Friday, December 15, 2006
Ten Man Terry
I don’t feel that Terry Butcher has particularly distinguished himself as a manager this season, although he has, arguably, done somewhat better than Pierre Littbarski. Butcher has continued to play David Carney and Robbie Middleby on the wrong wings, and his side can still be painfully slow in constructing attacks, and laboured in their movement off the ball.
There is one particular situation, however, in which Butcher has truly shown his mettle this term. And that is, significantly, when his side has gone a man down.
The big Englishman loves talking about fighting spirit, backs to the wall, siege mentalities and the like. It’s not surprising, then, that he appears at his best when facing an uphill struggle.
Four times this season Sydney have gone a man down. In two cases they did eventually lose, but did far better in the circumstances than one would have had reason to expect. In last night’s game, Butcher’s acumen in 10 v. 11 situations finally paid off.
In the pre-season semi-final against Adelaide, Alvin Ceccoli was sent off for dissent at half-time. The game had been pleasingly even up to that point; after the break, perversely, Sydney were dominant.
Butcher had wisely stationed the players who had done the least running, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Mark Milligan, in wing-back roles for the second half; tearing down the flanks, they allowed the midfielders to remain fairly central, preventing Adelaide from building too many attacks through the middle.
This tends to be Butcher’s method when going a man down; to man the flanks with hard runners, allowing the numbers in the centre to remain there.
Against Melbourne in Round 2, Butcher reacted similarly to Mark Rudan’s dismissal, compressing the midfield while leaving the full-backs to patrol the flanks in their entirety. It worked well, and Melbourne were given a run for their money despite already being two goals to the good when the sendoff occurred.
Last night, the introduction of Ruben Zadkovich – whose brief was clearly to roam the length of the right touchline – was ultimately the turning point of the game. Carney was having a poor night overall and not contributing sufficiently in defence; after Zadkovich’s arrival, Sydney’s back three were able to cope with Perth’s feints at goal with little trouble.
Not that I would hope for a Sydney FC player to be sent off in subsequent games, but…
There is one particular situation, however, in which Butcher has truly shown his mettle this term. And that is, significantly, when his side has gone a man down.
The big Englishman loves talking about fighting spirit, backs to the wall, siege mentalities and the like. It’s not surprising, then, that he appears at his best when facing an uphill struggle.
Four times this season Sydney have gone a man down. In two cases they did eventually lose, but did far better in the circumstances than one would have had reason to expect. In last night’s game, Butcher’s acumen in 10 v. 11 situations finally paid off.
In the pre-season semi-final against Adelaide, Alvin Ceccoli was sent off for dissent at half-time. The game had been pleasingly even up to that point; after the break, perversely, Sydney were dominant.
Butcher had wisely stationed the players who had done the least running, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Mark Milligan, in wing-back roles for the second half; tearing down the flanks, they allowed the midfielders to remain fairly central, preventing Adelaide from building too many attacks through the middle.
This tends to be Butcher’s method when going a man down; to man the flanks with hard runners, allowing the numbers in the centre to remain there.
Against Melbourne in Round 2, Butcher reacted similarly to Mark Rudan’s dismissal, compressing the midfield while leaving the full-backs to patrol the flanks in their entirety. It worked well, and Melbourne were given a run for their money despite already being two goals to the good when the sendoff occurred.
Last night, the introduction of Ruben Zadkovich – whose brief was clearly to roam the length of the right touchline – was ultimately the turning point of the game. Carney was having a poor night overall and not contributing sufficiently in defence; after Zadkovich’s arrival, Sydney’s back three were able to cope with Perth’s feints at goal with little trouble.
Not that I would hope for a Sydney FC player to be sent off in subsequent games, but…
Comments:
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Credit to Terry/Sydney and not to destroy the merit of your point but a team of 10 inanimate carbon rods were a good chance against Perth Thursday night.
# posted by 
: December 15, 2006 at 7:35 PM
: December 15, 2006 at 7:35 PM
...not to destroy the merit of your point but a team of 10 inanimate carbon rods were a good chance against Perth Thursday night....
You ain't wrong. They were just woeful.
You ain't wrong. They were just woeful.
Butcher is very good at defensive football. His 1 up front against the 2nd worst team in the league, at home shows Butcher's inability to think attacking football and have his side play attacking football. Siege mentality and a point at any cost seems the current mantra. Sad that such a manager is brought to Australia to inflict negativity on the A league.
The ground also looked woeful on tv (compared to the football it was probably comparative). Was it really that bad, mike ?
The ground also looked woeful on tv (compared to the football it was probably comparative). Was it really that bad, mike ?
# posted by : December 16, 2006 at 11:33 AM
: December 16, 2006 at 11:33 AM
....Butcher is very good at defensive football. His 1 up front against the 2nd worst team in the league, at home shows Butcher's inability to think attacking football and have his side play attacking football. Siege mentality and a point at any cost seems the current mantra. Sad that such a manager is brought to Australia to inflict negativity on the A league....
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yawn. Whatever. Second in the league.
...The ground also looked woeful on tv (compared to the football it was probably comparative). Was it really that bad, mike?...
Yeah, pretty bad, especially in the penalty area at the northern end.
Plenty of discussion at present on SFCU et alibi re an alternative venue to the SFS.
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yawn. Whatever. Second in the league.
...The ground also looked woeful on tv (compared to the football it was probably comparative). Was it really that bad, mike?...
Yeah, pretty bad, especially in the penalty area at the northern end.
Plenty of discussion at present on SFCU et alibi re an alternative venue to the SFS.
The ground looked pretty bad, but it looked a little worse on TV. Also noticed by the blacked out field markings that the action had been shifted actually away from the supporters' (Cove) end. It's hard to tell distance upfield and it looked like only a couple of metres, but on the telly it looked more like four.
But worse than the changes to the pitch was the fact that we need to be treated like children with the carpeted area of the supporters' end being barricaded off. Ridiculous.
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But worse than the changes to the pitch was the fact that we need to be treated like children with the carpeted area of the supporters' end being barricaded off. Ridiculous.
# posted by : December 17, 2006 at 12:58 AM
: December 17, 2006 at 12:58 AM << Home
