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The Cahill-Fornaroli combo is still a work in progress

How do you feel about Tim Cahill playing for Melbourne City? What about more stars? (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Expert
21st October, 2016
8

Melbourne City have two of the leading forwards in the league. They also have a nominal big/little man tandem blossoming – Bruno Fornaroli, a scurrying menace, constantly tracing darting paths back and forth through the defensive line, and the new marquee Tim Cahill, a player whose rare, almost unexpected aerial prowess is – if not his best aspect – certainly the virtue for which he has largely become known.

It would have been very easy – politically as much as tactically – to instantly make Cahill the central focal point of the attack. Fornaroli is a highly adaptable attacker, and were he to be displaced – perhaps a better word would be offset – no one would be too outraged. Similarly, Cahill – while a player who couldn’t comfortably be described as a traditional central striker – could ably and fruitfully fulfil that role in the A-League.

Indeed, that would be the formula for the traditional big/little combination – using Cahill’s aerial dominance, as well as his veteran body-positioning and back-to-goal skillset, Fornaroli would hope to hinge around the leading Socceroo goalscorer, preying on knockdowns, feasting on the space Cahill’s gravity would open up, using his sudden burst of speed to shoot through on goal.

It’s a recipe that is only complimented by Bruce Kamau, a presence on the wing who is clearly equipped to inflict sudden, incisive moments with the ball at his feet, but who also so often appeared flimsy against Perth on Friday night. He too would benefit from tethering himself to the anchor Cahill’s sturdy presence would provide.

But, in the loss to the Glory, that didn’t seem to be the system John van’t Schip set up. In a traditional big/little system, the big would be, generally speaking, the most advanced attacker, with the little(s) sitting slightly deeper and a touch wider, to allow for a brief runway. As passes, both of the aerial and daisy-cutter variety, are fizzed into the big man, the little man would aim to arrive just after the concussive first skirmish, to collect the secondary balls.

This was not how Cahill, or Fornaroli, played. Cahill was seen dropping into the attacking midfield, even across to the mid-wing – there was a sequence in the first half where Melbourne City had a series of throw-ins down the right hand touchline, and Cahill was there showing as the most recessed option for the thrower each time, a good 30 metres from the penalty spot. He was seen collecting the ball from the initial passes out of defence, turning, and surveying the passing options milling around ahead of him. Clearly, these are not the actions of a traditional central striker.

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In turn, Fornaroli’s role was unlike the traditional little role. He was, at times, alone and waiting on the shoulder of Rostyn Griffiths, ready to spin in behind. It was towards him that the midfielders – or, indeed, Cahill, when he was there – were looking when they had the space and time to consider a telling forward pass. But then, Fornaroli also drifted like Cahill did, into wide positions, slightly deeper into the No.10 area, interchanging passes with Luke Brattan and others.

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At this stage it looks like a simple inversion. Fornaroli was the first man to hit the 20 goal mark in an A-League season last campaign, and so to place him as the central attacker, closest to goal, isn’t nonsensical in the slightest. Cahill can play a more creative, restrained role too.

But these players – Cahill in particular – have skills that are more difficult to apply in these reversed positions. And you could see Cahill’s instincts taking over. Having roamed towards the ball, involving himself in wider areas, Cahill would eventually peel away from the action, towards the penalty spot or the far post, readying himself for some soaring impact.

There were moments when Fornaroli dropped into what Perth had made a very crowded midfield, and offered up some sumptuous swivel that tore open the congestion, breathing air and light into the wet, dank throng. His ability to negotiate impossibly tight situations – as seen when he skinned a Perth defender in the box with one dragging turn, only to hit the post, with scores level – would be an incredible asset in the midfield maw.

Perhaps this was a bespoke manoeuvre, made especially to thwart the genuinely frightening Perth centre backs Griffiths and the positively Jurassic Dino Djulbic; van’t Schip might have thought there was little point pitting Cahill, as skilled in the air as he is, against their might.

But, in truth, most of the match saw City put forth a fairly incoherent attacking display, only scoring via a scrambled penalty call, and a sudden – admittedly, well executed – punishing of a galling defensive error. When Cahill was substituted with 20 minutes remaining, only his single pass in the build-up to City’s second goal lingered as a moment of attacking clarity in which he was involved.

Van’t Schip should be applauded for avoiding the obvious, sticking Australia’s most beloved goalscorer up front and arranging last season’s most productive attack hastily around him would have been the easy decision. But, when Andy Keogh stuck in Perth’s deserved winner in the 85th minute, it was clear to all that City still have some tinkering to do.

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