A-League tactics: Sydney win battles but are undone by Archie Thompson
Footballers can be sentimental creatures. Cast your mind back to the first ever Big Blue. The source of Melbourne Victory's opening A-League goal that day? Archibald Gerald Thompson.
Fast-forward nearly a decade and what better way to celebrate season 10 than with a hat-trick against the team Archie Thompson just loves to score against. Fourteen goals against Sydney FC – the last seven coming in little over two years – has marked an Indian summer for the evergreen striker.
It's a reminder that tactics alone don't always determine matches. In clashes between key rivals, filled with passion and drama, basic human psychology can often play a vital role. Archie loves to score against Sydney, Shane Smeltz loves to score against Victory, and Sebastian Ryall just really hates his old club.
But scratch below the human stories and the drama of an excellent 33rd Big Blue encounter and you'll find a very strong performance from Sydney FC, who had the chance to edge this game thanks to two key tactical match-ups.
England coach Roy Hodgson is a solid supporter of the 4-4-2 because of the great pairings or partnerships it encourages in teams, and here Sydney had three that really mattered – Shane Smeltz and Marc Janko – the "Teutonic two"; Bernie Ibini and Pedj Bojic; and, most importantly, Milos Dimitrijevic and Terry Antonis.
With Smeltz returning from an injured-ravaged lay-off, he's looked short both in pace and fitness, and especially exposed when played as a wide forward. Coupled with the impressive Janko though, Smeltz is showing glimmers of the form that saw him win back-to-back Golden Boot crowns as Sydney follow Perth's lead and show how dangerous a two-striker system can be.
With Ibini and Bojic you get a Central Coast reunion, where then-gaffer Graham Arnold used attacking fullbacks to great effect. Whilst in this game Sydney didn't play the system that defined that Mariners era (4-4-2 diamond, with Ibini playing a narrow, but attacking right midfielder), the interplay between these two players was a key feature.
With a 'classic' flat four 4-4-2, Sydney's wingers took up more central positions, posing dilemmas for Victory's fullbacks.
Photograph: Graphic
Preferring a flat four in midfield, both Alex Brosque and Ibini found great joy coming inside and attempting to receive the ball either side of Melbourne Victory's two midfield screens, Carl Valeri and Mark Milligan. If the Victory fullbacks followed their opposite numbers inside, it then created space for Sydney's own fullbacks, Bojic and Alex Gersbach to get forward and to attempt to whip in crosses.
While, post-game, Arnold bemoaned the quality of his side's final delivery, the tactic to push the fullbacks high (knowing the Victory wingers and their preference for not tracking back) was one key area where Sydney enjoyed
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