victory player on the inside of the pitch. The closest winger is marked by the respective full-back, with the only Victory players in space being the opposite winger and to a lesser extent the opposite full-back. As a direct result of this, Muscat’s options were reduced to a few possibilities:

  • Be forced to play into wide areas where Melbourne City possess numerical superiority from a defensive stand point; or,
  • Be forced to play long, direct balls to Besart Berisha or ask the wingers to enter into aerial battles; or,
  • Be forced to pass into central areas where the remaining two midfielders receive the ball under pressure, leading to a higher frequency of turnovers than is usually to be expected.

Overall, any of these outcomes reduce the rate of penetration via central areas significantly. Clearly, it would be in Melbourne Victory’s best interests to find a solution to this problem. So how did Kevin Muscat respond?