There has been a creeping feeling that Aaron Mooy’s value to the Socceroos is less than it would seem.
Yes, Mooy is playing in the Premier League, probably the best league in which any Australian abroad is playing. He is a regular starter for Huddersfield, and has been for the past three seasons. He is a central midfielder, a critically important position in a team, around whom an entire tactical system might revolve, and upon whom the team’s fluency might rely.
He’s proven himself in the A-League, and in England. It could be comfortably argued that he’s our best player.
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And yet, upon closer inspection, and assessing Mooy’s – and Australia’s – strengths and weaknesses holistically, a different conclusion is reached.
Mooy is not an athlete, and at times can look outright cumbersome. His passing range comes alive when he is given space and time, but when he is denied those pleasures, it’s almost as if the field becomes clouded, and the conservative pass is the only one visible to him.
Invariably, against the better international teams – or in the more fraught situations, like tense qualifiers or knockout ties – he isn’t allowed breezy time on the ball.
There’s a half-second, maybe longer, that Mooy appears to need after receiving the ball, to gather himself, or turn to face the scene ahead, before he pulls the trigger on a pass. This is an indulgence that is either not afforded to him, or when it is, the defence uses that pause to take away the potential passes.
Whether this is a consequence of listless movement – as in, not finding large enough pockets of space that bloom and contract in the midfield – or a failure to twitch suddenly into an alert and actionable state, is hard to tell.
Perhaps it’s simply the fear of committing an error, or lurching unwisely into a reflex action. But just as a boxer cannot hope to survive if they pause and consider every punch thrown or dodged before throwing or dodging, a footballer, especially a midfielder, cannot hope to ponder in this way either.
Football is at its best when it is played partly on the knife edge, when flutters of instinct flash across the pitch, when the risk of shooting from the subconscious hip is embraced and the insulating straitjacket of caution is torn off.
It’s also hard to tell to what exact degree Mooy has been straitjacketed by the system in which he’s placed. Clearly, at the World Cup, Mooy was told by Bert van Marwijk to strictly hold the position of a No.6, to play with caution, to pass frequently but unambitiously, and to value defensive positioning and risk-minimisation above any impulses to lead some daring sortie into attack.
Huddersfield are third-bottom for through-balls played in the Premier League this season, but are mid-table for backwards passes made, and second overall for long balls. They’re also third for crosses hit per game, and yet have scored the fewest goals in the division.
On average, the Terriers have markedly less of the ball than their opponents, and show all the signs of being an inefficient, hopelessly blunt attacking team. They look at perilous risk of being relegated this season. This is the context in which Mooy operates at club level.
Aaron Mooy of Huddersfield Town (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
But, to more immediate national matters.
“Aaron will play more as a 10,” Graham Arnold said before Australia’s match against Lebanon in Sydney last night. Mooy was to fill the same role in Arnold’s system that Rogic occupied against South Korea.
Playing in front of Mustafa Amini and Jackson Irvine – two players more than capable of offering all the positional and athletic support necessary – we would see how Mooy would take up a more attacking brief. Relieved of a huge portion of the defensive burden, would we see an unshackled Mooy, creative, vivacious and incisive?
Martin Boyle was busy and eager ahead of him, as was Awer Mabil. Boyle was showing an ability and appetite to beat his defender, traits that make him a very welcome presence in this newly adopted team of his. He smacked in a goal after 18 minutes, driving inward from the left, feigning a shot to rid his line of sight of a defender, before lacing the ball. A deflection made a save almost impossible.
At times Mooy seemed, in the early stanzas, to be drifting back into his defensive half to collect the ball from the centre backs, a normal rhythm for him – in his normal role that is. In other moments he took up the position Rogic did in the last game, almost level with Mabil, Boyle and Tomi Juric, the striker. At risk of a nosebleed, Mooy must have felt most unusual placed as high as that.
Aaron Mooy (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images).
Lebanon had assumed a deep defensive stance, one that Australia will see often in Asia. Operating exclusively on the counter – they threatened only once or twice in the first half on the break – the Cedars were pressing only when Australia entered into their half, and even then were allowing the hosts to venture deeply before meeting a red resistance. They are not a good team, to be frank.
