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Mile Jedinak has been a gargantuan presence in the centre of midfield for the Socceroos since he became a regular in 2011.
He, along with Tim Cahill, was the bridge between the Golden and New generations of Socceroos, while leading the world (statistically, for a while) in his muscular old-school midfield role for Crystal Palace.
He was a steadying presence in the early, successful Ange Postecoglou era and led us to not-as-humiliating results in 2014 as our squad deserved.
But at 33 and with a bronze statue on order for Homebush, Mile’s presence in midfield – and even the squad – for Russia needs to be seriously questioned.
Debuting in 2008, Jedinak was a lanky fringe player in the 2010 World Cup squad while getting some good minutes in the Turkish league. He must have been in the frame for starting minutes in 2010 but was just pipped by Serie B’s Carl Valeri (he came off the bench once against Germany).
Within a year, Jedinak was captaining the team in the 2011 Asian Cup. His leadership, grit and muscle were identified by new coach Holger Osieck, and was handed the baton from the fading legends of the Golden Generation. While leaders like Lucas Neill and Marco Bresciano were still in the frame, their powers were waning, and they chose to concentrate fully on their personal contributions and leave the mighty weight of the nation on young Mile’s shoulders.
In 2014, ‘Mike’ led our poorest-ever World Cup squad valiantly in a group of death, and nine months later he had the unique honour of holding up our first proper trophy as a football nation.
His legend was chiselled in stone when he scored a deadball hat-trick against Honduras to lead us into the 2018 World Cup finals at the end of an exhausting and sometimes humiliating qualifying campaign.
But while many pundits have Mile’s name written in permanent marker into their World Cup starting XI, that seems a risky decision built on legacy and not fact.
The problem is: Mile is no longer a defensive midfielder, and an absence of quicker options beside him in central defence means his aged and weary legs present a major design flaw.
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Mile’s performances for the national team in the last qualifying campaign, and famously in the two friendlies under Bert Van Marwijk, were poor. His game against Norway was so marked by miscues, poor touch and intercepted passes that I wondered if he even deserved a spot in the World Cup squad (let alone the starting XI).
With the two noticeable exceptions of the Honduras games – when Honduras presented a famously weak opposition to a fragile Socceroos ripe for the picking – Mile has not played a good game for the green and gold since the Asian Cup. His composure on the ball, his positional awareness and the accuracy of his passing have become a liability.
In the Colombia friendly, where Colombia spent the bulk of the first half playing through James Rodriguez in Mile’s space, our captain courageous only attempted one tackle, didn’t win it, and pulled off one interception. While his passing stats were OK (36 passes at 81%) his touch let him down and he couldn’t be relied on to put his foot on the ball when the Socceroos regained possession.
Mile will be approaching his 34th birthday at the World Cup final. At 33, it isn’t surprising that his light is dimming, especially as his running power diminishes. He was never a particularly quick player, but the speed he once had allowed him to get to challenges and to cover more of the space between the lines.
His performances in the last World Cup cycle is plotted in his output for his club. From 2013-2015, when he was leading the Premier League’s Crystal Palace with muscle and mettle, he was a top-shelf defensive mid.
His 2014 season started so brightly in the months following the World Cup that his stats on Opta ranked him the best player in the Premier League and the best midfielder in the world. Stats can be misleading (or flatter), but Mile was massive in a system that played to his strengths and didn’t expose his weaknesses.
Mile would never have the passing range or composure to match Sergio Busquets in a possession game, but in a higher tempo team with quicker transitions managed (in 2014) by Neil Warnock and then Alan Pardew, Mile’s positional awareness and aerial and ground support in the back block meant (his great strengths) made him a towering figure.
In 2014-15, Mile executed 3.3 tackles per game, and 3.4 interceptions. Crucially, he also achieved 3.5 clearances and 4.7 aerials won, underlining his role governing the lines between his back four and midfield. These figures were largely a continuation of this previous year (2013) underlining his consistency with Palace in their two continuous seasons in the top flight.
Mile Jedinak (Photo: AAP)
However, 2015-16 showed a marked reduction in output for Palace, as Mile struggled with injuries and only played 16 EPL matches. That season he saw a marked reduction in tackles (1.9 down by nearly half), clearances (2.1), interceptions (2) and aerial balls won (3.8).
