Much of the fallout from Sydney FC's 2-0 win over Melbourne Heart has been about the Heart's poor performance, but it was perhaps the first signs of Sydney FC's new style of play. The Sky Blues showed promising glimpses of the fluid 4-3-3, possession-based football promised at the start of pre-season and new recruit Pedj Bojic flourished on the right.
When new assistant manager Rado Vidosic arrived, he boldly declared he would look to change "everything about Sydney FC this season", defending high up the park and keeping possession. But Sydney's late pre-season form was nothing short of a disaster, losing to Wellington Phoenix (3-0), Newcastle Jets (1-0), Perth Glory (3-0), Brisbane Roar (4-1) and National Premier League (NSW) Two champions St George (2-1).
By the time the A-League rolled around, expectations were dampened and the possession game was out the window, as Sydney FC defended deeper and looked to counter-attack in their opening two matches, with mixed results. They even abandoned the 4-3-3, switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation.
As confidence has grown, Sydney FC have slowly been returning to their 'Plan A', and the right side rotation between Bojic and Brett Emerton was a sign of the fluidity worked on during pre-season.
When Sydney FC had possession in the build-up phase, Emerton would immediately take up a right back position. By moving into a deep, right position, Emerton allowed Bojic to push further up the park and beyond David Williams, his direct opponent. Almost from the start, the Emerton-Bojic rotation had caused problems for Melbourne Heart, although their defensive intensity (or lack of it) was a contributing factor.
In the third minute, Sydney FC had possession on the left hand side, drawing Melbourne's defence across the pitch before switching play across the back line. Emerton and Bojic rotated, like the above graphic demonstrats, and Williams's lax effort to cut out Emerton's forward option to Bojic allowed for an easy pass. Bojic was able to run at Aziz Behich, Melbourne's left-back, and cross. It was the first of many dangerous forward runs from Bojic who dominated that side of the pitch for much of the night.
As the match progressed the combination continued to flourish, and as Emerton grew in confidence he – as a central midfielder – was even overlapping the marauding right-back. Such willingness to get forward, from both players, caused regular problems for Heart's left, with Williams frequently failing to cut out the pass into Bojic, who could then create overloads against Behich. As the heat maps below demonstrate, Bojic (left) took up very advanced positions on the right, whilst Emerton (right) saw the majority of his possession on the right in the middle third of the pitch.
This kind of rotation was used in pre-season by Sydney FC, who were playing a 4-3-3 at that stage, but they struggled at times when in possession due to a lack of central passing options. They have since switched to a 4-2-3-1, and against Melbourne Heart, were frequently able to comfortably play out around the outsides of Heart's defensive block.
This kind of basic player rotation was the first signs of Sydney FC looking to play as they did in pre-season, but with more success. Whilst Melbourne Heart offered little, in the first half especially, this was more the kind of football expected from Sydney FC, who had previously relied on counter-attacks centred about Alessandro Del Piero. Adding a little more complexity and variation in the build-up phase will surely come as Sydney FC gains in confidence, but for now, such a pattern will allow Sydney to get the best out of Bojic, who is still perhaps the best attacking right-back in the A-League.