Mooy combined neatly with Aziz Behich after half an hour, a move that freed the left back, who set up Mabil to shoot. Mooy is more than capable of acting as a well-greased hinge for teammates to play around, as he did in this sequence, a stationary fulcrum that can collect and release one-two passes with the proper weight.
Boyle toed in a second goal, tapping in after Milos Degenek’s wide open header crashed off the crossbar. Mooy had sent a corner in, with Lebanon seemingly unaware of their cue to defend, such was the freedom and space Degenek enjoyed.
2-0 at halftime, but outside of the pleasing lead, Australia had not attacked fluently.
Boyle’s interventions were two sharp raps on the snare that had pierced through what had been an fairly arrhythmic half of football. Certainly the opening section of the half was nowhere near as good as the equivalent period against South Korea, when Rogic had sparkled.
Another of Mooy’s limitations, one that is more exposed the further up the pitch he gets, is his footspeed; where Rogic can disentangle himself from a flurry of tackles with a flick of the heels, Mooy often seems, in comparison, to be playing in mud. To give an example, where Mooy is forced back here, one feels a more fleet-of-foot attacker would be splitting the two defenders and bursting infield.
It’s only a minor criticism, but when space is tight and tackles are flying in, the ability to manipulate the ball swiftly and with precision can make or break an attack.
If the second half began more evenly, it was only because Lebanon had raised their will to attack above the near-insensate level they’d managed in the first. By the 57th minute, Australia had lifted 36 balls into the Lebanon penalty area, and had taken 14 shots; only five had been struck on target.
It isn’t fair to characterise a player using a single play, but I would suggest the following sequence is typical of the less desirable parts of Mooy’s game; here, having drifted around the midfield, Mooy is eventually picked out by a very nice pass from Amini, spanked past a number of defenders.
Mooy now has the full vista expanding out ahead of him, and Rhyan Grant makes a run. You can almost hear – even in this silent GIF – the cogs turning in Mooy’s mind. It’s there, right there, the correct pass, just hit it. It’s excruciating to see Mooy see the run, hesitate fatally, then with a sigh lay the ball off to the nearest lateral passing option.
Matt Leckie came on for Mabil, and scored with his first touch, just about. Mooy had been involved in the build-up – laying off the ball to Boyle, who crossed for Leckie’s stinger half-volley – and although it’s hard to fault a player for having taken part in a fruitful attack, it was what Mooy didn’t do that was most illuminating.
Aaron Mooy of Australia (Photo by Stuart Franklin – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
You can see here that having received the ball, there’s a perfect opportunity for Mooy to play in Leckie; he’s right there, to Mooy’s left, pointing to where he wants the pass. The defender’s back is turned, barely aware of the threat Leckie poses. Mooy has plenty of time to play the pass.
Is he aware of Leckie as an option? The close up replay implies that no, Boyle was always Mooy’s preferred target, instinctively selected as the first-choice option: he’s closer, and the pass is safer.
He makes the pass to Boyle. Boyle’s cross was good, and Leckie’s finish was excellent, but it was all made harder than it would have been had Mooy made the pass direct to Leckie. A leaning, half-volley, connecting with a speared, curling cross through traffic, was not the ideal way to score there.
The pass to Leckie would have been harder, and decision to play it made quicker, but that’s what No.10’s are meant to do.
Mooy was eventually subbed off for the man of the evening, Tim Cahill.
Mooy does so many important things well. His ability to dictate a steady pace from midfield is excellent. His decision making is almost never reckless. His set piece delivery can be great. He would be perfect in a team that was more potent than Australia currently is, a team that, after scoring, needed a player to control a game, if not quite actively add to the lead.
But for the Socceroos, it will be a concern if Mooy is required to shoulder more than a small portion of the attacking burden. Even here, against a bad team, on a good pitch, and played in an advanced position, he did not excel.
