Aloisi: youngsters face a mental and physical test in European leap

As a new wave of young strikers emerge in the ALM, Western United boss John Aloisi, one of Australia's best-ever attacking exports, says a leap to Europe provides both a physical and mental test.

In the likes of Noah Botić, Archie Goodwin, Luka Jovanovic, and Thomas Waddingham, young strikers are making noise this A-League Men season. Socceroo boss Tony Popovic is welcoming their rise, albeit while being clear it’s just one step on a longer journey. And that’s a journey that, according to Western United boss John Aloisi, who made a leap from Australia to Europe as a teen, challenges both physically and mentally.

Equal third in the A-League Men for score involvements with six assists and four goals – despite missing the entire preseason with a navicular fracture – 23-year-old Botić is having the best season of his professional career in Melbourne’s west, already equalling his best-ever return for goals and setting a new high-mark in assists.

Adelaide United’s Goodwin, meanwhile, is second in the league with seven goals and is scoring at a league-best 0.97 goals per 90 amongst those with more than 450 minutes played, ahead of teammate and next-best Jovanovic at 0.77. Waddingham, for his part, just secured a move from Brisbane to English Championship side Portsmouth, scoring a consolation goal on debut in their 5-1 loss to West Brom over the weekend.

Given Mitch Duke’s advancing age and Kusini Yengi’s continued struggles with injury, the Socceroos coach told media last week that he was happy to see a new cohort of strikers emerging, stating "They're all in the mix. Every player's in the mix, regardless of age.” This was couched, though, with a warning they would need to continue to improve if they wanted to progress further, as well as show they had what it takes to meet his elite standards.

“The level they're about now, it's not good enough to play in Europe,” Popovic remarked. “That's just the reality, that they will have to improve significantly.”

"This is part of the journey, playing regularly, scoring goals in the A-League, but when you go to Europe, the expectation rises, and the biggest difference is the physical side.

Capped 55 times for the Socceroos across a career that saw him emerge from the youth setup of Adelaide City and go on to lead lines in the Belgian Pro League, Serie A, Premier League, and La Liga, Aloisi can speak with some level of authority about what it takes to forge a career in Europe. And in his experience, not only was there a physical toll the European game extracted but also a mental one.

“It's not only the physical leap,” he said. “The physical leap is definitely there because you've got a lot of games; we play 26 games [in the A-League Men] and you look at Waddingham going to a Championship side that's going to play 46 league games plus cup games. That's the biggest difference.

“Physically our players are good; in the league that we're playing in, you won't get anyone running as much as our players, or putting in the KMs that they do in a game. But it's able to back that up week in and week out, every three days for ten months of the year. That's the big challenge and that's not only physical, that's also mental.

“I noticed the big difference in Europe was the mental side, more than anything. The media scrutinizes a lot more over there in certain periods during the season. Your supporters can get on your back if you're not doing well, or if the team's not doing well.

“It feels sometimes that there's a lot to play for, whether it's relegation, whether that's promotion, whether it's getting into Europe, and there can be that sort of added pressure that you're not used to. So that's the biggest thing, the step of that.

“But that's coming to Australia a little bit now, with the final series. With players wanting to get to the highest level, they have to perform week in, and week out. I see it in my players, their progression. Angus Thurgate, he's the one that's consistently playing at a level, so it will be easier for him to take that next step.”

Given how Australian football organises itself – operating without promotion and relegation between the A-League Men and lower tiers, utilising a salary cap, and banning the sale of players between A-League clubs, amongst other regulations – there are limits to how much players can go about preparing themselves for the deep end of European football. Aloisi acknowledges that — as well as it being something beyond his control.

Potential expansion of the A-League Men, however, in the form of a Canberra side and, potentially, a 15th and 16th franchise after that, could offer more games.

“I don't want to start talking about salary caps and the way it all works here in Australia, because I can't change that,” remarked Aloisi. “That's something that's there and that's up to others to be able to change it.

“But I know in Europe that promotion and relegation is a big thing, the salary cap system means that players can come and go very quickly. So if you're not performing or not at a level, players can be let go, sent out on loan or sold within months. It's more cutthroat over there. And because of the way our league is shaped, it's probably not as cutthroat. That's not going to change anytime soon.

“The games might. If we get more teams and then we play a few more games, I think that will help.”

Beyond existential questions of Australian football structure, most of Aloisi’s focus this week has been on his side’s clash with the Central Coast Mariners on Wednesday evening, a win in which would make it three wins on the bounce and vault them into third on the A-League Men’s table.

Currently sitting in tenth, another round of player departures has taken a toll on the treble winners this season but Aloisi was clear Mark Jackson’s outfit couldn’t be counted out.

“They've still got time,” he said. “They're not that far off the top six. They’ve still got time to have a season where they come out of it going, 'we've still done well'. We're definitely not writing them off.”

Last playing on January 17 when they beat Newcastle, Aloisi said the extended break had come at a good time for his side, who had begun to show signs of reaching their limit amidst a busy stretch of games over the Christmas and New Year period. Beyond his contingent of established long-term injuries – albeit, Sebastian Pasquali has resumed full training on his road to return – the coach anticipated having a full squad to choose from.

This included Botić, who was forced off a groin complaint after scoring a brace but who Aloisi – who denied knowledge of any interest from a Dutch club in the striker – said would play.

"The players have recovered well,” said the coach. “[The extended break] was a good time for us, because we had a really hectic period. There were a few players he could see were starting to fatigue, and we freshened them up. And then we had a good, really good training week, and are ready to go.”