Newcastle Jets Sung-Hwan Byun. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Right from the opening minutes of the opening game, between the Newcastle Jets and Melbourne Heart, there were two things in particular that caught the eye in the opening round of the A-League season.
The first was the intensity, perhaps not surprising given that the players were coming off such a drawn-out pre-season.
There’s no doubt about it, players across the league were absolutely up for the opening exchanges of this much talked about and anticipated season.
As much could be told by the tempo with which the Jets and Heart 11s went about their early work, pressing, pouncing and springing into forward transition.
Right across the five venues it was notable just how many players were going down with cramp.
Even early in the first half of their respective games, the cameras caught a glimpse of Jamie Coyne and Daniel Mullen sucking in the deep ones, such was the working over Archie Thompson and Andrezinho, respectively, were giving them.
Coyne and Mullen weren’t the only ones looking for oxygen.
The pace was breathtaking, no where more than at Etihad Stadium, where the Kewell-Emerton show-down produced not only a typically feisty Big Blue, but one played at a lightning tempo.
Brett Emerton, in the post match press conference, noted how difficult the A-League will be if the intensity is that high ever week.
While you can do all the training and play all the trial games, nothing quite simulates an actual game, with points at stake.
Of course, as the season progresses, expect the conditioning to improve rapidly.
What this enhanced conditioning should provide is an opportunity for teams to sustain their defensive press for longer periods.
This was the other feature of the opening game, the ability of the Jets and Heart to press the opposition high and place pressure on the defences to play out.
While there was a fair bit of criticism of the defences at Ausgrid Stadium, the reality is that most of the errors were a result of the effective high pressing game employed by Craig Deans and John van ‘t Schip.
In the early going it was the Heart’s very attacking front five setting the tempo, with Mate Dugandzic on the right, David Williams on the left and Jason Hoffman and Fred, both playing behind Maycon, all aggressive in their appetite to win the ball early.
While it only reaped the one early goal, on another day it may have lead to two or three.
The Jets, at home and pumped after a week of drama, also employed a high-octane high press, placing significant pressure on central defenders Matt Thompson and Curtis Good, and goalkeeper Nikola Roganovic, to play out.
It proved fruitful, with Good especially struggling with the attention.
It was a trait we also saw, at times, in a couple of the other games.
In a league where the technical level continues to evolve, year after year, this growing tactical sophistication appears a natural step.
Another team to achieve success with this higher press was the Perth Glory, who squeezed up and applied pressure on Adelaide’s defenders, forcing them, particularly in the first half, to play out via the long option to the head of Sergio van Dijk.
In the second period, it was Adelaide who turned things around somewhat, coming out with a higher line and applying pressure on the Glory further up the park.
The one team I thought might employ this high press tactic in the opening round, but didn’t, was the Central Coast Mariners.
After all, it was a tactic I thought served them well throughout last season’s finals, and against a team featuring a bevy of new players, getting amongst them might prove fruitful.
Instead though they appeared to come to Suncorp with a plan to sit back and counter attack, and while Graham Arnold’s tactic threatened to reap rewards at times, the Mariners were constantly on the back foot.
While much of this was down to the quality of Ange Postecoglou’s Brisbane Roar, who seemed to seamlessly take off from where they left last season, with import Issey Nakajima-Farran in particular catching the eye, in part I felt the Mariners invited the pressure by not employing enough of their own, higher up the pitch.
While they defended stubbornly and always looked a threat on the break, a tactic for which Bernie Ibini-Isei should have been employed, one wonders what might have been had the Mariners pressured Erik Paartalu and the Roar back four higher.
Maybe Arnold felt his team wasn’t yet in the condition to be pressing the Roar high, or maybe he felt sitting back was the best bet at this early stage of the season, when surely the Roar wouldn’t be flowing.
It is a tactic which not only requires supreme organisation and conditioning, but conviction.
On Saturday it was the Roar who were able to settle into their pattern, Paartalu pulling the strings as the ball and his teammates fizzed around ahead of him, both constantly on the move. It seemed inevitable they would eventually score and stretch the unbeaten run to 29.
As the season unfolds, one of the most fascinating things will be to see just how teams set up to try and stop Postecoglou’s men.
Apart from the Mariners last season, the team which arguably had the most success was the Melbourne Victory, who did it by applying a very physical high press. Luke DeVere, you might remember, was caught out in an early epic at AAMI Park.
This season the spotlight is on managers right across the league, starting with Sydney FC’s Vitezslav Lavicka on Saturday night, to see who can come up with a high press plan to disrupt the Roar.
john
Guest
Hi Tony Amazing how affective high physical pressure has been. When teams do it, the weakness and lack of Roar's hight and strength in defence is clear.
Midfielder
Guest
PS Enjoyed that article a lot ... thanks for posting it....
David Heidelberg
Guest
And of course the Victory win over the Roar last year was in no small part due to the Muscat inspired 'kick them off the park' style.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
All, true, Realfootball And, in world football, as far as I'm concerned, there aren't too many people, who have better football knowledge and credentials than Klinsman. Certainly, I'll place far greater value on Klinsman's opinion on football than the ramblings of anyone on this forum.
