Summary: South Melbourne have secured their third win of the season, with a 1-0 result over Melbourne Knights FC in the original Melbourne football derby. Esteban Quintas’ first match as head coach has ended with positive results, as skipper Bradley Norton was able to beat the keeper for his first goal this season, and clench the points for his side.
I don’t often start these reports with a lot of off-the-pitch information, but in between the last two games, events have transpired that must be discussed. On April 2nd, two days after leading South to a draw against Green Gully SC, the club announced that senior coach Con Tangalakis would be resigning, and replaced by assistant coach Esteban Quintas effective immediately. It wasn’t an outcome I was particularly shocked to hear, (considering the aggressive campaigning South had been doing to bring John Anastasiadis back), however, the news did fill me somewhat with melancholy. After assuming the role in mid-2018, after the resignation of Sasa Kolman, South immediately found themselves on a winning streak. While very brief in terms of the season, it provided us with enough points to narrowly avoid relegation. Irrelevant of his performances this year, Tangalakis provided the squad with the stability necessary to attain crucial results last season. But his presence never felt like a long-term transaction.
Many have seen his resignation/sacking as bizarre, as his last match recorded was a draw, and we are still relatively early into the season. I understand the sentiment, particularly when we look back at what our coaching instability led to, but I also think the key difference between this sacking and Chris Taylor’s was that we were losing a championship winning coach. Rumours had been spreading that Tangalakis had lost the squad, and if that was the case, would bring with it the same authoritarian conflict we suffered from last season. It’s also important to remember that, as we stand now, we still TECHNICALLY (though very, very, unlikely) have a chance of making finals. While the top of the league is completely unattainable now, the middle has a pretty even distribution of points, and with a few more wins we might be able to secure a spot in the top half of the table. If we extrapolate from Tangalakis’ results this season, we would remain in a very similar position to last year; barely avoiding relegation. The club, instead, has decided to explore alternatives which might lead to more success, and I also stand by that. Sometimes when changes on the pitch aren’t providing anything positive, it may stem from issues outside of it. And when you’ve dropped so low, ironically I can be disruptions that lead to meaningful outcomes.
On Friday night, we immediately saw differences between Quintas’ lineup and Tangalakis’. What immediately struck me was that Ben Djiba was starting as right back, a position primarily held by Perry Lambropoulos this year. As I know what he’s capable of, this was more exciting than shocking to me, and gave our youth the opportunity to fight for a spot on the squad. This week, our midfielder thrust into the forward position was Nick Krousoratis. I felt neutral-to-negative about this decision. Krousoratis has been excellent in presenting options on the wing for our central midfielders, and so this choice would definitely stifle his play-style. But then again, that’s the same with everyone who takes on this role, and as none previously have worked, I guess it was worth a shot. What was most shocking about this week was Giuseppe Marafioti not making an appearance at all, with his brother, Giordano taking his spot on the side (in a sense). His limited involvement in the senior squad (and actions last season) have left me underwhelmed, but hopefully his efforts in the under 20s will begin translating if he’s given more game time on the senior squad.
The Knights kept our aggression at bay during the early stages of this match, and possessed more composure pushing up than we did. We were able to cut off most of their attempts before they got too dangerous, but every move they pulled seemed purposeful, and in that sense more threatening than what we were replying with. The pacing wasn’t particularly fast, and gave me a better chance to see them pull off their plans, and I wondered how our strategy faired up against theirs. Well, whether it was based on shock at their strategies ay bypassing our defence, or desperation when clearing the ball out of our defending half, we resorted once again to our wide long balls. Which, of course, were mostly met with the feet of Knight’s players, and led to a few instances of worrisome ping-pong. They were too strong for us to flex our midfield fluidity like we did last week, and too switched on for any of our desperate tricks to catch them asleep. What I did see, however, was a (relative) decrease in balls played back to the keeper. This forced our players to think on the ball, and create options, as opposed to passing it to Roganovic to lose possession for them.
