The malaise Melbourne City are presently stumbling through has them foraging clumsily for answers.
Neil Kilkenny, following City’s lurching 3-3 draw with Perth on Tuesday, decided to point a trembling finger at the officiating, criticising both the performance of Kris Griffiths-Jones two rounds ago against Sydney, and of Shaun Evans against Perth.
It was an extraordinary whinge, and like an anchovy sundae it left a horrible, salty taste lingering on the palate, following what had been a succulent main course of footballing entertainment.
Kilkenny only serves to heighten his unpopularity with reactions like this. Of course, forcing a player to chat to the media following what must have been a hugely frustrating evening, asking him for a composed opinion in the midst of near-Singaporean humidity always beckons for a poorly contrived response.
But to blame the referee for a mediocre result after your team was awarded three penalties in the match – and only two of them warranted – pushes the very limits of what is tolerable.
Besides, if one looks closely – past, even, the fact that City awarded Kilkenny their own man of the match award on the night – they’ll see that it was Kilkenny who was, in concert with the rest of City’s highly unusual defensive unit, at fault for two of Perth’s three goals.
John van’t Schip has set up a very fluid system of rotation at the back, where a nominal back three – against Perth composed of Ruon Tongyik, Ivan Franjic and Manny Muscat – allow Kilkenny to freely drop in and out of defence.
At times, a back four is in place, with Muscat sliding out to the left to allow Nicolas Colazo to roam further forward, as well as for Kilkenny to slot in as a temporary centre back. At others, Kilkenny is seen dictating play high up the pitch, unhindered by doubts about whether to make forward runs, even off the ball, as seen in this clip.
The result is a sprawling heat map, with activity present all over the central corridor, from box to box. It is a system that allows City to pass with slickness out from the back, as well as giving the team a huge numerical advantage when keeping possession in the midfield, particularly when Tim Cahill drops deeply, which he did often against Perth. City had a touch over 70 per cent of the possession on Tuesday evening, a quite remarkable share.
But the problem – as it so often is with formations as ambitious and pliant as this – is that, in times of panic, the deliberately plastic structure can fold horridly under pressure. For Perth’s first goal, plundered while City were still tender following Tim Cahill’s disallowed header, one defensive mishap cause the City defence to tilt into a hazardous position.
As Chris Harold prods the ball through Manny Muscat, the City defence are suddenly three-on-three, with Kilkenny forced to track the runs of the Perth strikers. The fact Kilkenny was forced so deep meant that Luke Brattan had to race into the newly vacated defensive midfield position, to guard against Diego Castro from lurking on the edge of the area ready for the cut-back.
Brattan dithered, and as Castro collected the ball in space, with the City centre backs only barely in advance of their own goal-line, the outcome was inevitable. The sudden movement, the shifting and exchanging of roles that must occur all falls into chaos when panic sets in, and City’s ability to defend during a red alert will always be suspect because of this.
Perth’s second goal, a simply astonishing counter-attack following Bruno Fornaroli’s saved penalty, sounded a similar alarm across the City back line, and this time it was Kilkenny, caught between roles, who unwittingly assisted in the Perth build-up. A hopeful Perth clearance, pinged from on top of the touchline, was met weakly by Kilkenny, whose skimmed header bamboozled Tongyik, who had been in position to clear with authority.
It fell to a Glory attacker, and as they worked it wide to Castro once again, images of Watford in the 2013 Championship playoff final faded into view. Like Troy Deeney had, albeit in far less significant circumstances, Castro delivered a raucous counter-punch. Perhaps Tongyik had not vocalised that the aerial pass was his to deal with, or perhaps Kilkenny was unaware of exactly who was behind him; whatever the case, it was another frazzled sequence, and was again duly punished.
There were further incidents from which City did not receive such harsh – if just – rewards. Here, in this clip, after Brandan turns the ball over, Kilkenny is dragged over to the far flank. As two Perth players muddle the ball up the pitch, it becomes blatantly apparent that a yawning space in front of the City back line is once again opening up, with Brattan trotting back with no apparent urgency. Nebojsa Marinkovic has time to check back toward his own goal then, realising a chance is still in the making, turn back towards the City goal and receive the ball with a huge swathe of pitch to himself. He forces a fine save from Dean Bouzanis.
It’s clear that City have an issue, perhaps just as much a mental frailty as it is a tactical one. Of course, had Bruno Fornaroli converted just one of his missed spot-kicks, the issue would not be as visible; City scored enough goals, and should have scored enough others, to have won the match easily. But they also conceded enough to not win it, and the manner in which they crumbled suddenly, as the blanket of security was torn away, was alarming.
James Troisi put Kilkenny, and the players upon whom his hybrid role relies, under similar pressure in the derby last round, and this week the issue persisted. City are now a full 11 points behind the leaders Sydney and, as Kilkenny rails embarrassingly against the refs, there are precious few signs that the problem is being addressed.
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