At the heart of every good Australian team has been defenders. Sainsbury is not the prototype of a Craig Moore/Kevin Muscat big bodied, aggressive centre half that leaves opponents wishing they got to play Austria instead of Australia. Currently plying his trade in the Dutch Eredivisdie, with mid table battlers FC Zwolle. His recent transfer from Central Coast Mariners was the result of some seriously good performances from the young defender leading the Mariners to their first A-League title. Following their many failures in finals matches, and the Grand Final itself on 3 occasions.
His style is one of skill and speed rather than simply knocking over the attacker and kicking the ball out. Which is why we need to see him play so badly. He can fill the complementary role in the centre back pairing so well. Australia has no shortage of low IQ brutes whose job is to enforce the defensive line and stay out of the way when the distribution of the ball is occurring. Ognenovski, Neill, Wilkinson, Franjic and co. have none of the class on the ball of Sainsbury, nor the speed to go with high quality European forwards. We are talking about the likes of Fabregas, Van Persie, Robben, Vidal, Diego Costa (possibly!!) and many more. If we couldn’t handle Olivier Giroud’s bumbling attempts when facing goal, then we need a change. Sainsbury is the man.
A goal on his Zwolle debut and a win (albeit at the cost of a 4 week patella injury) gave him his foot in the door to European football. The Dutch league is the perfect entry point for him in Europe with its focus on fast play, goalscoring and technical distribution. His competition
for a central defensive spot should go to Rhys Williams but I can see a case for almost any central defender lining up for Australia; so long as it’s with Sainsbury. Rarely seen yelling or directing on the field, this is definitely an area he could improve on. Maybe it belies his attitude of application to his task and playing his role; generally shutting down the fast moving no. 10s of the world looking to shoot in behind the hold-up man. His speed is critical in our back 4, with McKay and Wilkshire, the likely fullbacks, not exactly Usain Bolt types. His place at Zwolle is pretty well secured for the time being and a good showing at Brazil 2014 should increase his stocks even more, and lift his confidence to be the leader the Aussies need for years to come.
I’m not exactly going out on a limb here, but truly, Brett Holman is critical to Socceroos progress. Not only in the lead up and participation of Brazil 14’ but also in the future. Whilst he may be knocking on the door of 30, his willingness to be the guy who takes on the shot has made him irreplaceable in the starting XI for the boys in green and gold. His rise and rise through Dutch football saw him become one of the attacking focuses at AZ Alkmaar and in the 2008-2009 season, he was a member of their title winning side. Continued production under Dick Advocaat saw him move on to Aston Villa on a free transfer and under the borderline learning disabled tutelage of Paul Lambert, whose progressive deterioration of Aston Villa has been a marvel to watch. His club career faltered when at the end of last season he moved on to Al-Nasr to play beach volleyball, or whatever they do there. However his ability to be an attacking force in the Socceroos side is what makes him so important. Traditionally we play our football/soccer in the air with big targets like Viduka, Kennedy and Tim Cahill expected to knock in headers and/or hold the ball up. Holman and the younger likes of Tom Rogic, Ryan Williams and Chris Herd make our team a little easier on the eye and give us a chance to lose some games 10-1 or 30-2 this world cup, and build a different, more fluid model for the Socceroos going forward.
However the issues that confront are that Socceroos hierarchy are idiots, and Holman hasn’t been setting the world on fire in Saudi Arabia or Morocco or Libya or wherever he is playing. Surely big Angelo can see his way past this to realise the difference that these type of players and particularly Holman (with 2 WC goals to his name already) are critical for this campaign and shaping the way that we play to have more success, competition and eventually opportunities for young Aussie players in the big European leagues in the future.
Trent Sainsbury
Brett Holman
Boys to Watch