The start of any league season is unpredictable. Particularly this season for Canberra United. There’s a new coach and pretty much a whole new team. Nobody had any clue as to how Canberra would play this season. This means that opposition teams also have no idea. They can’t do any homework on teams unless they adopt the Canadian drone strategy pre-season! Which is unlikely. They don’t know how the team will be set up. Where their strengths and weaknesses are? You could see this in the randomness of the first two games as teams jostled for position and gaps appeared across the park.
How the team lined up
Aideen Keane hadn’t recovered from the hamstring injury picked up in Wellington last week so Tegan Bertolissio came into a left back position with Sofia Christopherson filling in for Keane on the left of midfield. Holly Murray also came into the starting lineup in place of Darcey Malone. 17 year old Lillian Skelly was on the bench.
Keane is more of an attacking player than Christopherson but Christopherson offers more defensively. So, six of one and half a dozen of the other. Essentially, Canberra’s setup remained the same as the first two rounds. Elizabeth Anton’s playing her first home game for Canberra.
Adelaide had clearly done their homework after the first two rounds. They knew that putting a high press on Canberra’s back line would probably lead to either:
- The ball being hoofed forward in the general direction of Heyman;
- Canberra coughing up possession in a dangerous position, or
- Canberra playing through midfield quickly and either playing out wide or through to Heyman.
This is pretty much how this game panned out. The hoof forward was generally thwarted by the excellent Matilda McNamara and Ella Tonkin staying tight on Heyman. Canberra lost possession regularly, largely due to the press from the very excellent Lucia Leon and Emily Condon. When Canberra did negotiate a passageway through to midfield and wide that too was negated as Markovski and Bertollissio/Christopherson had been pushed so far back and struggled to get into the right positions.
No doubt Canberra did their homework too but backed themselves with the trusted game plan that has worked so far. And why wouldn’t you? But Adelaide is a strong team and executed the plan better on the day. So what happened?
Canberra started strong. After 5 minutes they produced the first meaningful move into the Adelaide half. A delightful move from a Bertolissio throw-in to Robers, back to McKenzie who hit a sharp ball forward to Christopherson, back to Taylor-Young who clipped it to Holly Murray. Murray found Stanic-Floody near the top left of the Adelaide box and she threaded a ball toward the line with Taylor-Young on the overlap. Stanic-Floody slightly over hit the pass so Hayley Taylor-Young couldn’t quite wrap her foot around the ball for the cross. When Canberra string it together in this way it gives supporters a glimpse of how the side can shift the ball forward at pace and cause any side problems.
After two rounds of the A-League Canberra United have the least amount of completed passes (473) in the entire league. Why would this be? On the one hand, you could say it doesn’t matter, as Canberra had won their first two games anyway. Possession isn’t everything. But on the other hand, this puts a lot of pressure on the side defensively and over a season this will be problematic as sides get their act together. Canberra can pass as well as any other team, but they want to pass at pace and get the ball forward quickly. Which is great to watch when it comes off. But they struggle, so far, to retain possession when they have the ball in their eagerness to move forward or take the option of simply lobbing the ball forward for Heyman.
Another example of Canberra’s ability to move the ball quickly came at the 7-minute mark. Markovski held position on the right and moved the ball back to Anton. Anton squared to McKenzie and in an instant McKenzie drove another sharp ball to Hayley Taylor-Young on the left. She did well to control and turn to play a one-two with Heyman. There was no hesitation. She launched the ball back to Heyman on the edge of the box, she chested it down for Stanic-Floody to volley from range, which we know she can do. It was a great move at pace. But if Hayley Taylor-Young would have lost possession to the very dangerous Leon at that moment, Canberra would have been in all sorts of trouble. You could hear Jagarenic calling from the sideline to McKenzie move it forward, move it forward. All of which should lead to some thrilling, if nerve racking, games this season.
Adelaide plays a more traditional modern game where possession is king. They are strong defensively with Matilda McNamara at the heart of Adelaide’s defence earning a recent callup to the full Matildas squad. It was a difficult afternoon for Michelle Heyman. In Fiona Worts they have an in-form striker who was leading goal scorer in the A-League leading into this match. And watch out for Lucia Leon this season. She was on the books at Tottenham Hotspur for nine years and was the first player for Spurs to score in the London derby against Arsenal. She has also played 56 times in the Liga F in Spain. She’s going to be a real force this season for Adelaide.
