We are now just under one week away from the A-League Men’s season returning and this season for the Glory is shaping up to be one of its most intriguing in recent years.
It’s fair to say that with the departure of Tony Popovic, the impact of COVID-19, a wooden spoon and more recently former owner Tony Sage returning the licence of the club to the APL, it’s been a turbulent last few years for everyone associated with Perth Glory.
Last season, while we did see progression in a few key areas, ultimately it was another season of what could’ve been.
Unfortunately for the players, there were definitely key instances where the team cocked up and butchered many opportunities to qualify for the finals.
Take our 2-1 loss away to Western United in Round 19. At the time, it was our sixth game in a row without a win and it was our fourth game in the last five that we dropped points from winning positions.
Hypothetically, if we had won those four games, we would’ve finished level with the Western Sydney Wanderers in fourth place.
Now, all of this talk is just hypotheticals and conjecture, but ultimately what fans should take away from last season heading into this one, is that we do have a good team that just underperformed last season.
A big boost to our chances of making the finals this season was the appointment of Alen Stajcic in early August.
This guy is, first of all, a proper manager.
An impressive track record both at club level and internationally, Stajcic came to the Glory in a really rough and unstable period and has since provided a sense of calm and stability.
His leadership and experience have no doubt been huge, especially for our younger players who are likely to have a big say in how our season plays out.
Everywhere Alen has gone, success has followed. Now success doesn’t always mean silverware, but rather what you get out of the players you have at the time.
With Sydney FC’s women’s side, he won both the premiership and championship twice. With the Matildas, he achieved their highest FIFA ranking of fourth. With the Central Coast Mariners, he took them from last to third in the space of a few seasons. Finally, with the Philippines Women’s National Team, he took them to their first World Cup and got them their first win against the co-host nation, New Zealand.
He has been dubbed the fix-it man by many in the football world and what he could achieve with the Glory over the next few years, could hopefully be something special.
So far, he’s painted a pretty optimistic picture where he doesn’t want to set a limit on what we can achieve this season.
It’s fair to say that despite the lack of funds due to no owner (currently) we have done very well in the recruitment department.
We’ve brought in Aleksandar Šušnjar, dynamic winger Bruce Kamau, ex-Socceroo Ollie Bozanic, full-back Riley Warland, attacker Jarrod Carluccio and midfielder Antonis Martis, who impressed during pre-season.
Šušnjar, Bozanic and Kamau in particular will be players that Stajcic will be wanting big seasons from and so far they’ve all impressed in pre-season.
Another that’s looked very good so far in the lead-up to this season is recently appointed co-captain Adam Taggart.
Last season, it’s fair to say that our boom recruit looked decent albeit it was clear he would need a pre-season to really get into his groove and hit another level.
For those who have gone to the pre-season games, you’ll know where I’m coming from, Taggart has looked in really good shape.
Nimble, agile, efficient and ruthless in front of goal, he’s scored six goals in four pre-season games under Alen Stajcic.
This new system implemented by Stajcic will no doubt give the likes of Taggart, Bruce Kamau and Salim Khelifi as well as Stefan Colakovski, Jarrod Carluccio, Adam Zimarino and Daniel Bennie more freedom in the attacking thirds, which should see more goals scored.
In the midfield, once Mustafa Amini returns from injury, Stajcic will have plenty of options to choose from, whether it be the experience of Ollie Bozanic or Aaron McEneff, or the youthful exuberance of Gio Colli, Luke Bodnar or Antonis Martis.
The Glory are stacked in a number of areas, which will be critical, particularly in the December-January period when the games can get a bit hectic.
In terms of whether we can make the finals, honestly, it’s a flip of a coin for me.
I’m backing Alen Stajcic and I feel we’ve got a good core of experienced players, but the competition is so tight this year.
The big thing for the Glory will be making sure that our dreadful away form from last year improves, drastically, as we only won on one occasion away from home.
Realistically, I think our range is fifth to ninth, but if we can continue to have a strong presence at home and jag a few wins away, then anything’s possible.
It’s shaping up to be a very exciting season that starts next Saturday in a doubleheader at HBF Park, where the women’s side take on the Newcastle Jets before we do later on that afternoon.
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