Sprays of Wanderers coach Markus Babbel seem to be falling on deaf ears

For weeks, even months, we have heard from Wanderers coach Markus Babbel about the shortcomings of the squad he coaches. Statistics seem to show that Western Sydney are getting worse, not better.

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You could call it a carrot and stick approach, except that the carrots are in such short supply it practically constitutes a famine.

For weeks, even months, we have heard from Wanderers coach Markus Babbel about the shortcomings of the squad he coaches.

With every defeat there is a fresh round of fault-finding: his players are too soft, indisciplined, can’t focus, unfit, not used to playing a lot of games in repetition.

Adding a sharper edge to the blade in recent weeks, Babbel has threatened to put a broom through the squad for next season.

Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel has come under pressure in recent weeks. (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)

With 10 games to go the season is effectively over, and on current form it won’t be long before mathematically there is nothing to play for, once the top six is officially out of reach.

The question, though, is whether Babbel’s words are having any effect, or at least any positive effect.

These statistics seem to show that Western Sydney are getting worse, not better, with little evidence that the roots of a long-term plan are taking hold.

In an attacking sense there is little to distinguish the first third of the season from the second: 11 goals scored in the first nine games, and 13 in eight since.

But defensively Western Sydney repeatedly fall to pieces: in slightly more than a third of their 17 games they have conceded three goals or more. Concerningly, four of those six occasions have come in the last six games.

Overall the 40 goals conceded is equal worst in the league, but half those goals have come in the past six games.

Babbel has had a tough initiation to the A-League. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Tactically opposition coaches speak every week about getting in behind the Wanderers defence, and the later the games go on the more porous they are. In the first 11 games of the season, Babbel’s side conceded in the last 15 minutes four times; in the six games since, it has happened 11 times.

Babbel has spoken of injuries, of fatigue, of being unable to give players a rest; concentration dips late on, he argues, when players are so tired.

But so abject has been the return from 17 games that planning for next season is the only consideration now. In fairness to the German, his side have looked good in patches: they deserved a win in Brisbane, they were in control and winning at Melbourne City until Keanu Baccus got a red card.

Statistically the Wanderers are on the decline. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

They were well on top in December’s derby until Vedran Janjetovic’s brain freeze, and pinned back Melbourne Victory only to be hit with two sucker punches.

The question now is which line of evidence the club hierarchy starts to believe; the damning numbers, or the patches of promise.

“Markus Babbel, a world-renowned player and coach, shone out as the man to lead this club forward,” club chairman Paul Lederer said in an extraordinary letter to fans in early January.

The next few weeks will tell us whether Lederer still believes that assertion quite as strongly.

WANDERERS ON THE SLIDE

- Goals conceded: 40 in 17 games (equal worst) at 2.35 per game.

- Three or more goals conceded in more than one-third of games this season.

- Three or more goals conceded in four of the past six games

- In first 11 games, WSW conceded in last 15 minutes four times. In next six games, have conceded in last 15 minutes nine times.

- Only two clean sheets all season

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Originally published as Sprays of Wanderers coach Markus Babbel seem to be falling on deaf ears