Younis drops deep to pull the strings
The Western Sydney Wanderers are on the board with their first win of the A-League Women season.
In what looked to be scorching heat at CommBank, the Wanderers were better than Brisbane throughout — culminating in a 3-1 scoreline.
So, what were three questions to come out of the game?
How did Talia Younis play?
You can’t discuss any Wanderers game without a focus on Talia Younis — and the teen sensation impressed yet again this afternoon.
It was unclear at the start where Younis would be operating in Geoff Abrahams’ line-up.
Just before the Western Sydney equaliser, Younis picked up the ball in a deep-lying midfield position, turned, and sprayed a sensational diagonal in behind to Milly Bennett for a one-on-one.
The ‘quarterback’ role was the one she was tasked with, and she executed it pretty well.
The result of the opportunity she created for Bennett was a corner, which Younis delivered straight onto Sofia Palywoda’s head for the equaliser.
The thing about Younis is, because she possesses such an attacking mentality when she receives the ball, there’s an innate ability to affect matches from really…anywhere.
Off the wing, as a deep-lying playmaker, free-roaming number 10, or as an out and out striker.
Today, it was the deeper role, with Younis often rotating out of midfield into wide areas to pick up the ball from a centre-back or full-back.
And because of the attention she attracts when on the ball, either space is freed up for teammates, or she can bait the opponent into a foul, creating set-piece chances.
It would be remiss in this section to not mention the second Wanderers goal — a penalty converted by Younis.
You might not have seen it in the attacking phase which lead to Annabel Martin grabbing onto Sofia Sakalis’ shirt in the area.
But Younis showed excellent spatial awareness to notice there was little presence in the box for the Wanderers after Elexa Bahr drifted wide.
Her late run not only attracted defenders but also made them a little more nervous.
It was also pretty impressive for such a young player, in a role where the kilometres are at a maximum, almost get complete the full game.
How’s the Wanderers attack looking?
Younis player her part in this area of the pitch working well throughout, but others also executed their roles well — and showed promise of more to come.
Bahr and Brooke Miller looks an exciting partnership up front.
The early evidence suggests the Colombian will not stop running this season.
She’s constantly looking to get in behind — but also possesses a strong game with her back to goal.
It was notable that when Bahr’s teammates overhit any passes in behind to find her, she would always turn around with a thumbs up, clearly happy with the intention if the execution lacked at times.
Meanwhile, without knowing too much about Miller’s game outside of today, it’s clear she operates with her own shoot on sight policy.
Maybe Abrahams is encouraging her to have a go whenever it’s on.
Either way, the American didn’t always receive the best service today — apart from the one time Allyssa Ng-Saad set her up perfectly and she finished brilliantly.
The goal — where Miller took a couple of touches towards goal at speed, before authoritatively finishing at the near post — demonstrated a player who has the confidence and know-how.
And she also seems to be very well liked in the dressing room already, at least going off the way both teammates and the coaching staff got around her as she came off in the 80th minute.
Of course, it’s also a natural reaction when a player scores their first goal for a club — but Miller also seems to play with an energy where she undoubtedly wants success and is not here for a holiday.
It’s an essential part of the Visa player criteria in the A-Leagues.
What do the Roar change for next week?
There’s definitely a bit for Brisbane to work on.
Probably the most notable aspect of their play today was the lack of structure and composure in attack — the Wanderers being far better in this area.
Roar did a lot of what you would call “burning the ball”.
They were defending for extended periods, and in the moments possession was one back, it was only brief.
Perhaps the heat played a factor, but there were too many instances of the ball being immediately turned over instead of retained to offer some respite.
And there was a sense of the side waiting for an individual moment — which, to be fair, Daisy Brown almost produced with a lob attempt of Sarah Langman from near halfway.
Brown, a player the Wanderers were definitely fearful of, was visibly frustrated at times with the lack of cohesion going forward.
A starting point for Sydney next week is to find ways to use Brown’s hold-up play, and really just get her more involved.
Perhaps a strategy is to move Kijah Stephenson into the XI and play her behind Brown.
Stephenson was excellent in her 15 minutes today, her main highlight being a sensational long pass in behind to set up Murphy Agnew for a big chance in the 80th minute.
She certainly offered a lot more than Emily Roach in the attacking midfield role, the latter’s struggles in influencing the match culminating in being subbed off at half-time.
So there’s definitely a few things for Johno Clemente to think about.
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