Scoutmania

The Remembrance Day edition of the Melbourne derby ended with a City 2-0 victory with goals from Max Caputo and Peter Antoniou.

There were interesting selections on both sides. Keegan Jelacic started as a right winger for Victory, while the midfield trio of Juan Mata, Denis Genreau and Jordi Valadon suggested possession with intricate play but a lack of defensive midfield and stability in the middle of the park. City Academy graduates Cavier Rahmani and Benjamin Mazzeo join Max Caputo up front, indicating City’s willingness to allow young wingers to dribble and create.

1st half

Melbourne City scored an early goal through high press, with Andreas Kuen intercepting Joshua Rawlins‘ pass into Denis Genreau and then turning provider, putting Max Caputo through on goal, who shot across the wrong-footed Victory keeper Jack Duncan.

The opening minutes also saw 1v1 defender Nathaniel Atkinson replacing the injured Aziz Behich at left back against Jelacic. The first Mata left footed shot, to the left bottom corner, forced a sharp save from Socceroo Patrick Beach. Both left-backs had trouble with goalkeeper long balls: Jason Davidson, a naturally defensive left-back, positioned higher than right back Rawlins and lost his aerial duels, while Atkinson was right-footed and had trouble controlling the ball. Atkinson injury with his left hamstring forced Peter Antoniou to take his place. The hamstring injuries to full-backs Atkinson, Behich and midfield runner Mathew Leckie raised questions over whether City players are exposed to high speeds.

Victory recorded 3 set pieces inside 15 minutes – Mata’s left foot from a free kick and corner, Genreau’s right foot on the left. Their objective in attacking corners was to trouble keeper Patrick Beach, who fumbled the ball in last year’s December derby, though this time it was Victory’s centre-backs Roderick Miranda and Lachlan Jackson who collapsed inside the box, with a half chance falling to Davidson‘s left boot and his shot sailed over the bar.

As the game calmed down, the structures for both teams were made clear. Melbourne City recycled the ball in a 4-3-3 along the high positioning of comfortable ball user goalkeeper Patrick Beach, but the full backs positioned too high to receive the ball when the centre-backs were pressed. Victory’s wingers were seemingly confident with their inside positioning, cutting the pass into City’s central midfielders. Juan Mata and Nikoloas Vergos worked in tandem to pressure City’s centre backs and cut the pass into City’s single pivot Zane Schreiber.

It was also apparent that the balls into City’s attackers were botched – these wingers were often in a 1v1 receiving the ball under pressure from Victory’s full-backs, while striker Max Caputo continued to develop his skills in controlling and knocking down long balls. Victory’s high line and City’s unwillingness to play over the top made it easy for Victory defenders to win their aerial duels. City attempted to get a central midfielder closer to the 2nd ball drop zone but the ball bypassed this lone player.

In possession, Melbourne Victory set up with a back 3, Genreau and Valadon as pivots, 4 players in between the lines with Davidson and Jelacic providing width, Matthew Grimaldi and Mata inside, and the lone centre forward Nikos Vergos up front. The experienced Juan Mata drifted out wide to both wings to maintain width and balance Victory’s system, his movement not tracked by City, with a left-footed chance at the top of the box just missing the top corner. In this system, the versatile central midfield Valadon ran forward to combine passes.

Melbourne’s system in attack created a troubling 3v3 at the back in transition, with Rahmani dribbling against Rawlins and runs from midfielder Andreas Kuen bypassing the soft Victory midfield pivot. City, set up with a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 block with wingers positioned high but the full backs pressed too high at times, allowing Juan Mata to easily find spaces behind them. Though Victory did not continue to exploit this situation, rather Roderick Miranda played unsuitable long balls to Vergos against 2 City centre backs and to Jelacic, an attacking midfielder, in behind.

While it made sense for the left foot of Davidson and the right foot of Jelacic to hold the width, Davidson’s left centre back role at Eupen introduces a possibility where he could retain possession at the back, with Rawlins taking the right flank and a dribbler taking the left flank, creating a lopsided system targeting City’s 16-year-old right back Besian Kutleshi. Indeed, Victory’s best chance saw Rawlins progressing with the ball, Jelacic darting into the channels dragging Kai Trewin out wide, with an overload in the last line ending with Grimaldi skying the shot.

Victory looked very good with 5 players forming a pentagon in central attacking plays overloading the midfield. It creates a 1v1 situation with Davidson and Jelacic out wide. As they were not natural dribblers who could take advantage of isolated 1 on 1s, the attacking midfielders needed to make runs into channels to create 2v1 situations and further support Vergos to penetrate City. They found some success on the wing, with 2-3 man plays and players running into channels seemingly most effective, while 4-5 man group plays being too concentrated with little penetration. Late in the 1st half, Jelacic also finally made inroads as he run in behind and cut inside, dummied 2 City players but his dribble was too close to Patrick Beach who dived on the ball.

City also found their attacking avenue through left back Peter Antoniou, as Victory Jelacic’s press on centre back Kai Trewin was not fully supported. After breaking Victory’s press, City had the left winger / left back and Takeshi Kanamori in the pockets with other City players overwhelming Victory’s line, the lateral ball to Kanamori in the right pocket further isolating Victory defenders on the weak side.

