Name a more iconic duo than Perth Glory and conceding goals late in matches. It’s a partnership which unfortunately struck again on Wednesday night.
Make no mistake about it, Melbourne City dominated the game and were deserving of the three points, but I can’t help but feel we gave away a hard-earned point which could prove costly later in the season.
Despite the 88th minute header from Nathaniel Atkinson, I think credit has to be given to our defence and Richard Garcia’s organisation of it. Our defensive structure and solidity are miles ahead of what it was at this stage of the last campaign.
Four games into this season, we’ve conceded three goals. After our fourth match last season, coincidentally also against Melbourne City at AAMI Park, we had shipped 11 goals, failed to register a clean sheet, and conceded multiple goals in three of those four games.
We have yet to concede multiple goals in a game this season, and we got that first clean sheet out of the way against the Victory. Maybe we’ll struggle more when other teams start hitting their strides in the attack, but so far, we’ve been decent defensively.
With injuries to the attack and the midfield, plus the keepers, we’ve needed our defence to be fit and firing. So far, Daryll Lachman and Jonathan Aspropotamitis have been consistent, Antonee Burke-Gilroy has been sensational and Aaron Calver has put in two good starting performances against tough opposition.
It does seem like both Jack Clisby and Kosuke Ota are still finding their feet. Ota as the third central defender is a work in progress, likewise with Clisby playing further up the pitch as an attacking fullback.
My main concern with the defence is on the occasions when they switch off, and it caught us out against City. If we’re going to be playing resolute defence like we did on Wednesday, with lots of players behind the ball, we can’t afford lapses in concentration.
The run in behind from Connor Metcalfe wasn’t tracked by Josh Rawlins, who will learn from instances such as that. More so, no one spots Atkinson coming in from the right. Two free headers inside the box leads to the goal and that’s all City needed to win on the night.
If there was a standout player for the Glory, it’s hard to look past Cameron Cook. There wasn’t any point in the game where I felt he was uncomfortable and lacking confidence. No fumbles and when put under pressure, made some very smart saves, the best of the lot from Florian Berenguer.
Not a lot to speak about from an attacking perspective. Bruno Fornaroli was effectively shut out, only shooting once or twice throughout the 90. Adrian Sardinero and Daniel Stynes didn’t have too much of an impact on the game when we had possession, and Ciaran Bramwell couldn’t do much when he came off the bench again.
There’s a lot of reliance on Fornaroli in attack at the moment. That should be alleviated a little bit when Andy Keogh and Daniel Sturridge get back on the pitch. Sardinero and Stynes also need to do a little bit more to take some of that pressure away from Bruno when we go forward.
For Melbourne City, there’s a lot of encouragement. The attacking trio of Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren and Andrew Nabbout will start firing soon, and in this game, I thought Nabbout was the better of the three. Definitely the most direct and caused a few headaches on the right-hand side, just went to ground a bit too often.
A lot of talk around the champions has been on that front three, and not enough on their defence. Curtis Good and Nuno Reis dominated, hardly gave our attack a look at their goal. Good nearly scored from a corner in the second half as well. Tom Glover didn’t have to break a sweat, and it was mainly down to those two centre backs.
A draw would have been nice for this match, but at least we showed a lot of resolve and determination. Defensively a lot better compared to last season, which is the complete opposite of the attack. Of course, the fans would prefer us scoring lots more goals, but if we’re any chance of making finals and going deep into them, we have to be good at the back.
Scoring once or twice and winning is better than scoring three or four to draw or lose. We’ve got a good chance at picking up some points away at Brisbane on the 18th, and we’re going to need them before we return back home.
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