As impressive as this aspect of van Marjwick’s approach was, there was a critical flaw which cost his team goals. The combination and aggregate of runs between the onrushing attackers, pictured above, was not varied enough to effectively break down the Australian back three. Primarily, this was because they were making too similar runs, which allowed the defenders to make less decisions, leading to the threat being easier to defend against.
 
As Rogic was able to do so well in the lead up to Juric’s second goal, angling the run of the player with the ball into an area which is ambiguous to defend is the first step to breaking the chain of the defence. Generally, this can be described as an area between two players; against a back four, it is the half space, against a back three the space between centre-backs would be vulnerable. As an alternative, the player on the ball can isolate a defender by running into a space which was previously unprotected, drawing a defender with him.
 
Once this has been achieved, the runs of the players ahead of the ball must be varied in order to make it as difficult as possible for the defenders to track their movements. As a consequence, the defensive chain will be dragged into shapes which are not expected, which may lead to the creation of more goal-scoring opportunities.
Variation of runs and movement of the player on the ball towards ambiguous zones.

Conclusion

Overall, both teams attacked with fervour and the match saw many chances not converted. A dominant spell from Saudi Arabia made Australia look second best, which would have no doubt continued had Postecoglou not brought on the more attacking-minded Behich, who was able to disturb the build-up play of the Saudi’s much more effectively than Brad Smith. There is much more work to be done for Ange and the Socceroos, who will be encouraged by their second half performance but will be equally mindful of a nervous and erratic first period. Nevertheless, it will be seen as three valuable points, as confidence builds in terms of securing automatic qualification to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.