Summary of Perth Glory’s First Five Games
So we’re five games into the new season and heading into the World Cup break that won’t see the Perth Glory play again until mid-December, it’s essential to reflect on this start.
Going into the 2022/23 season, there was a sense of optimism but also the reality that the club needed to change things and improve given how monumentally poor the prior campaign was.
Fast forward to today and things are far from ideal for the Glory.
We’re back in 12th place. A sight that’s far too familiar to Glory fans, given how raw the memories from last season are.
The phrase “rebuild” has been used extensively for a long time now at Perth Glory and while I’m on board with this current project headed by Ruben Zadkovich, I can understand the members and fans’ frustration towards the club’s performance this season and more broadly over the last few years.
For a club that by in large in recent memory has competed for the finals and played an entertaining brand of football, to see the Glory in its current state is a harrowing sight.
Since the 2011/12 season, Perth Glory didn’t make the finals on only 5 occasions, where one of those seasons involved the Salary Cap scandal which saw the Glory, who initially finished 3rd based on the points achieved, kicked out of the finals series.
What’s more concerning is that we’ve not made the finals in the last two seasons and we’ve seemingly regressed ever since that famous 2018/19 season where we won the premiership.
Now it’s clear that we’re not where we want to be. I get that.
I also get that the club will want to ensure we as fans understand that we’re going through a long process of rebuilding this club and it will take time.
But leading into the game against Western United, which will be our first home game of the season at Macedonia Park, there must be clear and honest reflections of how we’ve started these first five games.
Now, I can sympathise to an extent when it comes to the reality that it wasn’t easy for the players given we had our first five games away from home.
Clearly, there would’ve been factors like the time difference, mental fatigue, accumulative loading and many of the new players not adjusting to this process that could’ve played a part in our poor performances.
However, we’ve said since day one that we want to be a no-excuses club. We can’t exactly be using it as an excuse now when we addressed this in the pre-season.
“It’s out of our control and not worth spending mental, physical and emotional energy on,” said Ruben Zadkovich in an interview with the West Australian.
“We’ll play wherever and we’ll go about our business as best we can.”
The harsh reality is, we’re in really poor positions from a statistical, tactical and you could argue personnel perspective heading into this World Cup break.
Those who have followed my work will definitely know by now, I’ve always been a big fan of incorporating the available data when possible along with my general observations to formulate conclusions.
For instance, utilising a data source like FotMob allows me to not only see how we are progressing but also how we stack up against our competitors.
Sadly for the Glory, the numbers paint a pretty poor picture.
Let’s firstly analyse our offensive play, which seriously needed to improve from last season given how we were the worst team in the competition in this area.
We’re still the worst team in the A-League when it comes to our attacking play.
The Glory are ranked in 12th place in several attacking statistics, including:
- Goals per Game (0.8)
- Expected Goals or xG (4.2)
- Big Chances Created (1)
- Big Chances Missed (2)
Are there any potential explanators behind this? I firmly believe so.
One issue I have been highly critical of for a large period of this season has been our crossing.
Despite having strikers who are more than capable of getting on the end of crosses, the likes of Ben Azubel, David Williams, Luke Ivanovic and formerly Bruno Fornaroli, the production line to the forwards has been woeful.
Right now, the Glory is ranked 11th for Accurate Crosses per Game (2.2) but last for Cross-Success (13.3%).
This has been a concern for the last three years, as in the 2020/21 season the Glory was ranked last for both Accurate Crosses per Game (3.1) and Cross-Success (16.7%) and also in the 2021/22 season, 2.5 and 18.5% respectively.
The simple reality is, we’re incapable of creating effective chances from wide positions. This is a stark contrast from how well we did perform a few years ago when we were one of the best in the competition for this area.
Take the 2016/17 season as an example. An entertaining season, where if we were a little more structured defensively we could’ve had a home final but nonetheless we made the semi-finals.
Only Sydney FC (55), the premiers and the champions for that season, scored more goals than Perth Glory, who notched up 53 goals scored.
That’s an average of 1.9 goals scored per game.
When it comes to the crossing, we were excellent. We averaged 6.1 Accurate Crosses per Game with a Cross-Success percentage of 30%.
Ask any A-League fan and they would tell you, the Glory were one of the best teams going forward, particularly during that season.
Defensively, look, as I’ve said since Round One, we’ve looked like a much better unit that’s well-organised and by in large has been difficult to break down.
