My wannabe football manager imagination went into overdrive tonight and I came up with a theory that I believe explains two great questions in the A-League.
The style of the A-League is completely different in the early rounds and the later rounds due to the drastic change in temperatures around Australia
1) The amount of goals scored in games. We all know that the start of the season saw many cagey draws, low scoring, and counterattacking football. Something strange happened in December and the goals started flowing. We had rounds with 20 goals in 4 games.
I believe this is due to the seasonal change.
The competition starts in what was a pretty chilly winter, where players can last a lot longer through the match, running back to pack their defence, and running forward to close down the opposition. Players don't get so tired, and find it easier to keep to their position or cover for another player. Players aren't being caught out or making mistakes. Defences are tighter and more organised. Midfields have much less time and space to work in. This explains the results at the start of this season.
Come summertime, and it's been pretty hot since it arrived, players get worn out and get caught out more easily. More importantly, there is more time and space for midfielders to use the ball, playing the passes they like. Goals goals goals!
John Aloisi said in the Full90 that the style of the league here was different to most of the overseas ones in that it was slower. This wasn't down to the ability of the players or the style of coaching, he said, it was just that it was hotter because we play in summer and therefore the intensity couldn't be as high.
2) Which brings us to the answer of the question we all want to know - what the f**k happened to our season?
What happened is that our success in earlier games came from our effectiveness in closing down the opposition. We didn't always do the prettiest things with the ball, but our effort defending from the front ensured that our opposition could always do less. Throw in a good % of chances taken and that's where we did well. Since it got too hot to play that well we've conceded goals and struggled.
Look at Griffiths' goal last night - the defender has all day to bring the ball forward, wait while Griffiths times his run and then play the pass exactly how he likes. Earlier this season that defender would have had a player AT LEAST pressuring him and making the pass too difficult to hit perfectly. We might have even forced them to go back to their keeper and that's another little % victory to us.
So the solution: if the opposition has time and space to play the passes they want, and we have defenders who aren't the quickest, we need to play deeper. We need to learn to be patient, absorb a bit of pressure and take the sting out of the game at various times. We attack so impatiently that the front 5 get tired out instantly. We haven't scored the late goals that we always used to because they are too buggered by the end!
Otherwise do what the other teams in the top 3 do - play more than 4 in midfield so the space can be closed down effectively without so much effort.
Also - starting Matty S will help us because of his defensive workrate. It takes the heat off the midfield.
The style of the A-League is completely different in the early rounds and the later rounds due to the drastic change in temperatures around Australia
1) The amount of goals scored in games. We all know that the start of the season saw many cagey draws, low scoring, and counterattacking football. Something strange happened in December and the goals started flowing. We had rounds with 20 goals in 4 games.
I believe this is due to the seasonal change.
The competition starts in what was a pretty chilly winter, where players can last a lot longer through the match, running back to pack their defence, and running forward to close down the opposition. Players don't get so tired, and find it easier to keep to their position or cover for another player. Players aren't being caught out or making mistakes. Defences are tighter and more organised. Midfields have much less time and space to work in. This explains the results at the start of this season.
Come summertime, and it's been pretty hot since it arrived, players get worn out and get caught out more easily. More importantly, there is more time and space for midfielders to use the ball, playing the passes they like. Goals goals goals!
John Aloisi said in the Full90 that the style of the league here was different to most of the overseas ones in that it was slower. This wasn't down to the ability of the players or the style of coaching, he said, it was just that it was hotter because we play in summer and therefore the intensity couldn't be as high.
2) Which brings us to the answer of the question we all want to know - what the f**k happened to our season?
What happened is that our success in earlier games came from our effectiveness in closing down the opposition. We didn't always do the prettiest things with the ball, but our effort defending from the front ensured that our opposition could always do less. Throw in a good % of chances taken and that's where we did well. Since it got too hot to play that well we've conceded goals and struggled.
Look at Griffiths' goal last night - the defender has all day to bring the ball forward, wait while Griffiths times his run and then play the pass exactly how he likes. Earlier this season that defender would have had a player AT LEAST pressuring him and making the pass too difficult to hit perfectly. We might have even forced them to go back to their keeper and that's another little % victory to us.
So the solution: if the opposition has time and space to play the passes they want, and we have defenders who aren't the quickest, we need to play deeper. We need to learn to be patient, absorb a bit of pressure and take the sting out of the game at various times. We attack so impatiently that the front 5 get tired out instantly. We haven't scored the late goals that we always used to because they are too buggered by the end!
Otherwise do what the other teams in the top 3 do - play more than 4 in midfield so the space can be closed down effectively without so much effort.
Also - starting Matty S will help us because of his defensive workrate. It takes the heat off the midfield.
