It was unfortunately another typical away performance from the Perth Glory, as they were downed 1-0 to Western United in what was a really difficult watch for fans either at the game or at home.
This game was probably up there with one of Glory’s poorest performances this season; a lack of intensity, fight and ability to steamroll the team that has struggled for wins all year.
There’s not much to talk about in terms of the match summary other than it was completely one-way traffic on Western United’s end.
Aside from the first two minutes, when Adam Taggart’s header went over the bar, Glory were barely in the contest during the first half.
It was clear the objective for the Glory was the exact same as in the previous game against Wellington; sit back and pump balls over the top, where hopefully one of Adam Taggart or Stef Colakovski could run onto it.
United were patient. They were able to receive in small pockets, and often beat Glory players very easily in many duels.
The home side could’ve been ahead in the first minute, if it wasn’t for Oli Sail pulling off a very good save at close range to deny Matthew Grimaldi.
From there, Western had some very good approach play but they struggled to execute that final action with any sort of class or precision.
Then came the second half, and the Glory were very sleepy defensively.
Noah Botic had a great chance where his shot rifled against the crossbar. He was able to make the run from midfield, untracked, and stay in the box for quite some time, still unmarked, where his shot could’ve gone in, if he kept his head over the ball for instance.
Those forward runs were a problem for the Glory, and sure enough, they were 1-0 down as a result of just that.
As Josh Risdon came steaming through from his own half, Noah Botic put his head down and ran in between the gap created by Darryl Lachman and Josh Rawlins.
Risdon was able to get past Gio Colli very easily, and from there he was able to slip Botic through who was able to finish cooly beyond the outstretched Sail in goal.
Glory almost had an instant response, as David Williams put the ball in the back of the net, however, the goal was brought back for an apparent foul on Kane Vidmar by skipper Adam Taggart.
The decision was baffling to many fans, as the contact between the two seemed fair and Vidmar went down very easily, however, the referee and Shaun Evans saw differently.
United had a chance in the last 10 minutes to wrap the game up only for Noah Botic to bundle the ball into the back of the net using his hand.
Glory almost had their equaliser in the 89th minute, however Daniel Bennie’s miss from dead in front went over the bar.
The final corner by Giordano Colli summed up the performance unfortunately, as it was overhit missing everyone inside the box.
I think many fans would no doubt be frustrated with the result and performance from the players, and I understand that.
At least personally, I felt it was a really sluggish performance that lacked cohesion from the players and a sense of an impetus to get forward and penetrate and really ask questions of the United defenders.
The fact we ended the game with zero shots on target is a concern.
Many fans pointed out that the midfield was poor and I think that’s not only a fair assessment for this game but for at least the last few seasons, it hasn’t really been up to standard.
Same with the defending as well. Some of the shots we allowed in the game were really poor, especially when you go back and see some of the positioning of the players as well as their attention to detail.
Just a very poor game and the focus now turns to both Newcastle and the Western Sydney Wanderers in back-to-back home games for the club.
Finals seem pretty unlikely at this point but if the players want to give themselves any chance, these two games coming up have got to be wins.
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