Adelaide United coach Guillermo Amor saved his best away performance of the home and away season for last, comprehensively beating Melbourne City 2-0 at AAMI Park.
While his squad were fully equipped on the pitch to play out his game-plan, Amor similarly outfoxed his counterpart, City coach John Van’t Schip.
Isaias’ early free kick put the visitors ahead and was followed by Bruce Djite’s penalty on the stroke of half-time. Thomas Sorensen’s needless foul on Stefan Mauk, and the resulting melee at the break added to what was a bruising encounter.
City crumbled without Mooy’s influence
To stop City, it is not as simple as merely limiting its talismanic midfielder to a quiet game. Not only does this notion to a disservice to Adelaide, who were excellent, but it discounts City’s many strengths. In saying that, stopping Mooy is a huge start, and something only a few teams can claimed to have done this season.
The blueprint was there for Adelaide to take heed of in City’s 3-2 loss to Perth Glory last weekend, when Krisztian Vadocz stuck to the Socceroo like a proverbial glove.
The Hungarian held Mooy to a mere 53 passes, which in itself is not bad output, but the nature of the passes were more focused in retaining possession than starting attacks with Vadocz blocking passing avenues and applying direct pressure on the City man.
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This allowed Glory to hold the edge in the possession stakes (53.1%) and capitalise on City turnovers. Diego Castro continually found space between the lines of City’s midfield and defence as a result, amassing 55 passes at an accuracy of 80%.
While Vadocz was the clear ‘stopper’ for Mooy, it was more a collective effort for Amor’s midfield.
Mooy only made 42 passes last night, at an accuracy rate of 78.6%. He was largely anonymous, rendered a mere spectator compared to the contributions his club, and opponents, have come to expect this season.
Likewise, with regards to Osama Malik who is largely left alone by opposition teams to roam just ahead of the defence and distribute accordingly. His improvement in the screening midfield role has been a huge catalyst in City’s improved consistency of late.
The former Adelaide midfielder made 29 passes at an accuracy of 86.2%, while Jacob Melling’s first half performance and Anthony Caceres’ cameo only added a further 19 between the pair. City were well and truly nullified.
In the rare moments that City were on the front foot, the consistently solid Adelaide back four of Michael Marrone Dylan McGowan, Iacopo La Rocca and Craig Goodwin were able to snuff out any danger. Goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic had an extremely quiet night as a result.
What a victory . Proud of this group. Vamos carajo!!!👏⚽️🎉 pic.twitter.com/8NzrEoWbXV
— Marcelo Carrusca (@chelocarrusca) April 8, 2016
Reds midfield force City out to the flanks
As a fruit of Adelaide United’s labor, Bruno Fornaroli found it increasingly difficult to get involved. Adelaide funnelled the ball out wide excellently, but at the same time, ensured the likes of Harry Novillo and Nick Fitzgerald (24 passes each) were crowded out, and without options in the middle. Hard work was the order of the day.
Conversely, Bruce Djite carried on his strong form after a man-of-the-match showing against Sydney FC last round.
The striker, who has been excellent in holding up the play and distributing well to others around him, did so again last night, making 30 passes at an accuracy of 73.3%. These numbers are hardly staggering, but when compared to Fornaroli’s 14 passes at 64.3%, Adelaide’s dominance in midfield, coupled with nullifying the opposition’s star attackers is clear.
Willing runners, quality in possession and midfielders that understand the importance of defending as a unit in transition – this was Adelaide United’s own blueprint to beat City, and Amor’s men completed this task with aplomb.
Aside from discipline and a strong team-focused ethic, many of Adelaide’s players have the ability to keep possession in tight areas, none more impressive in this facet of the game than Marcelo Carrusca. The Argentine did not add to his highlight reel against City, but the man affectionately known as Chelo managed 52 passes at 82.7% efficiency, three successful crosses and one assist.
Can Adelaide go all the way?
In short, yes.
Tonight’s clash between Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar will go a long way towards that particular cause, but even without top position on the ladder, Amor’s men have all the tools to trouble anyone in the top six.
Another permutation of last night’s win is that they may have left City behind, consigning the exciting attack-minded outfit to its second consecutive loss, and a possible return to Perth in the first week of the finals if results pan out as largely expected.
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