With the halfway point of the 2021-22 A-League season reached for most clubs, the challengers are starting to sort themselves out from the pretenders.
While Western United’s off-field drams continue to grow, their on-field consistency sees them surprisingly as pace setters – not bad for a side many predicted would finish in the bottom six.
Opposition coaches, players and fans can’t work Western United out. It’s like they lull everyone into a false sense of security before somehow, in the blink of an eye, take all three points.
They seem to be a reincarnation of the Arsenal side of the early 1990s that was known to bore teams to sleep, before netting a goal and winning 1-0.
Out of the 14 games they have played, seven have been 1-0 victories – which currently has the side tied with the ’99 Perth Glory NSL team for most ever 1-0 victories of all time in Australia’s national football leagues.
Many words have been used to describe this united team, boring may be the most popular – but perhaps conservative and efficient describe them best.
United don’t seem to want the ball, they’d rather the opposition have it.
They rank bottom in terms of possession of the ball and comfortably sit near the bottom in shots on target and expected goals per 90 minutes.
One thing they are extremely good at, is defending – letting in only 11 goals in 14 matches, to be leaders in fewest goals conceded.
Each player is working like a cog in a machine, knowing when to push forward or step back into their defensive line.
All credit for this goes down to the coach, John Aloisi.
Aloisi is beloved in his home town of Adelaide due to his family’s connection to the city, but a figure of contempt in Brisbane, having put a sour taste in many supporters’ mouths – his handling of youth was a sore spot at a club that has always prided itself on youth development.
It came as a surprise when he was announced as the Western United boss, replacing the volatile Mark Rudan – who was sacked after losing eight games in a row last season.
Mark Rudan in his days at Western United. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Aloisi has followed the tried-and-tested formula of experience. Statistics in the A-League show you are more likely to be successful with players over 30 rather than under 20.
He is in charge of the oldest side in the competition, with an average age of 30.7 years and nine players over 30.
Jamie Young and Nikolai Topor-Stanley are having Indian summers in their late 30s, while Alessandro Diamanti is like a fine wine as he edges closer to 40.
Crucially, Western United have two of the most under-rated signings this season with Leo Lacroix and Aleksandar Prijovic.
Lacroix is an absolute man mountain at 6’6″ and is capable of imposing himself against opposition attackers. While he has seen his career stall due to injuries, he has still seen the sights of Switzerland, France and Germany as a player. If United can keep him off the treatment table, they will continue to set the pace.
At the other end of the pitch, Prijovic. was an unknown commodity for many, even though he has a fine scoring record at club level – foreign strikers can struggle dealing with Australia’s hard pitches and weather.
An average of a goal every other game is a fine start for the classy Serb, whose hold up and link play is crucial to United’s attack.
United look odds-on to finish top-two and still leave people scratching their heads in disbelief at how they got there.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Interesting game last night given the discussion above.
jbinnie
Guest
AA- you are incredibly lucky never to have seen "catenaccio" played by the masters of Serie A, in the late 50's early 60's.By then the tactic had evolved from that first noted by Rocco who had witnessed the game played by Rappan's "Verrou" while coaching in Switzerland. and when he moved to Trieste established it's presence in Italy. Rocco then moved to AC Milan and the die was cast, defence, defence & defence was the order of the day and when Hererra added his psychology logic to the game at Inter, (when caught out of position stop the play anyway possible ,fouls feigning injury, time wasting,etc. thus gaining time to re-group. I saw it played live in Glasgow in 1959 by Fiorentina and the experience started me questioning where the game was headed. By the end the 80,000 crowd was going ballistic but the boys from Florence were not worried, they were ahead 2-0 from 2 breakaway goals. Stats were not big in those days but by my reckoning Rangers would have "enjoyed" at least 85% possession and had nothing to show for that at game's end. When the fans finally got the message to Italy's bosses by staying away from the game in thousands the tactic was moved to the back burner after Inter lost the 1967 European Final., being run off the park by a team that moved the ball, and their players at maximum speed, (high pressing as introduced at Watford some 10 years later). If you watch United carefully you will see a tactic based more on the "high press" rather than "catenaccio". Cheers jb.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
