@ShababHossain13

Last Tuesday, Indonesian champions Persija Jakarta took down Singapore based Home United in the first preliminary round of the Asian Champions League in a scrappy 3-1 victory.

Persija’s win set up a trip to Newcastle, where they’ll take on the Jets on Tuesday, the 12th of February, for the second round of qualifications in Asia’s most prestigious club tournament.

What’s there to know about the Jets’ next opponents? Here’s a look at their past season as well as a tactical breakdown based on their win against Home United.

Persija Jakarta’s 2018 Season

Persija Jakarta were crowned the Liga 1 champions for the first time in their history, taking 62 points from 34 matches. The league’s MVP, Nepalese, Rohit Chand, was touted as a possible move to Melbourne City in the past transfer window, but regardless has left Jakarta to seek pastures new.

This leaves a lot of the attacking burden with Croatian striker Marko Šimić, who scored 18 goals in the season, leading the scoring for Persija, as well as the third in their victory last Tuesday.

Managed by Ivan Kolev, a Bulgarian coach who took charge of the Indonesian national side for the 2007 Asian Cup, he is well-versed in the country’s football having coached two other Indonesian sides. However, with only 18 wins from 34 matches in the league, which ended in December, Persija seem to be a vulnerable squad that the Jets can exploit.

Tactical Breakdown – What are Persija like in attack?

Persija play direct football

With a big and tall striker like Šimić up front, it only makes sense that Persija play to his strengths. Persija like to put long balls from defence for Šimić to win and then play for the second ball.

After picking up the second ball, Riko Simanjuntak and Brazilian born Beto, the two wingers who played last Tuesday, look to drive at the defence with their pace and trickery, doing their best to create spaces for teammates to move into.

Persija don’t wait around once they gain possession — they almost immediately lump the ball up front for a hopeful ball behind the defence or to Šimić. Since it is likely that the Jets will be the team with more possession, they’ll need to be prepared for the quick transitions from attack to defence when the Indonesian champions counter.

It might also be useful for the Jets attackers such Dimitri Petratos and Roy O’Donovan to press the defenders so they don’t have time for accurate balls and maybe forcing any mistakes from the centre-backs, Maman Abdurrahman and Ryuji Prabowo.

Šimić as a target man

When Persija aren’t playing the ball through the air, they still rely on Šimić’s strength to hold the ball up. Once he has possession, he’s usually able to out-muscle his marker and wait for a teammate to run into the gap he’s created with his great hold up play.

Once again the wingers play an important part in this, but also the central midfielders Ridwan and Lestaluhu that offer support to Šimić if he needs to pass the ball back towards the middle of the park.

Šimić up front though, will be very difficult for the Newcastle manager Ernie Merrick to neutralise, as he likes to use his strength and aerial ability to make advantages. Jets defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley will likely be tasked to mark Šimić and he will have to make sure that he’s up for any battle of strength that the Croat might look for.

Focus down the right

Against Home United, Persija looked constantly to their right winger, Simanjuntak to take on the opposing left back and look to put in a cross. Although he is only 1.58m, his pace constantly left the Singaporeans in his dust and Merrick will want to ensure the same doesn’t happen next Tuesday.

Simanjuntak stays near the touchline and collects the ball wide, while on the left side Beto comes inside and tries to finish off any crosses along with Šimić.

In their last match, two goals came from the right flank in that exact fashion, with Beto and Šimić both collecting one to their name. You can see the two goals here, with Persija Jakarta the team in yellow and their opponents Home United in red.

What do Persija do without the ball?

Press high up the pitch

Persija don’t offer the defence time to build out from the back, with the front three pressing as soon as the opposition gets the ball. With such little time on the ball, Home United resorted to a lot of long ball football, and if Persija employ similar tactics, Jets might have to do the same.

However, this is a tiring strategy that might mean they tire out as the game grows nearer. Creative players for the Jets like Petratos and Vargas, who scored a phenomenal goal against Wellington Phoenix on Thursday night, might enjoy a bit more space to make things happen.

However, the Jets defence will have to be wary of this and be careful on the ball to make sure their passes are accurate and don’t accidentally fall into someone like Šimić who will almost certainly punish them.

It is entirely possible though, that since the Jets are more impressive and a bit more of an attacking threat than Home United, no disrespect intended, that Persija play with a more conservative approach.

High line of defence

Persija played with a very high line of defence against Home United, and this was something that created several chances for the Singaporeans. The defence was not organised enough to deal with balls at the back and on another day it could’ve been very possible that the Jets played against Home United instead.

Merrick should definitely look to exploit this high line if that’s how Persija play again, as there is a huge opportunity to get behind the defence and get one-on-one against goalkeeper Andritany Ardhiyasa.

Once again though, if Persija play with a defensive mentality, they will likely play deep with two structured lines of defence, much like the Socceroos faced in their Asian Cup campaign.

Hopefully for Newcastle Jets fans, Merrick has studied the failures of the national team to ensure that they progress to the next round, which would arrange a play-off with Japan’s Kashima Antlers.

Follow me on Twitter @ShababHossain13