Sitting in their own third, Victory won the ball while overloading the wing but the midfielders gave away fouls. Victory also played with deep block with minimal distance from back to front. Against this solid set-up, City’s 16-year-old Besian Kutleshi managed to make a darting run in behind but he overhit the cross.

2nd half

City made changes with centre back Liam Bonetig coming on for Rahmani, pushing Trewin into the defensive midfield role and Kanamori to the left wing role. They started the 2nd half pressing with high intensity and a coordinated backline join the press, minimised space and deployed the double pivot of Trewin and Schreiber stopping Victory’s dominance in the middle. City somewhat addressed the issue of isolated wingers by bringing the full back and central midfielder closer to the winger.

In turn, Melbourne Victory exploited the inexperience of Kutleshi, with Grimaldi’s inside positioning, and Davidson’s improved overlap and crosses providing a defensive lesson for the young full back. Lachlan Jackson also found himself in high positions on the left twice. On the right, too many Victory players overcrowded the wing, making the attack ineffective. Victory had 3 early corners in the 2nd half, with a short corner eventually played to Grimaldi whose right footed swerving shot to the right forced a fine save from Patrick Beach, while the other two corners away from the concentrated 6-yard box were poor.

City’s 2nd goal came from Benjamin Mazzeo from the right running in behind Jason Davidson and putting a cross in, the loose ball picked up by Takeshi Kanamori, nutmegging the defender with the pass to the Peter Antoniou‘s 1st underlap which allowed him to beat Duncan in the near post with a powerful shot.

Victory responded by putting target man Jing Reec on for Vergos, though it was unsure whether Reec’s best position is left winger or target man due to his inability to link play effectively as a centre forward. Victory also had a penalty shout, with the ball falling on Mazzeo’s hand as he and Schreiber jumped for the same header. Santos replaced the injured Jelacic, providing flair on the right flank. In response to Victory’s dominance on the left flank, City substituted Andrew Nabbout and Harry Shillington on for Mazzeo and Kuleshi.

Melbourne City had the better of the substitutions – Nabbout ran in behind Davidson, on one occasion receiving a lofted pass from Trewin and volleying the ball just over the bar. Nabbout was also defensively conscientious in shutting down Davidson in attack and blocking central passes out wide to Davidson. Harry Shillington also pressed too high so Germán Ferreyra needed to come across and cover. Peter Antoniou‘s press and energy on the left was much more appropriate and he won the ball on one occasion.

The last 15 minutes saw a predictable pattern for City being compact and counterattacking through Kanamori and Nabbout running in behind. Victory tried to cut through City defences, with players finding spaces in the right pocket and left channel but lacking end product. City brought on Emin Durakovic for defensive solidity in midfield, while Victory brought on Xavier Stella and Oliver Dragicevic.

In the 86th minute, City unexpectedly pushed their block high after having sat back and absorbed pressure, and Juan Mata found Jing Reec with a ball over the top to slide the ball past the onrushing Patrick Beach, only for the play to be called offside.

City also had a goal chalked off for offside in the 88th minute, this time Andreas Kuen‘s through ball found the dangerous Andrew Nabbout running in behind, between Jackson and Davidson.

Victory had one late chance in additional time, with Joshua Rawlins‘ cross finding Juan Mata overloading the back post for his volley to glide past the wrong side of the post.

Summary + Going Forward:

City defeated Victory in rare moments – the early press with Andreas Kuen pressing Victory midfielders backwards resulted in the 1st goal, while a surprising underlap from Peter Antoniou added another goal. Victory had an xG of 1.42 compared to City’s 0.80 with Patrick Beach keeping Victory attackers at bay.

Melbourne Victory’s 3-2-4-1 system in attack looked impressive with the pentagon of players in central attacking plays and freedom for Juan Mata, who had 5 shots on goal and created 6 chances in the match. For manager Arthur Diles, incorporating 3 no.10s in Denis Genreau, Juan Mata and Keegan Jelacic seemed challenging – Jelacic’s free roaming role to overload areas at Brisbane Roar was restricted to hugging the right touchline, while Genreau operated as a deeper passer. Wing play was inconsistent with varying number of players on the wing: Victory operated at their best with 2-3 players rotating and attacking the channels, with 1 player (Davidson or Jelacic) they were incapable of dominating the 1v1, while they overcrowded the flanks with 4-5 players. Missing players include left back Adama Traoré, who could add attacking thrust on the left, and winger Nishan Velupillay, who could make channel runs and create more counterattacking opportunities. Playing Rawlins and Velupillay out wide as a inverted left wingback to create a lopsided system remain a possibility. Fine-tuning objectives for attacking corners and incorporating attacking ideas generated by Juan Mata late in the game could make this Victory attack more effective and unpredictable.

