Perth Glory’s Midfield Conundrum
This has been a talking point amongst quite a few Glory fans, especially since the last few games and possibly going as far back as the 2020/21 season.
In the initial games, the team demonstrated proficiency in a few key phases — effective pressing leading to turnovers, well-constructed patterns of play, and a decent accumulation of expected goals (xG).
However, it is crucial to acknowledge the need for improvement in specific areas. Many, myself included, believe that the Glory’s midfield demands a critical analysis for both the short and long term.
As Glory members and fans, we’ve been privileged to witness stellar midfield partnerships in recent years, exemplified by the likes of Rostyn Griffiths and Nebojša Marinković, György Sándor and Krisztián Vadócz, and more recently, the successful duo from the Premiership-winning squad, Juande and Neil Kilkenny.
Since that incredible season, the Glory has yet to formulate a midfield pairing (or three) possessing the relevant skills and attributes to dominate the midfield. The aforementioned partnerships, such as Juande and Neil Kilkenny, exhibited exceptional synergy, resulting in a well-balanced midfield.
For instance, during the 2018/19 season, Juande specialised as a defensively-oriented midfielder, complementing Kilkenny’s role in dictating the tempo and orchestrating proceedings from deeper positions.
Thus far this season, Alen Stajcic has predominantly deployed a midfield duo of Oli Bozanic and Gio Colli within his 4–4–2 system.
Now, is it fair to say it’s been working so far? Well, it depends on how you analyse the effectiveness of a midfield’s functionality.
If we want to be quite generalised with what markers we could use, I’ve devised these two key areas to measure the effectiveness of a midfield;
- Offensive Contributions: A strong midfield should excel in ball retention, with accurate and penetrative passing to control the game’s tempo and dictate play.
- Defensive Contributions: A solid midfield must be adept at winning duels, contributing defensively and repelling transitions, providing a solid foundation for the team.
If fans were to cast their minds back to those midfield partnerships from before, it’s fair to say that all of them were effective in those key areas mentioned, which ultimately provided balance to the team.
Now, it’s important to note that at the time of writing, the midfield stocks for Alen Stajcic and his coaches to use to devise an effective midfield pairing have been incredibly limited.
At one stage, centre-back Jacob Muir was involved in a midfield partnership with Gio Colli against the Western Sydney Wanderers, in what really exemplified a few major concerns with how the club’s midfield has been assembled over the years.
So as mentioned before, the most commonly utilised midfield pair by Alen Stajcic during the A-League season and at times during the pre-season has been Colli and Bozanic.
The two midfielders are deployed as ‘6s’ or deeper midfielders.
Stajcic has spoken about how he’s concerned particularly with positions taken up by players, and it’s a common rotation to see Oli Bozanic, for example, drop either in between or on the outside of the centre-backs with Gio Colli pushing a bit further up to receive.
Now, what I will say is that in the initial two games, it’s fair to say our midfield was not too bad.
In fact in the Jets game in particular, it’s fair to say both Colli and Bozanic grew as the game went on, where Glory mostly controlled the game.
However, since then, it’s clear that the connection between the midfield and the attack just hasn’t been there and this has been highlighted by the passing networks from the last two games.
Below is the passing network against the Western Sydney Wanderers.
And here is the more recent passing network from the game against the Brisbane Roar.
In both of those games, the Glory lost and had less of the ball (44% against the Wanderers and 34% against the Roar).
Now possession, or more specifically the ability to keep and retain the ball, has seen our midfielders come under scrutiny a fair bit this season.
Ball retention has been, at least in my view, an issue for the Glory.
This was raised by a journalist from the West Australian, Ben Smith, to Alen Stajcic ahead of the upcoming clash against Sydney FC.
Smith essentially asked whether it was by design for the team to play without the ball for large periods due to the potential threat in transition or if the lack of possession was a concern for the Glory coach.
Below is Stajcic’s response.
His response in fairness was valid, as ultimately ‘effective’ possession is far more of a valuable stat than possession for the sake of it.
My interpretation is slightly different. One of my concerns is that at this moment, we are unable to effectively use the ball to create those ‘critical acts of play’.
Ball retention has been an issue, mainly with the whole team to be honest, as there have been countless times where possession has been gifted away and our rest-defence probably hasn’t been secure enough to repel potential transitions.
Oli Bozanic, while he has been Glory’s most influential midfielder in terms of progressive play, has been susceptible to giving the ball away and teams pouncing.
Bozhidar Kraev’s winner against the Glory was the direct result of that, as Bozanic’s pass was under-hit and intercepted by Ben Old, which then caused the counterattack that led to Kraev’s goal.
Now in fairness to Bozanic, essentially he’s the only midfielder, who’s been available thus far, that has the quality and ability to dictate the tempo for the Glory.
His role isn’t much of a surprise either, especially when you analyse his numbers from when he was playing under Stajcic in that 20/21 season with the Central Coast Mariners.
As for Gio Colli, I feel that he is a decent midfielder but lacks in my opinion clear standout attributes that could take his game to the next level.
