Perth Glory Player Reviews Part 2: Midfielders, but not Maestros.

Part 2 of my off-season review of the Perth Glory's players in the season just gone (and I use that term very lightly, seeing as our campaign wrapped up about 2 and a half months ago). This week, I'll be tackling the midfielders. Those who can control a game, but in the Glory's case, more often than not underperformed.

Travis Dodd- B-

Once one of the most feared players in the league, this season showed that Dodd’s career is coming to an end. Still played week in, week out when it was obvious he was struggling to play the whole 90, he had trouble getting into games. Yet, he still provided fleeting moments that brought back memories of Past Travis, his strength and speed creating chances for his team-mates. Sadly, a bad keen injury ended his season late on and it’s still unclear whether he’ll be kept on next season. In spite of his on-field struggles, off the pitch he collected the award for Clubman of the Year.

Liam Miller- B

One of the main reasons behind our success last season, this year was an entirely different case for the former Manchester United, Celtic and Sunderland midfielder. His class was fleeting, he rarely offered a link between defence and attack (possibly encouraging the long-ball lumping) and he still refused to PULL THE DAMN TRIGGER IN FRONT OF GOAL. WHY WON’T YOU DO IT, LIAM? WHY? He went missing when we needed him to stand up and take control of the game and tempo. However, under Edwards, he rediscovered his best from and was back to missing the midfield by seasons end. Will be missed next season, although he’s done him no favours with the fans by moving to Brisbane.

Jacob Burns- B-

Il Capitano spent most of the season not playing, although this time it was more to do with injury rather than suspension. Like Miller, he failed to offer a link between the centre backs and the forwards and never really showed his great form from last year. Still, he won the coveted “Jacob Burns Award” for the most Perth yellow cards this season (an award he will be looking to win for the fourth time in its four year history in 2014) and like the rest of the team, improved under Edwards, so it will be interesting to see how he fits in next year.

Mattias Cordoba- B

A January singing, initially rumoured to be overweight and unfit, Cordoba showed his class after a slow start, scoring a well-taken goal in a vital (if undeserved) win in Newcastle, and was massive in the midfield in our final two games, winning man of the match in the heart-breaking loss to the Victory. Sadly, as a visa holder, the Glory decided to not offer him a new contract. I wish him well in the future.

Steve McGarry- B+

Nicknamed “Stevie McG” by no one bar me, the hard-working midfielder produced a consistent season in midfield. Not being the flashiest of players means a lot of his hard work more often than not goes unnoticed by the majority of fans. However, the coaches certainly noticed his importance to the team, as he was a mainstay all year. More importantly, his hard work was rewarded with the highest individual honour at the club, the Most Glorious Player award.

Adrian Zahra- C+

He used to be a promising winger, but then he took a Muscat to the knee. After a year out due to THAT Kevin Muscat tackle in the Melbourne derby, Zahra didn’t get much game time in his debut season for the Glory. Still working back to full fitness and recovering from a horrific tackle, he provided brief moments of hope he could be a good player for the Glory. He often struggled to get into games and became invisible. It says it all when his most memorable moments were a deflected goal in the final game of the season, a 1-1 draw with Adelaide, and a miss from 2 yards out Emile Heskey would have been proud of.

Brandon O’Neill- NA

Young Brandon didn’t get any game time this year, despite impressing in his two matches the season prior. He plays like Jacob Burns, albeit with a lot less fouls, bookings and long balls. He’s my pick to breakout under Edwards next year, as I thought he was class in his first two games. Could well oust Burns from his central midfield spot by the end of the year if the veteran’s performance declines.

Perth Glory Player Review- PART 1

Now the dust has settled on another season of the A-League, it’s the time when everyone does their season reviews, picks their teams of the year and argue over goal of the season. It’s also a time when the supporters get to go back over their teams season and reminisce/try and supress the memories even further. In the case of many Perth Glory fans like myself, it’s mostly the latter, although the end of season run under Alistair Edwards and the first 89 minutes of the finals game away to the victory do hold fond memories. So, with no further ado, it’s time to run the rule over the squad and grade the Glory keepers and defence in Part 1 of my player review of Perth Glory’s 2012-13 season.

Goalkeepers

Danny Vukovic- B +

Vukovic was his usual dependable self for most of the season. He pulled off some excellent saves, including a last minute fingertip save against Adelaide which ended up being the difference between making the finals and finishing in 7^th place. However, he did make some errors, and went through a rough patch in the middle of the season where he was hesitant in collecting the ball which proved costly. However, all in all a good season from Rhino, whose passion is never in question.

Lewis Italiano- NA

Kept the seat warm every single game, and for that we will forever be in his debt.

Defenders

Josh Risdon- B

Risdon’s follow up season was a bit like Green Day’s 21^st Century Breakdown album. Still a solid effort, but after the highs of the previous entry (American Idiot), the second entry wasn’t as good. A  good season for the young full-back, but not quite as good as last year. Regardless, I have no doubt if he played over east he’d be heralded as a future Socceroo. But there were times where he got torn apart defensively, his crossing remained abysmal and he seemed to get complacent halfway through the season, perhaps knowing that Ferguson wasn’t going to drop him. However, he did finish the season strongly under Edwards, and he also signed a contract extension during the year.

Michael Thwaite- A

In my opinion, our player of the year. A rock at the back, and the defence suffered when he was injured or on national team duty. Played with passion, timed his tackles to perfection and was a good distributor out from the back. A second successive good season for the ex-Gold Coast man, now here’s to hoping we can keep him on next season.

Steve Panteledis- B-

Panta was the surprise of the season the year before, but this season he couldn’t repeat those performances. An adapted centre back, he did a solid job at the back, but he made a few errors which cost the team games. He stupidly conceded a penalty and a red card which lead to Sydney grabbing a 2-1 win early in the year, before allowing himself to be pushed off the ball too easily allowing Jeremy Brockie to snatch an equaliser for Wellington in Perth. Then he had his hands on Nabbout on that fateful night in Melbourne which contributed to Perth’s best friend Jared Gillet awarding a very soft penalty, before receiving his marching orders for dissent.

Bas Van de Brink- B

Bas left halfway through the season, but not before putting in a solid shift for the Glory. Defensively he was sound and alongside Thwaite the Glory’s defence was sound. But it must be noted that his distribution was nothing short of woeful this year. Maybe it was part of Ian Ferguson’s game plan, but every game we’d see long ball after long ball from him, of which about 5% hit their mark (and that is being kind).

Jack Clisby- C

The young defender came in towards the end of the year and looked average. To be fair, he’s still only 19 years old, and he was the polar opposite of Bas when he played the long ball (it was nice to see a long ball actually hit its target for once). But he had a bad game against the Jets in Newcastle and never got a look in after that. One for the future.

Scott Jamieson- A-

Recovered from a poor stint in Sydney to have a great first year with the Glory. He made the left-back role his own and played some fantastic football, both attacking and defending. Even earned himself a recall to the Socceroos setup. One of our best players this season.

Dean Heffernan- B+

“The Heff” had an average start to the season, playing left midfield and not really doing much. His presence in the line-up every week was a constant source of annoyance for the author. But then, the incredible happened. Heff started playing well. He never dominated games, but he became a solid, dependable player who provided good cover for Jamieson at left back. In our last game of the year, needing a result against Adelaide, he even put in a great shift up front. I’m gutted we won’t have him back next year, something I never thought I’d be saying at the start of the year.