Last week saw inaugural Western Sydney Wanderers manager Tony Popovic meet with representatives from Chinese giants Shanghai Shenhua in Sydney.
The Wanderers manager washed away these accusations after the talks initially broke down after the inability to give Popovic complete control over the transfers of players in and out of the four-time Chinese Super League champions was the catalyst for the contract rejection.
Popovic said after his sides dismal 1-1 draw to Melbourne City on Friday,
“I’m very happy where I am, I’m at a great club and I’m contracted to this football club” before adding,
“Coaching is too unpredictable to look to far ahead in this industry, we all have ambitions and mine is to be the best coach, anywhere”
To do what he has done with the Wanderers shows a manager who is ready to take the next step.
But is one crucial concept letting him down?
In four seasons at the Wanderers, Popovic has never been able to nail down an out and out goal scorer. Someone who is deadly within 18 yards of the net and can put away chances that the flamboyant creators conjure up in attack is missing.
It’s fair to say the Wanderers have been deprived of some well-earned silverware but their recruitment at times in their short history has been questionable to say the least
Now your immediate thought would be, but they won the Asian Champions League and got to three grand finals without one.
That is true, but, take this season and last for example. While they’ve managed to score some goals without the help of an out-and-out striker, they’ve leaked a number in the season total as well.
And this season, the players beside the striker are not contributing, so what does this leave? It leaves a horrible lurch in the Wanderers squad.
This season, Popovic had another clear out and got his recruitment horribly wrong. While Jumpei Kusukami and Nico Martinez are technically terrific players, the players that support them are unreliable and poor technically.
How can you rely on a raw, inexperienced Kerem Bulut up front who spends 85 per cent of the game offside? Besides this his decision-making is poor and struggles to create chances for himself and other players.
As well as this a player ten years his senior, Brendan Santalab, has only 70 minutes in him at most.
You cannot win the league with a super-sub.
And to make this even more concerning, their depth in positions is poor, while they’ve wasted a foreign spot on Bruno Piñatares, who has been nothing short of shocking in midfield, it leaves players like Kearyn Baccus and Josh Sotirio in a professional environment that they do not belong in.
This isn’t helped by poor recruitments in defence with Aritz Borda proving to be unreliable as well as their goalkeepers Andrew Redmayne and Jerrad Tyson who in my opinion wouldn’t get a start for most of the other clubs in the league.
Popovic has dodged the bullet from this gun by managing to continue high finishes by seasons end, mostly I think because of a push from the board to get the squad moving. I’m not criticising his tactical nous instead praising it.
If there is one piece of scepticism I have of Popovic, it has to be his ability in recruitment and especially his ability to find a goal scorer. I believe this may have been the reason for Shanghai’s condition of transfer reliance on Popovic and it’s made it apparent by their start to this season.
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