Colli, against the Wanderers, had the perfect opportunity to take the game by the scruff of the neck, as Bozanic was ruled out due to the loan agreement with the Wanderers.
Unfortunately, he struggled to really control the game and link the ball from the midfield to the attack, aside from the odd long ball over the top of the Wanderers’ backline.
Colli is a player I want more from. I want him to do more in the scope of showcasing what sort of range he has, and why he was particularly highly rated when he was in the Academy.
This goes to a broader problem in terms of our link-up play.
Stajcic mentioned in that same press conference that our xG numbers (per Opta) have shown we’re on the right path and he’s right.
Currently, the Glory are ranked fifth in expected goals scored, while their defence has given up the least expected goals conceded.
But, the last few games have seen teams accumulate a greater xG while the Glory haven’t been as potent in front of goal.
This is partly due to our midfield. I’ve already touched on the defensive end, however going forward, the Glory’s midfield could not effectively penetrate the lines and link up with the forward players.
We’re yet to see multiple instances in games where the ball is fizzed into the feet of the forward players, where combination play can then occur.
We’re yet to see the midfield dominate a battle between other team’s midfields, whether it be a physical or technical one.
In short, neither Bozanic nor Colli have imposed themselves on games enough, to dictate and control proceedings.
Now, could it possibly be that a reason why both Colli and Bozanic in the last few games haven’t been as effective is due to their role in the system?
It could be.
Let’s look at things from a defensive perspective. Both Colli and Bozanic I would say have good stamina, however, they both lack sprinting power, in my opinion.
In short, our midfield can get cut open way too easily and we then can’t recover quickly.
Take the away loss to Wellington. Refer to the below example from the game.
A couple of things to note.
One, how the fullback, Lukas Kelly-Heald, gets past Colli and two, that big gap in the midfield.
This led to a great opportunity for the Phoenix, with Bozhidar Kraev receiving the ball in the box.
Bozanic was unable to catch the Bulgarian forward, as Kraev was unlucky to see his shot smash off the post.
It’s moments like these in particular, transitions, whether it’s a counterattack or an artificial transition — basically a counterattack situation that’s created when in possession, where the Glory’s midfield gets exposed and often can’t recover.
The lack of protection that our midfield doesn’t provide for our back four, particularly when the Glory aren’t in a deep block, concerns me.
So going back to those two markers I spoke about at the beginning when it comes to judging a midfield’s effectiveness, concerning their offensive and defensive responsibilities, is the Glory’s midfield particularly effective at this moment in time?
Well, in my view, the answer is it could be better.
I think when you break it down very simply, the current set-up isn’t getting the best results because our midfield struggles to retain the ball under pressure, dictate the play, link up effectively with the attackers and protect the defence in transition moments.
So what could be a possible solution for at least the short term?
For me, it’s changing the system, just slightly.
By trade, Oli Bozanic and Gio Colli are primarily 8s — central midfielders who ideally like to go forward. For me, shackling them both to a double pivot will not get the best out of them, offensively and defensively.
Changing the midfield composition by bringing in a defensive midfielder, namely Luke Bodnar, in my view could be a huge move and potentially a game-changer for Alen Stajcic and the Glory.
Bringing in a proper CDM could improve the Glory’s effectiveness in several ways.
Bodnar, in particular, is an extremely versatile midfielder with a relatively high ceiling in the context of the A-League.
He can read the game well, defensively he’s sound and his passing is improving as the games come.
Bodnar particularly excelled in the prior two seasons in the defensive midfield role, whether it was in a midfield three or a double pivot.
Deploying Bodnar for example as the holding midfielder, could allow the likes of Bozanic and Colli or maybe even Mustafa Amini or Aaron McEneff the licence to get forward and link with Adam Taggart, who’s often looked quite isolated the last few games.
For me, the front-two system is somewhat ineffective as no one in particular, at least in my view, during the pre-season or so far in the A-League season has stood out in that second striker role.
By allowing for Taggart to play as a central striker, with a bit more freedom to move and roam, could be a masterstroke of a decision from Stajcic, as the 30-year-old’s link-up play is of a very high level.
Having Bodnar as a holding midfielder could also assist in rest-defence moments.
He could act as that destroyer type of defensive midfielder, where he breaks up the play and then finds one of the advanced central midfielders.
This one change, in terms of structure and personnel, could see the Glory be much more effective, in terms of offensive capabilities and defensive solidity, two key phases of the game a midfield must be proficient in.
The Glory need to have a much more productive midfield, which will ultimately lead to a more secure backline and a more potent frontline.
This isn’t me having a go at Stajcic’s tactics/personnel, far from it, as I sympathise with how the current situation is for him.
I just feel it’s certainly worth a try to experiment with different shapes and personnel, to see what we can do to become a much more effective and ruthless team.
Looking long-term, for me when new owners hopefully arrive at some point this season, I feel the midfield needs to be properly analysed and examined.
The big questions need to be, what type of midfield do we want to compose? What profiles specifically are we looking for, to best satisfy the system? Are these players the ones that will get us closer to winning silverware?
These are just my personal questions, however, I imagine those sorts of thoughts are echoed by a fair few fans.
