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Thuggish behaviour of 'the enforcer' is the A-League's biggest problem

Roar Pro
2nd February, 2018
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Wout Brama of the Mariners. (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
Roar Pro
2nd February, 2018
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The A-League’s detractors cite plummeting crowds, non-existent TV ratings, and the ineptitude of the FFA to run a functioning game. But the real problem is ‘the enforcer’.

The A-League has played host to many wonderfully skilled and creative players.

The early days featured the attacking brilliance of Dwight Yorke, Nick Carle, Fernando Rech, a young Alex Brosque, Joel Griffiths and (who could forget?) Fred.

Then came along the step up, with the likes of Carlos Hernandez, Song Jin-Hyung, Henrique, Marcos Flores, Thomas Broich, Kosta Barbarouses, Marco Rojas, Shane Smeltz and a relatively uninjured Robbie Kruse.

Before long, Shinji Ono, Allesandro Del Piero, and Emile Heskey decided to try a footballing holiday, gracing our pitches with the likes of Dario Vidosic, Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic, Craig Goodwin, and Bernie Ibini.

Now we have the likes of Pato Rodriguez, Diego Castro, Ross McCormack, Bobo, Leroy George, Ronny Vargas, and Bruno Fornaroli (when fit). They play with the likes of Daniel Arzani, Bruce Kamau, Joey Champness, Jacob Italiano, Lachlan Wales, and Riley McGree.

Subjectively, there has never been a more talented group of attacking players on our shores. They play with flair, purpose, intent, and finesse. They make defenders back away, and lift the hopes of fans whenever they pick up the ball.

They cause headaches for managers around the league, who delve into their tactic bag to find ways to shut down this creativity. Sadly, many managers around the league don’t delve far, and pull out the oldest tactic: just hack ‘em down.

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To carry out this tactic, teams require an enforcer.

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The enforcer is a big, burly, holding midfielder or marauding centre-half. Their mere presence strikes fear into creative types, their challenges are as callous as they are meticulous, and they have been around the A-League, and world football, for a while.

The original spine-remover doesn’t mess around, lets you know they’re there, and doesn’t want you to do your thing.

Then you have your more refined, subtle enforcers. Players like Mile Jedinak, Mark Milligan, and Matt McKay – known as ‘midfield generals’ – bossing their areas, shutting down attacks, and then moving the ball out of danger.

Modern football has undergone multiple overhauls, showing us different looks. We started with the 4-4-2 diamond, then came the 3-5-2, and the current craze is the 4-5-1. Different players have thrived in these systems, however the enforcer has been part of all of them.

When the likes of Rodriguez and Arzani find space and take off, Osama Malik and Ben Kantarovski are charged with bringing them down, which is exactly what we saw last Thursday at AAMI Park.

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Rodriguez spun and weaved his way through City’s midfield, while Malik hung off him when he could catch him. Arzani would dive in off the right wing, past a tired Ivan Vujica and would be met by Kantarovski.

Wout Brama was brought in by Paul Okon to solidify a shaky Mariners defensive unit that lacked grit and grunt. With over 300 Eredivisie games and three matches for his country to his name, Brama’s decorated career is blotted by his actions towards Corey Gameiro.

The Dutchman’s decision to take out his late-game frustrations on Gameiro’s leg was immediately rebuffed by football pundits and fans alike. Even most Mariners fans were disgusted by the stamp on an injury-plagued Gameiro, drawing comparisons to Kevin Muscat’s infamous flying scythe-tackle on Adrian Zahra.

Wout Brama

Wout Brama (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)

What Brama did on Saturday was not enforcing, nor was it in the spirit of football. All it did was underscore one of the main issues we are seeing in the A-League and one that if addressed, would see the league thrive again.

A fortnight off for this tackle is an insult to the repeated recoveries that Gameiro has been through to get to where he is now, an insult to every attacking-minded player in the league, and an insult to fans.

Condemnation of incidents like this is paramount and the response has been immense – Mariners fans have said they will boo their own player when he touches the ball in a fortnight’s time. However, we need to encourage players and managers to find a new way to deal with the attacking brilliance of players. We need to move away from just hacking players down.

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The City-Jets game I referred to above was littered with needless fouls, where players were just hauled down. The challenges we saw that night are not present in the top echelons of football. Those players are forced to actually use their skills and dispossess the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of the ball.

Sure, we see them scythed and grabbed and mugged to the ground plenty of times, but the times where they are truly countered are when they meet a player who stops them by removing the ball and not their kneecaps.

I’m not calling for every mere touch of a player to be blown up, simply for a move to the centre. Malik committed five fouls on Thursday night but did not receive a yellow card. No single foul was seemingly malicious, more cynical, and after numerous attempts at bringing attacking efforts to a halt, surely he would be told enough is enough? Not in the A-League.

At times, defending in the A-League looks more like an NRL team inside their own 20 – bend, don’t break, if you feel that you’re going to lose the battle, then end the battle and begin a new one. It’s a sound tactic in the Canberra men’s State League Div 5, but not in our top flight.

Repeated fouling detracts from our game, and discourages the likes of Arzani and Petratos from showing us their full arsenal.

If the FFA cracked down on these tactics, we’d see a more free-flowing, entertaining, attractive game, which would encourage crowds to return.

Give the people a reason to spend their money. Let the attacking players create, weave, entertain, and excite. Force teams to actually defend, force defenders to use skill rather than brawn, and make managers create tactics that nullify these players via intricate gameplans.

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Most importantly, instruct refs to crack down. That Brama was initially shown a yellow for his challenge says much about the prism in which the A-League is officiated.

The fact that a similar incident occurred earlier in the season, where Wout Brama required the VAR to step in and send him off, gives the A-League an unwanted reputation, one which will mean soon we’ll have a league of enforcers rather than Rodriguezs and Adrians.

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