Realfootball
Guest
That is simply Klinsman's opinion and not a statement of fact, Fussball. I am wary of empirically unsupported generalisations. There are too many variables.
Realfootball
Guest
Will be a very interesting gauge of both sides. On the weekend's performance, Brisbane should play Sydney off the park. "Should" being the operative word. It is worth bearing in mind that the Roar have Henrique to come back in. With Danning, Henrique and Nakajima-Faran - and Visconte due back from injury - Brisbane's pace up front is exceptional. I will be very, very surprised if Sydney win this game. Nothing on paper or on the park suggests that they are capable of beating Brisbane.
Purple Shag
Roar Guru
Great start for the Jets and the A-league all round. Interesting times in Newcastle, especially if you're a young hoodlum cruising the streets in Tinkler's Ferarri. Interesting read here on, Tinkler's knives, the fate of the Culina family and some Gremlins references to boot. Enjoy. http://therestijustsquandered.com/2011/10/10/the-c-word/
jamesb
Guest
i always said that the time line for the HAL should be sept 1 to april 30 BTW: i like Newcastle Jets new playing strip, better than the gold one.
j binnie
Guest
Fussball - Would have never guessed the motivation behind your contribution'. Would not pass comment on the lad Danning ,he was only on the park for 15 minutes, but I would pass comment on the best use of the substitution rules I've probably ever seen.The Roar fullback had got a nasty knock and for the next 10 minutes the CCM back Rose made 3 or 4 excellent runs down the left flank. Danger. Ange pops up and puts the right wing flying machine on who immediately attacks the CCM defence with pace. Result - Rose's runs stop at once. Shrewd ,shrewd decision making. Note you did not pass comment on my explanation of the latest buzz words "high pressing", a description used by people who should know better. Cheers jb
Al
Guest
The NFL/general American Football establishment is even more hostile to Association Football than the AFL establishment which is saying alot!
Al
Guest
I would like to see a Apertura and Clasura type of setup here like we see in South America so our domestic players are playing pretty much on par with their European counterparts
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
National Team coach - of German background - says a domestic football season that lasts 7-8 months is not long enough and, therefore, not competitive with the rest of the world. No, it wasn't Holger Osieck making this comment but the USA's NT Coach, Jurgen Klinsmann. So many similarities between the USA football landscape and the Aussie football landscape. Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-ecuador-us&utm
punter
Guest
I'm a SFC fan & I think BR are a couple levels ahead of most teams in the A-League.
TomC
Guest
Hmm. Having watched the two games back to back I would say that Brisbane looked several cuts about Sydney FC on Saturday night.
Titus
Guest
Well said Fuss ; ) I too am keen to see this game.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I'm keen to see how Brissy goes against SFC's defence this week-end. I was quite impressed by SFC's overall performance and, with Kisel in the team, the midfield battle will be intriguing. I think 1-0 to SFC.
Realfootball
Guest
Just like the scoreline got "embarrassing" against Sydney's stellar defence, eh Fussball?
Futbanous
Guest
From where I was sitting Thomas Broich was a mere shadow of the player he was towards the end of last season in our first game. Wait till he hits his straps. From a fans perspective we were clearly a better team. As we all know as committed fans ,the better team doesnt always win. But we did, a good sign. A far cry from seasons 1-5. Dont know about pressing(leave that for trousers) but CCM were only in the game ,because of what I consider spoiling tactics & some very dubious tackling. If were going to talk technique how about we have more than a slight interest in tackling. Crude at best by CCM,not quite "Red Mist Danny" level but close at times. Saw Matt Smith by contrast win the ball hard but fair. With the emphasis on the ball not leg. The patience & discipline of this team are traits not much discussed in relation to their success recently. No matter what they continue with the same pattern of play. I call it pass & build ,moving on & off the ball intelligently& as quickly as possible. Theo is used as an extra defender in the overall scheme. So push up as high as you like theres always somebody behind to pass back too & not boot it aimlessly up the park but still keep the passing in motion as a player has moved into position to receive it regardless . Even the real "Arnie" couldnt press enough to pressure the Roar.
jmac
Guest
yeah it's always true that if you load one area of the pitch to gain an advantage (eg midfield diamond), by definition you leave yourself short elsewhere. what's interesting though - with CCM late last season (from memory it was from the second leg of the major semi onwards), arnold was splitting his strikers and sending them to the wide areas when not is possession, in order to mark the brisbane fullbacks. he then relied on numbers in the midfield diamond to try and dominate brisbane's three. the 10 may have been pressing the centre-halves from memory also. if you take out the last few minutes of extra time in the decider, then its probably safe to say it worked pretty well, in that the roar scored only twice in almost three and a half hours of football. obvious problem though, is how to counter when both your forwards are occupied in wide areas, but from memory CCM did manage to create some danger for the Roar in these games..
jmac
Guest
hopefully it's ok to suggest that finish from nichols on the weekend was very un-mitch nichols. maybe he actually aimed for the corner flag this time ;) I didn't see that game, but maybe it is a sign he is improving with the added responsibility. (he also looks to be taking on this level of responsibility, and more probably, with the olyroos). lets wait and see.. go mitch (except against the Victory).