Detailed Breakdown Of Perth Glory’s Comeback Win Against Macarthur

It was Perth Glory’s second win of the season, the first since the third round but it was an incredibly important three points for Alen Stajcic’s side.

I reviewed the game on the Far Post Perth, but here I can go into a little more detail about just how the Glory turned the game around, particularly in the second half.

So in the first half, the Glory started reasonably well. One thing to note was that in possession, the rotations were quite interesting.

So Macarthur defended in a 4–4–2 mid to low block, where the front two at times were quite passive, where the objective was to win the ball out wide.

The Glory kept the ball better in this game due to at times improved movement ahead of the ball carrier.

From the above image, there were a few similarities from previous games; Bozanic dropping deep, Colli pushing a little higher, and Aleksandar Šušnjar staying a little more reserved.

The peculiar aspect was the freedom given to Stefan Colakovski, who started as a striker next to Adam Taggart but was allowed to drift and roam to find little pockets of space.

At times, Colakovski found himself next to the two centre-backs.

The players’ ability to rotate and move around made it a lot easier for ball security around the halfway line, as Macarthur’s front two pressure was often thwarted rather easily.

It was clear that there was the intention to use Macarthur’s narrow defensive structure against them, as Giordano Colli was a lot more productive in midfield, where he would often complete a diagonal switch to Aleksandar Šušnjar, who would from time to time advance from left-back.

As seen from the image, Colli was about to switch the ball to Šušnjar, which forced Macarthur winger Raphael Borges Rodrigues to drop back, to almost create a back five.

The link-up play for the Glory was at times hit and miss, whether it was due to passive movements, players occupying the same zone or a misplaced pass.

One of the drawbacks of having an attacking line of 5 or 6 players, is that at times you can find players bunching up and this can be seen below with the positioning of both Salim Khelifi and Stefan Colakovski.

Fortunately, Khelifi was able to move and receive, but it’s just small details in the Glory’s structure that are perhaps preventing them from being more potent in their attacking third.

I’ll praise Giordano Colli quite a fair bit in this piece, because he was in my eyes the man of the match.

Down the Glory’s right-hand side, they had the most joy. Colli’s evolution as a midfielder has seen his repertoire improve drastically over the years, as his link-up play was pretty impressive.

Glory’s transition game was also much better in this game than in prior games as well, as the understanding between the front four improved.

It had to as well, as this game was particularly open, with many sequences just going from end to end.

Because of the open nature of the game, at times the Glory were able to find the wingers in between the lines frequently.

For example, Luke Ivanovic’s movement was good in this game, as he would drift into areas where he could receive and that pass would be able to take out two or three Macathur defenders.

Now, Ivanovic has some very good qualities in terms of his workrate and movement, it’s just some of his decisions on the ball can hinder him.

When you break down, for example, his dribbling style in terms of biomechanics, it can be summarised as a discernible lack of ball control that manifests in imprecise touches, which somewhat hinders his agility and fluidity in directional changes despite his impressive acceleration and sprinting power.

This combination results in somewhat of an unorthodox dribbling style.

In simple terms, his execution of a few core skills, not just his dribbling but at times his passes and shots, can be quite inconsistent which at times disrupts the flow of an attack.

To fix it, it could quite simply be him gaining more confidence, as Alen Stajcic mentioned in the press conference, there could be some anxiety he may have experienced, not just at Glory but over his career due to coaches not fully backing him.

I will give Ivanovic some praise later on, as despite my critiques in a few areas, he did overall have a much better performance.

The Bulls really got into the game from the 15th minute, or so, onwards.

When you have really good technical players in your team like Clayton Lewis, Danny De Silva and Ulises Dávila, the ability to create good quality chances is made much easier.

Lewis with his passing, De Silva with his direct dribbling and Dávila with his movement in tandem with each other makes it extremely difficult to defend against.

Dávila was a particular nuisance because of his movement. His ability to position himself on the blindside of the Glory players gave him and the Bulls an advantage, whenever they’d go forward.

