I totally disagree sorry. McGarry needs to be at DM, He's not involved enough at number 10. I don't like Cam Edwards at all really. I can't see what he offers. I thought Ryan Edwards had his best game so far, I saw him actually make a pass and a couple of decent runs. I'd give him a couple more games.

Funny dat.

That's what Fergie did with Glory's revival to make the GF two seasons back.

I would push McGarry to the #10 and then get O'Neill in to partner Burns.

But, not gonna happen as Edwards looks like he has his favourites (read "sons") and will keep on with the same set up until they feck up.

Mcgarry can be the most creative player on the field, he needs to be distributing between front 3 players. Especially with someone speedy like Mclaren.

Whilst I agree that McGarry has worked at 10 in the past, we totally lost control of the game when he moved to a rotating 10/9 against Sydney. He covers heaps of ground, breaks up attacks and doesn't turn it over too much.

I think it was the opposite EG. Once C Edwards and De Silva came on and we pushed McGarry up, we started playing the ball on the deck and actually retained some possession. I think if we'd left it as it was when ADP came on we would have got smashed... feeding Sydney all that possession by pumping up one long ball after another.

Cam Edwards has played two cameos late in the game and has looked tidy to me. R Edwards has worked hard and could be a great contributor but IMO he's not the creative number #10, more of a dynamic one.

Grats on 200 pages and 70k views thread.

When does William Gallas join the team?

Disclaimer...I have no idea what I'm talking about but I would try these maybe:

-------------V-----------------
Davies-Thwaite-Clisby--Jamieson
-------Burns---CEdwards
------------McGarry------------
------Nagai----------Sidnei
------------Maclaren----------


Get rid of Pant. Or stick with Edwards as number 10. Or when we have Gallas and Smeltz experiment with:

-------------V-----------------
Davies-Thwaite-Gallas--Jamieson
-------O.Niel--CEdwards/Burns--
-------Nagai---Sidnei----------
-------Maclaren--Smeltz-------


DeSilva probably subbed for Nagai, not sure about who else. I think Maclarren and Smeltz together at front would be good. Maclarren seems a little small and inexperienced to be a lone striker by himself but would be a shame to see him sidelined when Smeltz comes back. Maclaren would be good for faster balls through the channel maybe and Smeltz could supply the experience and height needed at front, which is needed considering a lot of our game is balls played from the wings

I think it was more to do with playing two attacking mids as wingers. How on earth was that meant to suddenly work out?



Someone needs to look at a map



What else is funny is that the we're two years into the future, McGarry is 2 years older and the team is 2 years different.

That's not a knock on McGarry it's just we have Ryan Edwards, Danny De Silva, Harry O'Brien and yes, McGarry who can play #10, heck even Nagai was central in Japan and occasionally last season.

This "OMG Daddy's playing his sons" stuff is crap, it's not a valid argument.

^^ truth.

i'm football at heart, scottish by birth, but arrived here in 1990 as a 10 year old and have passionately followed the wildcats ever since. The club did have some terrible moments financially etc only around a decade ago (less even?) but Jack came along, an awesome club manager/CEO. Wildcats have been the definition of a 'winning team' for basically 25 years straight... No blips, no awful seasons. FOR 25 YEARS STRAIGHT, (PerthGlory salute;) That's club identity right there, where it truly matters, in competition.

Maybe Tony Sage should give Nick Marvin a phone call.

Actually, not maybe.

Tony. Call Nick Marvin. Now.

TED has identified the problem but not the cause. I think you're closer to the reality, hotrod although still short of the mark.

The main problem at the moment is the gameplan and the two central mids.

Miller and Cordoba have left a hole in the DMC position, that's not where Ryan Edwards is playing but McGarry and Burns. The difference there in creativity is a gulf. They lack pace, they lack forward runs, they lack the skill to dominate the midfield. As such, we have two midfielders playing defensively when you need only one, if at all. Burns' type of playing (bruisig midfield defender) is becoming obsolete. Nowadays your traditional defensive mid is the passing architect and a midfield sweeper. Glory don't have this, we have two Burns'. Whilst McGarry might be good ad holding the ball up and laying it off up the pitch, alongside Burns he's ineffective.

If people wonder why Ryan Edwards hasn't got much of it or doesn't seem to be in the game, notice what Glory has been doing since the first game.

With McGarry and Burns playing so deep, between them and the centre-backs, we've been able to dominate possession there. The problem then is when the ball is sent upfield. It's sent direct to the wings (or further if counter-attack). Then Nagai or Sidnei are expected to beat their man and cross it in, with support from the full-backs if possible.

So they're crossing it in, and who are the targets? It ends up being Jamie Maclaren and Ryan Edwards. 177cm and 170cm tall respectively. Is it a wonder they're not getting on the end of a lot? I think from what they have connected with, they've done well. Not only that, Nagai has been woeful on his wing, so all the good attacking playing is reliant on Sidnei.