His 2016-2018 seasons have seen a pick up in some categories, as a drop down a division to the Championship with Aston Villa saw his clearances (4.7 in ‘16-17 and then 4.5 in’17-18) climb, while aerial balls have also risen (6.1 and 4.4). However, his tackle and interception figures have continued to drop to all-time lows in ‘17-18, with 1.5 tackles and 1.2 interceptions.
His shifting statistics point to a tactical change at Villa, where he is being used less in midfield, and more in central defence, where his reduction in running and tackling can be hidden in a back three.
Indeed, a recent revival in Jedinak’s output has come while John Terry has been out injured, and Mile has assumed his role as the patriarch of Villa’s backline. As a defensive midfielder, Mile is now unable to get to more contests, but as a central defender he can play the balls that come to him with skill, and confidence of two central defenders around him for support.
This change was pronounced for the Socceroos in his famously muscular performances against Honduras. In the home leg, Jedinak was effectively used dropping into a back four inside the three central defenders, but then stepped forward to pilot the transition.
At club level, Mile’s game has never been about distribution, and in his imperious ‘14-15 year, he produced 39.7 passes per game but at a pedestrian 66.6 per cent success rate. In fact, his passing success figures have never really suggested a would-be Regista, but his influence on forward transitions in ‘14-15 was more pronounced. His key passes number was 0.6 a game and in that season he contributed three assists.
In ‘17-18 his passing figures underline his withdrawn role, down to 31.1 (albeit at a stronger success rate of 74.3%) and key passes down to 0.1. It should be said that his passing numbers were excellent in 2016-17 for Villa, but this season he has appeared on the bench in half his games and his minutes per game are down by 30 per cent.
While Jedinak’s minutes are down to an average of 59 this season, his output from a tackling and interception perspective – the hallmarks of a great defensive midfielder – have diminished quicker than his minutes.
As a point of comparison to his performances for the Socceroos, in the 2014 World Cup, Mile was much more involved in the build-up play than at Crystal Palace, underlining his significance to the team. In Brazil, he made nearly 50 passes per game on average, at a success rate of 78 per cent. This suggests the thumbprint of Postecoglou’s gameplan, where more short passes in triangles from defence are called for.
But in Brazil, Mile’s interception, aerial ball and tackle numbers were also significantly lower than at Palace. This may be due to sharing defensive midfield responsibilities in a double-pivot with Mark Milligan, or the general quality of the opposition. Either way, we have come to expect more from Mile in transition at Socceroo level than he ever really contributed for his English clubs. And as his club career path retreats back into the defence line to prop up his drop in pace and athleticism, we need to be even more realistic as a national team about what he can produce in Russia.
So, given the reduction in Mile’s output as a midfielder, can we expect him to play this role successfully in Russia? His early games under Van Marwijk, as well as his performances in qualifying under Ange, suggest that selecting Mile in midfield would be optimistic at best and foolhardy at worst.
As a screen for Massimo Luongo or Aaron Mooy, he may have value, however Bert has so far liked to use his central midfielders in a symmetrical shape, with either Mass or Mooy pushing up when the ball is in our final third. Giving Jedinak this screening role would leave us dangerously susceptible on counter attacks when Mass or Mooy have pushed forward due to his lack of pace.
We could embrace the Villa vintage of Jedinak and use him in central defence, but this would simply paper over another problem in our defence, which is a lack of athleticism. Jedinak at the heart of defence makes a lot of sense for a team with a back three or a pacey option to pair him with. Sadly, paired with a Milos Degenek, Matthew Jurman or Alex Susnjar would simply compound our problems.
Trent Sainsbury would make sense, however his current form in midfield for Grasshopper, with his distribution skills, suggest he is primed to take Mile’s midfield role.
Pairing Jedinak with a player like Milligan in central defence might make the most sense, but you then have a central defence made up of players who haven’t conventionally played in that position throughout their careers – a spectre that haunted Milligan’s two starts under Van Marwijk.
The minute Jedinak was subbed against Norway for Luongo, suddenly more energy and dynamism was injected into the team and we started to gain back ground in midfield.
Therefore, we need to let Mile Jedinak go.
As sad as it seems, we have seen Lucas Neill, Mark Schwarzer and Luke Wilkshire be ‘retired’ before they were ready and the team grew as a result, with the baton being handed to the next generation.
While I can see the virtues of selecting Mile in the World Cup squad for experience and hard-nosed leadership, I would do so only as back-up central defender or potential late substitute if we were defending a narrow lead with a midfield five.
The days of Mile starting for Australia, sadly, should come to an end.
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