On the field it’s been an outstanding A-League season, perhaps the best yet, as I wrote two months ago.
One of the things I’ve most enjoyed from a technical angle has been the influence the Spanish armada at both Adelaide United and the Western Sydney Wanderers have had on their respective clubs and the league.
How fitting that it will be on full display for all of us to appreciate at Sunday’s engrossing grand final in Adelaide.
Mentality is an often undervalued and under-analysed component in football, but in a world of ever-increasing education and tactical equilibrium, having smart, tactically astute players who can read and dictate a game as it unfolds, and take ownership of the tactical plans, is a godsend for any coach.
Players who are not only experienced but have the game-smarts to be able to control a game through their every decision, be that their defensive positioning and pressing or ball-movement have become part of the allure of the A-League in recent years.
It’s no coincidence that both grand finalists have these types in abundance, particularly at the base of their midfields.
In Isaias, Andreu and Dimas, Adelaide and the Wanderers have ready-made managers on the pitch, leaders who can dictate both the passing and pressing tempos of their sides.
All three, like Corona at Brisbane Roar, are extremely smart footballers, invariably delivering tactical control both with and without the ball. They are tough but in control, rarely, if ever, losing their emotions.
It’s beautiful to watch.
Isaias is the deepest of Adelaide’s three-man midfield and is clever at stopping the opposition either through a well-timed tackle, intercept or a sneaky tactical foul designed to protect his defence.
As the season has gone on he has had the ever-willing and impressive Stefan Mauk playing advanced of him as the number eight.
Mauk is slightly more offensive in disposition than the Wanderers’ eight, Dimas, who works more in tandem with Andreu to suffocate opponents and then starve them of possession, working together to ambush opponents, sustain the ball, attract the defence and shift it forward quickly to an attacker facing forward in space, usually Mitch Nichols.
By virtue of the fact I get to watch most of the Wanderers home games up close at Wanderland, watching Dimas and Andreu control games has been among my highlights of the season.
Indeed, amid all the helter-skelter of Sunday’s remarkable semi-final 5-4 come-from-behind win over Brisbane, I was fascinated watching Andreu recover from an awful opening 24 minutes as if it didn’t even happen.
And then, to see the way Dimas played with a yellow card for much of the game was the stuff of finals legend. While sitting on the edge of a red card catastrophe, he remained calm but aggressive, delivering a clinic in game control.
Even Alberto, who like Andreu had a horrid start against Jamie Maclaren, recovered to have an influence on the comeback.
This calm is the characteristic that stands out most among the Spaniards that have infiltrated the A-League in recent times. Even go back to Albert Riera’s arrival at Wellington as a then part-timer and this mentality was obvious.
I uttered similar sentiments when assessing the Wanderers’ Spanish connection earlier in the season, and while I reserved significant praise for assistant Andres Carrasco at the time, credit also goes to Tony Popovic for swallowing his pride and recognising that he needed some assistance with getting the Wanderers more proactive, controlling opponents with the ball.
Like Carrasco, Gui Amor and his assistant Pau Marti both came to Australia having lived and worked in the winning culture that is FC Barcelona, even if it was in the youth ranks in recent times.
What they have brought here is a winning mentality and the knowledge to know that if you know your stuff, and follow the process, it will invariably deliver success.
If you assess both Popovic and Amor, and their assistants, you rarely see or hear mind games. Instead, it’s about attention to detail, and a process, and a belief that this brings results and success.
Throughout the season, I have marvelled at the aura of calm that surrounds Amor and the way he has been able to get the best out of his men.
He comes across as much less intense than Popovic, but equally as detailed in that he has his men perfectly primed to deliver a high-octane brand of football built on incredible defensive effort and quality in rebound.
Adelaide’s is a template of immense defensive detail, the springboard to their pacey transition game.
Watching the way his front three pressed Melbourne City into submission and restricted both Aaron Mooy and Bruno Fornaroli last Friday at Hindmarsh was to marvel at the way Amor has got his men working. Always cool, delivering great advice, man management appears his strength.
That much has been evident via his increasingly more confident pre and post match mutterings and the way he’s been able to develop and encourage the likes of Bruce Kamau, Craig Goodwin, Mauk and Jordan Elsey.
Indeed, when you see the likes of Dylan McGowan, Bruce Djite and Michael Marrone in career-best form you understand the influence Amor is having.
The same could be said of the way Popovic is getting great service out of Romeo Castelen, Scott Jamieson, Mitch Nichols, Brendan Santalab, Mark Bridge and Scott Neville.
These are two teams delivering high-end tactical, physical and mental detail, and there is very little separating them.
Indeed, when they last met at Wanderland in March it finished 0-0, but I thought the Wanderers had the ascendency then, if not the finishing. But Adelaide were missing Marcelo Carrusca that night, with Amor taking the conservative option of playing George Mells alongside Isaias, with Mauk advanced.
While Carrusca is back, the Wanderers finishing is also stronger with Santalab now a starter and Jaushua Sotirio, a starter than night, now on the outer.
Three games between them this season for three draws, two scoreless, the other a 1-1, and with so many wise heads on and off the pitch thanks largely to the Spanish influence, it would almost be a shock if this game was decided in the 90 minutes.