This situation was a transitional moment, however, Dávila often was able to receive in between the lines and then accelerate at speed. His close control and low centre of gravity made defending against him a real challenge.

The Glory were very close to going 1–0 ahead in the 22nd minute, following some clever link-up play involving Giordano Colli, Luke Ivanovic and Johnny Koutroumbis.

Ivanovic found Colli, who then laid the ball off to Koutroumbis who had taken a position infield. His clever chop went straight into the path of Colli, whose driven shot cannoned off the post. A well-crafted passage of play that deserved a goal.

Yet it was Macarthur who took the lead, somewhat against the run of play.

Following a corner, the ball broke out to Raphael Borges Rodrigues, who linked well with Danny De Silva, and after a clever exchange, slipped the ball through to Matt Millar, who was just too quick for Mark Beevers, as his shot went past Cook like a rocket.

Despite going a goal down, the Glory continued to press quite high in their 4–4–2 man-oriented shape.

This pressing structure is very much high risk, high reward.

If the Glory can cause a turnover, perfect, as they can transition quite quickly and then create a goalscoring opportunity.

If not, and this has been the problem the last few weeks, it causes the midfield to get carved open, almost akin to the Red Sea.

The Glory continued to have joy down their right-hand side, where Johnny Koutroumbis was a constant threat.

This wasn’t a surprise, as the stats showed it but also, due to Aleksandar Šušnjar not being blessed with immense speed, it sort of forced the Glory’s hand.

Alen Stajcic’s side continued to chip away at Macarthur, slowly building momentum, until the 42nd minute when Jacob Muir failed to deal with a long ball.

While it didn’t directly lead to the goal, it allowed the Bulls to gain field position and not long after, Matt Millar fizzed the ball across the goal which then led to French striker Valère Germain sliding the ball home.

The second half came and there was without a doubt more intensity on the Glory’s end. More energy and a greater desire to get forward, quickly.

Glory found the goal they had been searching for just a few minutes in, and a lot of credit had to go to Stefan Colakovski and Gio Colli.

Colakovski had the vision to find Šušnjar, who had made the run forward, started the sequence, and then Colli’s tidy link-up play not long after to find Salim Khelifi was brilliant, where all the Tunisian had to do was finish and with the aid of a deflection, the Glory were back in the game.

The second half saw the Glory’s pressing structure really catch Macarthur out a few times, as they were unable to generate any rhythm or momentum whatsoever.

I would say that the Glory created their stronger side with their pressing shape much better, as the prior exit routes to the midfielders weren’t as viable for the ball carrier.

One area of the Glory’s transition play, that I have largely praised throughout the season, that could do with some refinement are the decisions made at the crunch time.

Referring to the image below, the Glory had a really good position with their transition — one that was created from a throw-in.

Luke Ivanovic unfortunately got the pass wrong, but he’s not alone in this area. There have been times when Salim Khelifi, Stefan Colakovski or Johnny Koutroumbis to name a few, have also got the pass wrong. Just a bit of cleaner execution and polish we’re missing at times.

Another slight issue from this game that has been a problem since matchday one is the rest-defence. What this term means, for those who aren’t aware, is the positions occupied by players when in possession to provide protection and cover from counterattacks.

This example below is not a good example of a team’s solid rest-defence.

Because of how the Glory play, it would be more optimal if the midfielders played with more discipline, given how gung-ho we can be going forward. The situation resulted in a counterattack, a 4v3.

These are situations that have to be controlled better, so if that means making the two central midfielders more reserved or changing the structure to add a third midfielder to allow both Bozanic and Colli to get forward, experimentation would be ideal, to say the least.

When Mustafa Amini came on, the midfield had a better complexion — simply due to Amini being quite adept at winning the ball back.

Glory continued to build momentum, and were definitely at their best with space to attack. Luke Ivanovic got into some great positions and was really unlucky not to come away from the game with at least two goals to his name.

He fortunately got off the mark in the 65th minute, as he managed to poke home Gio Colli’s corner. A well-deserved moment for a player who had been searching for his first goal for the club for some time.

