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Jim Magilton, in his post-match press conference for Saturday’s scoreless Melbourne Derby, defiantly argued he’d found a couple of positives he can build on, including a first clean sheet in 13 games and seeing out the last 15 minutes with a man down.
But on the evidence of his work so far for the Melbourne Victory, particularly in the past two games, he’ll need to produce significantly more over the next couple of months to have any hope of landing the permanent gig next season.
Against Gold Coast United in Launceston last Wednesday and against the Melbourne Heart on Saturday, Magilton used a 4-4-2.
As I’ve argued before on this column, it’s not so much the formation itself but the deployment of the formation and the personnel in it that has been his problem.
The biggest issue has been his use of a flat four-man midfield, a system no-doubt familiar to him from his time in the UK.
Among it’s many problems, at least as far as the Victory are concerned, is that it asks far too much, from a defensive perspective, of the wide men, Harry Kewell on the left and Marco Rojas on the right on Saturday, especially with the defence sitting so deep.
Starting these two in the same line, or just a touch advanced of Grant Brebner and Leigh Broxham, means that they are playing far too deep and shouldering too much defensive responsibility.
In the past two games it has meant that Kewell, in particular, has been too isolated from the front two, Archie Thompson and Jean Carlos Solorzano.
This contrasts to the three or four games before Launceston when he seemed to be used higher, in a 4-2-3-1, and had more of an influence in the front third.
What has also been evident in the past two games is that Kewell doesn’t appear to have been given license to roam across the forward line, where he can link with the likes of Thompson and Solorzano. He has essentially been working in the left corridor, up and down.
With his extra defensive burden in the flat four, it was perhaps no surprise the find Kewell replaced an hour into the derby.
On the other side, with Rojas sitting too deep, it was the Heart who took the initiative, with Craig Goodwin having a splendid debut.
The other major issue with a straight midfield is that the opportunities to play angled, diagonal balls to players in advanced positions are limited. Little wonder players have been guilty of circulating the ball slowly, or knocking it long.
As well, the system meant that Kristian Sarkies has a field day, able to pick up the ball, in space, without any pressure. He was then able to pick his pass, prompting the Heart’s control of proceedings.
The fact Magilton stuck steadfastly to a system that wasn’t working, and didn’t have the means to adjust things to wrestle the control from John van ‘t Schip was perhaps the most worrying element for Victory fans.
Coming into the game it seemed fairly obvious to this pundit that the Heart manager would play three at the back, releasing a fullback into an advanced role.
It’s a tactic he has adopted previously, the aim being that he controls the opponent by leaving one spare at the back.
Soon Goodwin, nominally a left back but playing mainly in an advanced position, was foraging forward down the left.
Magilton might have been able to force the youngster back, into a defensive position, by changing his own formation to a 4-2-3-1.
It wouldn’t have been too hard, even with Carlos Hernandez on the bench. All Magilton had to do was push Kewell into the middle, behind Solorzano, and move Thompson to one flank and Rojas to the other.
By doing this he would have forced van ‘t Schip to drop Goodwin into a more defensive position, limiting his impact in attack and asking more questions of him defensively.
It likely would have given the Victory a greater share of control. As it was, the Heart dominated, Ante Covic coming to Magilton’s rescue, not for the first time.
The fact Magilton evidently didn’t even see the opportunity to adjust the formation to wrestle some control spoke volumes.
The question for the much-maligned Victory board and particularly the man said to be pulling the strings, Ian McLeod, is whether anyone has the ability to see this, and assess Magilton’s work.
While the club clearly has a multitude of issues, including an aging and imbalanced squad, players on long-term contracts and the lack of a football director, sorting out the managerial post remains high on the agenda.
At this stage, Magilton has done little to state a case.
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