There’s a subtle chemistry to football, and elements must be balanced. Mooy might be our best player, but if what he offers isn’t what the team needs, his place must be considered.
bwm
Guest
I understand your points and particularly, that in a technically & tactically better side, Mooy's role could be more effective. You said he isn't an athlete though, which is incorrect. "Athlete: a person who is trained or skilled in a sport and esp. one who regularly competes with others in organized events: a professional athlete" Mooy rarely misses games for club or country. He has an impressive engine but is not a sprinter. So maybe rather than Mooy having to create space, the players around him without the ball, should create space for Mooy to pass or move into. Mooy has perhaps been so committed to the "possession at all costs" mantra -which has not always served the socceroos well, despite Ange's vision of a "fearless" Australia (& I say that with great respect for AP) that it's perhaps now a habitual, safety-first approach since he was often tasked with being the fulcrum & traction engine for the team. He has given his all and I have seen him on countless occasions break up play, maintain/regain momentum, recover lost ball, start attacking moves etc. It's not so much that he needs time on the ball, as I've seen Mooy operate very effectively in a dense midfield, he just needs constant openings and opportunities to offload -like any creative midfielder. I'm sure he can adapt to Arnold's style over time (by playing riskier balls -ironic in the context of Ange style v Arnie style?). For the time-being this is all somewhat moot, since Mooy is injured & out of the Asian Cup. Write it down sir... Mooy is Moot! Having said that, Australia should never be pessimistic about playing without Mooy, or Rogic or Leckie etc although each would be sorely missed, we do have other players willing to give their all (a big part of what Ange tried to instill). IMO the key for Australia is (and has been for a while), speed and timing in the (opposition) 4th quarter of the pitch. We need players arriving into the opposition goal area at speed & able to get onto a incoming pass or cross. To my eyes, Australia have been far too static with players waiting in the box for a cross (requiring a precision cross, something we just don't do consistently well) that opposing defenders can read just as readily as attackers, or dribbling the ball into a crowded area and being blocked or dispossessed. If the Aussies can get players timing their runs to arrive into or around the box, using 2 attackers more often to create uncertainty & provide support, rather than arriving ahead of the pass as they have often done, we should see more goals per game. Our players certainly have the pace and "athleticism" and some of those clearly have the technical ability. I was so pleased to see Alex Gersbach get some meaningful game time and provide an impressive run & assist against Oman, with Irvine's neat finishing for goal of the match against Oman. On Juric, he has been ineffective as a striker, but may still be effective at drawing defenders away from the goal area and creating holes for attacking players, as per Hiddink's setup in 2006. Viduka was world class though, in anyone's language. It could just be that he doesn't offer enough though, as we don't want a single player to always be the conduit for attacking plays. I think what Arnold is doing with the team will bear fruit and build on qualities that Postecoglou, despite his critics, helped recover. Don't forget the parlous state our Australian National Team was in after Verbeek & Osiek. Complain all you want, but just not in my ear. We have progressed from there. The backward step was handing Van Marwick the reins for the WC. I wish them all the greatest success!
Kenny
Guest
Premature?
Andrew
Guest
Yes we dont need Mooy like Spain didn't need Iniesta or Xavi. Not everything needs to done at full pace. Mooy is one of the few that can retain the ball in tight areas whilst looking for his next pass, in the second half under pressure at one point he went one way, had a look, outside cut back the other way and then reverse pass forward into the higher player, gets the bounce pass back and plays forward again. Maybe that ability is lost on some people but he is the reason Australia actually retains the ball for longer periods than the old days. Whether he is best suited deeper that may be the case but needs to be included somewhere, if he can show composure and the ability to buy time on the ball in the fast paced premier league he can do it for the socceroos.
alexgibb
Roar Rookie
Also Jackson Irvine should be coming off the bench playing a role not dissimilar to that of Tim Cahill for Everton- a midfielder making late runs in the box to score goals. Had his best season at Burton playing this kind of style.
alexgibb
Roar Rookie
How about Mooy and Milligan as the two defensive midfielders. Leaves Sainsbury and Degenek at the back. Frees Mooy from some defensive responsibility as Millsy can play a more disciplined 6 role with Mooy linking between him and Rogic further forward.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Brilliant article, plus some great comments... keep this up and the Roar may get people back. To me Mooy is to slow for a 10, and needs the extra space a 6 gets to be the playmaker he is. My issue with his 6 role is he provides little cover for the backs in defence. Milly, IMO is the better 6 as a package than Mooy IMO, so it comes down to who is the best 10 TBH I don't know as both have their limitations.
