For a manager totally unfamiliar with solely negotiating the rigours of club football to be charged in his first season with hauling a club out of the muskeg of a historically bad campaign is, obviously, no mean task.
Paul Okon is yet to register a win as Mariners manager – indeed, he’s still yet to lead the Mariners to a clean sheet, a modest achievement they haven’t earned in more than a year – so it is hard to muster more than a weak humming sound when it comes to praising him.
It would have been tempting – perhaps even intuitive – for Okon to immediately focus on the defence; the Mariners ended last season with a goal difference of -37, with 70 goals conceded. Such an appalling defensive record demands an inquest and, plainly put, even if Okon neglected attempting an attacking revamp entirely, any significant improvement he could manage defensively would represent a job well begun.
You only need to turn your gaze to the Mozart of the unambitious clean-sheet, Tony Pulis, to see how effective an unapologetic, defend-first approach can be when trying to reel a club back from the precipice. Pulis did so – admittedly curdling aesthetic sensibilities in the process – with Stoke City, Crystal Palace, and is now doing it with West Brom.
Of course, A-League clubs live free from the looming spectre of relegation, but still, the Mariners must have had a conversation with Okon about how critically important it was to avoid another galling season. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if Okon had used at least, say, the first half of this season to shore up the Mariners back line, even if it meant goals were, in the meantime, off the menu.
But this is not what Okon is doing. In the post-match interview following the Mariners’ 1-1 draw with Western Sydney, Okon spoke freely about how he felt a reason for his teams’ inferiority in the first half was the fact his back line was dropping too deep.
Oddly, it was from a swift counter-attack that Western Sydney scored, in the second minute, charging vibrantly at a Mariners defence that was back-tracking and scrambled, having been stationed, in fact, fairly high up the pitch. Indeed, it was a Mariners centre back that gave the ball away in the Wanderers’ half, leading to the break.
Regardless, it was clear in the match against Western Sydney that the Mariners defenders have been told specifically to take chances in defence, to pass with freedom, to try and work their way forward. Of the leading passers in the A-League before this match, three of the top seven were Mariners players, two of them defenders Jake McGing and Michael Neill, with the other being midfielder Michail Tavares.
Multiple times, Jacques Faty and the rest of his defensive cohort were seen passing laterally to one another, under apparent instruction to resist the urge to pass too ambitiously up the pitch. Even under intense pressure, applied on carefully picked occasions by the Wanderers, their modus operandi remained, and questions as to the wisdom of this were emphasised by repeated incidences of the Mariners turning the ball over recklessly deep in their own half. These horrid moments have been a fairly common sight over the Mariners’ first four league games.
There are benefits to playing in this way; when the Mariners did manage to pass their way into a positive position, they did so with coherence and confidence. The Mariners have made the second-most passes as a team in the league this season, with an average length of 18 metres, the second-shortest in the league. They lead the league in average possession held, a quite remarkable thing considering the black void of confidence that the Mariners’ 2015-16 developed into.
But, as encouraging as the ready adoption of this new style is, it hasn’t resulted in tangible product, at either end of the pitch. The Mariners have made more defensive errors than any other A-League team, with some of them leading directly to goals, and, at the other end, only Brisbane and the Melbourne Victory have attempted fewer shots than they have.
In spite of the Mariners’ strong finish against the Wanderers, it was the home team that will be ruing their profligacy; Mitch Nichols in particular was guilty of spurning three sparkling chances, the taking of any of which would have killed the game. Furthermore, it was only from a wincingly underhit back pass that the Mariners even managed to level the scores.
Their winless run lays the situation even barer, and progress will be more and more difficult to see the longer the barren run continues. Okon might simply be creating a rod for his own back here, his ambition as much a hindrance as it is a motivational tool.
The Mariners clearly do not have the personnel – or are simply yet to familiarise themselves closely enough with the new system – to succeed playing as they are. They appear to have improved from last season, but we must keep in mind that they had hit the freezing bedrock last term, so upwards was really the only direction available.
Under the circumstances, Okon’s persistence with his preferred style is admirable, but his refusal to act pragmatically might be harming his team more than helping it. He is a new manager, and might have come into the position over-emphasising the importance of stamping a clear philosophy on a team.
Great managers, of course, are able to adapt to the assets – or lack thereof – they have at their disposal, and often have to abandon their preconceived methods because of this, at least temporarily. Okon clearly has a vision, but if the clean sheets continue to escape the Mariners, along with the wins, then one fears whether he’ll have the time to build a team that can realise it.
Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
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