In previous weeks we’ve looked at the challenges Melbourne Victory’s 4-2-2-2 system faces in the battle for midfield superiority against teams playing a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. Against teams such as Sydney FC, Central Coast Mariners or even the Wellington Phoenix, opposing midfields have tried to focus attacking movements through an attacking playmaker – with Alessandro del Piero, Marcus Flores or Carlos Hernandez pulling the strings from a No10 position.

In the 1,000th game of the A-League we had a glimpse into why the Jets have grown in confidence since their relatively underwhelming opening performance against Sydney FC, and it has to do with a midfield restructuring.

With the off-season recruitment of Nathan Burns, Newcastle faced the challenge of accommodating three talented strikers – Burns, Adam Taggart and marquee Emile Heskey – in the one side. With Heskey injured, in Round 1 against Sydney FC, Gary van Egmond tried to play Burns as the No10 behind Taggart in a 4-2-3-1. Whilst Newcastle at times dominated midfield, Burns was largely ineffectual, and after a piece of individual brilliance from Del Piero turned the match, the Jets failed to really get going.

Since then the notorious tinkerman, Van Egmond, has switched to a 4-3-3, sacrificed the flying wingers Craig Goodwin and James Virgili and settled on the same midfield trio of Ruben Zadkovich, Josh Brillante and Ben Kantarovski in six of the last seven games. It’s no coincidence either that with this consistency has come four wins from five. Gone is a recognised ‘playmaker’ at No10; in instead are three essentially defensive midfielders, maintaining a high press and providing a better defensive screen for the back four.

Melbourne’s 4-2-2-2 faces pressure in midfield – of note this week are the attacking runs from deep, as opposed to from higher up the pitch

In Zadkovich, Brillante and Kantarovski you get three willing workers, tireless runners and excellent screeners. Whilst Kantarovski and Brillante are especially sound defensively their range of passing and movement is also impressive.

What you won’t get from this trio however are goals. Kantarovski has one in 77 games, Brillante none in 44, and Zadkovich (mindful of his earlier days in a more attacking role) still only has eight in 120 appearances. Whilst every other team in the league (with the exception of the Melbourne Heart) has had between 5-8 different goal scorers thus far, before kickoff against the Victory the Jets boasted just three; two of whom were defenders capitalising from set pieces.

The essence of the retweaked van Egmond strategy is to get key attacking players on the ball, in the right areas – the potentially lethal front three of Heskey, Taggart and Burns, that thus far, due to injuries has hardly featured together.

Worryingly, for Kevin Muscat and the Victory, neither of Burn’s two goals came from superior tactical play from the Jets, but rather two individual errors – a missed interception from Adrian Leijer, and a fluffed clearance from Pablo Contreras. Yes, Burns took the opportunities excellently, and good work had gone into the build-up to create potentially dangerous situations in the first place.

What was fascinating about the Jets though was their seemingly ‘10-less’ midfield, a point best illustrated by a passage of play from the 14th minute.

Late phase runs from deep by Newcastle’s No6

With a late run from deep Kantarovski creates an attacking opportunity after a fine passage of passing and movement from the Jets

With Newcastle in possession Kantarovski initiates a lovely passage of play with a raking first-time ball to Hoole. With Traore pressing, Hoole dribbles inside, before playing wide to Neville who joins the attack. With his path also blocked, Neville plays back to Brillante who has dropped to provide a passing option. Throughout this entire sequence both Zadkovich and Kantarovski has resisted the urge of bombing on and overcommitting – it is not until Brillante shifts position that Kantarovski begins his run.

With Milligan and Traore drawn to close down the initial movements by Hoole and Neville, this late phase run by Kantarovski is not tracked, and he easily bisects Melbourne’s two holding midfielders.

Ultimately, Kantarovski shoots and shoots wide. Nevertheless this passage illustrates a way in which Newcastle were able to create numerical superiority in a key attacking area, with a move initiated not from a No10, but from the usually defense-minded No6. Against Sydney FC in Round 8 (56 minutes) it was a similar passage of movement that ended with Kantarovski getting a dangerous cross in (harmlessly skied by Burns); likewise too in the 26’ minute against Brisbane Roar.

There are two key reasons this late/deep run by the No6 works. Firstly, coming from a seemingly ‘dead’ area of the pitch Kantarovski’s marker Nichols was slow to react when his run saw him become ‘active’ in the play. Secondly, by making the No6 the focal point of the attack, this movement relies on opposition No10s to track back defensively; given the defensive attributes of players such as Marcelo Carrusca, Carlos Hernandez and Alessandro Del Piero, it’s no surprise this becomes an effective tactic.

If Kantarovski goes, Zadkovich and/or Brillante will drop to cover. With the No6 pushing forward it effectively transitions a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1, but overloads opponent markers who are used to picking up Zadkovich or Brillante as the nominal No8 and No10.

Against the Victory, Newcastle retained just a shade under 50% possession up until they took the lead (whereupon they reverted to a slightly more defensive setup). Given the high-energy press of Newcastle’s midfield trio it was no coincidence that Mahazi had his least effective game in a Victory shift and was withdraw early in the second half.

With the return to full-fitness of Emile Heskey, it will be interesting to see if Van Egmond will prefer Andrew Hoole to Brillante (as he did in the loss against Sydney), or persist with his impressive midfield trio and push Taggart wide to play off the big Englishman. It’s a happy headache to have – but perhaps Jets fans will prefer the recent consistency that’s seen their unfancied young side begin to mix it with the league’s best.