IF YOU play or coach for long enough you will experience a game like the one Sydney FC endured last week.
Being on the end of such a loss - 7-2 against the Mariners - does scar a team and regardless of how quickly you bounce back, only time really allows those wounds to heal. But it is always remembered.
Whenever a club puts on such a woeful performance it is remarkable how the media debate always seems to follow a certain pattern. There is the initial analysis that focuses on a perceived lack of effort, then the quality of the players comes into question, and there's always questions about the ability of the coach.
One thing I have come to realise is that we need to evaluate the A-League in a different way to how other countries analyse their competitions.
The salary cap, limited playing lists and a small pool of players that underpin our league mean it is unique and so the standard measures as to how we assess performance are not often the best methods.
One good example is the ladder. Being last in our competition is not necessarily as damning as in other leagues, because often you are only two results from being in the finals - which is usually regarded as a success.
Whoever is last in the A-League is probably not going as badly as one may assume, while the team that is lying sixth is probably not going quite as well as it would appear. Another example is the inclusion of marquee players in certain teams. Often it is considered that teams with such players have an advantage over other sides and so they are judged more harshly.
If the marquee players are such an advantage should we then make allowances for those teams if the key player is missing, as happened with Sydney FC last week when it was without Alessandro Del Piero?
If we don't make an allowance and treat it as just another injury then why do we regard it as such an advantage?
My own view is that over time we will come to analyse teams and performances a little differently and dig a bit deeper into the reasons, rather than just some of the obvious ones we often look for.
Injuries, player absences, conditions and tactics will become stronger tools of analysis while scorelines and ladder positions will be of less relevance when judging how a team is travelling.
Injuries in the A-League are a lot more significant than in other competitions around the world where there are no limitations on squad size and money. They also have a larger talent pool.
If an A-League side is missing players through injury, suspension or international commitments, it will have a significant impact on the performance. Last year at Brisbane, the run of five losses came when the club was hit with significant injuries, while the Mariners lost two key players to overseas clubs in the run into the finals and subsequently did not make the grand final.
Conditions are also important because of the extremes we can face from each week. Travel, weather conditions and even time differences can play roles in the levels of performance from week to week.
Tactics are also important because, as we see constantly, some teams match up better than others because of the styles they play.
The Sydney FC result can be explained through a variety of the factors I have mentioned.
It is not simply a lack of effort or quality that explains such losses, but rather a combination of factors that can lead to a performance that, on face value, seems very disappointing.
As a coach, the challenge is to try to minimise these factors from week to week and try to find solutions so that you can perform consistently in spite of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment