Brisbane Roar’s title defence has gotten off to the worst possible start, losing their opening three fixtures of the new A-League season. Sydney FC were the latest side to inflict misery on the Roar, with Marc Janko and Milos Dimitrijevic scoring two long-range crackers in a 2-0 win at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
With the league’s best defensive record last season – conceding only 26 times in 29 games – Brisbane have now conceded seven goals in their opening three games. But it is the manner in which sides are defending against the Roar which is causing concerns.
Sydney FC pressed and defended superbly in their win, making it difficult for Brisbane to progress up the pitch and force turnovers in dangerous areas.
Once their compact 4-4-2 defensive block was set, Sydney would press Brisbane Roar and prevent their midfielders – Luke Brattan and Steven Lustica with Dimitri Petratos in the No10 – from facing and playing forward.
Firstly, Sydney’s front two in the defensive phase, Janko and Alex Brosque, would position themselves in front of Brattan and Lustica to stop easy passes into midfield. Then, once Sydney’s defence was set and ready to press, Janko and Brosque would apply pressure on Brisbane’s centre back Matt Smith and Jade North, arcing their run to again prevent passes into midfield.
Terry Antonis and Dimitrijevic in midfield would also squeeze forward to ensure, if the ball did find its way into midfield, Lustica and Brattan could not turn and face forward. A common sight in the first half was for a ball to be played into midfield, only for pressure to be applied on Brattan or Lustica, forcing them backwards first time or into a rushed pass.
Even with Antonis and Dimitrijevic moving forwad when Sydney pressed, Petratos was also prevented from receiving in dangerous positions by defender Sasa Ognenovski. Ognenovski would step out from the back line in order to mark Petratos when he was positioned in behind Sydney’s midfield. One telling example of this was when, in the 13th minute, Ognenovski beat Petratos in the air to win a header on the edge of Brisbane’s box as they looked to play out from the back – having tracked him all the way from halfway.
By pressing so intensely, particularly in midfield, Sydney forced multiple turnovers in dangerous areas and both goals came after mistakes and misfortune when Brisbane were in possession in deep areas.
Brisbane’s best moment during this spell of pressure came when they created overloads near Antonis and Dimitrijevic. Thomas Broich, as he so often does, moved inside from the left wing to create a fourth man in the middle of the park in the 37th minute. With Antonis playing close attention to the central Broich, Lustica was left momentary in space, just enough to allow him to face forward and play a first time pass in behind Sydney’s back line to Petratos who forced a save out of Vedran Janjetovic. But such attacks, where intelligent movement dragged Sydney out of shape, were few and far between, particularly with Broich not at his best.
This meant the biggest factor of the match, aside from Sydney’s two outstanding goals, was the way in which Brisbane struggled to solve problems when being pressed.
Brisbane had similarly been pressed and frustrated in their first round match against Adelaide United. On that occasion, with McKay available for selection, Brisbane went with their familiar 4-3-3 formation but Adelaide matched themselves man-for-man in the middle of the park.
Adelaide’s fluid formation, which moves from a back four out of possession to a 3-4-3 when in possession, saw Marcelo Carrusca, James Jeggo and Pablo Sanchez each having direct opponents in central midfield. Behind them, just as Ognenovski had tracked Petratos in between the lines, Isaias Sanchez tracked Mensur Kurtishi when he moved deep to receive possession.
This defensive pattern directly led to Adelaide United’s equaliser. Under pressure from Sanchez and with no passing options in midfield, McKay was rushed into playing a forward pass to Kurtishi, who was tracked tightly by Isaias. Adelaide forced the turnover in the middle of the park and Djite smashed his finish beyond goalkeeper Jamie Young.
This was also a tactic Newcastle Jets had great success with last season – pressing intensely and frantically in midfield, not allowing Brisbane to easily play forward. Adelaide’s and Sydney’s successes this season when doing so, and to a lesser extent Perth Glory’s, suggests that opposition teams are now sensing the best way to beat Brisbane is to apply pressure in midfield, rather than sitting back in a deep block.
Having seen how Brisbane were successful last season, and having analysed how to beat them, opposition teams are now making life difficult for the reigning Champions and Premiers. In a slump, Brisbane will need to adapt in order to solve the new problems being posed.