From there the Glory turned the notch up. Mustafa Amini was integral to this, as he quickened the tempo with his passing.

He’s a player who wants to receive and then go, either a quick pass or a driving run with the ball.

Below is an example of where we can see the product of a few of the key qualities of both Amini and the team, in general, coming into play.

Amini received the ball from Jacob Muir, as he dropped in to create the back three. After that, he quickly got the ball to Johnny Koutroumbis and that led to space being available for the players, and numbers got forward quickly.

Unfortunately, the cross was below par, but the lead-up play to that moment was good.

The game continued to be end to end, with the Glory slightly controlling possession more — at this point, Macarthur were more happy to sit off.

The Glory did struggle to penetrate centrally on a number of times, but when they could, that’s when the speed of the attacks could come into fruition.

A good example of this is seen in the below still, involving Adam Taggart.

Mark Beevers found Taggart, who rolled his man and then quickly punched the ball out to Bruce Kamau.

Unfortunately, Colakovski’s effort was dealt with, but that’s an example of Glory’s positive approach play when a few key mechanisms are in play.

As the game went closer to the 90th-minute mark, the fatigue became more evident with the Macarthur players, who were struggling to deal with the end-to-end nature of the game.

Adam Taggart’s ability to judge an aerial ball and bring it down for his teammates is really impressive for someone of his stature.

He created a few really good opportunities for both Bruce Kamau and Jarrod Carluccio, where unfortunately neither were converted.

Not long after the Carluccio miss, David Williams was the hero.

Now Jacob Muir, who had that error for the second Macarthur goal, I thought showed some promise on the ball.

His line-breaking passes were massive, as he had the confidence and the ability to punch passes in between the lines, to progress the play and it was because of his pass to Adam Taggart that David Williams could make the run in behind.

As Taggart flicked the ball cleverly first time, Williams was able to get ahead of Jonathan Aspropotamitis who then fired across goal to give the Glory the lead.

That goal was the product of how quickly the Glory could attack and what a goal it was.

From there, the Glory battened down the hatches and actually managed the game quite well. Often they went to the corner and in others they just kept the ball very well.

Despite a few scares, Alen Stajcic’s side managed to get a much-needed three points to lift them off the foot of the ladder.

Summary

So below are my key takeaways from the game:

Importance of the Win:

• Perth Glory secured their second win of the season, a crucial three points that lifted them off the bottom of the ladder.

First-Half Analysis:

• Glory started well with interesting rotations in possession.
• Macarthur defended in a 4–4–2 mid to low block, with a passive front two aiming to win the ball wide.
• Glory’s ball security improved with clever movements and rotations, exploiting Macarthur’s narrow defensive structure.

Giordano Colli’s Influence:

• Colli’s evolution in midfield showcased impressive link-up play, contributing significantly to the Glory’s improved attacking success.

Luke Ivanovic’s Performance:

• Ivanovic’s movement created opportunities, but his inconsistent execution of core skills impacted the flow of attacks. A decent performance overall.

Macarthur’s Response:

• Macarthur’s technical players, including Lewis, De Silva, and Dávila, posed numerous challenges with their passing, dribbling, and movement, disrupting the Glory’s defensive organisation.

Glory’s Transition Improvement:

• Glory’s transition game improved, with a better understanding among the front four, exploiting the open nature of the game to find the wingers between the lines.

Critical Moments and Goals:

• Goals from Khelifi, Ivanovic, and Williams showcased Glory’s ability to turn the game around.
• Defensive lapses, rest-defense issues, and refined decision-making in transition were highlighted for improvement.

Mustafa Amini’s Impact:

• Amini’s introduction quickened the tempo, enhancing the Glory’s attacking play and contributing to a more dynamic pressing structure.

Late-game Fatigue and Heroic Finish:

• Macarthur struggled with fatigue as the Glory controlled possession. Taggart’s aerial ability and Williams’ decisive goal were some of the critical actions that led to the win.

Game Management:

• Glory managed the game well in the closing stages, securing a much-needed victory under Alen Stajcic’s guidance.