everyone cares about their off field issues, rather then the doom and gloom we all generally post about them; i wanted to actually concentrate of there surprising on field performance so far this season
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
Possession stats can be used to justify a team’s performance though, that’s where things get really murky in todays stats heavy version of the game Plenty of a league coaches come out with the old “we had more possession; we were the better team” (standard carl veart line) Possession controls the match, but if it’s not effective possession there is no point in having 58% of the ball in a match if you’re not using it effectively. EG. Macarthur play the worst brand of football in this league (same as last year) they’re happy to just pass it around and build up extremely slow Adelaide generally has all the possession when at home or away, but there isn’t the creativity in midfield to make use of it. While western united prefer to not have the ball at all, but when they get it they are incredibly effective This current incarnation of western uni is the closest a league team has been to “Catenaccio” for a long time Im not saying aloisi is a coaching mastermind, I have a funny feeling Anastasiadis is a lot more involved in their tactics (wonderful coach who deserves a league head coach role). They are incredibly hard to match up against
Bazza
Guest
Shame no-one gives a rats as they have only a few thousand fans. Giving them and MacArthur A leagues team over Wollongong or Canberra was an utterly ridiculous decision that will haunt the a league for years.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
I wrote them off but not for the roster, but for their coach. How wrong was I. Even though there top place it still feels like there under the radar of the bigger clubs. Success does bring new fans just look at the few (handful) City created by winning the league/champ. Ive never really like the club for my own reasons but there is no denying the on field success this season and it has changed my views. Aloisi has done well. And good on those behind the scenes that brought him to the club.
jbinnie
Guest
AA - possession football as it is erroneously called is actually a misnomer, for "possession" alone will never win you a game. Probably before your time but nevertheless an important part of the game's history ,coaches started to use this idea as far back as 1936 when an Austrian by the name of Rappan, on securing the position of manager of the Swiss national team deciding his players were not good enough to play against other European sides, decided to play with a "sweeper" whose job was to win the loose ball behind the other nine players and do what he had to do, For some reason widely unknown it was the Italians who foresaw some sense in this and developed the hated Catenaccio which saw players retreat en masse in front of the playmaker making penetration harder and harder. As is usual this saw a growth in importance of strikers who were being given minimum time on the ball to break through a stretched team in possession and for more than a few years they were very successful at this tactic though it did very little to please the fans. It took a team of exceptionally fast players to finally burst this tactic asunder, a team filled with speed merchants who could keep up the pressure for 90 minutes and so we moved to the next stage of tactical development Barcelona ,one of the "big ' teams in world football ,began to import players and coaches from outside their country ,Holland being one of their favourites and with such talent they started to take tactics to a new level and this became known by different names "possession football"," playing out from the back" etc, etc, but with the type of player they had signed, this was easier for them to succeed with, than the little teams in far off Australia, However there was a young coach who saw merit in the way they were using the ball to create gaps in defences and score important goals, and he , AP, set out to do the same with his 'new" club ,Brisbane Roar. That he succeeded is now football history but we now have a host of teams in our leagues trying to copy that style, while forgetting the most important fact, they don'r have the talent on their books to copy. jb.
Franko
Guest
Looks like Johnny is better off without Ross?