It wasn’t long before Adelaide took the lead, rather against the run of play at that time. The ball was flung into the box, Hayley Taylor-Young tried to clear the bomb but it fell to Emily Condon who resisted the attention of Holly Murray to fire a shot from the edge of the box past Sally James. It was the first real move forward from Adelaide, but they took the chance well.
After 25 minutes Adelaide had double the amount of completed passes to Canberra. A case in point. The pressure started to mount. Canberra’s attacking wide players, Markovski and Christopherson, were being dragged into defensive duties, leaving Heyman on her lonesome. Bertolissio launched one long range cross into the box and Stanic-Floody nearly got there. Despite the odd flurry Adelaide remained in control.
Then Emily Hodgson broke down Canberra’s right-hand side, slipped past Bertolissio, got to the line and pulled back for Fiona Worts to calmly place the shot past James. Adelaide 2-0 and looking good. Something needed to change from the pattern of the game for Canberra to get back into it. From the restart Markovski won a free kick on right of Adelaide’s box. Stanic-Floody passed the ball to the near post and Heyman nearly managed to steer the ball inside the post. It really looked bad for Canberra when Adelaide had the ball in the back of the net again only for McNamara to be caught offside. The feeling was that the game was at a crossroads. Adelaide could forge ahead and put the game to rest or Canberra could, as they always can, sneak a goal back.
And so it almost proved as Stanic-Floody floated a lovely ball into the box that Markovski should have buried. Then, before the break, Stanic-Floody had a poke at goal, but Jenkins made a good save. It was all happening! Half time came and everyone could take a breather! Although Adelaide appeared to dominate much of the half there wasn’t a lot in it when you look at the stats. Adelaide 61% possession, 5 shots to 3 and 241 passes to 165. At least Canberra was ahead on the foul count, 3-2!
Jynaya Dos Santos came on for the second half for Holly Murray and 17 year old Lillian Skelly made her debut in place of Bertolissio. Canberra came out positive. Some brilliant work from Markovski down the right nearly opened a chance for Heyman. Dos Santos wriggled free and attempted a shot. The game then went into a bit of a scramble. Tackles were flying. Dos Santos lost the ball in midfield and Dewey threaded a beautiful pass through for Worts who unleashed a left footed shot that was brilliantly saved by there’s only one Sally James. The crowd sang.
Then it swung back Canberra’s way with a Robers cross for Heyman six yards out. Hodgson did enough to unsettle Heyman and the chance fizzled away. Adelaide tried to regain control and coach Adrian Stenta could be heard shouting momentum, momentum from the sideline. Presumably he meant slow down the momentumas that’s what Adelaide did. When you are 2-0 ahead a low tempo match is what you want. Good luck with that against Canberra!
At the 62nd minute mark Hayley Taylor-Young went down in her own box. Taylor-Young is a no holds barred 100% player. Last season she missed the entire season with an ankle injury. Canberra really needed a Hayley Taylor-Young type player last season and, already this season, she has been an important catalyst for Canberra’s improved, more aggressive, defensive displays. She limped off and was replaced by Darcey Malone.
Canberra continued to go against Stenta’s wishes. Stanic-Floody turned and sent Dos Santos through but Tonkin managed to clean up. Then Malone put through an equally impressive through pass to Heyman who backheeled to Dos Santos who’s first shot was blocked. Her follow up looked goal bound but Jenkins pulled off a good one handed save. Canberra are never out of a game! Nathan came on for Stanic-Floody. Adelaide took off their two guns, Worts and Leon, attempting to slow the momentum even more. And it worked.
This was Canberra’s first loss in 5 games (if you count last season). The result didn’t go their way but there were plenty of positives for the home team. Dos Santos was lively and looks like another young player with a great future in the game. Emma Robers had a good game and showed her versatility as a player who can play in midfield or defence. Lillian Skelly got some valuable minutes on the park. In the end it was more about Adelaide’s strong defensive performance in keeping Heyman and Canberra’s attack quiet. You heard it here first – watch out for Adelaide this season, they are strong in all areas.
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