Analysis: Brazil 6-0 Australia.by Kate Cohen.
"Australia’s 6-0 loss to a rampant Brazil side came just nine months out from the 2014 World Cup. The nature of the performance worried and angered fans, some of whom have been calling for coach Holger Osieck’s removal for 12 months.
Teams
Late injuries to Hulk and Dani Alves did little to reduce the quality that oozed throughout Brazil’s 4-3-3. AS Roma’s Maicon filled in at right back, whilst another of Brazil’s attacking talents Bernard started on the right wing. Without Oscar, who usually plays as the Number 10, Brazil’s midfield triangle was flipped, with Luis Gustavo the deepest of the three.
Australia also had two notable absentees in Tim Cahill and Luke Wilkshire, replaced in the starting line up by Josh Kennedy and Ryan McGowan respectively. Holger Osieck continued with Matt McKay playing out of position, in the absence of a recognised left back in the 22 man squad.
Matt McKay at Left Back
As I prefaced in my ‘Five Things we’ve Learnt’ for the Guardian, if it wasn’t already clear, it is now glaringly obvious that Matt McKay isn’t a left back. This game, and in particular the opening 35 minutes, was demonstration of how top quality teams ruthlessly exploiting their opponent’s weakest links.
And whilst not all the blame for Brazil’s right-side attacking dominance can be passed solely onto McKay (he wasn’t helped, particularly by Sasa Ognenovski, Tommy Oar and co.), the way in which Brazil exposed him was a key in the early failings of the match.
Brazil’s movement patterns, both ball movements and off-the-ball movements, exaggerated Australia’s weakness at left back – with Bernard moving to isolate McKay in wide areas.
Brazil’s movement patterns to expose Australia’s left side
Example 1
Bernard’s movement dragged McKay (circled), towards the sideline. Ognenovksi did not slide, leaving a large gap between himself and McKay. With a lack of pressure applied to the ball carrier (Holman failed to close down Gustavo), a pass was played in behind for the run of Jo, who had the beating of Ognenovski for pace.
McKay, in this situation, read the situation and recovered his positioning and intercepted the pass. However, as will be discussed further below, Australia was unable to keep the ball for long spells.
After exactly six seconds (the golden rule of pressing), possession was lost and Brazil attacked again – again down Australia’s left, and again exposing McKay.
McKay was again dragged towards the sideline but worryingly, the rest of Australia’s back four (circled) didn’t slide across to close down the space for Brazil to work in. Ognenovski’s central positioning, as demonstrated by the red line, meant that when Brazil played a simple one-two (between Ramires and Bernard), Ramires could burst in behind Australia’s defence. This move nearly resulted in a goal for Brazil, and will be further touched on below.
Example 2
McKay was again dragged wide. As with the previous examples, Ognenovski’s failure to slide across and support McKay meant Maicon could play a pass into the path of Ramires’s burst. As with the first example, McKay read the situation well and intercepted the pass to win back possession. Unfortunately for Australia, they lost possession after exactly six seconds and Brazil scored their first goal as a result.
Example 3 – Brazil’s Second Goal
For Brazil’s second goal, McKay was again isolated. After Brazil won back possession, exactly (and perhaps ironically) six seconds after they had lost it, Maicon was able to move forward. McKay’s slight hesitance, unsure whether to close the ball or track the run of Bernard, meant he was in no-mans-land and Brazil strolled to a 2-0 lead.
This passage of play became the ninth occasion of McKay being targetted and exposed in the first 33 minutes. His teammates gave him minimal support, Ognenovski in particular, but it was clear that Brazil had looked to expose Australia’s weak spot.
On the other flank, Ryan McGowan (also out of position) was given the unwanted task of marking Neymar. With Neymar’s ability and McKay’s isolation on the left, Brazil dominated down both flanks.