Randy
Roar Rookie
I thought Mooy was one of our better players in the world cup, I can't say I've seen much of him since for either Australia or Huddersfield.
Sydneysideliner
Guest
Place must be considered as in where best to play him? Surely he shouldn't be dropped entirely from the XI because no 10 doesn't work for him? He's still our best passer, I think he's just more suited to a deep-lying playmaker role, with a box-to-boxer like Luongo or Irvine next to him. When Rogic is rested, I would be more tempted to play one of Mabil or Boyle in the no 10 role, who I think both have experience there at club level. Add pace and urgency with a bit of Rogic's dribbling ability.
Griffo
Guest
Agree. Juric & Armani out. Both too slow. Bring in some youth and pace in their place.
Griff
Guest
Agree entirely with this article. Mooy's stock play is recieve a pass begin to carry the ball slowly forward, draw an opponent then turn backwards and pass off to a team mate either behind or to the side. There are virtually no forward through balls. It delays build up a gives yh opposition time to reset their defence creating a crowded forward line for Roos attackers to contend with. Its a boring and counter productive strategy that wont beat good sides. Mooys kicking for passes and set peices is also appalling. Compare a Troisi corner to that of Mooy. Troisi's almost always hits a good spot. Mooy's generally go over the back, are too close to gk or fall short. Berich or Nabout should be tried as no.6. Both have good pace and take opponents on.
Patrick
Guest
Sainsbury has looked disinterested and totally rusty given his lack of game time at PSV. The last play of the day where Lebanon counter attacked off Sainsbury's sloppiness, he barely tried to track back to win the muck up/double effort and got lucky Lebanon didn't punish us like South Korea did - also him getting caught flat footed. He's one of our most important players - stature wise as well so needs to get some game time before Asian Cup otherwise looks like a Degenek/Milligan pairing.
Fadida
Guest
He's only about 27!
Fadida
Guest
Exactly! Pick on current form only. Therefore no Kruse
Fadida
Guest
His use of the ball was very poor and he lacks the athleticism needed
Fadida
Guest
I really rate McGree, the way he drives forward with the ball
chris
Guest
Leckie is in his prime. Why would you discard him because he will be 31 in 4 years time?
chris
Guest
Fad 100% agree with your summation. Mooy, in my opinion has always been overrated and as he gets slower and slower he becomes even more surplus. So I was really looking forward to seeing Amini last night. What i saw unfortunately was someone who has not progressed but rather regressed. His passing range was quite poor and his speed and technique seems to have gone backwards. He is not the answer to being our playmaker. Which leaves Luongo. I'm not sure he has 90mins and tournament in him though to be a starter. If Arnie wants to play a passing game with 5 players in front of the number 10 he needs to solve this problem quickly.
Pasco
Guest
Mooy in my books is arguably one, if not the best players Australia has ever seen. His only downfall like many Australian players is that Australia has always been inadequate at spotting, harnessing and promoting talent at the right ages. At his peak Mooy is Zidane like . Unfortunately his peak is probably behind him and he probably will not receive the credit or the heights he deserved.
Griffo
Roar Guru
As I said the other day Mooy is great at controlling the tempo (or slowing it down) but Arnie appears to be setting up for a direct and fast-paced attack. Both aren’t compatible. Again Luongo, Player of Asian Cup 2015, sat out this game where he would have been better in Mooy’s ‘10’ role and perfect to test. I think Leckie showed he has an instinct and technique to shoot - Mabil/Boyle Leckie Arzani/Boyle could be the front three I’d like to see. Jurić may have a confidence problem but he was out of sorts last night But we need goals scoring solutions and fast. Jurić is not it when he’s like this. Armini had a few errors that were glaring and perhaps why he’s a fringe player. Pretty much agree: a team looks like firming, but Mooy looks to be starting for the Asian Cup.
Will
Guest
This match confirms me that Mooy isnt the No.10 we need. He takes too many touches when he only needed to take only 1 or 2 touches to move the ball forward, also his mobility isnt the best and relies on others to create to space i.e Rogic when hes the No.10 To me hes more suited as the deepest No.6 and passing from deep, but whoever is at the No.10 position we need dribblers around them and Boyle and Mabil offered plenty in the two games.