Gold Coast’s Steve Pantelidis (right) raises his arms as Central Coast’s Matthew Simon (left) lifts Pantelisid’s legs during the round 17, A-League match between Gold Coast United and the Central Coast Mariners at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Every team has been scratching around, looking for a way to break down the Central Coast Mariners, who up until Saturday night’s 2-1 loss to Gold Coast had only conceded nine goals in 16 games.
After a disastrous end to season four and an equally porous ACL campaign, Lawrie McKinna’s men have built their success this season from the back. They have set the stall deep, been defending in numbers, and scrabbling beautifully.
Alex Wilkinson, after a poor season four, has been living up to the hype that has surrounded him over past few years. Dean Heffernan has been in career best form, while Nigel Boogaard has seamlessly been switching between right back and central defence, as required.
Paul Doig, when he has been fit, has looked a leader.
In front of them the midfield and front men have been working the house down, defending from the front by disrupting the opposition high up the pitch, and never allowing opponents to build up any passing momentum.
Meanwhile, in the last line, Danny Vukovic is almost back to the form he was showing prior to that grand final indiscretion.
The yellow and blue brick wall has just about been impenetrable, evidenced by a clean sheet every two games. Some platform.
However, on Saturday, Gold Coast United may well have found the way to unlock the door, demonstrating, in a breathtaking second half display, that the Mariners might be susceptible to a rapid counter attack.
Twice in the second half Gold Coast launched rapid raids on the Mariners’ goal, and on both occasions it came as they were defending Mariners set pieces deep in their own half.
On each occasions they got numbers forward very quickly and exposed a retreating Mariners rearguard. Danny Vukovic and Co. had a flood of yellow shirts bearing down on their goal, and just couldn’t deal with it, despite the keeper’s efforts.
The first occasion resulted in a disallowed goal after Shane Smeltz tucked away a neat Zenon Caravella first time ball, only to be deemed offside.
Of course replays proved the decision was incorrect, with Heffernan, sitting on the six yard box, playing Smeltz on-side. Interestingly, a replay of this incident appeared inside the stadium, triggering a chorus of boos around Skilled Park.
Was this in contravention of the league’s rules? Certainly you don’t see replays in most A-League stadiums.
Was this the latest piece of defiance from the new club, who have been running a bit of a battle with FFA this season? Perhaps that’s a subject for another day.
But back to the point of this piece. The disallowed goal came after a lightning attack involving Smeltz, Jason Culina, Caravella and the impressive substitute Andrew Barisic, who struck the low left-foot shot which Vukovic parried into the path of Caravella.
Perhaps fuelled by the success of this counter, United continued to use the tactic, and after Culina busted a gut to get himself forward from a corner Gold Coast were defending, he ducked inside and aimed a shot towards the far post.
Vukovic got to it, but could only deflect it into Barisic’s path. United had its winner.
The main thing that allowed the Gold Coast to launch these counter attacks was the connection of the front third in the second period.
Undoubtedly the trigger for this connection was the introduction of Barisic, an out-and-out striker who immediately got on the ball and linked up with Smeltz, Culina and Caravella.
Prior to that Tahj Minniecon was up front, supposedly alongside Smeltz, but he was often found drifting out wide, especially to his favourite channel, on the right.
Smeltz was left isolated and everyone looked to be playing by themselves. There was a clear disconnect, with Culina growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of fluidity.
In truth, in the first period, he was a big part of this disconnect, playing far too deep.
Culina looks a far better player and United look a far better team when the skipper is higher up the pitch, influencing things in the front third, just as he did in the two above mentioned attacks.
It has taken a while, but perhaps Gold Coast have found a chink in the Mariners rearguard.
Watching how McKinna’s men respond, and whether any other team can have similar success, should make for interesting viewing.
Realfootball
Guest
It's great, isn't it? I love the expression on Matt Simon's face.
Realfootball
Guest
Agreed. I look forward to seeing Zullo too. He doesn't cross the ball as well as Tommy, but his speed is absolutely electric. Wonderful to watch. Ang must wish one of these two kids was right footed.
Brett McKay
Guest
Tony, I've really nothing to add except to say that the attached picture is one of the more bizare sports photos I've seen in a long time.....
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
The ultimate indignity for Western Australians, the name "Perth" is considered harsh enough :)
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Poor mans Tommy Oar :) Hopefully Tommy isn't injured (he went off early yesterday) and it will be great too see Thaj and Oar both playing on Boxing day.
