TFT Issue 3390!

Despite being pleased to see Glory beat the Jets last weekend, it must be said that the victory was largely borne out of the Jets’ failings than anything else. Up until the needless red card of Aspropotamitis, I did think that Glory were the better team. However, the way they fell apart after that was terrifying; only awful finishing from the Jets allowed them to hang on for the win. There’s still a real naivety about Glory that really, really bothers me.

I mean, a team like this genuinely makes my job a nightmare, especially on the back of two bizarre A-League outcomes yesterday. On one hand, Glory have arguably the best attack in Australia. However, an inability to control games leads to their flimsy defence being exposed, which has naturally led to goals being conceded far too often. It’s not even the goals conceded side of things that bothers me all that much; any team can concede goals. No, it’s the alarming regularity with which Glory concede chances that is worrisome. Unless Langkamp – who may finally be able to debutise today! – magically whips their defence into shape, this is not a team that keeps opponents out.

There are a number of elements to consider as contributory factors to this. For starters, I don’t think that inexperienced boss Garcia has made it clear enough as to who he considers the number one to be. That, fused with a defence that changes most week, and almost always contains at least one teenager because of injuries, is not a good combination. I think Bodnar has done well at centre-back, as it goes, but there’s not enough in this squad to defend in a solid enough manner at this time.

For me though, the blame has to rest with midfield. They do not control games well enough, which means that they give the ball away too often. A player like Juande was brilliant at playing that role but he was cut loose, and has now signed for Adelaide United instead. Do you reckon Glory regret that call yet? I do. He and Kilkenny were brilliant at sitting and controlling, freeing up their brilliant individuals in attack to do the necessary damage. At the same time, you could even blame boss Garcia for not signing an adequate replacement for Juande. 

Ultimately, as talented as the Glory attack is, their efficiency as a unit isn’t good enough. If it wasn’t for the sheer brilliance of Fornaroli, they’d be nowhere at the moment. They’ve brought Geria in as an attacking right wing-back, who looked really sharp against the Jets on his debut, and he should help keep the team that bit fresher and more unpredictable. The collective efforts of Glory are a bit poor, though, and their absentees today aren’t going to help with big target man D’Agostino joined on the touchline by midfield regular Sullivan and suspended centre-back Aspropotamitis. None of that trio are amazing, but all have played significant roles for Glory this season, and they’ll miss them today.

Ultimately, I think that the A-league newcomers Macarthur FC can only blame themselves if they fail to win this game. Unlike Glory, they’ve perfected the art of controlling matches, knowing when to slow down or speed up the tempo. They’ve become an awful lot more effective in the final third instead of relying heavily on set pieces. Now the chemistry is strong enough for Derbyshire to be played in more often, and he’s scored more goals as a result. Susaeta is almost back to his best now, being far more effective in general, and the movement ahead of him makes Benat’s job a lot easier too.

Now Macarthur are in a position whereby the likes of Rose can be introduced as more of a wildcard rather than heavily relying on him to be the one that beats his man in order to make something happen. Now the over-reliance on veteran full-back Franjic is significantly lessened because of the cohesion that now exists in the team. Things are basically improving a lot for Macarthur as the weeks go by, and although by no means are they the finished article, I do like what I see from them.

I would like them to add a bit more pace up top to make them that bit harder to handle, though. That’s what I feel they miss the most. They rest they have, really. I think they look solid and methodical enough, and any team that allows them to play is asking for trouble. They even like quite adept at defending and countering too. This has become quite a good, dependable team, and are certainly more consistent than their opponents today.

Therefore, with odds of 11/10 available on the home win, that’s what I’m rolling with today.