PSM Makassar: The Present and The Future
Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, PSM always win. — Gary Lineker
The quote is fake though — no shit, Sherlock; Lineker referred to the Germans, in which at that era the England national team can never beat them. However, that fact can be put to use to PSM Makassar’s successes during this season. After finishing 13th during the previous season, the Juku Eja managed to put on outstanding performances week in and week out, sitting comfortably on top of the Liga 1 table.
While the final 3 matches awaits, PSM are 15 points ahead of Persija — although Macan Kemayoran has 4 matches left. As they took a contrasting way of play compared to their opponents, Juku Eja’s sudden transformation into championship contenders is worthy to be analyzed. Also, I took one step further to address PSM’s potential problems on the next season.
Before starting, let me introduce this graph as a quick way to identify Bernardo’s approach in PSM. As shown below, Bernardo gave their players more freedom to initiate things on the pitch, but the Portuguese manager tried to devise solutions on several aspects.
Bernardo played with a 5–3–2 formation through out the season. To understand more about his reasoning, we need to see more on some of his players:
- Wiljan Pluim is a pure chance creator; his ability to pick the right pass is second to none, and although lacking pace, the Dutch player is able to compensate it with strength. Ramadhan Sananta is the up-and-coming striker with predator instincts. His scoring instinct (ability to identify space and ball-striking) is the best among local attackers, and is combined with willingness to drop/drift wide to facillitate attacks. Everton pretty much have the same off-ball tendency like Sananta, but is more inclined to penetrate with his dribble and create attacks.
- Kenzo Nambu almost always did the right decision, able to attack spaces, penetrate, and have scoring instinct (11 goals from midfield). Akbar Tanjung did the dirty work; his positional awareness and individual defending are top notch, plus he is good on circulations. Muhammad Arfan is PSM’s most intense presser, a powerful runner, and can keep up his energy throughout the match (4th most minutes in the team).
- Yuran Fernandes is a rare type of player: able to combine brains (reading attacks, awareness of open space) and brawns (smooth jockey, incredible jumping). Agung Mannan has fast anticipation, can close space proactively.
- Yakob Sayuri is one of the most all-round wing-backs in Indonesia. His twin brother, Yance Sayuri, is a very fast player with good timing of his run — seeing cues (diverted opponent’s attention, teammate passing hint) then act according to it. Rizky Eka is very good on 1v1s, able to take advantage of opponents’ momentum (shifting too much on one area), and then blasting off them with speed. Dzaky Asraf is a very Arif Aiman-ish wing-back (check him out at JDT): excels on first touch, dribbling, and short connections.
Then, we can identify the strengths and weaknesses of these players:
(Strengths)
- Game-changing centre back (Yuran) and reliable partners (combination between aggressiveness and good positional sense)
- A very intense midfield that can close and attack spaces well
- Versatile set of wing-backs that will give flexibility against any opponents
- A primary creator (Pluim) can carry the whole squad’s attacking with his ball control and distribution
- Attackers that can support progression well (wide and centrally, and has aggressiveness to bustle through defenders)
(Weaknesses)
- Aside from Pluim, there are no midfielders that can create chances proactively like the Dutch player, barring only Kenzo — not even his primary role.
- Squad depth may be a problem, more specifically on gap in abilities rather than shortage of players.
- A 4-man defensive line may be unlikely because of the attacking nature of their wingbacks, and having only one elite centre back on their arsenal.
Considering all of this aspects, it is logical for Bernardo to choose a 5–3–2 formation:
- Industrious midfielders is able to protect the attackers upfront during defending
- Defenders that can cover the midfield and wing when needed
- One main creator that can release the ball to anywhere; food for the hungry wingbacks *yum!*
- Attackers that can support the attack out wide or centrally, giving more passing options to the player in ball — if the wingbacks are still in behind, a 5–3–2 may struggle to get the ball upfront except when using second balls
Let’s talk about efficiency monsters; PSM has one of the most shots while having the fewest possession rate in the league. If seen closely, PSM has been one of the Liga 1 outliers, sitting on the top-right side of the graph.
