Speed, Strategy, Success: How Mile Sterjovski has redefined Macarthur’s A-League journey from 2022/23 to 2023/24 – tactical analysis

Macarthur FC endured a curious 2022/23 season. Premier League legend Dwight Yorke was their manager to begin the campaign after guiding them to the Australia Cup in 2022  their first major trophy ever  but struggled to get a tune out of the team as they won just five games and lost eight of their first 13 A-League games, leading to the club parting ways with him.

Mile Sterjovski, who acted as assistant manager to both Yorke and his predecessor Ante Milicic, took over in January 2023, but the Bulls form only took a nosedive as they won just two of their 13 remaining league games, shipping 30 goals and scoring just 15 in the process. They also crashed out of the Australia Cup in the first round, raising further questions about whether his time at the club might already be over.

However, Macarthur, who are the youngest team in the A-League at the moment (founded in 2018), chose to be patient and kept Sterjovski in charge. A flurry of summer activity followed as 12 players joined while nine departed. A few of these arrivals have made an instant impact as the club currently sit third in the 2023/24 league table with 28 points from 17 matches  two more than what they achieved in 26 games last term, just five points behind leaders Wellington Phoenix, who they host this weekend at the Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

Sterjovski has gotten the Bulls into the title race for the first time in their brief history by getting the most out of his attacking players and an excellent integration of new signings. This tactical analysis report will delve into how hes done so by examining his tactics and performing some analysis on his style of play and key players so far.

Background

At 44, Sterjovski is just at the start of his managerial career. He has had two stints as assistant manager at Macarthur, while his only prior managerial gig was with semi-professional Northbridge FC, which lasted two years between 2021 and 2023.

However, prior to his current career, the Aussie enjoyed a near two-decade-long professional football career as a winger and midfielder. Sterjovskis journey began at Wolves FC and took him all over the world, including multiple European clubs such as LOSC Lille, Basel and Derby County. He made appearances in the Premier League, Ligue 1, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League (then UEFA Cup).

In fact, a large portion of his career was split across Basel and Lille, for whom he made a combined 248 appearances, recording 40 goals and 15 assists while playing with the likes of Eric Abidal and Ivan Rakitic. He won the Swiss League and Swiss Cup titles during his time with Basel as well. Sterjovski also made 42 appearances for Australia between November 2000 and March 2010, including three at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and scored seven times.

He returned to Australia towards the end of his career, featuring for Perth Glory and the Central Coast Mariners between 2009 and 2014, with a brief spell in Turkey in between. Sterjovski won the 2012/13 A-League title with the Mariners before retiring at the end of the following season after a decorated career that saw him make 431 club appearances and record over a 100 G+A.

Now, hes trying to bring that experience and title-winning mentality to Macarthur at a managerial level.

Macarthur: whats changed from 2022/23 to now?

Formations and Personnel

A common trend across both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons has been Macarthurs tactical flexibility. Both Dwight Yorke and Mile Sterjovski seemingly preferred a 4-2-3-1 last season but were willing to change it up when required, using a 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1, 4-1-4-1 or even three-at-the-back system in different fixtures. This also indicated that the latter was still trying to figure out the formation best suited for his side.

This season, Sterjovski has been a little less flexible with his set-ups than last season, having received an entire pre-season with the squad. He has used a 4-4-2 in 34% of Macarthurs A-League matches, 4-4-1-1 in 27% and a 4-2-3-1 in 23%. The former footballer is yet to use a single three-at-the-back formation, while the aforementioned set-ups have all largely utilised the same personnel.

Goalkeeper Filip Kurto has kept his spot from last season, starting all 17 of the Bulls league games this term. Tomislav Uskok has been a consistent feature at centre-back, with Matthew Jurman, Jonathan Aspropotamitis, and Oliver Jones all playing alongside him at different points this season. Ivan Vujica has made the left-back spot his own. At the same time, Yianni Nicolau has been the preferred right-back option, with Matthew Millar, originally a right-back, being deployed on the wing since excelling there in the final four games last season.

Kearyn Baccus and Clayton Lewis have started the most games in central midfield, with Jake Hollman also receiving minutes, while Ulises Dávila has operated as the 10. Raphael Borges Rodrigues has been the preferred option in left midfield or the left wing, with Jed Drew on the opposing flank. Upfront, the goalscoring burden has been placed on summer arrival Valère Germain, who has been up to the task so far, as we will see later on.

Sterjovski had many of the same options last season, with Kurto, Uskok, Vujica, Millar, Baccus, Hollman, Aspropotamitis and Drew all featuring in 10 or more of his 13 A-League matches in charge. Dávila played only four times but has become a prominent feature this time around.

In essence, Sterjovski has not improved this teams fortunes through signings alone. Rather, a full pre-season with the team has seemingly got many of the players from last season playing in line with his vision and demands, while the summer arrivals have plugged the gaps the team had in his initial games in charge.

Positioning and statistical improvements

One of the critical changes Sterjovski has made this season is with respect to his teams positioning, as indicated by the comparative heatmaps below. Macarthur now sits much deeper, as indicated by their increased passes per defensive action (17.41 in 2023/24 from 12.73 in 2022/23) — indicating a less intense pressing style — but they have emphasised quick build-up and hitting their opponents on the counter. This means they are more focused on impactful forward passes and taking risks in the final third rather than patiently waiting for an opening.

Their possession stats havent changed too much from last season (46.85% in 2023/24 vs. 46.15% in 2022/23). However, they are now constantly looking to pour men forward and move the ball quickly, resulting in improvements across various creativity and attacking metrics. As seen in the table below, Macarthurs stats in numerous metrics, including shots, expected goals (xG), penalty area entries and multiple others, have improved from last season to now.

Interestingly, their average shot distance and long-distance efforts per game have both fallen, leading to more shots on target and, in turn, a greater xG. They are also making better use of different forms of attack, particularly counterattacks and corners, which we will touch upon later.