New coach, old game plan in Matildas win

With new coach Ante Milicic in place for less than a week, there was an air of uncertainty and trepidation about the Matildas.

Hayley Raso is congratulated by teammates after scoring against New Zealand. Picture: Getty Images.

As results go, Australia’s 2-0 win over New Zealand in their opening Cup of Nations game on Thursday night was seemingly enough to satisfy the Matildas faithful who turned up in decent numbers to see how they would react after a tough and bruising six weeks for the sport.

With new coach Ante Milicic in place for less than a week, it was understandable there was an air of uncertainty and trepidation as the players set about adjusting to life without Alen Stajcic, a man with whom most of them had experienced a wonderful four-year journey until he was unexpectedly and unceremoniously dumped by Football Federation Australia.

So what did we make of the 90 minutes against the Kiwis, who were a tough opponent, albeit one that was on the back foot having had little to no preparation going into the game, given a number of their European-based players had only arrived on Monday night while some hadn’t played since the end of October.

Understandably, given the lack of time — he only had a handful of days to work with the squad — Milicic didn’t make too many discernible changes. Starting with the line-up, it was pretty much the Matildas’, and Stajcic’s, strongest XI, minus the injured Chloe Logarzo.

All these players have been together for some time so it was a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Formation-wise, the Matildas game was built around retaining possession with the back four, led superbly by Clare Polkinghorne, intent on playing out from the back as much as possible, a solid midfield with Elise Kellond-Knight doing the organising and a powerful, interchangeable forward line where Sam Kerr, the impressive Emily Gielnik and Caitlin Foord presented a dangerous trio.

Interestingly, though, the two fullbacks did not really get forward as much as usual.

As expected, the Australians dominated possession while the Kiwis sat back looking to exploit the home side in transition whenever they turned over the ball.

It was clear, though, that Milicic wasn’t happy and he was off his seat a number of times trying to get some early messages across to the players.

His hand movements made it obvious what he wanted — quicker ball and player movement, particularly when the Kiwis dropped back deep in defence and had as many as five players in the backline.

The players did their best to respond but their eagerness to please led to some sloppiness, with some guilty of giving away possession far too cheaply when not under pressure and taking some wrong options.

“We worked a lot on us with the ball and particularly in the mid third and we had a clear way that we wanted to go about playing through them, so at times I felt we could have done it a bit quicker,” Milicic explained. “We also had to organise them in the transition phase because that is the only trouble New Zealand caused us in the first half.”

Part of that could be down to nerves as well. With a new coach looking on, that would have been in the back of the minds of the players, especially given there is not all that long to go before the squad for the World Cup in June is picked.

Of those who impressed, Gielnik was probably the pick while Ellie Carpenter and Steph Catley did well, though the latter’s crossing could have been a little more effective.

The good thing is that the Matildas have the depth, and the inclusion of Hayley Raso as a substitute midway through the second half provided a noticeable spark with her speed and enthusiasm, for which she was rewarded with a nicely taken goal.

With games against Argentina and South Korea to come it will be interesting to see how the squad develops and just how much more input Milicic can have in such a short space of time.