Macarthur vs Perth Glory: Tactical Analysis
Introduction
In what was ultimately a comfortable 2–0 victory for the home side, the Glory’s problems were confounded away to Macarthur. Perth came into this match winning one out of their previous five games, with two losses and two draws.
New German signing, Sebastian Langkamp looked impressive in stages but ultimately Perth were disappointing, registering five shots, with only two on target and not threatening Macarthur’s goal on many occasions.
Starting Lineups
Major Statistics
It was a super performance from the Bulls, who were emphatic in every major statistical department.
Macarthur’s emphatic first half
The home side were dominant when they had the ball, particularly in the first half. Not only did they have 59% possession, they scored twice in this half.
In the opening passages of the game, Macarthur looked deadly in transition
The Glory’s lack of defensive structure when in possession was often the killer, as in the sequence above, a large concentration of players were overloading their left hand side, leaving a large gap on the right.
Macarthur would often use their weak side wingback and winger to take advantage of this space, as shown above.
The dominance in possession from Macarthur forced the Glory to defend deep in a low 4–4–2 block, with Diego Castro and Bruno Fornaroli as the strikers.
Most of Macarthur’s best chances were created in wide positions and the movement of their wingbacks, particularly former Glory favourite, Ivan Franjic, was causing problems for Glory’s defenders.
His variation in movement, whether it was an inverted or overlapping run, would cause problems, particularly for young forward Ciaran Bramwell trying to track him.
The wing backs were crucial to Macarthur’s build up play, as holding the width would allow them space and time to drive up the line and cross the ball in. This played an important part in their first goal, as the passage of play began with the ball being laid off to Tommy Oar.
Geria’s lack of awareness was exploited by the wingbacks, as he often wouldn’t react in time to deal with balls to the wingbacks.
Oar then played the ball to Spanish midfielder Beñat Etxebarria, who for some reason was left all alone at the edge of the box. Following neither Kilkenny or Malik applying direct pressure to him, he was able to settle himself and play a delightful ball over the top to Ivan Franjic.
A simple run, yet the lack of communication within the Glory defenders was present, as Kosuke Ota had no time to react to Franjic’s run and it gave the wingback the opportunity to square the ball across with a header to Matt Derbyshire.
It can be argued that the concentration levels of the two Glory centre backs and the goalkeeper were at fault, however it was a beautiful passage from the home side.
Following on from the goal, Macarthur took control of the game. Most of the chances created were from wide areas, but to be fair, they were facilitated by some rather ordinary and passive defending from the away side.
There was one instance basically a minute after the goal, where LCB, Aleksandar Susnjar, powered through three Glory defenders, via sheer will and speed.
I mentioned earlier about Macarthur’s effectiveness in transition, and for their second goal, it worked a treat. Kilkenny tried a risky ball into Malik, who was under pressure. Malik lost the ball and Macarthur counterattacked against an undermanned Glory backline.
Markel Susaeta is a tricky player, and he was running at full pelt towards Sebastian Langkamp. The German caught the Spaniard following some clever ball work from the winger, in what was a controversial penalty call. Derbyshire scored, which was a reward for the excellent first half display.
Problems for the Perth Glory
Perth’s away form was criticized throughout the season, despite the fact that their games were often 2–3 days apart, and it showed, with fatigue and errors creeping in, unfortunately, from minute one.
Glory’s rest defence structure was invisible for a large period of the game. For those who don’t know what rest defence means, it’s basically the attacking team’s structure that ensures a good transition into counter-pressing and defending upon losing possession of the ball
Perth in their 4–4–2 system, would play an incredibly high line, despite the lack of pace and numbers at the back. Under the previous manager, Tony Popovic, the Glory would have a rest defence structure that is also used by Thomas Tuchel, the current Chelsea manager, in a 3–2 (the three centre backs and two midfielders).
The Glory on the other hand, would basically just leave the two centre backs. This was exposed by Macarthur, particularly on the second goal.
In possession, when building up play from a goal kick, there were major flaws experienced, particularly when the players were put under pressure by Macarthur defenders. Either their build up play would result in a long ball to an outnumbered Fornaroli, or a rushed pass.
The long balls were particularly ineffective, not only due to the target being 5’7 Bruno Fornaroli, but the fact that the team’s accuracy when using long balls was 37% compared to Macarthur’s 47%.
Even when they were looking to break down Macarthur’s 5–4–1 block, there would be limited options, due to the players not moving or moving into areas where they can’t influence the play.
Structurally when defending, there were overloads that were created due to the use of the 4–4–2 against a 3–4–3. There would often be occasions in the first half, when a player like Susaeta would drop into the halfspace to receive, in space, and turn. This problem was mostly created by one of the midfielders being too keen to press and thus leaving space for the player to turn.
Conclusion
This performance was disappointing, from a Perth Glory perspective, due to the lack of chances created as well as the defensive lapses in concentration. This also highlighted the lack of effectiveness from playing a 4–4–2 system, as many overloads were created due to the numerical disadvantage that is present between a 3–4–3 and a 4–4–2.
But on a more positive note, Macarthur played some terrific football against Perth. The link up play between Spaniards, Markel Susaeta and Beñat Etxebarria, was also outstanding.
