I'm a big Ernie fan but I was surprised by our set up and tactics in our Perth game. We played a very narrow game.....which is fine if its executed well. However it was often difficult to see what the tactics were when we were in the final third. Where was weemacs outlets when he went wide?. He was obviously told not to cross it and keep it on the deck. Weemac was outstanding at CCM wide in a diamond midfield....but he outlets in smart players like Flores as an outlet
I am surprised that Ernie does not see that in his 433 setup Brockie is the wrong sort of player for that system to work. He is a sort of "sit on the shoulder of the last defender and see what comes my way" sort of attacker. Brockie is too slow and drifts out of games too much....it hampers our attack. If your front guy in a 433 does not constantly moving and making runs and pulling defenders out of position and rotating the ball then the whole system grinds to a halt. Riera and Weemac put through some lovely through balls centrally but if your central guy is too static then its easy to defend against.
Burns showed what damage you can do if you really put yourself about. I thought his movement and tactical awareness was fantastic.
As I said I think Ernie is great but at some point but he seems to have blind spots...one of them is Brockie.....after working on him for a season and a half he still seems to think he can convert him to his style of play.
Ernies other blind spot is our defense......anyone can see they are past their use by date. Too old and too slow.....they will be our achilles heel again this season. Too high an error rate, often too slow to react, often too slow to move.
I don't think this team is too far away from being a very good team....all they need is a couple of recruits. An aggressive younger mobile CB beast and a quick agile goal scoring striker.....thats not too much to ask for is it??????
Oh! also our Euro mids need to hit the gym and start pumping iron.....because this is the A-League. We don't do this fancy tic tac European passing stuff. If you don't toughen up you will get monstered every weekend.....just like you were against Perth
Hit the nail on the head. Everyone on here seems to bag me whenever i suggest Boyd for Brockie, but what Boyd brings is more than just goals. He's Always moving, pulling defenders out of position, and trying to get involved.
Brockie is so bluddy static. Its unbelievable how often he marks himself by standing on the defender. Doesn't have the strength to hold them off, and lacks the mobility or tactical awareness to spin off them.
Defensive record speaks for itself. In the previous 2 seasons, 100 goals conceded. ONE HUNDRED. If that doesn't send serious alarm bells ringing i don't know what will. Our defensive shape hasn't looked solid in years. Defense will win games. Not two errors in your own half. Doyle should have cleared it at the first attempt, didn't, and one good cross later we're 1-0 down.
Fenton for Doyle was a good sub. However leaving Brockie on all game clearly failed. I can't remember one proper attempt on goal. For the one striker in a 433 at home, not good enough. He has no creative element so if he's not scoring, he's hurting the team. Bringing on Krishna on in the 90th minute was just tactically wrong. We'd lost control of the game, the lead and the midfield was shattered. How is he meant to make an impact?
I've said for years Lia is horrendous. He come on, and not even 10 minutes later, costs us the game. Poor pass backward toward Sigmund who miscontrolls and boom. Goal. He offers the Phoenix nothing going forward, or going back. Should never have made the pass in the first place. You've all said he's good, just not good enough to do Riera's job. Except, last season he did nothing even when Riera was in the team, except Riera was covering his ass.
Our team should have a combination of Boyd, Burns, McGlinchy, Roly (Provided that his poor first touches were down to nerves), RIERA, Rodriguez and Boxall. Brockie, Lia, and one of the centre backs need to go.