I think part of the problem is trying to play Roly as the attacking mid. He's a great player with the ball at his feet, but he is terrible playing at AM where he is supposed to be the pivot point for transitions from attack into defense. His instinct is to try and turn his man, which is great when he pulls it off but in doing so closes down the entire field (including our two other midfielders) who are all now behind him, so he lacks options. If he can't turn he'll try to run laterally and all that does is compress space over one side of the pitch (and he's facing away from the other two midfielders again) where the ball is inevitably lost. Though this worked against Sydney who didn't close down the wide positions, Perth nullified the Nix out wide effectively - this is where almost all our recent goals had come from - and we had nothing.
Solution? Small tactical change, swap Roly and Arod. Arod was picking up the ball with miles of space in the midfield in front of him against Perth and was moving it on effectively, he looked good and it was bizarre to see him subbed. Despite looking good, I can imagine Roly picking up the ball deep, facing the way he wants to run and having acres of space to run into and do some magic. Riera would have to concentrate to cover Roly when he's making the runs, but he's a good enough player to do this. Arod would then be the pivot at the top of the midfield, he'd be receiving the ball with his back to goal, but I believe his instinct is to pass it on immediately, bringing the rest of the team into the game rather than turning and shutting them out.