In spite of this, we were able to get a few decent shots off, a few from Schroen and one exciting strike from Krousoratis after a compelling run that required a great reflex save kept me satiated. It was probably Nick’s best chance of the match, though one he had to abandon his striker responsibilities to create. Ben Djiba played exceptionally well. Despite possessing a smaller stature than the average defender, his ability to lay accurate tackles combined with his incredible pace allowed him to not only dispossess opponents, but bring the ball up the field himself. On multiple occasion he was able to bring the ball up the field and lay off a cross. Of course, our attacking box is always barren, but the intent was there. I was impressed by not only his reading of his opponent’s play, but his the hard work he seemed to be displaying.
In spite of this, they begun to outplay us in the last ten minutes of the second half, dominating possession and replying to our mistakes with opportunities. Roganovic had his work cut out for him in his 100th South game, and he delivered on multiple occasions. We almost conceded the first in the 39th minute, where a Cvitkovic strike was parried by Roganovic back into the box. The ball found its way to Watson, whose shot was cleared on the line by a flat-footed Marshall. Their second opportunity was two minutes into injury time, where Roganovic showed extreme dexterity to deny a header lobbed awkwardly up into the top left corner. Two disastrous errors that almost led to goals, yet, we were able to recover, and somehow remain level with the Knights.
Now, for those who have read most of my reports, and made it up to the halfway mark, you’ll know that my insights at half time mean very little. Whether we played good or bad in the first half never really indicates how we play in the second, and most of my assumptions also amount for little. We weren’t playing our best football, but we were still managing to create opportunities. Especially considering the Knights such good form. This derby was going to be hard fought battle, and it was absolutely essential that we capitalised on what little we could create. A big issue with our control over the ball was playing it ahead of attacking players. We had so many half chances which could have potentially been translated into goals if we had been more precise with our passing. In saying that, we also had the opportunity to punish the Knights for their inaccuracy in the first half.
In the 57th minute, Krousoratis was subbed off, as is destiny for anyone placed out of position and expected to excel. It seems as though until Konstantinidis returns, we will continue to rotate our midfielders in this position until one produces something meaningful, in which case they will assume the position. It’s probably frustrating for the players, but in times like this we have to work together to minimise our vulnerabilities. And his substitute, Leigh Minopoulos did just that, and assuming he is not on the bench for fitness or injury related issues, I suspect he will be in the starting lineup next week in that position. Great buildup play from Sylaidos and Norton released Minopoulos, who laid it off to the still running Norton, who slotted it passed the keeper in a strike reminiscent of his 2017 goal against Bentleigh in the semi-finals. Very soon after, Minopoulos created something out of nothing with a run coming in pretty wide, opting to shoot and being denied only by the woodwork. It was a huge confidence booster, and I’d argue that Minopoulos’ presence helped produce more meaningful plays for the rest of the match.
After our goal, there was a power struggle between both clubs, with each one having the advantage on the other at different stages of the match. South were definitely afforded more opportunities than the Knights, but we seemed satisfied relying on our one goal. Towards the end we were very lucky with a referee decision, as our desperate defending resulted in at least one foul outside of the box and one in it. If the Knights player hadn’t attempted to play on, and made a bit more of a scene, I’d hate to imagine what the outcome would have been. Giordano Marafioti brought with him both bulk and pace in our attack, and satisfied me with his performance. No insightful comparisons can be made based off of one performance, but Giordano has made it clear he is not to be overlooked by his brother. Perry Lambropoulos replaced Djiba in the 75th minute, who limped off with the help of staff, which I hope was based on soreness and not an impending injury.
We held on, and were able to secure our third victory this season. Our second half was one with increased quality, and more structural integrity. As if custom when discussing South, a loss screams relegation, but a win brings with it dreams of finals. Do we possess the resources for a finals run? At this point, we possess elements of them, but not enough to create anything but a mid-table result. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks, as we play under a new coach, and slowly find ourselves at Lakeside more often.
Notable players: Bradley Norton, Leigh Minopoulos, Jake Marshall, Gerrie Sylaidos, Ben Djiba
Next match: South Melbourne Vs. Hume City at Lakeside Stadium
South Melbourne FC: 1
Melbourne Knights FC: 0