After his side finished off their National Youth League campaign on a high, Melbourne Heart youth coach Joe Palatsides was pleased with how the team performed, while many players also impressed him over the course of the season.
Heart recovered from a tough first half of the season to finish fifth, winning their last four games and scoring 24 goals in the process.
The turnaround delighted Palatsides, especially with the style his team showed in those last few matches.
“It was an interesting season,” Palatsides said.
“We always believed we had a good bunch of players and it was a funny type of a season, it was very topsy-turvy.
“We had a very difficult program early on with seven away games in the first eight and that made it difficult for us, there was a lot of travel involved and I think some of the players just weren’t used to it.
“We hit a bit of a bad patch in between but we’ve really come home strong and the players have probably played the football we’ve expected them to and we were waiting for them to play and it all came together at the end.
“I think scoring 24 goals in the last four [games] is a testament to the way the players applied themselves and also to the attacking brand of football that we played and just the all round talent at the end of the day so it was very, very pleasing at the end of the year to see the boys performing in this manner.”
Such was the cohesion among the team that Palatsides couldn’t pick one standout, but did he name a host of players who did impress him through the year, each showing glimpses of their true ability.
“I don’t think there was any one player [that stood out],” he said.
“We always emphasise that we’re a team and in a team there’s always some individual brilliance, and it came from different players throughout the year whether it was Marcus Schroen, Paulo Retre or Alex Dao, Luke O’Dea, Ersin Kaya, I could go one by one through the whole team and they’ve been excellent all year.
“You wouldn’t want to single out anyone but I think it was more so that at the end of the year we really gelled as a team, defensively and the way we went forward, and we knew what we wanted to get out of each attacking play and each defensive play so that was a pleasing thing as a coach to see them make the game plan work.”
Palatsides was also impressed with how much his players developed as footballers, which was proven by some of them making the step up to first team football.
“I think that a lot of players have improved throughout this year and there’s probably a few unlucky players who didn’t get a look into the senior team because the senior team had a fairly big squad this year,” he said.
“But when you see that Luke O’Dea is back in the senior team training, Ross Archibald made his debut last [Saturday] night, Paulo Retre played games this year, Marcus Schroen and Alex Dao are training regularly with the senior team, it’s good to see that we’ve got that flow from the youth team to the senior team and we’re hoping it continues in the same manner.”
He even believes that there are some players who have been overlooked, but is ultimately happy about the fact the club can continue to produce players capable of stepping up to A-League level.
“I think there’s no doubt [a few more can step up],” he said.
“And again there’s a couple of players who have missed out, like Ersin Kaya’s had a very good year and he wasn’t involved this year, even though he made his debut for the senior team last year.
“There are a few ’94-95s that will be with us next year and I think that’s going to be another exciting time and a new year to see how these young players progress.
“Hopefully we’ll continue the trend and hopefully these boys this year will play some role with the senior team towards the end of the year.
“I think it’s been an exciting two years that I’ve been involved with that we’ve been able to promote that many young kids through to the senior team.”
One of the turning points of the senior team’s season was the re-appointment of John van ‘t Schip following the departure of John Aloisi.
The change seemed to have a positive change on the youth team as well, and Palatsides revealed that a slight tweak to the system was all the side needed to revive their flailing campaign.
“I think there have been subtle changes,” he said.
“John Aloisi had his style of play and he was unlucky at the start of the year, we all know that and John van ’t Schip’s come in with his experience and he’s been able to make subtle changes.
“Those subtle changes have brought a lot of good and there has been a transformation in the team and the confidence is back.
“They’re both good coaches in different ways and John van ’t Schip at the moment is showing us what a good coach he really is.”