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As if to reinforce the point I made in the first part of my look at the two Coasties last week, both the Central Coast Mariners and Gold Coast United had impressive wins in week 14, bagging three goals a piece, the former on the road at Wellington, the latter back at Robina against Sydney.
Last week I wrote about how Graham Arnold’s men were mixing some super midfield combination, forward thrust from the back and combativeness in the front third, and all this was on show in a super display against a stuttering Phoenix.
While Joshua Rose continued his great form by bagging a rare brace, what particularly stood out in my mind was the wonderful little turn from Mustafa Amini in the build up to Rose’s first.
After seven beautifully constructed passes, from left to right and back through the middle, Amini skinned two central midfielders with a drop of the shoulder and a beautiful turn. A couple of quick touches later and he was away, facing goal, with Rose open to his left. He proceeded to feed him with a subtly weighed ball, inviting Rose to duck inside and take on Jade North and Mark Paston.
Simple, but superb, you can check it out here.
In a weekend of great A-League action and some world class goals, this one was right up there.
Gold Coast United produced a gem or two of their own the night before, and they’re the subject of this latest dissection;
Miron Bleiberg has made a bit of a habit of refusing interviews of late, and he was at it again during the post game show to Fox’s coverage of Friday night’s 3-1 win against Sydney.
The official word is that he was ill, but it would hardly come as a surprise if his no-show was more to do with the negative PR coming from just about all and sundry.
While Bleiberg’s self imposed media ban does little for a game that needs his flamboyance, one can certainly see where he’s coming from. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
SBS’s Francis Awaritefe was at it last week (incidentally, for long time observes of the game down under, like an astute reader Alekos, it wasn’t the first time a Culina has had a public battle with Awaritefe), but a few weeks before that it was Fox’s Robbie Slater leading the chorus, during the half time break of his regular Matchday Saturday giggle-a-thon with Mark Bosnich.
There’s no doubt Bleiberg has taken a far more pragmatic approach to his football this season, ensuring his team is built around a more solid defensive structure, but is being pragmatic such a bad thing in the pursuit of success?
We all love the Brisbane Roar and type of fantasy they are dishing up this season, none more than this correspondent, but winning football comes in all shapes and sometimes you have to sacrifice your normal attacking instincts in the pursuit of success.
Believe it or not, even at Barcelona!
Long before all the show and glow of the current era under Pepe Guardiola came a far more pragmatic Blaugranes that took out the 2006 UEFA Champions League on the back of a calculated template built first on stopping the opposition.
As I wrote at the time, on numerous occasions, it featured such destroyers at Thiago Motta, Edmilson and Presas Oleguer, more your Dodge than Rolls Royce, not that the latter has had a particular happy time of late.
For a Gold Coast comparison, you can point to the likes of Steve Pantelidis, Bas van den Brink and Dino Djulbic.
They mightn’t be the most fashionable footballers knocking around the league, but they are playing key roles in United’s season, and, more importantly, ensuring that Bleiberg’s men aren’t a soft touch.
With other tough-nuts like Anderson and Bruce Djite on the scene, this side now has a very physical element to go with its other attributes.
Here are some of the best bits;
1. Physical and combative; with Pantelidis filling in where required (usually at right back), van den Brink making a decent fist of the deep-lying central midfield role alongside the more polished Zenon Caravella and Djulbic having a rock-solid season in the heart of the defence, there is a stern spine in this side, particularly when you add the physicality in the front third, but more on that later.
Elsewhere, Anderson has settled down at left back and allows Adama Troare to influence higher up the pitch, while Jason Culina and Caravella buzz about in the mould of a Murdocca and McKay.
2. Defensive solidity; Bomb away with crosses if you wish, but Djulbic will soak it up all day, getting a header in here and there. His ability to absorb the aerial ball, especially from the wide areas, has been a real feature this season.
Kristian Rees has made way for Michael Thwaite, who has an extra yard of pace, makes some great reads and allows them to play out, while Anderson, after a shaky initial season, has proved an adept left-back.
Meanwhile, Pantelidis, with two yellow cards in 13 games, is adding more discipline this season, a message that appears to have sunk-in across the team.
Van den Brink’s swap with Thwaite has covered up his last of pace, often brutally exposed at the back, as well as providing a buffer alongside Caravella. It is common to see this side park the bus with two defensive lines, allowing them to absorb and break quickly.
3. Pace and mobility in forward transition; whether it’s Jason Culina breaking forward from midfield, Traore roaming down the left or one of the youngsters breaking forward on the right, this team is blessed with pace.
Bleiberg has set it up nicely, realising that few can live with the likes of Culina and Traore. Even Joel Porter, with his movement and strength, is difficult to stop, as Sydney discovered on the weekend. Ditto Djite.
Throw in the quick youngsters, the likes of James Brown, Tahj Minniecon, Ben Halloran and Chris Harold and you have lightning speed.
Watching Halloran take it to Kevin Muscat, Rody Vargas and Adrian Leijer earlier this month was an instructive moment, highlighting everything that is wrong about one side and fresh about the other.
4. Not so reliant on Culina; there were times, last season, when the Gold Coast appeared heavily reliant on Culina to set the tempo and the mood. When he was up, the team was up.
But what I am seeing this season is a far more even spread of the responsibility, from keeper Glen Moss right through to the above-mentioned kids taking turns in the front third. Culina is far more relaxed as a result.
Everyone in Bleiberg’s formation is accountable, and playing a role. There’s plenty of depth also.
Bleiberg mightn’t be saying much at the minute, but I will leave it up to Deco, the Portuguese playmaker, who made the following two comments on the way to Barcelona’s UCL win in 2006. His thoughts may as well be emanating from the Gold Coast camp today;
“Playing better does not mean scoring goals and winning by three or four – that’s not always possible. I think we’re better this year because we have become more mature, more intelligent at crucial moments in games. That’s what we were maybe missing last season.”
“It is true that we now know how to defend well. Instead of just pressing forward we have learnt to adapt to each game and remain concentrated throughout. We still go out to win the games like before but now also we put a lot of importance on defending strongly and not getting caught out by sloppy mistakes.”
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