Perth Glory are just one game away from equalling an unwanted A-League record following the miserable 4-0 home defeat to Newcastle Jets. Should they fail to beat Brisbane Roar next weekend, Glory will join New Zealand Knights (2005/06) and Melbourne Heart (2013/14) on 19 consecutive games without a win.
Having taken just two points from their first eight games of this campaign, Glory slumped to the bottom of the ladder, conceding a whopping twenty-four goals in the process. Since Ross Pelligra took over as the club’s owner earlier this year, they have won a single league game and spent last week trying to figure why there was an unpaid tax bill of close to $1 million.
Coach David Zdrilic was hired with a brand of football and philosophy in mind. Given Glory’s modest budget, it was a sound theory at the time as the former Socceroos striker had cut his teeth in Europe, the United States, and domestically as an assistant coach and was deemed ready to take the step up.
“Not only are we looking to improve results in the coming years, but we are looking to embrace a totally new way of playing,” said Zdrilic upon his appointment back in June. “There will be a new, distinctive style and it is one I hope our supporters will embrace.”
However, he has by his own admission abandoned the high tempo, high pressing gameplan already due to the limitations of the squad and is effectively now making it up on the fly, with horrendous results.
As Zdrilic points out in every one of his post-match press conferences, preseason showed promise with some good performances and positive results. Those games took place three months ago and have now lost all relevance.
Also irrelevant are the good news stories off the field. Nobody cares about a new corporate sponsor or upgrades to a training facility in Mirrabooka when they’re sat in the stands watching their club serve up the worst brand of football in almost 30 years of existence.
November’s international break was supposed to give Glory a chance to take a deep breath, figure out a few things on the training pitch, and get some more players up to speed. “After the first four games, it was a big reset,” said Zdrilic. However, their record after that time is the same as it was before – played four, won none, drew one, lost three. There has been no noticeable improvement in performances and the players remain devoid of confidence.
Recruitment has been, for the most part, terrible. Three of the four visa imports – Cristian Caicedo, Anas Hamzaoui, and Hiroaki Aoyama – have been in and out of the squad, while Luis Canga has been awful for the most part in a leaky backline. Nicola Mileusnic has made two brief substitute appearances so far off the bench and gotten injured both times. Taras Gomulka, who looked very good at Adelaide United, has been a massive disappointment in midfield, Adam Bugarija, Abdelelah Faisal, Zach Lisolajski, and Nathanael Blair are very raw, and Lachlan Barr is a solid squad player at best. Returning WA boys Josh Risdon and Brandon O’Neill have looked off the pace. Only Nicholas Pennington has shown positive signs.
While Zdrilic picks the team on the park, Football Director Stan Lazaridis must not only take responsibility for signing these players, but also talking them up in a ridiculous manner. Caicedo, plucked from the second tier of Ecuadorian football, was supposed to put bums on seats and be a real big hit with fans. He has spent more time sitting in the stands than most supporters. Poor 19-year-old Faisal had to deal with the pressure of being described as Mohamed Salah-like, despite having never played a first team game.
Speaking after the embarrassing loss to the Jets, a game played in front of just 5459 people, Zdrilic said that he believes the players are struggling mentally. “It’s obviously a team that you can see is low on confidence,” he said. “It’s a group of players that have had positive moments in the pre-season, they started really well so it is a group that has that in them, but obviously with the start of the season, the way it’s gone so far, they’re low on confidence.”
Chopping and changing the team most weeks has done little to help with that lack of confidence. Players have come out of nowhere to get a spot in the starting lineup, while others have been dragged at half time on multiple occasions.
As well as leaking goals, Glory’s inability to retain ball is alarming. Cheap turnovers have cost them in every game, and they are yet to have more possession than their opponent. At 35%, their time in possession is comfortably the worst in the league, almost 10% below Brisbane Roar who rank above them.
Zdrilic has so far used Gomulka, Bugarija, Cristian Caicedo, Nicholas Pennington, and David Williams in the number 10 role, a key position for ball retention. None have been able to do that effectively or offer the support badly needed by Adam Taggart who cuts an increasingly isolated figure up front, feeding off scraps and battling to hold the ball up against multiple opponents.
Players are expected to depart in January once the transfer window opens, including some who only recently joined. Both Zdrilic and Lazaridis have spoken openly about the need to bring in more new faces as part of the rebuild process, but fans are rightly asking whether or not they can be trusted again with such responsibility. They have been given no reason to believe that things can turn around under the new regime. Nobody expected overnight miracles with so many comings and goings but it is simply unacceptable to be this uncompetitive.
“We want it to be the envy of every other A-League club, just like it was when it was first founded,” said Pelligra back in February. The once proud Perth Glory couldn’t be any further from that right now and the owner and his football department need to ask themselves a very important question – if Zdrilic is no longer playing the style of football that he was brought in to implement, why should he remain in charge?
All images courtesy of Tom McCarthy.
Such a well written article covering all the points me and my friends have spoken about at some length, as long time members of the Glory. The lack of anger or frustration of the players and coaches at conceding stupid goals and the lack of passion or competitiveness is unbelievable. The malaise starts with the dreadful recruitment of poor players by Lazaridis and the lack of real management experience of Zdrillic. He is a manager way out of his depth and floundering badly. Time to clear Lazaridis and Zdrillic out and the awful Canga.