Is physical football ruining the A-League?
Columnist
By Mike Tuckerman, 26 Jan 2010 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- A-League, football, Ian Ferguson, North Queensland Fury, Robbie Fowler
Of all the conjecture surrounding Robbie Fowler’s shock omission from the North Queensland Fury line-up, not much of it has focused on the reasoning behind coach Ian Ferguson’s decision to change his formation and play a lone striker up front.
“We went down the line of changing my formation to 4-1-4-1 and I just needed a big striker up there to try and run at the corners and try and hold it up for us,” said Ferguson – who went on to explain that he felt that Fowler was a “a bit jaded.”
Far be it from me to second guess a man who played more than 400 professional games and who has cut his managerial teeth in the A-League, but surely the visit of Brisbane Roar shouldn’t facilitate such negative tactics?
The Roar are hardly the A-League’s most in-form team, and a quick glance of the table reveals that Brisbane possess the equal second-worst defensive record – with only North Queensland having conceded more goals.
But despite both sides still harbouring a mathematical chance of qualifying for the finals, fans were treated to a tepid encounter littered with heavy challenges and the sight of the A-League’s most recognisable star watching from the stands.
However, if some of the weekend’s other fixtures were anything to go by, Ferguson’s decision to pack the midfield and “run at the corners” makes at least some degree of sense.
In a weekend full of rash tackles, brutal aerial challenges and simmering flash points, physical football was well and truly on the agenda.
It prompted Jason Culina to label the Central Coast Mariners “the dirtiest team in (the) A-League” in his weekend column on The World Game, but many of those who left comments did so to lambast Culina for so frankly airing his views
That’s despite John Hutchinson’s X-rated challenge on Zenon Caravella sparking an unseemly melee which saw both clubs earn misconduct notices from the FFA, as did Perth Glory, Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United.
Of course, Culina’s admonition of the Mariners should come with a disclaimer, since his Gold Coast team-mates Steve Pantelidis and Shane Smeltz have both been involved in their fair share of illegal challenges this season.
But if the A-League wants to shake off the tag of being overly reliant on the physical side of things, Round 24 was hardly a positive advertisement.
In a sobering editorial for Goal.com, Asian expert John Duerden recently claimed that the A-League “needs Asian technique in order to improve” and went on to suggest that an injection of “Asian technique and pace… needs to be a hefty one.”
Fortunately for A-League fans, the weekend’s final match between Newcastle Jets and Sydney FC at Energy Australia Stadium provided some semblance of attractive football, as both teams knocked the ball around and kept the bone-crunching tackles to a minimum.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with physical football, but I can’t help but feel that it’s a shame Ian Ferguson felt compelled to play journeyman Dyron Daal at the expense of Robbie Fowler because he wanted his team to “hold the ball up.”
And in a competition that has seen the likes of Fred, Nicky Carle and Juninho all come and go, I’d hate to see creative talent turn their backs on the A-League because of an over reliance on ‘hard yakka.’
We all know that A-League coaches need results to stay in the job. But every now and then, surely we’d all like to see a little bit of ‘the beautiful game’ too.
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Midfielder said | January 26th 2010 @ 7:51am | Report comment
Mike
Not at all … I guess I will be the lone voice, dirty play and hurting people is different… but the physical stuff is part the the Australian make up…
Having said this we still need to greatly improve our technical ability and the maintain focus for the entire 90 minutes..
Punter said | January 26th 2010 @ 8:10am | Report comment
I think you will be the lone wolf here Mid.
I rather watch Juninho than Roy Keane.
Carle more than Hutchinson
Or Fred more than Brebner.
Unforunatley in the A-League the Freds, Juninhos & Carles are gone & we have left with the Brebners & Hutchinsons. Don’t get me wrong, these guys do their job & do a good job, I quite like Hutchinson, but you just can’t go into tackles like he did last week, winning the ball or not. Both times was automatic red cards. Iif creative players can’t feel safe, they will just end up injured or leaving our competition.
Punter said | January 26th 2010 @ 8:14am | Report comment
BTW, this is not an attack on CCM, Smeltz’s tackle on Fyfe was just as bad. This sort of play should be stamped out of the game, excuse the pun.
We have sufficent sports in the country that relies heavily on physical presence.
Giri said | January 26th 2010 @ 11:25pm | Report comment
I think we should stop talking and try and Learn and understand what football really is!!! That means start watching European countires such as Spain, Italy, England etc. Those countries who really love the game and not do it just for bloody BUsiness.
They will teach the A league how to play proper football and stop just cockie all the time with Physical stuff. ( Useless)
RickG said | January 26th 2010 @ 8:30am | Report comment
I think you’ll find plenty of casual observers like me can’t stand all the play-acting and diving that goes on elsewhere, so if there’s a bit of physicality in the Australian game then all the better. We’re raised on full contact collision sports here so it follows that we’re going to tolerate and even want more physical style of play.
Tinnie said | January 26th 2010 @ 9:50am | Report comment
I’m very much the same.I caught some of the matches that were broadcast from the womens world cup a few years and was genuinally impressed at the level of physicality shown by the players made it very entertaining. Also the lack diving/crying and carrying on in general was very refreshing.
Football globally has some negative characteristics that cant seep too much into this competition for it to be a success. Soccer fans may see these antics as just part of the game, but to the people they’re trying to convert into soccer fans will only see such behaviour as unprofessional, or dare i say unaustralian.
AndyRoo said | January 26th 2010 @ 10:21am | Report comment
I don’t like diving or players spending time on the deck. i have always believed in just playing on if an opponent is injured (unless it’s so serious they will be subbed off).
However their is a lot of late and clumsy stuff that needs to go. It’s not needed, detracts from the spectacle and wouldn’t nmake the game any softer.