Midfielder
Guest
On the Mariners fans forum all teams have a nick name and the Gold Coast has been changed to FOLD coast because of Clive and his 5, 000 and the FFA stepping in... have a look at our home page for other names http://marinators.net/index.php
Realfootball
Guest
Yes KB, that is my conclusion too. Like you, I think he is a stellar talent, the one young player I have see who reminds me of Kewell in his young, fast man days. I agree with Mxjosh, too. Bleiberg does seem to be undecided as to how to use not only Tahj, but Culina too. With Tahj it may partly come down the fact that there is no corresponding left winger. Tahj was at his most effective at the Roar playing with Zullo on the other flank and Van D in the middle. The problem at GCU is that when Tahj goes to the touchline, there is no mirror player on the other flank, which means that there is no balance to the formation and instead of stretching the opposing defence, all that happens is the whole unit simply shifts to one side. The end result is that Tahj gets tightly marked and Smeltz ends up with 3 defenders on him. Now if GCU had Zullo on the opposing wing, then that is one less defender on Smeltz and another defender who has to think about covering Zullo's marker because Zullo and Minniecon will often beat the first man. Bleiberg was chasing Ryan Griffiths, of course, who would have given the team exactly the kind of width balance it is missing now.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Trying to work out if "fold coast" was a type or a sneaky go at GCU because of FFA intervention :) F is right next to G on the keyboard so I will guess typo but a clever one!
Midfielder
Guest
Tony We miss Doig he is the guy that calls the shots at the back. I say well done to Fold Coast they played very well and we should have done more... the pass from Heff that set up the goal was a good wake up call for us...
KB
Guest
RealFootball I'm a big, big, big, fan of Tahj... He is not fit enough yet, after a long spell out, maybe he should have come on as a sub for the last 15-20 min...
Mxjosh
Roar Rookie
The problem with Minniecon is he is a winger not a forward, played out of position he gets lost. Ive actually notice Bleiberg seems a bit unsure where to best utilise the talents of players such as Minniecon and Culina, Im not sure if this is just because of Gold Coasts injury woes and he's just shuffling them around to cover for injuries or if he is genuinelly unsure where to put them
Realfootball
Guest
Barisic impressed me greatly in pre season and I have been surprised that it has taken this long for him to be given a chance, especially when Milson is so ordinary (yet another in that long, long series of Brazilian A League flops). He really made the difference when he came on with his strength and pace. Minniecon wasn't disappointing all game, KB. In flashes he looked very good, but only in flashes. I don't know what is up with Tahj. Is he injured? His body language isn't good on the pitch. My hunch is that it is the way he is being used. He is a wide player, at his best coming at speed from the right flank. Bleiberg hasn't really found a way to use him in this team.
KB
Guest
Tony, thanks for the article and I must have been the only GCU supporter who thought the linesman got the offside call right... Sitting in the stand right in line with the linesman’s sight I thought he made a reasonable call at the time; I would have raised the flag as well... However, as you state it was incorrect, but I could forgive the linesman on that occasion as the pass to Smeltz was a clever quick rebound pass from Zenon that happen so quickly behind a couple of players you could not see that Smeltz was in line when the pass was struck.. I would have made the same call myself... I thought Culina worked so hard in the first half and the game was evenly balanced and both midfields were cancelling each other out... Our back four were at their best again until Simons against the run of play got the breakthrough... Tahj Minniecon was disappointing and he is still not the Tahj of old, being pushed off the ball too easily from a very physical CCM back four and had little or no impact on the game... Finally succumbing to serve cramping coming down in front of us close to the side line... That allowed young Andrew Barisic to enter the foray with a superb performance showing a good deal of upper strength not being pushed off the ball and charging down the left flank delivering a pin point low cross to Smeltz on the far post who made no mistake to put it away... Andrew Barisic strength gave the team new confidence to attack a tiring CCM coming from deep attacking them with pace... It was great to witness as luck would have it, the attacks were frequent at the home end of the ground, with the ‘Beach Boys’ in full voice every time a new attack was launched... A tiring CCM defence were on the back foot at last as Andrew Barisic, Smeltz, Zenon, and Culina were constantly charging forward at the rate of knots with the Beach roaring them on... A great finish to the game and watch out for a new GCU’s rising star in Andrew Barisic... ~~~~~~~ KB
Shannon
Guest
Nice summary Tony, Culina was almost lost in the first 45, trying to be everywhere but actually accomplishing very little. It is when he slips back into a single role in the team higher up the park that the whole unit seems to work. I also think that this is a similar issue to the national side where we often have that disconnect between the defensive and attacking third.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
In Brisbane they show replays but not of anything controversial like a yellow card, offside or disallowed goals. I guess they expect all 9k of us to go on a rampage or that referees are too sensative to the booing (the later is what would actually happen). Likewise I can't remember seeing them at Broncos games for high shots and the like. That should be something on the agenda of that Supporters union.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Yes - it was odd that there was a replay - never happens at the Dome - which drives most supporters mental. Good on 'em - stop putting officials in cotton wool - if they stuff up - they should be told in no uncertain terms - might make them focus a bit more next time!! It was a pathetic call that could only be described as incompetence.
Gaz
Guest
Good points, Tony, as always. If it's true that GCU have unlocked the CCM defense, let's all hope that spells the death of boring defensive tactics in the A-League. As for showing the replay of that disallowed goal, yes that was strange indeed.