Perth Glory was able to edge Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 in A-League action. Glory held the majority of possession in the game, though they did not necessarily create a huge amount of high-danger scoring chances. Perth played a 3-5-2 and the Wanderers played a 4-4-2.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Keegan Jelacic
- Nationality: New Zealand/Australian
- Age: 20
- Date of Birth: 31/06/2002
- Current Club: Perth Glory
- Career: Lions FC, Brisbane Roar (Y), Olympic FC
- Position: Centre-Midfielder
- Secondary position: Winger
- Preferred Foot: Right
Keegan Jelacic played on the left side of a midfield three in this game, having played as a winger in previous games. I think the centre-midfield position suits his strengths a lot better. He turned in a strong performance that was capped with a goal. Jelacic is extremely good at receiving the ball between the lines. He is great at making runs off the shoulders of midfielders to receive the ball in the final 3rd. He was also decent at popping up in the box to receive passes or snag loose balls there.
He also did a good job of pressing Western Sydney and interrupting their build-up. I would not say he is a ball-winning midfielder but he can certainly harass opponents into errors. But a few things are holding him back from being a top player. He has not shown very much playmaking ability in the A-League, at this early stage of his career. He mostly kept his passing simple. He’s more than capable of playing some simple link-up passes but he is not splitting defences open. He does like to run at players but I would not say he is a particularly dangerous dribbler. There is a lot of running right into people. All of this limits what role he can play. I don’t think he’s strong enough defensively to play in a double pivot and I don’t think he has the vision to play as a #10. If he is going to reach the top level he will have to add another dimension to his game (or just become insanely good at arriving in the box).
Rating – A1
Jelacic is certainly a player to keep an eye on. He has a solid base of skills to build off of but still needs to grow a bit if he is going to outgrow the A-League. Still, he’s very young and just starting to nail down a starting spot. So I would say he has a good chance of achieving his potential.
Luke Ivanovic
- Nationality: Australian
- Age: 22
- Date of Birth: 06/07/2000
- Current Club: Perth Glory
- Career: Sydney FC, Brisbane Roar
- Position: Striker
- Secondary Position: Winger
- Preferred foot: Right
Luke Ivanovic played as a striker in this match. I have seen him play on the wing previously, and have been a fan of his performances, but this game was not his best. Although Perth dominated possession Ivanovic had a hard time getting involved. He frequently dropped deep to get a touch of the ball. He showed some decent ability to get in behind in wider areas but his dribbling ability limited what he could do to make the most of those situations. His first touch was not great in this game and he squandered at least one good chance when he could not control the ball in the box. He also did not seem the most comfortable occupying the positions you would want from a striker.
He was often in wider areas and his instincts in the box were lacking. Although he is reasonably tall, he doesn’t really have the physical strength to be the focal point of an attack. That said, he did still show a few flashes of the things I liked in previous games. He did well to receive a pass on the left side of the penalty area and get a shot off. He also managed to get a decent header off from a free kick. There were also one or two moments where he did well to recover the ball higher up the field. I think he would be a lot more effective in a wide-forward role where he could cut inside over and over again, fire off a ton of shots, and use his speed to stretch the backline. But in a central role where he had to be the focal point of the attack, he did not look as good.
Rating – B1
I like Ivanovic but I can’t really recommend him for a step up at this point. He’s been a bit in and out of the squad for Perth Glory this season and that won’t help his chances for a move abroad. That said, I still believe that in the right role, he can be a really effective A-League player. He’s 22 so the road to a move-up is getting narrower but I wouldn’t totally count him out yet.
Cameron Cook
- Nationality: Australian
- Age: 21
- Date of Birth: 16/09/2001
- Current club: Perth Glory
- Career: Adelaide United (Y)
- Position: Goalkeeper
- Preferred foot: Right
Cameron Cook made his first start of the A-League season. He had put up some quite good numbers in a handful of appearances last season so I was keen to see what he had to offer. Cook demonstrated some quite good shot-stopping in this game. He mostly had to deal with shots from long-range and wide angles. But he did a good job of neutralising the ball and not parrying it back into danger.
He was generally well-positioned which helped him to control shots well. However, he was a bit weak coming off his line. There was one particular moment where he fumbled a cross badly. Fortunately for him the ball was cleared away in this instance. But it was part of a general trend of mild nerviness when the ball was crossed into this box. This nervousness was notably absent when he was stopping shots. You would hope that his difficulties with commanding the penalty area are mainly down to having few professional games under his belt and not being as familiar with the backline in front of him. If he could tidy that up his chances of moving to a higher league would significantly improve. He was ok with the ball at his feet. He mostly just played it short to his centre-backs. He had one humorous long ball that went completely out of play but overall his completion rate was pretty strong.
Rating – A2
Cook has some things to polish in his game but he’s a very solid young keeper and bigger clubs should keep an eye on him.
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