Soy Espanol
Guest
Spot on JB Poppa tactics were dated by the end of last season.......to his credit he has shown us all that coaching is about progression, not about resting on one's laurel's......the move to a "Spanish inspired" possession style game has served WSW very well..........incidentally, Muskie and Arnold who were last years standouts this year have clearly failed especially with the load of the ACL.....we will see what changes they bring to their respective squads and if they tweak their playing styles.....I suspect Arnold has great deal more work to get through and Muscat will need to get the Valeri middle of the park sorted to figure next year......its all good in my eye's the A League & Australia will continue to grow in popularity as a destination for top class players to end their careers and more importantly a magnificent place for our own boys to live out dreams as professional footballers!!!!
j binnie
Guest
Tony - Excellent observations all round but an opinion that can lead us into another much more debatable area, if we want to improve the HAL standard more quickly do we increase the number of foreign players allowed,or do we decrease the number and allow our "locals" more exposure to this type of play where it counts,on the field. Perhaps you would care to comment on that dilemma. Coaching is a different area of operation,Amor has shown what can be done,his demeanor during a game is in stark contrast to some of the "comic operas" we see played out at other games but to me it means one thing ,he has every confidence in his players to carry out the instructions and game plans on which they have spent a week working ,and they don't need to be looking over their shoulders to see what he wants,they "KNOW" what he wants before taking the field. Tony Popovic is fast approaching the same "modus operandi", he has changed the team philosophy from his favoured defensive set-up (not surprising for a centre -back) to the much more fluid and attractive style of today. This has taken the procurement of more than a few class imports,and he is finally using Santalab in the role Djite plays at Adelaide, all in all demonstrating TP is not afraid to "look and learn" Cheers jb.
AZ_RBB
Guest
There's also the fear that this could be a fairly dour affair with the two teams essentially cancelling each other out. That's basically what's happened for much of the season. The Oval pitch could be the spanner in the works. But are they going to cut the grass between the AFL and the grand final?
j binnie
Guest
Scuba - Don't know if you were being sarcastic or not but Hervas has only started in 2 matches for Roar this season and his other "appearances" have been substitutions usually lasting about 15 -20 minutes and ALWAYS on the right hand side of Roar''s team when a blind man's dog could tell you he is a left sided player. Now a look at his playing record will point out that he has played a fair amount of his football in the Spanish Second division ,where most of the other Spaniards starring in our HAL have plied their trade.Do you really think the Aoisis or for that matter the fans know what this guy is capable of providing. I've been watching football for a long time and I certainly don't know. Cheers jb
Kaks
Roar Guru
Really? No one in my section was frustrated by it. In fact I kept overhearing a father in front of me mention to his little kids to observe Dimas and Andreu closely as that's how you play football. However I'm not surprised to hear that, I can understand how some people may not like that type of football when your team is behind. Anyway.. we can all agree that the three spaniards at Wanderland are just such a pleasure to witness live.
Paul
Guest
Agree With Andreu and Dimas, our team wouldn't be in the grand final. I have to add Alberto. He's like an extra midfielder plus he slapped Berisha. Legend. I hope that Andreu and Alberto stay for next season and for the ACL.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I think we're an awesome supporter base and the atmosphere is testament to that. But we've got a long to go when it comes to appreciating possession football. On countless occasions during the season portions of the crowd starting jeering when he had sustained periods of comfortable possession. On Sunday it was 2-3 and we were in one of many long periods of sustained possession and people around me started getting frustrated. I was already on edge so I lost it at them for not supporting their team properly. How can people complain about possession with 50mins to go in the march. Both Dimas and Andreu deserve a lot more respect than they get. Two of the best Wanderland has seen.
Paul
Guest
So agree on Dimas. Fifa16 beast rating of 75 far too low imo! I hope Gillett doesn't foul him out.
Cameron
Roar Guru
HA! That's all.
Kaks
Roar Guru
"By virtue of the fact I get to watch most of the Wanderers home games up close at Wanderland, watching Dimas and Andreu control games has been among my highlights of the season." Agree completely Tony. Watching those two all season has been a joy. They way they dictate a game virtually by themselves is remarkable, I'm just glad there are so many young kids who are able to see players like this week in, week out and hopefully they learn a thing or two from these maestro's. I personally think Dimas has been one of the best players in the league. Unfortunately he is one of those unsung heroes that you truly appreciate when he is not there and for that reason he doesnt get the plaudits of a Fornaroli or Diego Castro, even though he is just as critical to his teams chances as the other two.
Barca4life
Guest
Viva the Spanish revolution in Australian Futbol, it will help make us better in the future!!!
Scuba
Guest
Javier Hervàs was a real stand out for the Roar.
peter
Guest
WSW
Onside
Guest
ha ha. love it.
Soy Espanol
Guest
Nice Article Maccaroni.........its been a great season version 11......lets hope we keep improving as a league and lets hope our own Ozzie young boys continue to learn from their more educated imports......still a couple of standout top line imports (ala Totti, Xavi Hernandez (ballplayers etc) would be a nice addition to the fabric of the league but certainly not essential given its obvious even the 2nd and 3rd line Armada players have been a revelation. Onward and Upwards I say......A wanderers Fan I am but I suspect as much as it hurts that United might just have a little bit extra in the tank on Sunday.....but more than happy to be proven completely wrong Who do you sing for?
SVB
Guest
If we played like the Dutch it wouldn't be such a bad thing. But we aint the Dutch unfortunately.
Onside
Guest
With hindsight, its a pity Australia bought into the Dutch formula.
marron
Guest
Ole-Ole Ole-Ole Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole....
AZ_RBB
Guest
Ole!! (sorry I'm too nervous already to contribute anything more)
Bondy
Guest
I enjoy the fact that we're now searching through eastern Europe for players for the HAL and not so much Britain any more . The best knowledgeable and educated footballers come from Spain & Germany for mine . I think the player most to have made the transition to Australia has been Corona for Brisbane this year I enjoy his football .. I've got Adelaide winning this 3-1 on gut instinct, although I feel also that under three goals option is probably most likely . Nice read Tony ...