The A-League is one game away from the conclusion of what has have been one of the most exciting seasons to date. The grand final on Sunday has the two best teams all season going head to head in what has been one of the league’s biggest rivalries over the ten years. Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC have four championships between them and after Sunday one of them will join Brisbane Roar as the competition’s most successful side.
So what have Kevin Muscat and Graham Arnold done to make their teams the best? Outside90’s Thom Davies analyses the tactical approaches each manager has used to get the best out of their players this season.
Melbourne Victory
This season the Victory changed their tactical approach ever so slightly from Muscat’s first year as manager. This has been done in order to accommodate the club’s new signings, in particular Besart Berisha and Fahid Ben Khalfallah. The Victory now play in a 4-2-3-1 formation, a slight transition from the 4-2-2-2 introduced under Ange Postecoglu.
The Victory’s back four has been settled since the return of Matthieu Delpierre from injury and this gives them a strong base to build attacks from. The fullbacks push forward when in attack to support and fill the gaps left by the likes of Ben Khalfallah and Barbarousses drifting inside from the wing. The fullbacks also stay wide when in attack to stretch the pitch, allowing deep runs from midfield from Mark Milligan and occasionally Carl Valeri. This is one of the reasons Melbourne are the competition’s leading scorers, they consistently overload the attacking zones.
Left back Daniel Georgievski (L) has been a revelation this season, scoring three goals from defence.
Another aspect of the Victory’s play that has been impressive this season is the fluid movements of the three attacking midfielders playing behind Besart Berisha. Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Kosta Barbarouses and Archie Thompson have played in the wide positions and when in attack, they wait for the overlapping runs of the fullback to give them an option wide or cut inside, whether it is to shoot or combine with Finkler. This has been Melbourne’s main threat when going forward. Combined with the technique of Finkler, who has the vision and skills to set up chances and score, and there are no obvious weaknesses in Kevin Muscat’s attacking arsenal.
The inclusion of Besart Berisha at the top of the formation has been key into changing this. The Albanian may not have scored as many goals this season as he did at Brisbane Roar, but he has made more of a contribution to the team’s build-up. Berisha’s ten assists this year puts him in third place overall in the league this season and he also has 14 goals which puts him in second place overall. Berisha’s play has become more team orientated and his selfless work spearheading the attack has allowed his teammates to score and thus putting them into a Grand Final.
Sydney FC
Graham Arnold has changed Sydney FC from a side that was carried by Alessandro Del Piero into a championship contender after just one season. Sydney’s start of the season was slow, with the team trying to adapt to Arnold’s style of play and suffering a raft of injuries. However after the Asian Cup break Sydney made a remarkable improvement, which saw them score the most goals and win the most points in the second half of the season.
Sydney play a similar formation in terms of shape, with a 4-3-3 formation however it differs from Melbourne’s style due to the way the central midfielders operate. Sydney only has one holding midfielder, Mickael Tavares, who has the experience and anticipation to perform the role of enforcer. Behind Tavares is a solid back four for the Sydney, even though they have conceded sloppy goals at times this year.
Where Sydney really shine is in the centre of the park, where Milos Dimitrijevic and Alex Brosque exert remarkable influence. Dimitrijevic operates as the pass master in the Sydney team, playing the ball to either the overlapping fullbacks or the wide midfielders in order to stretch the opposition and open up the space for Brosque and Janko in and around the penalty area. The Serb won Sydney’s player of the year award for this season and is second in the league with successful passes, showing his worth to Arnold’s new system and philosophy.
Alex Brosque was signed by Graham Arnold from Al Ain as the club’s Australian marquee player
Brosque has played superbly this season, scoring nine goals while also contributing four assists. His position is as a second striker behind Marc Janko, but with the added option of dropping deeper to start attack. Brosque’s movement off the ball and his runs across the final third allows space to open up in potions to help the other forwards to score.
Conclusion
Both Kevin Muscat and Graham Arnold have improved their teams, in terms of the way they play football and the way they have recruited suitable players. The grand final is sure to be close, as these teams contested three draws during the regular season. Two of the games were 3-3, which would suggest the game could have plenty of goals. Both managers have done great jobs this season, but only one will be able to add to their club’s history.
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