Miron Bleiberg has revealed that an overhaul of his game-plan and the addition of some ‘mongrel’ was behind Gold Coast United’s stunning form reversal which saw it overcome Sydney FC on Saturday night.
The master tactician had been tinkering with his line-up through the clubs recent rough patch and it all came together in time to defeat the league leaders for the second time in 2009.
“I was happy from a lot of points of view,” he said.
“We worked hard through our frustrations and we wanted to succeed, so we decided to add two dimensions to our game because we can’t try and play like Barcelona every week because sometimes you win 5-0 and sometimes you lose 6-0.”
Bleiberg challenged his men to be tougher on the ball and it payed dividends with Sydney’s awesome frontline devoid of scoring chances.
United defenders Michael Thwaite, Kristian Rees and Steve Pantelidis revelled under the coach’s instructions, putting an end to the team’s recent goal-leaking habit.
“We decided to add a bit of mongrel to our game and go for every second ball; we learnt our lesson from the Fury last week and Wellington.”
The second phase of Bleiberg’s plan was use the full length of the field and play long which suited the radar-like boot of Brazilian wing-back Anderson.
“We decided we don’t always have to play the nice smooth passing game with Jason (Culina) coming back, let’s be like the other A-League clubs and play some long balls and vary the game.”
“We played more long balls then we ever played, and if people want to criticise then that’s ok because I’m happy to play the long balls and have the three points.”
Culina benefitted from the change in tactics which in turn benefitted the team as its most skilled player had the chance to get more involved in the attack.
“I played a lot more forward today,” Culina said.
“I enjoy going forward and I think the team needs me to go forward, so Miron has put me back up there and I am enjoying it.”
