Stefan Mauk and Ross McCormack

In addition to the man-orientation and the compact block, there is another element of City’s defensive scheme which limits the access to centrally-positioned players. As was noted during the analysis of the recent Melbourne Derby, Mauk and McCormack play a vital role in dictating the direction of play from their higher positions.

In that game, Victory played with a single holding midfielder – Mark Milligan. Being a key proponent of their build-up play, Stefan Mauk was given a task to block his passing line at every opportunity.

This restricted the access to one of Victory’s most valuable players, with the two higher midfielders being closely marked by City’s two central midfielders. McCormack was responsible for pressing the ball carrier, with the angle of his movement cutting the line to the opposite centre-back.

City’s defensive approach against Melbourne Victory earlier this season.

In the match against Adelaide, Mauk and McCormack were given very similar roles. However, a slight change from the derby was required, as Adelaide played with two holding midfielders as opposed to one.

This subtle difference demanded a different approach, as it was not a realistic proposition to delegate the covering of two separate players to Mauk. As a result, Mauk picked up the closest holding midfielder to the ball, with McCormack angling his run in a manner which cut the passing line to the other deep midfielder.

McCormack and Mauk cooperating to limit access to Adelaide’s holding midfielders.

This cooperation limited access to the holding midfielders substantially, but allowed for clear passing lines between the centre-backs.

This generally wasn’t an issue, but sometimes resulted in one of the holding midfielders getting on the ball if Mauk had not been able to transition across in time.

In most cases however, this did not occur and play was progressed through the wide areas.

Going down to ten men

A real test of a defensive system is when the team goes a man down, allowing their opposition to establish numerical superiority with less collective movement.

It goes without saying that it is easier to defend with eleven players than it is to do so with ten, but City proved that it can still be done after Osama Malik was sent off at the hour mark.

Joyce chose to preserve the structural integrity of the midfield line, and withdrew Stefan Mauk from his higher position in order to do so.

City went down to ten men and Mauk dropped deeper.

Choosing to complement the midfield line meant that it was now improbable that access to both holding midfielders would be limited.

With Mauk now a part of the defensive block, McCormack was left to press the ball carrier and at the same time angle his run to cut the passing line of at least one of the Adelaide holding midfielders.

Invariably, the play would be switched to the opposite side of the field, which then allowed the introduction of a deeper midfielder to attack the defensive block and attempt to isolate players into 1v1 situations.

This led to McCormack dropping deeper to sit in front of the block and act as a screen to protect against overloads. Joyce’s decision to prioritise protection in midfield paid dividends, as Adelaide continued to struggle to break into central areas.

City’s +1 principle at work after going down to ten men.

The +1 principle is considered by some to be a necessary rule to establish the number of defenders in a certain area of the field, and is attributed to coaches such as Juan Manual Lillo and Marcelo Bielsa.

The theory goes deeper than this particular application, but it can be seen expressed in the highlighted area above. Chasing the game and 2-0 down, Marco Kurz changed to a formation which included an extra striker, attempting to equalise the numerical superiority City were benefitting from in front of goal.

Joyce saw this change and raised Kurz a five man defence, allowing for three centre-backs to sit tight against the two Adelaide strikers. In the end, this change from the Reds’ bench didn’t reap any rewards, with the three centre-backs proving to be of sufficient quality to handle the threat being posed.

Adelaide were perhaps better off leaving players in deeper positions to better capitalise on the extra man, and the move to two strikers seemed borne out of desperation than consideration. As in chess, simply moving your pieces to the front doesn’t guarantee success, and this idea certainly seemed to be proven here.

Conclusion

Adelaide United will perhaps feel hard done by to walk away from this match empty handed, having the best opportunities of the match as well as the majority of possession.

A resolute Melbourne City put on one of the best defensive displays of the A-League era, and look to be a better version of the Sydney FC team which broke so many records on the way to the championship last term.

Time will tell, but Warren Joyce looks to have transformed City into a well-oiled machine who are capable of beating anyone.

Nathan Muir is an Australian tactical analyst and coach. You can contact him on Facebook @NathanMuirFootball or on Twitter @NathanKMuir.