Not only that we're crossing into small forwards but look at their support. The striker and #10 are in the box, the opposite winger is on the opposite side on the edge - there's no midfield support because the two DMCs are hanging back leaving acres of space in the midfield which means that the opposition CBs can cover easily and the opposition defensive midfielders can outnumber in support. You look are all the other teams, and watch what makes Brisbane, Victory etc so dangerous going forward, is the men in support. Glory don't have that and when they do, it's too late that the opposition have more men behind the ball anyway negating them.

So if we're ignoring the #10, Ryan Edwards, in our main route to goal, just what is he doing? He's man marking the opposition's creative mid, from Sanchez in the game against Adelaide, to Carle against Sydney.

Now why is that happening? We already have a marking midfielder in Burns, why do we need one of our main creative positions, which should be the focal point of all our attacks, marking instead of playing?

It's mind-boggling, which is why I said the game-plan, the tactics from A. Edwards, is one of the main problems. When R.Edwards has gotten the ball, he's linked well with Maclaren, he clearly has a good touch and is industrious enough to run around, so I don't understand why Glory are playing like they are doing and it's a pity Ali Edwards isn't giving any insight apart from generic comments when he talks about the team.

Clearly this season Ali has changed things, realising he doesn't have the creative play that we had last season with Miller and Cordoba, perhaps he's trying to implement the same system (there's a lot more short passing between the def and mid now) but recognises the limitations in McGarry and Burns. It doesn't however explain the need to go back to a direct to wingers, cross to forwards strategy like we played last season under Fergie when we clearly have a forward line that can do so much more than that.

So I'm hoping we see some tactical progression throughout the season.

If Ali Edwards is going to persist with the 4-2-3-1, I'd like to see O'Neil and Cameron start instead of Burns and McGarry, actually back his philosophy of playing young west Australians. Does Burns as captain on the pitch make that much difference?

I don't think we should be playing youth for youth's sake - putting De Silva on the wing on the weekend was pointless as he was isolated, bullied, and frustrated by the end of the game. Burns and McGarry offer more than O'Neil and C.Edwards - but as ATE points out above, you don't need two centre mids sitting so deep, at least not at home anyway. By the end of the season I would want to see someone like C.Edwards/O'Neill/Clisby slowly phase into one of Burns/McGarry's position; as neither will be around for many years to come. For now though, we need to put a good team on the park as well as develop some youth (already playing R.Edwards, Maclaren, Risdon, Davies, De Silva, O'Neill... etc)

McGarry and Burns need to fix themselves up by having one come further up the field and link to the higher midfield line better, and I'd like to see that be McGarry.

On the second half tactical switch on the weekend, our midfield seemed to go from:


---- McGarry --- Burns ----
Sidnei --- R. Edwards --- Nagai
----------Maclaren----------

to essentially a 4-6-0

---- C. Edwards --- Burns ----
Sidnei --- McGarry --- Nagai
----------R. Edwards -------

and then to what seemed to be a 4-5-1

R. Edwards --- C.Edwards --- McGarry --- Burns --- De Silva
------------------------Smeltz-----------------------


That made for a very, very disjointed performance in my opinion. I thought McGarry had a good game overall and was still trying to supply Smeltzy at the end, but how confused is that midfield? Ryan and De Silva were so wide as to be completely isolated, they weren't going forward like Sidnei and Nagai do, and Shane was scratching his head a hell of a lot wondering what was going on behind him.

We really didn't have to do that IMHO - unless the condition of certain players was a lot worse than I thought.

Oh, and I notice all the 'Ali Edwards was behind the NC so why are Perth not playing it' brigade are out... FMD.

Developmental curriculum != competitive football.

I don't like Danny driving a lot of our attacks, and I expect us to get better, but if we play like that away from home and win 1-0 no fucks will be given by me that day.

Totally agree with everything you posted.

I did notice something odd in the second half, one incident where Vuka made a short pass up to Burns centrally, and Burns has turned, sized the situation up and put in a (bad) diagonal hoof. Vukovic's made a big arms thrown up gesture of frustration.

Might be some players having trouble breaking habits.

When Gallas starts playing, I think we should move either Thwaite or Pantelidis up to a defensive midfield and have McGarry playing behind the striker.

Not sure about that. I think when Gallas comes in I'd drop Panta to the bench; he's too combative in midfield for the liking of many an A-League ref... not to mention we already have Burns there, and McGarry is a better passer than Pants. Thwaite is currently our best CB by a country mile and I wouldn't want to move him as a result.

When Gallas joins us and Davies gets more confident I think it would be easier to sit burns in DM
Push Mcgarry up to CM and help R Edwards hold the ball in the middle of the park and set up the front 3.

Could be an option, a 4-1-4-1 (4-1-2-2-1?) rather than a straight out 4-2-3-1.

I think I'd still prefer the latter when we play away though - for instance if we play boring, boring football with a 4-2-3-1 and come away from EnZed with all 3 points I'll be over the moon.

At home we need to mix it up a little though to become more attacking - either De Silva over R.Edwards, Maclaren & Smeltz instead of R.Edwards, or the 4-1-4-1 mentioned above.