Fisher Price said | January 26th 2010 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Oh yeah because diving is far worse than breaking someone’s leg through a bad tackle…
Mister Football said | January 26th 2010 @ 8:56am | Report comment
A myth has emerged that Fred was a creative player.
He was no such thing.
His key attributes were physical (in the broadest sense of the word), and he managed to couple that with technical soundness – it’s this coupling that be brought to the game.
Fred was not a creative player in the sense that we would normally understand it (eg in the sense that we might use that word to describe Hernandez).
Joe FC said | January 26th 2010 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
An interesting analysis on Fred Mister Football, and you might be right, although Melbourne were not the same team without him. I would agree that Hernandez has had few peers over the 5 HAL seasons.
Victer said | January 26th 2010 @ 8:19pm | Report comment
hey was a quick link man in the final third. he had a huge motor as well, i remember him running out most of the match
ItsCalledFootball said | January 27th 2010 @ 8:47pm | Report comment
Fred never existed – a myth created by MVFC.
Davstar said | January 26th 2010 @ 8:57am | Report comment
Yes it is destorying the A-league
MV Dave said | January 26th 2010 @ 9:29am | Report comment
The physical aspect is part of the game. Every team has their enforcers and so every league has their ‘hard men’ of the game. It is only in the elite leagues of the world where those players with the greater skills consistently overcome those who are more physically inclined. Those elite leagues have the money to pay for the best.
It is only in the lesser domestic leagues around the world that the true differences in style of play, reflecting the national identity, are seen. Australian sport in general, supports the values of hard work and athleticism as much as, if not more so, than individual skills.
Although football in Oz has been played at a decent level for decades it is not until recent years that any coordinated blueprint has been established and now put in place for development of highly skilled individuals (not to say they havent been produced in the past but more on an adhoc basis).
Once the fruits of these coordinated programs have had chance to ripen and mature there will be a gradual change in the ‘style’ of the Australian game. At the moment we are still in the development stage and so our local league will obviously reflect and support the more traditional values of athleticism and graft, that never give in desire to win and refusal to be beaten.
It is when we have the true merging of both the skill and athleticism on a consistent basis that our league’s standard will take the next leap forward (at the moment improvement is there but almost incremental).
The physicality is not ruining the local game IMO. Those with the skills to rise above, stand out eg Hernandez, Brosque, Corica, Culina and with some very talented youngsters coming through, the change in the style of play will occur over the next decade or so. In the meantime l will continue to be fascinated by the battle between those with the ability to win a game through their own skill and those who want to stop them.
hazza said | January 26th 2010 @ 10:05am | Report comment
A perfect example of this was on Saturday night. Adelaide unleashed its enforcers on Victory. Adelaide were issued with something like 6-7 yellow cards. ( I lost count after the fifth yellow card). This is not the first time that Victory has had deal with the physical approach of teams against its more creative players. The referee must protect the more creative players
in the league.
Horza said | January 26th 2010 @ 10:33am | Report comment
re: Fergie: he’s straight out of the McKinna mould – likes his players big, tough and with the workrate to boot.
He’s had a poor recruiting budget and his town isn’t much of a drawcard but his entire squad has last night’s gameplan stamped all over it. Closest thing they have to a creative mid is Talay who’s now playing deeper than ever. That Robbie Middleby gets runs in centre midfield says it all.
They’ve done well to still be in finals contention and I don’t think the people of Townsville mind the gameplan so long as they win, so it’s a bit harsh on Ferguson if they are moving to sack him over the Fowler fracas – no matter who the player is they’re there to play to the coach’s instructions.
agga78 said | January 26th 2010 @ 10:37am | Report comment
There is nothing wrong with a hard tackle or two throughout a game, not everyone can play like Barcalona, though Craig Foster believes they should. I think you will find the more physical sides in the A league are the less talented sides in the league, when Melbourne play Gold Coast this week you will see open attractive attacking football, but Gold Coast versus Central Coast was always gong to be a battle, Central Coast don’t have many creative players and rely heavily on physical players in Midfield and up front, it has worked for the club for a number of years, there is nothing wrong with the way they play, it takes all types of playing style to make a league interesting, if we go the way of the Asian teams and play an attractive game without any real physical presence in the game, then Australian teams will win nothing
Gaz said | January 26th 2010 @ 10:38am | Report comment
Good blog, Mike, and interesting comments.
Personally I think we should just get rid of the referees altogether and let the players go at it hammer and tongs until the last man drops. Think of the spectacle! Blood all over the place, broken bodies lying twisted and crushed all over the field, and just one player left standing, clenching the ball between his teeth, howling at the floodlights like a demented baboon.
The TV cameras would love it, and every nation around the world would be under huge financial pressure to copy “the new Australian style”.
Of course we would need extra military personnel on hand if we were to ever host the World Cup, but just imagine what a rip-roaring shin-dig that would be! I’m getting tears in my eyes on this beautifully hot global warming Australia Day, just thinking how proud I would feel to be a part of such a True Blue sporting spectacular. AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!! OI! OI! OI!!!
marinator4LYF said | January 26th 2010 @ 3:29pm | Report comment
did you miss the line where he said robbie fowler is the most recognisable figure in the league. I was looking forward to your bullshit dribble about how culina is better but maybe you’ve realised that hes actually NOTHING, he brings nothing to the sport but immaturity, he reminds me of a two year old whose had their ball taken from them ahahahahahahahahahahaha
Australian Football said | January 26th 2010 @ 10:48am | Report comment
Midfielder,
you are blinded to what CCM have become. They have stooped to the lowest level of football by playing Pub Football. We had it at SFC with Butcher and thank God he has gone… McKinna, Mitchell, Postecoglou and Ferguson in round 24 have taken Football back to the dark ages.
~~~~~~~
AF