In terms of interceptions per game, we’re 4th in the competition (11.2) which is a decent effort.
However, from there the evidence to show that we’ve been struggling is very clear to see.
As a team, we’re ranked 5th in the A-League for xG conceded (8.6) and 8th for Goals Conceded per Game (2.0).
Now in fairness, those numbers have been inflated to a point following the 4–0 demolition against Melbourne City.
But what can’t be denied is that through our lack of productivity in possession and in turn up front, our defence has often been overwhelmed and crumbled.
So this leads me to the penultimate issue that the Glory have to rectify during the World Cup break.
Our structures and processes when we are in possession are really poor.
I did a piece on the A-League Wrap-Up where I analysed the Glory’s 4–0 loss away to Melbourne City.
Now first and foremost, City were elite. The manner in which they moved the ball through the thirds, their intense pressing and counter-pressing, as well as some of the goals they scored were just outstanding.
But it was clear that the Glory on several occasions played into City’s hands. Not adopting good positions on or off the ball, not identifying the space correctly, not exploiting areas with speed or precision, and being careless in possession.
You’re never going to make the finals or win championships, let alone win games of football if these issues are prevalent in your team.
Too often we’re passive on the ball, flat structurally and we either don’t know how or we’re incapable of drawing in the pressure and creating the space or angle to exploit space.
These are fundamental issues that have got to be rectified and I feel that if they are, then the Glory can kick-start their season.
We are a decent team that has got players of great pedigree and quality. I think just structurally we’re letting ourselves down.
So just back on the idea of creating the space or the angle to exploit the space, this concept requires two elements that we need to work on.
One being the players positioning themselves into areas that will unbalance the opposition’s organisation, and two the players having the confidence and ability to play penetrative, line-breaking passes under pressure.
A couple of examples where we could have done things a little better, in my view.
Firstly, take a look at this instance here of Aaron McEneff on the ball.
A key area to notice is the area in behind the winger Sam Silvera, who’s passively occupying space.
Ideally, Ryan Williams, who was the right wing-back during this game, notices that one McEneff has the ball in a dangerous area in Zone 14 (the most dangerous area in terms of chance or goal creation in the game), two there is space in behind and three there is an angle where a pass could be played.
Instead, Williams has positioned himself in this area.
Creating triangles in football is an essential objective if you want to keep possession, but the proximity of Williams to the other players means there is little likelihood of the opposition stretching their lines or a goal-scoring opportunity being created.
The following action resulted in Mitch Oxborrow having to go backwards, causing the Glory to lose territory and the potential goal-scoring opportunity has gone.
An instance where a goal-scoring opportunity was created where the two ideas were used together was seen away to Adelaide United.
Notice Aaron McEneff in this example positioned in between the lines.
What I liked about this move, was that first McEneff was found very quickly and second he got to receive on the turn and move into a dangerous area.
Now the phase of play resulted in Isaías getting a yellow card following his crunching tackle on the Irishman, but it just shows when the Glory are a bit braver in possession, teams panic.
The game against Melbourne City did show a well-coordinated press from Patrick Kisnorbo’s side but there were aspects of the press where the Glory could’ve broken it and then exploited the space on the counterattack.
Take this example below as Mark Beevers was on the ball in this situation.
Glory switched their system from a 3–4–3 to a 4–2–3–1, and one of the key attributes of the latter system is that the natural positioning of the wide players allows for excellent preconditions for a counterattack.
Melbourne City had committed 7 players in our half, two were out of picture. Luke Bodnar as you can see was positioned all by himself.
There was space in behind for the likes of Ryan Williams, who is exceptionally quick, to exploit.
Instead, the ball went back to the goalkeeper, mostly due to Beevers not being too comfortable on the ball.
Small areas are hurting the Glory on a large scale. Our defensive capabilities shouldn’t really be questioned, despite some of the data points suggesting we are one of the worst teams in the competition in that regard.
It’s mostly our offensive dynamics that need work. Ensuring we can better position ourselves on and off the ball, have more cohesion and a greater understanding depending on the geographical location of the ball and the opposition will go a long way.
From a more basic viewpoint, we just need to move the ball quicker and the players have to be more intelligent on and off the ball.
Like I’ve said in a number of pieces, this World Cup break could not have come at a better time.
If we can work on our principles of play when we’re in possession, I’m sure we’ll see clear and vast improvement.
This team is capable of making the finals, but only if we can fix those issues in the coming weeks.