Melbourne Victory’s 4-4-2 system in defence looked solid. The high line, combined with the block overloading central areas, caused City headaches in the build-up, with full backs being high and tight to City’s wingers causing turnovers in long ball situations. Victory’s press looked disjointed at times: the full back was not pressing high and the rest of the backline did not shift across to cover. Also, runs behind left back Davidson could have been defended better with better awareness required from Jackson and the player himself. Victory must be clear on how Davidson could transition and track back, with Jackson and potentially Denis Genreau temporarily covering for Davidson, and Davidson must resume responsibility of defending the left flank when back in position. Victory’s defensive overload on the wing and deep, compact block was difficult to break down with numbers packing the wide and central areas on the pitch respectively. Regarding midfield personnel, Genreau offered some positional awareness while runner Valadon lost all 6 of his ground and aerial duels. The pivot failed to stop City switching play in between the lines and the injured Louis Arrigo could add positional sense in midfield. Victory lacked a midfield destroyer who could break up play, win tackles, cover ground defensively and control the match against good opponents.

For Melbourne City, Aurelio Vidmar’s 4-3-3 in attack looked basic. While the use of goalkeeper Patrick Beach to recycle possession was a highlight to create a 8v6 in the build up, City’s full backs positioned goal side of Victory wingers were too high to support or continue the play. City’s attackers were also up against Victory defenders in a ‘1v1’: it was not wingers directly dribbling against Victory full backs, but rather wingers receiving a difficult ball under full back pressure on the wing. Midfielders Zane Schreiber and Takeshi Kanamori could have positioned themselves in the pocket to support the wingers, joined the wingers and got closer to the developing Max Caputo for the 2nd ball, while another option could involve 2 attackers pinning the Victory backline allowing a winger or Caputo to drop deep and receive . The dribbling outputs of the City graduates were less than satisfying, but Mathew Leckie, Elbasan Rashani and Lawrence Wong were all absent due to injuries. There were some positives to take from the game – Max Caputo ability to make runs in behind, Kanamori finding spaces in the right pocket, Nabbout’s direct threat in counterattack and running in behind was very effective as a substitute, 16-year-old right back Besien Kutleshi‘s joined the attack well just missing the crossing accuracy, and of course left back Peter Antoniou‘s underlap created the 2nd goal. Regular full backs Aziz Behich and Nathaniel Atkinson were both injured – Behich in particularly would have added to City’s possession play on the left. City’s 3v3 counterattack on Victory and 4-5 man overload on Victory’s last line looked very dangerous as well and should have yielded end products.

Melbourne City’s defensive set up was standard, with wingers positioned high in a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4. The City’s press yielded the first goal and the fans did not see more of that press as City defended their lead appropriately, the back 4 aerially defended long balls from Miranda very well and narrowed to defend Victory’s through balls to Vergos. City’s block looked compact in the 2nd half, shutting down Victory’s central attacking plays. City’s defensive problems came from the extremely high pressing of full backs, their position bypassing City’s midfield line horizontally creating a huge space for Victory’s tricky attacking midfielders and wingers to move into. In City’s own third, this forced City’s centre backs into a difficult decision: to retreat into the box and defend the cross, or engage the players in the channels? This was an area for improvement: though City set up defensively with 2 midfielders at the base of midfield and even changed to a double pivot in the 2nd half, the defensive responsibilities were unclear as to who should pick up these Victory players in the pockets and channels. Also, against Victory’s relatively short players in the defensive corner, City allowed a half chance with the ball falling to Davidson, and then allowed Grimaldi to take a good shot on goal outside the box via a short corner. City’s 2nd half substitutions were sensible in shoring up the defence, but their late game management needed work as Victory were allowed two glorious opportunities on goal. City keeper Patrick Beach was key in keeping Victory players at bay as he faced an xGOT of 0.81and made 5 saves.

The player to follow:

Patrick Beach, Goalkeeper, 2003, Melbourne City

Melbourne City’s willingness for the keeper to develop paid off with Beach earning a Socceroo debut. His athleticism and positioning allowed him to make fine stops and palmed shots wide to relative safety. Compared to last season, he appeared to be stronger, more comfortable and communicated in corner situations against the pack but he did not have to catch or punch. He also moved across goal better and composed compared to last year’s franticness. His bravery saw him diving for a contested ball against Jelacic. Many goalkeeping skills could be tested more: his command of the 6-yard box and decision making to collect crosses or stay on the line, his ability to make double saves with the correct technique, his footwork, power and good reach to dive for low and high shots to both posts. He needed to work on this 1v1 – in Jing Reec offside chance, his rushed towards the player and the ball with big steps, where he could have taken little steps to compose himself for the shot.

Despite recording 12/30 (40%) accurate long balls, the statistics did not account for City attackers’ rather poor aerial ability. His long balls to Max Caputo were sometimes low, considerate and easy to control. He was comfortable with his left foot and positioned high in possession, playing safe passes into centre backs, and allowed City to play an 8v6 in the build up. He was rarely tested with his right foot under pressure, he rarely had to hit the first-time long ball, he seldom played long passes to the free City full backs, nor was he asked to throw the ball and release City players in counterattacks.

A keeper who has shown very good progress in his development in the A-league.

Current Level: A-League

Potential Level: English Championship

Contract Ending: 30/06/2028

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