Brazil’s Pressure Exposes Australia’s Deficiencies
“When you don’t play the ball accurate from defence and you give them away easily and the other team, like Brazil, they press and that is what we have to work on and to learn to play the ball under high pressure.” – Holger Osieck, post-match
Brazil, as expected, hogged the ball for large spells, and whenever possession was lost, they pressed immediately with incredible intensity. This exposed Australia’s inability to play through the pressure – i.e. keeping possession for long enough, normally 6-8 seconds, after which the opposition’s pressing intensity generally drops. This meant many spells of Australian possession were short, and resulted in giving the ball back to Brazil.
As Osieck and his players noted, possession was lost too easily. And whilst Lucas Neill declared them often to be “unforced errors”, Brazil’s pressing intensity perhaps made them ‘forced’.
All three first half goals came as a direct result of possession being lost under pressure.
Goal 1
Six seconds after Australia won back possession, Brazil won the ball back and went on to score. McKay’s pass (after he had intercepted a pass to win the ball back) put Kennedy under pressure, from both directions. David Luiz regained possession for Brazil and passed to Neymar who (circled) was in a position to take on McGowan 1v1.
Goal 2 (as discussed above)
Goal 3
Australia lost possession in the black circled area after pressure was applied to Robbie Kruse. Neymar exploited Australia’s high line (which was incredibly staggered) and was too fast for any recovering defenders.
Sasa Ognenovski
As highlighted above, Ognenovski’s reluctance to slide towards McKay as the ball moved into wide areas played a large part in Brazil’s ability to get in behind Australia time and time again. Ognenovski, 34, on top of his poor positioning, was sluggish and too slow to react when the ball did get in behind the defence.
This resulted in Jo, and later Pato, exposing his lack of sharpness with darts to the front post. At every opportunity, Brazil’s strikers made a front post run and Ognenovski was often the player who was left wanting. His inability to match them for pace/reaction meant they successfully moved across, and in front of him, to reach the ball first at the front post.
Example 1
In the 5th minute (the example discussed previously), a Ramires burst from midfield exposed the gigantic space between McKay and Ognenovski. As the cross from Ramires was fizzed across the 6-yard box, Jo made a front post run, getting in front of Ognenovski. It nearly resulted in a goal, and at this stage of the match, already, Australia could have already been 2-0 down (after already having nearly conceded in the 3rd minute)
Example 2 – Brazil’s Fifth Goal
The fifth goal was a similar story, but this time substitute Pato was the player getting in front of Ognenovski, and Brazil scored. Despite there being issues with the lead up play, which saw Lucas Neill get dragged out of position, Ognenovski was again exposed by a near post run. Pato got in front of Ognenovski and, in that area of the box, only an incredible Schwarzer save would have prevented a goal. As it was, Schwarzer couldn’t keep out the shot and Brazil went 5-0 up.
What does this tell us?
A loss to Brazil isn’t unfathomable, in fact it was expected. Some have said the result is a ‘wake up call’ for the Socceroos. I would like to counter that notion – this was not a wake up call, rather a culmination of poor performance after poor performance where Australia’s objective (to qualify for the World Cup) was unspectacularly achieved.
In the last 12 months, excluding East Asian Cup matches (as the qualifying and tournament predominately involved second and third string players), Australia has put in poor performances against Jordan (away, loss), Iraq (away, win), Romania (away, loss) and Oman (home, draw).
These poor performances were seemingly forgotten by most, as a courageous defensive performance against Japan, a thrashing of Jordan and an 84th minute winner against a severely understrength Iraq side saw Australia achieve their objective.
The grumbles and groans, after this result, are now howls. Something has to change.
Australia will go to the World Cup and compete against the very best international teams in the world and, at the very least, one world class opponent like Brazil. As John Kosmina hinted to in Fox Sports’ post-match coverage, Australia’s greatest fear – being embarrassed on the world stage, might be realised.
If nothing changes, THAT will be the true wake up call ".
http://leopoldmethod.com.au/analysis-brazil-6-0-australia/Edited by Damo Baresi: 11/9/2013 04:48:41 PM