Over the past couple of years, you would have hardly heard anyone say their hotel quarantine came at a good time.
But for John Aloisi, it couldn’t have been more productive.
He built a football side.
The Australian football icon had just finished a stint immersed in the world of European football working as a pundit through Euro 2020, and returned to Brisbane after accepting Western United’s role.
He had been out of A-Leagues coaching for three years, was taking on a club in its third season, and which had just finished third last.
He had two weeks, alone, to get thinking.
Three principles have helped engineer a 17-point swing, from third last, to third.
- A change of system.
- Stop leaking goals.
- Identify the right people to build the culture he wanted to the club.
“The first thing was: I wanted to go a completely different direction in terms of the system,” he told KEEPUP.
“When a team has had bad results, they sometimes need a complete change.”
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The back five was gone.
“Connor Pain was one of the first players I spoke to because I ended up signing a left fullback to push him up to left wing.
“Then: what positions do I need? What do I need to fill? What was their strength and what were they lacking?
“I looked at the amount of goals they conceded.
“I needed a central defender; I like a defender that can play out, as well as defend, but is also an imposing figure.
“I had two weeks in quarantine to watch a lot of games, players, see what players were the right players to bring into the football club and then find a system to best suit the group.”
Aleksandar Prijovic, Rene Krhin and imposing defender Leo Lacroix have all added to our competition this term, players Aloisi was able to scout off the back of initial work done by his club’s recruitment group.
“In that quarantine period, I saw my bed, woke up, showered and then sat at the desk and spent the whole day watching games, talking to people, agents, having zoom meetings, talking to the club.
“It was so good for me, I was able to get a lot of work done in those two weeks.”
But the salary cap presents a delicate balance – especially when you’re looking to bring in as many as a dozen new faces.
“You have to make sure it’s the right characteristics for those positons. There’s a lot that goes into it, a lot of hours.”
Aloisi knew he needed winners, too.
In came Jamie Young, Ben Garuccio, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Neil Kilkenny; all players Aloisi had crossed paths with at various stages of his career.
“I know Neil from my time with the Socceroos. They (his cohort) just started to play with us. I knew the environment that I can create within the club, and the team environment. (I thought) Neil would be a good fit and comfortable.
“A lot of people talk about him but I knew Neil well, (Hayden) Foxe knew him really well; we knew he would fit in well with what we’re trying to create.
“The ones from overseas, you try to do as much research as possible.
“It is hard to get them right all the time – when I speak to them, I get a sense if they’re really motivated, what they’re trying to play for.
“The biggest thing for them is they wanted to create history for a football club – they knew it was a club just starting. They were talking about winning. That was music to my ears.
“They were motivated; they were not just coming here to experience the lifestyle of Australia.”
But perhaps the most important signing of all was one of his most familiar.
“At the top of my list was Hayden Foxe, because I know how good he is.
“I know him very well, and know him as a coach and a person. He was one of the first calls I made (to be his assistant coach).”
After three years out of the A-League, here was Aloisi with a new squad, with a young club and with a big re-build ahead of him.
How did he go about winning over the dressing room?
“The first thing is meeting with all the players, staff, all together, and you have your behaviour values and guidelines … what you want the team culture to be.
“When you do that, straight away, then it is about building every day. A constant. You need to make sure the players see you’re following with that, especially early on in pre-season.
“Players don’t believe you any more if they see it’s just a speech.
“For me, the respect factor is massive: for myself, the game and being a footballer – it includes preparing the right way for training.”
He added: “Then you start with your tactical guidelines, get them to understand it; why are we doing these things?”
Aloisi, a prodigious striker known for his love of attacking football, has ironically built a team whose surge up the table came from record breaking solidity, with an A-Leagues record of seven 1-0 wins. From those foundations, attacking football will come.
They have done that, like all clubs this season, through unpredictable adversity.
“The most satisfying thing for me was, we’ve had a lot of ins and outs, issues with certain individuals, it got spoken about a lot – as well as having a different stadium each week. We’ve played out of five different home stadiums.
“But not once did we look to an excuse.
“Josh Risdon, Neil Kilkenny, Steven Lustica, Diamanti – the list goes on.
“The players that have come in understand their roles and responsibilities – that is satisfying. Being able to get players to understand their roles and responsibilities and the groups know their structures, that’s when you know you’re on the right track. We’ve dealt with a lot of different issues but not once did the players look for a way out or a reason we can’t win do it.”
That has included one of the uniquely different challenges that his new job has presented, compared to his time at the Roar.
“At Brisbane Roar, when the players were struggling you could count on the crowd to lift, whereas Western United is on a journey so we haven’t got that (yet) so it’s about trying to find the energy there to drive that. People underestimate the energy a crowd can bring you. We have to try and find that energy from within and do it from certain ways. That has probably been the biggest difference.”
That energy will be needed on Saturday night, when the underdogs, Wellington, come to Melbourne looking to continue their fairy tale. It pits Aloisi up against Ufuk Talay, two of a cohort labelled this week by Ange Postecoglou as part of a potential ‘Golden Generation’ of Aussie coaches.
“It has been really exciting,” he enthused.
“I remember coaching against Graham Arnold, Ange, and Poppa (Tony Popovic) in the past, but this year there are a new bunch of coaches I haven’t coached against yet.
“Each game throws its difficulties and challenges; I’ve been enjoying that. I think the season has been one of the best on the tactical side that I’ve been involved with.”
If the tactics come up trumps on Saturday, a date with either Melbourne City or Victory awaits.
