Last night was very hard to watch. Yes, we got the win and sit top of the group (after Syria and Uzbekistan drew) but for all our supposed superiority over the team ranked 102 in the world, we were toothless indeed. We will not go far in this tournament unless we can pick our way through packed defences.

India defended extremely well, to be fair, but all that will do is inspire the other teams in our group to set up in a way to frustrate us.

There are three standard ways (and probably more than three) to defeat a low block.

The first (Plan A) is to have some big target men in the box and inundate them with precision crossing – especially from set pieces. Craig Goodwin is usually exceptional with a dead ball, but he was way off last night.

The second way (Plan B) is to get in behind and hit crosses away from the keeper to the onrushing forwards. In fact, both of our goals came from getting in behind, although the first was a gift when the keeper reached for the ball and spilled it to Jackson Irvine. The second goal was a masterful piece of running from Riley McGree (who should’ve started) and a slide-rule pass to an unmarked Jordy Bos.

What truly irritated me in the first half was the number of times we turned away from our chances to get in behind, when an early ball could’ve created chaos. I lost count of the times Behich or Goodwin ignored the channel runs of Irvine, Duke or Metcalfe – instead cutting back to retain possession and reset. All that does is allow the defending team to get back into shape after being nearly pulled apart.

The third way to beat the low block is to have one or more highly skilled individuals capable of always beating the first man. By beating the first man, you immediately put your team at an advantage because the defence are suddenly scrambling to adjust. It ought to mean that somewhere you have a man free and it’s all about finding that player and putting him (or her) in front of goal with time and space.

That’s what so confounded me when Arnie named his team. Where are the players who can consistently get past the first defender? Where are Garang Kuol, Daniel Arzani, Nestory Irankunda? How we needed one of them last night. As for Tilio – I’ve already expressed my concern about selecting a player who hasn’t played 30 minutes in the last six months.

McGree can beat a player (as he did to set up the second goal) and so can Bos, but we don’t have enough creative players for when Plans A and B aren’t working.

Of course, later in the tournament we’ll be confronted by teams who will actually want to attack us which will lead to a different set of problems.

One of those problems is Gethin Jones. We’ve not seen a lot of him (against Bahrain and India) but what we have seen is underwhelming. He’s hardly an upgrade on Nat Atkinson or Lewis Miller and offers far less offensively than both of those players. Atkinson gets forward and plays good crosses, and Miller also likes to get forward. His long throw is particularly dangerous and you’d think against the shorter teams we’d be wanting to use that weapon. Speed will also be important against the better teams and I worry that Jones doesn’t quite have enough of it.

In fact, defence is our biggest worry for later in the tournament. It’s not really been tested against the likes of Bahrain and India (although India did make some dangerous chances). I also worry about Mat Ryan’s mask. Is it affecting his judgment? He made one suicidal dash out of the box when it totally wasn’t needed, then took his eye off a back pass which could’ve been more embarrassing than when he was closed down against Argentina.

It's not all doom and gloom though. We have at least blown the cobwebs off and the second half was a big improvement. I think McGree needs to start against Syria and I’d also switch the fullbacks. Give Bos and Atkinson a chance.

But we really do need another creative player. Arnie will be desperate for someone like Arzani by the end of the tournament – which will be sooner than he hopes if we keep playing like that.  

 

Adrian's books can be purchased at any good bookstore or through ebook alchemy. His first sci-fi novel (Asparagus Grass) was published by Hague Publishing in July 2023. The ebook can be purchased here and the paperback can be ordered here or at your local store.