When Richard Garcia was appointed as Perth Glory’s coach for this season, there were mixed reactions.
Many saw a former Glory player ready to give back to the club he played for, the club he knew well. His connection with the club gave optimistic fans excitement for the upcoming season.
Others saw an inexperienced manager with no track record – Glory was his first managerial stint – brought in to replace Tony Popovic, an experienced manager who had won us the Perth’s Premiers Plate in ’18-19, when we lost the grand final on penalties.
I was among us those who were reluctant about Garcia’s appointment. He was out of his depth and I had a gut feeling that he would not do well at all.
Despite this, Glory started the A-League season in fine form. In our first match, we smashed Adelaide United 5-3 at home, which was followed by an unfortunate but positive 5-4 loss away to Western United. Perth Glory then went on to win three of the next four, and we were named as title contenders.
Despite defensive woes, having not kept a clean sheet at that point, our attacking lethality meant we could outscore teams, giving us hopes of winning the elusive A-League trophy for the first time.
This was surprising, given our use of the outdated 4-4-2 formation. I had a gut feeling this formation would let Perth down, that our good form would not last.
And then bad results started coming thick and fast. A run of one or two bad games, sometimes even three or four can be dismissed as unlucky or just a bad run of form.
However we are long past this point: now 18 matches into the season, we sit tenth, 11 points off finals. Our first clean sheet came just two matches ago against Macarthur and we have one win in the last 12.
While some blame players for this disaster, who have not performed particularly well this season, true blame always rests on the manager.
Despite poor performances that have demonstrated the fundamental weakness of 4-4-2, Garcia has been resistant to change formations, playing it many times in important matches.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
To quote Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”.
Anybody who knew anything about football would as manager accept that the formation is not working and switch up.
Not Garcia.
Anyone in charge of Perth would play 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, or one out of a hundred other formations.
Not Garcia.
Most managers would accept blame for the results and make tactical changes, experimenting with different formations.
Not Garcia.
Instead, he chooses to blame, among other things, the schedule of fixtures and “individual errors of players”.
While mistakes have been made by players, a manager who is finishing tenth with a squad boasting the likes of Jason Geria, Darryl Lachman, Sebastian Langkamp, Kosuke Ota, Neil Kilkenny, Bruno Fornaroli, Diego Castro, D’agostino, Carlo Armiento, Chris Ikonomidis, Joel Chianese and Andy Keogh is not up to scratch.
(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
This squad should be contesting the A-League this season. Garcia has been told by the club that this season is a build-up for the next one, but let’s be honest: we know he’ll fail.
Time for Tony Sage and Tony Pignata to sack Garcia and rid our club of mediocrity.
Rin
Guest
Dude stop talking about Langkamp, he has literally been injured all season other than 1.5 games lol
Rin
Guest
Ota has been terrible, and it is shocking that Garcia continues to select him. Whats good about him? He is not great defensively, he is not fast, not a good header, his crosses percentage is not good, not a good set piece taker, have you ever seen him go for a run with the ball up the wing? 90% of the time he receives the ball, comes to a complete stop, looks forwards, then passes it sideways or back. He is a waste of space as a left back. Compare him to glimpses of what Geria has shown on the right, Ota needs to go too.
Rin
Guest
Lol thats ridiculous. Reddy has been in good form, and he is miles ahead of Velaphi. Thats why Velaphi has always been a #2
Buddy
Roar Rookie
My apologies for not reading your article sooner. Somehow I managed to miss it completely until late this afternoon. PG were quite a talking point between myself and a couple of friends at the start of the season. The side was touted as being top four prior to kick off and then we watch it unfold. We sat there and very much enjoyed the first game against Adelaide but 2 of the 3 of us said that Adelaide would improve out of sight as the season wore on and that unless Perth managed to find the net 3-5 times a game, they would struggle. The reason was simply looking at the defence. We looked at the quality of players (I'm not in the habit of bagging individuals so no names) but we looked at the overall situation and said they would leak goals all season long so it would depend upon whether teams could stop Castro from supplying Bruno. The fact that Chienese had disappeared and Chris I sadly had been injured somewhat reduced the attacking options. So far, that seems to be the case although the side did manage to scrape past MV last weekend. I'm not too hung up on formations - I prefer fluidity and players that can swap around a bit and do a particular job that is asked. however, it may be that RG isn't asking them to do the right things. He makes a beautiful contrast with TP who was able to set up a defensive formation and keep things pretty tight but IMO doesn't know what attributes a striker needs let alone recognize a good one! So maybe if the two had combined PG might have got the best of both worlds!
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
mate this comment is just toxic
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
He's building a rubbish future where players that are way to old are given too much game time.
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
Yeah it was a weird, weird, decision. We didn't win because of our tactics, we won because of Liam Reddy's penalty save and their red card. And only won 2-1, could have been a draw. There is a reason wingers are hardly ever played as wingbacks: They don't know how to defend, how to position themselves and will get caught on the counter way too much. They have to run all over the pitch for 90mins, which is just too much to ask of Armiento and Ikonomidis
coolncold
Roar Rookie
“Your not trying to tell me that no strikers have ever become managers are you.?” Did i say no strikers have ever become managers? Did i say no strikers have ever become a successful manager? I have not said that. Read again! Do you need to go back to school to do comprehension and reading again? It is not the first time i doubt your English. If it is not English, you need to visit some professionals to help you.
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
Bruno has been decent this season, had to be more creative but still got 9 in 19, 2 assists as well.
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
It baffles me.
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
Yeah that's been atrocious. Keogh was an ok signing but Garcia has started him too often. But formations have not been good. 4-4-2 is dead unless you're a top, top team.
jbinnie
Guest
coolncold - How about the present MU manager ,quite a successful striker in his own right.? Your not trying to tell me that no strikers have ever become managers are you.? jb
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
we did buy proper fullbacks: Ota and Geria, who is a Socceroo
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
He's been decent this season despite Garcia's tactics. Has 9 goals in 19 games without taking penalties.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Mrcela and Spiranovic didnt play that many games. You had Lowry there most of the time, there was no constant line up at the back, you had Djublic and Grant also and Neville even. The simple reason you succeded with a back three is Davidson. One good wing back is worth a lot more than having 3 extra central defenders. This why Perth Glory are crazy just buy more and more central defenders and not one proper fullback in the squad. Franjic was far from ideal for a wing back but he had Chianese helping him out. When Davidson left I said Perth Glory were finished I was correct.
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
I’m expecting one of the best squads in the A-League to at least make finals.
James Renton
Roar Rookie
This squad has suffered a ton of injuries which has played a rather large part in why form has stunted. You're expecting too much from players in a short period of time. A bit too unrealistic playing games with 3 days rest and expecting the club to be in top 4.
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
Fornaroli been consistently good for a number of seasons. And this is how good our "mid table" squad is: Jason Geria, Darryl Lachman, Sebastian Langkamp, Kosuke Ota, Neil Kilkenny, Bruno Fornaroli, Diego Castro, D’agostino, Carlo Armiento, Chris Ikonomidis, Joel Chianese and Andy Keogh
Rupert Handley
Roar Rookie
one of the worst
Richv
Roar Rookie
Rather than formation i thought Garcia's main problem was changing team so often. Seemed he couldn't make up his mind on a starting XI in the early games especially in the front third. I don't think they ever really settled.