"Smashed them" - Wanderers snuff out City positivity in Unite Round win.
Melbourne City went backwards against Western Sydney. They went to the side, as well, just not forward that often -- something coach Aurelio Vidmar bemoaned post-game.
Following his side’s 1-0 win over Melbourne City, Western Sydney Wanderers boss Marko Rudan wanted to make something clear. Yes, in the end, his unit may have had to settle for a single-goal margin of victory delivered by one-time City youth prospect Dylan Pierias but, in his mind, “we smashed them.” And when you dive into the numbers beyond the final scoreline, it’s difficult to find a reason to disagree with the newly-extended Wanderers’ boss.
Despite having 64 per cent of the ball to the Wanderers' 36 per cent, City was outshot 11 to 14 across the length of the contest, with just a single effort of theirs sent on target. Western Sydney, in fact, probably should have taken more from the contest, winning the expected goals xG battle 2.01 to 0.71. Concerningly for City, their opponents retained the statistical domination of all these categories even when just limiting the sample size to the second half – wherein coach Auerlio Vidmar’s side was chasing the game.
Amidst their build-up, 232 of City's 578 passes came whilst on the Wanderers' side of the pitch but when it came time to put the ball into dangerous areas things simply fell away: the Victorians having just 17 touches in the Wanderers' penalty area compared to the 26 that the side in red and black managed.
“Tactically, we were top,” said Rudan. “That first half, we should have killed the game off.
“Our high pressing, our cues and the triggers, they took it on board and they did it really well, which led to turnovers, which led to chances.
“We should have wrapped it up [in the first half].
“We knew if they could break through that first press or first trigger, we allowed them to have it but we still controlled them. We didn't allow them to get inside us and when they went outside, that's where we wanted to force them.
“They only had one shot on goal in the second half and it was a half chance. So all in all, fully deserved.”
Given that it could have provided them with a penalty attempt to tie things up with what would have been the last kick of the game, a heightened focus will inevitably fall on the decision not to award City a spot kick for a hand-ball appeal on Josh Brillante – initial word from officials that Daniel Elder determined the midfielder’s arm wasn’t in an unnatural position after VAR review.
But even had the defending premiers been able to convert what would have been a league-leading fifth penalty of the season it would have represented a smash-and-grab point, something that they didn’t deserve on the balance of play.
“I think everyone thought it was a penalty except the referee and unfortunately for us, he's in charge,” said Vidmar. “I think there's probably been less given in the past. But it is what it is.
“We weren't good enough anyway. So that would have been a bit of a lucky thing for us. We just weren't positive enough, especially through the midfield and getting forward. You can have a lot of the ball but if you're not going to be positive with it, then it's going to be difficult.
“They got back in numbers and they regrouped pretty quickly, made it difficult for us.
“That could be a mindset. I thought we had plenty of the ball but instead of going backwards, we should be going forwards. We've got to be a little bit more aggressive. And tonight we weren't doing that and moving the ball quickly and moving the ball forward.”
Perhaps most emblematic of City being out of sorts was the move in the 72nd minute to take Jamie Maclaren off and replace him with understudy Max Caputo.
Up to Friday evening, the striker had played all but eight minutes of his side’s fixtures this season – and that one substitution came in their 8-1 win over Brisbane.
Yet against the Wanderers, in a game in which the winner would move into second on the table, Vidmar opted to take off his skipper, a man who has won five A-League Men golden boots, and replace him with an 18-year-old with 14 senior league appearances and one goal across his young career.
Effectively marked out of the game by Wanderers captain Marcelo and his young centre-back partner Alex Bonetig, Maclaren departed, per FotMob, with just four touches across his 72 minutes of playtime, not officially credited with a shot and losing two of the three duels he contested.
Now given the way that the game was going, it was a perfectly reasonable move to make. And Caputo would come close to levelling things when he headed over the bar in the 82nd minute. But it’s also one of those decisions that, even with a perfectly sound and reasonable grounding to it, is going to attract a laser focus in the aftermath.
And that’s not a slight on Caputo. The 18-year-old is a highly talented prospect, a former member of the Guardian’s best young talents to watch list who has it in him to be a very good striker at A-League Men level and beyond. But with the game on the line, he was replacing the competition’s all-time greatest goalscorer, at a time when he is far from his lethal best and has just missed Socceroo selection for the Asian Cup — when speculation continues to mount surrounding overseas interest in the out-of-contract 30-year-old. It’s a talking point.
“He wasn't getting a hell of a lot of the ball,” Vidmar said when asked about the move to substitute his skipper. “That's a start and that's not any fault of his own. And then Marcelo is a big boy. So we thought we'd have a better matchup with Max in there.
“Max is physical and he can play with his back to the goal. So we had to try something. We went to a back three as well, we put Andy [Andrew Nabbout] up front with Max to see if we could change the game. Unfortunately for us, we weren't good enough to do that tonight.
“Jamie's always making runs. He's always looking to get him behind and tonight we weren't positive. In the past, he's made the runs and sometimes we can be hit-and-miss with him.
“We're looking foremost for that lateral pass rather than the vertical pass. And that's something that we've been working on and we need to continue to get better at it.”
Joey Lynch has travelled to Sydney for Unite Round as a guest of the Australian Professional Leagues.