This becomes more impressing since PSM’s xG skyrockets (means that their shots are mostly good and not speculative) from last season. They also out-xGed their opponents in almost all of the matched. How can they produce high quality shots with very vew passes?
A simple answer: punishing defences with fast counter attacks with one main creator, and a bit of pattern here and there. But the reality is somewhat more complex and nuanced than that. Let’s see on PSM’s several attacking mechanism.
One-versus-one situations using wingbacks are one of PSM’s most common attacking scheme — you can say that this is one of Bernardo’s main attacking principle. With various type of wingbacks in arsenal, PSM is able to offer multiple solutions from out wide.
Usually, the major trigger of this run is when Pluim have the ball. When the Dutchman had the ball, the wing-back will run in behind so that he can receive his pass with strong momentum — we can also see players immediately attack the space in front of the Dutch player. One of the best example of this is Yakob’s goal against Persis.
Hence, the wingbacks has been very productive during this season. According to Transfermarkt, they have been involved in 23 goals (10 goals and 13 assists); roughly 40 percent of PSM’s total goals. That’s what you get with a lot of talents out wide.
A puzzling thing about PSM is that although they utilizes the wingbacks to an extent, they rarely crosses the ball. They’re the third worst on attempted crosses, with mediocre results. There is something else, then, that makes their attacks very dangerous.
Rather than spamming crosses out wide, PSM excels more on attacking open spaces left by opponents during their attacking phase. Bernardo already devised patterns so that Juku Eja players can find key attackers in-behind the defensive line.
On this example, PSM intends to exploit a disorganized Persija defense after regaining the ball. The player in the middle area managed to pull a Persija player out, opening up space out wide. The striker then drops to receive the ball, eliminating two Persija midfielders in the process and directly facing Macan Kemayoran’s last defensive line.
The players, while initially being wired to attack spaces, is able to make it even lethal with their dynamism. Take a look on Yance regaining the ball and continuing on running, increasing PSM’s momentum. The result is Juku Eja able to attack with 3 players, ending with a cutback to Pluim:
Occupying space faster than the opponents leads to defences scrambling to cover the space between the ball and the goal, and exploiting scrambled defence that’s focused on a single area — while producing space on the opposite area — leads to high-quality shots. Hence, the impressive few pass/high shot ratio by PSM *chef’s kiss.*
While run-and-gun offence has been PSM’s most effective approach, there are some other attacking examples, one of which is Pluim receiving the ball out wide. There are mainly two intentions of this attacking approach: (1) using Pluim’s distribution to trigger passing patterns, and (2) release players that can attack spaces.
Pluim is also offering himself ball-near to act as a temporary midfielder. With his passing versatility, the Dutch player can pick the best option with ease. The best example is seen on Sananta’s goal against Persib, where Pluim is able to pick a pinpoint pass to Yakob— also notice how PSM players can fill the space when he drops, creating a 5v5 situation against Maung Bandung’s backline.
The Dutch player’s presence attracted his former teammate, Klok, and Irianto needs to cover the space in behind the №10 player. Yakob has space to exploit, and Pluim does That Pluim Thang once more.
On the other side, PSM’s most visible weaknesses during attacking is their lack of secondary creators. When faced against organized defences, and Pluim is forced to drop and connect with the defenders, they have to rely on second-ball situations, where a player (in this example the WB, Yakob) is compensating for the space left by the Dutch player.
Although the approach may seem to be last resort, PSM has often utilizes second-balls to regain the ball effectively in the final third. Here, Juku Eja tried the approach two times against Bhayangkara.
All in all, Bernardo’s ability to integrate his solutions with the players’ strength has catapulted Juku Eja’s attack into the best in the league. While this approach may not be sustainable in the future (reasons will be provided on the last part), it has proven to be very effective throughout this season.
While most championship contenders plays proactive and tried to win the ball high up the pitch, PSM tried the 2020/21 Atletico and Union Berlin way, playing in a 5 — 3 — 2 low-block with energetic midfielders and aggressive defenders. As told before, PSM has the fewest possession out of any Liga 1 teams, and, not surprisingly, they had the ball fewer in total against all Liga 1 opponents.