jbinnie
Guest
Lionheart - As you hint, but don't say, at Roar, JA inherited a team on the down slope, and as usually happens the team still carried on and finished third in the comp. It was the following seasons that have to be appraised in JA's coaching career and being frank and honest, it doesn't make good reading. Many Roar fans have written thousands of words about what happened in those "desert" years until his departure and if you care to look "behind the scenes" it did not come as much of a surprise when JA departed (with his brother). After a season or two away from the game he makes a surprise return to the A-League with a new team, a team mainly built on promises yet to be fulfilled, but in making his signings he has proved to still have a faith in "older' players and in our league, beset by lack of funds and an odd, but popular, demand to give youngsters a game it would appear the top two teams are ignoring the latter and still building their teams from overseas or returning players .Are they successful?, the league table says yes with Roar and Moon's youngsters holding up the table and JA's foreign brigade and shrewd signings leading the fray. Is there a lesson to be learned?, To me JA's strengths lie in his control of his emotions on the sidelines where his demeanour contrasts drastically with some of the clownish demonstrations put on by his fellow team bosses, many of whom now appear to be more interested on where, or who the cameraman is aiming his camera.!!!!!! If he carries that "talent' into the dressing room then ,provided his players have the talent,(which many of hem have)he will create an atmosphere of togetherness and fellowship that goes a long way to getting success on the field. Tactically the teams ideas are now old fashioned and that may be another tick for he coach, let the team play the way they think the game should be played. Anyhow good luck to the man in his efforts. Cheers jb.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
controversial take: but is there a side this season, whose recruited players have faired better than western united? *wenzell-halls (needed a change from brissy, has slightly underperformed IMO – but has been effective when called upon) *gaurrucio (western fought off adelaide for his signature and if you remove that absurd goal he scored form the equation – he has been very consistent.) *topor stanley, kilkenny & young (big risk to sign these 3 players, that their previous clubs werent exactly fighting hard to keep – both have been super reliable) *lacroix & prijovic (would be right up there for best performing visa players this season – prijovic had been shopped around the league as well, adelaide held an interest at one point) *krhin (has been a bust) *botic (injured, i would hate to class him as bust just yet) *theohauros (squad player that wont play much)
Waz
Roar Rookie
He can coach. That just leaves the question can he recruit?
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
they've got a very easy run as well, they might hold onto the crown
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
it depends on what you class as 'attractive football' last few seasons adelaide and melbourne city have probably been the best teams to watch from an attacking football perspective - at the other end of the scale you have macarthur and western united. newcastle this season when theyve been 'on' have been very nice to watch as well, while wanderers under rudan will revert to what the coach knows best lol western uni arent going to wow you too much with attaching flair, when you have a midfield that consists of kilkenny/lustica/wales/perias its all very workman like - covering the zones of the field that there positions require diamanti still is capable of a defence splitting no look 30 yard through ball - but even his powers are starting to waine. they are a tough side to crack, i'd love for an opposition team to actually let western uni have the majority of possesion - just to see how they respond with being the team in ascendency for a change
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
He did a lot of good regards the academy and training ground (or maybe a coincidence they were established during his time) but he released juniors now enjoying A League careers with other clubs, and turned a club that proudly holds more Fair Play awards than the rest put together, into thugs the Adelaide way (big brother helped with that). He also oversaw the departure of Thomas Broich from the club, one of the best club-men in Roar history.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
its that false sense of security they give off, that's the killer lol
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
yes he is quite the polarizing figure in different states in australia. i think his performance this season back up that he can coach, it also backs up that the notion that he doesnt play youth. but as long as the team wins, thats all what matters to the board and fans right? haha he deserves his flower though - especially when he hasnt been able to use 2 of the countries brightest prospects (noah botic and dalibor markovic due to injuries)
Brendan
Roar Pro
Western United remind me of the fable: “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Slow & steady wins the race.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
"United don’t seem to want the ball, they’d rather the opposition have it. " I've held the view for a very long time that with the right coach, this philosophy will serve you well in the A-League (if your only interest is finishing somewhere near the top). Why? Because Australian football fans are prone to place unrealistic expectations on their teams, unwarranted pressure on coaches to play "attractive" football. The trouble is, only one club in the history of the A-League has had a successful period playing what we might all agree was "attractive" football. In the main, more or less, the successful clubs throughout the A-League have had elements of the above philosophy. In fact, if you look through the first decade of the A-League, you'll notice how many clubs had an extremely poor home record. It makes sense. If you know the club you're about to face is likely to commit numbers forward, then you immediately have the advantage. Let them do it, bide your time, you will be able to exploit the space behind the opposition every time (of course, that assumes you are well drilled, disciplined and avoid all tempations to try anything remotely risky).
Pro Rel NSD
Guest
Without a full time NSD, the average age will still be high as the gap between npl and starting 11 in A league is too big.
Mark
Guest
Same when at Heart, he was a very likeable coach with the fans, until he started losing and blaming everything on luck rather than actually having a look at the team performance and his own performances. Unlucky is still used within City/Heart fans to describe any loss by Aloisi or win for that matter. But kudos to him, he could have easily given up after the Roar appointment, and to have them on top is a very good effort. It is like that too, WU doesn't do anything much until suddenly they strike like a snake, get a goal and then back to nothing again. Most frustrating to watch as you feel your team is all over them and suddenly you're behind.