Yeah, no doubt a shift in set up and even style, with a Gallas fit and on the park. Thwaite-Gallas CB pairing... Thwaite roaming forward as he's liked to do with GCU and others in the past. Burns sitting. Allows McGarry to support attacking half.

FTR Are people being harsh on Ryan Edwards? (Though it gets confusing these threads, sometimes they talk about the coach!) He was also involved in some of our better plays, including a good ball/chance for Smeltz later in the game. R Edwards was also involved in the build up for that penalty. R Edwards distributed wide to MacLaren who lobbed to Nagai drifting inside.

Again, MacLaren, Edwards, Davies etc grow into roles and the growing experience and even class in that 'spine' only supports them.

But the biggy is Smeltz is now back and that changes things. One could already see his impact, once he was subbed on. His greater aerial presence, his positioning, Glory were instantly more of a threat and some chances were created. that's also why R Edwards was brought into the game more too, once Smeltz came on.

Infact most of Glory's late game joy was coming down via R Edwards on the right, instead of the left, where new sub De Silva was, for some reason. So the avenues were opening there, with Sydney's higher line pushing, players across board tiring, especially the SFC defence.

BTW Glory suffered a few off-sides, especially in that first half, so the young boys etc... will need to better learn to time/synchronise their distribution and runs in more 'counter attacking' scenarios facing higher defensive line teams. Especially if the plan is to exploit the pace and talent of the MacLarens, Nagais, Sidneis, Smeltzs, De Silvas etc...

Edited by gloryperth: 4/11/2013 05:19:42 PM

Having someone who actually *has* an aerial presence certainly does wonders for our crossing strategy.

What about a 4-4-2 with Smelts and Maclaren up front, Mcgarry and Burns and CMs and Nagai and Sidnei as the wingers?

-------------Vukavic---------------
Risdon---Thwaite---Gallas---Jamieson
----------McGarry---Burns-----------
----Nagai--------------------Sidnei----
----------Maclaren---Smeltz---------



Edited by thomasemiliodavies: 4/11/2013 06:28:27 PM

Edited by thomasemiliodavies: 4/11/2013 06:28:51 PM

My 2 cents worth:

------------------------------Vuka
--------------------Thwaite-------Gallas
Risdon-----------------------------------------------Jamieson
--------------------Burns
---------------------------------McGarry
------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------
-------------------------R.Edwards
Nagai------------------Smeltz------------------------Sidnei



Structural reasoning:

The reason Burns is necessary is due to how much teams in the A-League rely on their number 10s. All he needs to do is keep track of them and do his thing. He isn't required to do much with the ball. McGarry for me has been our best CM this season and he's the guy that keeps us ticking over. He's very capable of receiving the ball from the back and playing forwards.

I've chosen Ryan Edwards because I saw a little bit of something in him in the last game. Cameron on the other hand I don't rate at all, and cannot see him adding anything to our side.
Playing the front 3 because Nagai and Sciola are both excellent at controlling long balls when breaking down the line. And with a back 2 of Gallas and Thwaite, not playing diagonal long balls from the back would be stupid. Risdon and Jamieson are no brainers and just need to keep on keeping on with assistance from McGarry.

Smeltz over Maclaren because I think he'll finish off more chance despite no being the guy who creates many.



Subs:
Duncan
Pantalidis- Can play along the back or in Midfield
O'Niell- Like Pantalidis, he can play DM or CB
Da Silva- 30 minutes every game
Maclaren- back up striker, can also play wider

Harold is unlucky to miss out. He'd be my first sub should any of the above be unavailable.

^^^^

Agree.

It also shows up exactly why Glory are playing the way they are ATM.

R Edwards is no Miller.

Glory will continue to struggle to control the MF even though McGarry runs his guts out.

That is my exact formation. I think with Mcgarry behind Edwards it would help our middle 1/3 holding possession and allow Edwards and Mcgarry to play onto the 3 attacking players.

Then DDS as impact sub for R Edwards, C Edwards as cover for Mcgarry.
Harold as sub for either winger.

To be honest, I think that's the very formation that Alistair has been trying to achieve. The problem is McGarry and Burns have been leaving themselves too far from Ryan Edwards, and vice versa.

They've been getting better mind you, so we'll just have to see how that develops.

??????? That's the same line up as we are playing now. And mcgarry still hasn't been able to transform himself as the box to box midfielder we'd like him to be - just as he couldn't under Fergie. It's not that he's playing badly, its just that he's always played his best football behind the strikers.

It is the same formation but I think both Mcgarry and burns are working together to cover Davies.

If you watch when Davies pushes up one of Mcgarry or burns overs CB or RB. In time it will work but we have to hope Mcgarry is the one pushing up to CM.

One thing I am excited for is set pieces this year, after years of absolute shite (sterj) included shite. We have some tactics.
On the weekend when Jamieson set up the burns shot Mcgarry was screaming constantly for it to create a distraction. And draw Tiago leaving burns for the shot.
Only change I would make would be having Mcgarry have the shot.

Could be a sign of things to come and spice things up a bit.