While playing in low blocks will lead into easier defending — since they spent more time denying spaces reactively, Juku Eja’s organization is something worth to emulate. They’re very good on shutting out the ball-near area while also considering additional threats on the freer area. Another thing to be noticed is on how they’ve managed to mark options on the ball-far area.
This approach has proven to be successful for PSM, however, the defensive block are sometimes vulnerable to quick combinations and teams that positioned the players very close to each other (minimum width, such as Persis and Persita). Persis is able to bypass PSM’s defence by creating diamonds out wide…
while Persita bypass Juku Eja’s defense by creating narrow passing networks, allowing short combinations.
While mostly defending in a low-block, PSM’s high block and midblock includes a trap by overwhelming the opponent’s defensive midfielder. The trap is intended for the opponents not to exploit the central area. During the Persita game, Juku Eja tried to overwhelm their DM by pressing him, and them leading him to the wide area. There, three Persita players will be faced by PSM’s aggressive pressing.
Large spaces on the wing are 5–3–2’s main weaknesses (since the 3–2 structure is very narrow), and opponents tried to exploit this by manipulating the press to further open up space in the wing. Two of many teams that did this approach is Persik and Persikabo. Here, we can see their similar tactics on accessing the wide area.
PSM has devised a counter to this scheme, mostly by putting pressure on the weakside. The presence of aggressive wingbacks and centre-backs has made this strategy successful, as they are able to close out the large space effectively. On this instance, Bhayangkara is able to switch and progress the ball upfront, however, PSM read the passing direction and manage to make them play the ball in non-threatening areas.
Also, like every good 5–3–2 defending, PSM is able to compensate lack of number in midfield by utilizing CB pressers. This is proven to be a useful counter during this situation, where the opponent can exploit the space in-behind the midfielder.
Another way for a team to bypass PSM’s midfield pressing is to attract their wing-back and ball-near CM positioning very wide and deep. Persija, with a wide diamond — and ST’s pinning of PSM’s ball-near CB, is able to open up space for Riko (the inside 10). This scheme leads into Yusuf’s goal.
We’ve seen another example of this when Persib forms a wide triangle, with the WB (Rezaldi) positioned very wide, the CM (Klok) positioned very deep, and the CB push forward; this inadvertently atracts the ball-near CM and WB’s press, opening up space to the front. Then, with the ball-near CB being attracted to Klok, it open up room for Ezra to run in behind.
During transitions, one of PSM’s most defining features are their recoveries. They are able to get back into their defensive shape immediately and be compact to close the central area. Also by putting pressure to the ball-near player (like this example against Bhayangkara), the player is forced to face the packed Juku Eja players.
PSM’s plan to simultaneously defend transition during attacking is also evident. With a team heavily relying on a single creator (Pluim), the other players need to fill the space left by him so that they can’t be exploited on counters. Here, we can see a bit of the mechanism against Persib:
Moving on, to individual performances, Yuran has been one of Juku Eja’s sining stars. While singling out Yuran is doing injustice for other solid performer (such as Mannan and Erwin), his exceptional physique and intelligence on reading attacking schemes contributes to PSM’s colossal defence this season.
Yuran is able to defend large spaces and then immediately jumps to the player entering his zone. This allows him to contribute on denying wide attacks; with his ability to jump and close spaces, the risk of this strategy (leaving gaps in the defensive line to be exposed) will be reduced.
On this successful example, Yuran is able to separate himself from the defensive line to engage a running-in-behind Ezra, which results in regaining the ball.
In a less successful example, we can see Yuran jumping out to close the space in front of Ricky, which partly made the Persib midfielder lose the ball. The unlucky bounce is regained by Ciro, who is able to shoot through the defensive gap.
Combination of all these things — alongside other factors — allows PSM to have the best defence in the league. They concede the least shot and third least of conceding opponent’s shot among Liga 1 teams….
and this has made the job easier for Reza; although the Pareparese goalkeeper’s performance has been average. While being good on positioning (often jumps in time, stay on his toes to switch position immediately), his lack of jumping power made him struggle on diving saves and claiming crosses.
