First away game of the season, first loss of the season. It’s easy to look at what went wrong after a defeat, and I will address that, but I think we should begin by looking at the bright spots first.
With no Brandon O’Neill in the lineup this week, we were left with only one genuine central midfielder in Luke Bodnar. After struggling against Adelaide’s midfield three last week, I thought we would face a similar struggle against the Western United pairing of Steven Lustica and Neil Kilkenny.
Not to be, as Bodnar played a great game as the no. 6 after Richard Garcia chose to alter the formation for this week, adopting a 4-3-3 for that extra midfield depth. We kept possession a lot better this week, managing to create a few openings against a very compact Western United defence.
The main creators in this game for the Glory were Adrian Sardinero and Daniel Stynes. After losing Diego Castro, the question was who would provide the service for our plethora of attacking options. Stynes and Sardinero are able to provide the key pass needed to unlock a stubborn defence; both played good through balls to Bruno Fornaroli, who unfortunately couldn’t find the target in this game.
Stynes has been one of my favourites to watch in the opening two rounds, and when Sardinero has gotten on the ball, it’s been positive. With a bit more training and work on the link-up play, I’m positive we’ll see a few goals and assists to Sardinero’s name in the coming weeks.
Antonee Burke-Gilroy was solid again on the right-hand side. I thought he held his own on the defensive end against the very speedy Connor Pain but was less influential in the attack compared to last week.
Now onto some things which need working on. Match fitness will come with more game time, but we looked very tired in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the match. Defending the counterattack towards the end, we looked fragile. It didn’t come as a surprise that a counterattack was our undoing.
There was a bit of controversy with the only goal of the game, with replays showing the ball may have gone over the byline before Pain crossed it into the middle. VAR should have been the thing I was most annoyed by, but instead I was FURIOUS with Kosuke Ota.
The ball rebounded off the post and across the goal line before Dylan Wenzel-Halls tapped it in from the middle of the goal in the 78th minute. Ota was standing in front of Wenzel-Halls and could easily have cleared it but chose to look away and appeal for the goal kick to have been given instead. A poor lapse in concentration which we can’t afford to have.
On the attack, we have to shoot more. When teams sit deep like Western United did against us, sometimes we do look out of ideas. The play gets switched a lot of times but we don’t put a lot of crosses into the box. We don’t take a lot of long shots either, or when we do get in good positions, we hesitate. I’m looking at you, Pacifique Niyongabire. Take it with your left next time please.
If we build some more confidence and are a bit more clinical in attack, I think we’ll be alright. Also, we’ve didn’t have Andy Keogh for this match and no Daniel Sturridge either. A lot of mixed messages regarding his absence, which I don’t like the sound of. Hopefully he’s back in the team and can make a cameo off the bench in the next game.
For Western United, three players stood out more than the rest for me. Alessandro Diamanti was one of them of course; he came close to scoring from halfway against Brad Jones in the first half. Played the pass which sent Pain through for their goal as well. We all know his talent; he’ll have another good season.
I don’t want to mention the goal scorer every week, but Wenzel-Halls has to for his performance. Came off the bench and immediately made an impact. Why Brisbane didn’t hold onto him is beyond me. For Western United, it’s a great signing and I think he’ll score more goals this season than last.
Finally, credit has to go to Jamie Young. Made some good saves to prevent Fornaroli from scoring and secured a clean sheet for his side.
Rounding off, disappointing to lose against a side who had lost their last nine A-League games, and probably our easiest of the three games in Melbourne. I did think we held our own pretty well with no Keogh, O’Neill or Sturridge and given our lack of preseason matches.
Onwards and upwards from here. Our youthful FFA Cup side put in a good shift against the Victory midweek, so hopefully the first team can do one better and get our first win on the board this season on Sunday at AAMI Park.
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