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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.