We can see Reza’s lack of authority (little jumping power and small stature) during this Bhayangkara goal. He is unable to compete against Anderson Salles’ jumping and conceded the goal — although PSM’s set-piece defence is also pretty bad.
Jumping limitations, therefore, hinders Reza to be an elite goalkeeper. While his save percentage is high, comparing to other Liga 1 goalkeepers, he is net negative on preventing goals (data might differ in the present moment).
Juku Eja has many tall players in their arsenal: most notably Yuran (1.98 m, tallest in the league), Pluim (1.96 m), and Everton (1.86 m). They has devised several corner schemes using this advantage.
The first principle is to put tall players in the 6-yard box. They will make flicks easier and obscure the GK’s point of view. With the near-post being heavily guarded, the players outside the 6-yard box will have an easier time to attack the space.
The second example is this corner scheme, in which the Makassar-based team utilizes Pluim and Everton to do a near post run, manipulating Persija’s man-marking system and freeing up the Cape Verdean player in the process.
Throw ins, on the other side, often involves overloads in the wide area — whether during attacking or defending. PSM often put on numbers on one side, like this one:
These overloads has several advantages: multiple players attract multiple opponents, opening up space on the opposite area (first image), close distance among players opens up area for passing connections (second image), minimizing risk of switches and denying space for the player-with-ball (third and fourth image).
Another set piece strategy is PSM using Yuran as an aerial target, even on the opposing penalty area. Yuran, then, can act in three ways, (1) as a decoy, (2) heading the ball to the goal, and (3) flicking the ball. An additional advantage is that opponents usually put two players to mark him, further pushing them back and minimizing transition risk.
PSM are very clutch. They tended to score on the latter stages of the game, specifically the last 30 minutes of the game. While the rule of thumb is that dominant teams masters all moments of the game, in a league where intensity often drops fast, PSM has a massive advantage.
Indeed, as told before, the Juku Eja conserves more energy as they often concede possession, preferring more to bite back during counters, where they can utilize this advantage to the maximum. Quick tempo will prevail over tired legs.
The supporters has also played their part; Bernardo has praised them for their support throughout the game, which brings more energy to the squad. This becomes more impressing, knowing the fact that most of them needed to travel over far distances, as the Gelora B.J. Habibie Stadium is located approximately 150 km away from Makassar.
The loyalty and passion of their supporters also partly made PSM the home kings; they scored a whopping 2.50 goals (first in Liga 1) per match at home, in stark contrast of only 1.13 goals (eighth in Liga 1) per match away from home.
PSM ensures continuity, as they play with consistent starting XIs. As seen in this graph by Raihan, Juku Eja has 15 players playing above 1000 minutes. As the adage says, never change a winning team.
Another positive sign is that PSM have a healthy mix between youth, prime, and experience. With the old players are slowly losing their abilities, the other players will grow if nothing hinders them.
A very interesting question to be explored is on how PSM will maintain their dominance after this season. This might be the potential problem facing PSM in the next season:
- Like every league champions before, teams will — sooner or later — find out their way of play. The effectiveness of this present approach will soon be reduced; teams may utilize wingers/CM to track the PSM’s wingback runs. Therefore, integrating the present approach with possession-based one— to retain the ball better — might be a good counter. Another creator to ease Pluim’s burden might also be a good choice — since Raehan is still not sharp enough.
- As every Liga 1 teams that is affected by the pandemic, PSM is still recovering from last season’s financial fiasco, therefore keeping the team being financially healthy is a must. This applies to the players, too, while Pluim can handle 2/3 season as a main creator — relating to Liga 1 standard of play, when PSM have to leave him out, his value will be decreased. Preparing a long-term plan based on selling Pluim and using the money to bolster weaknesses in the squad seems to be a reasonable choice.
- Kenzo’s contract will run out at the end of the season, leaving PSM with two options. Using the same approach, if PSM choose to extend, a 2/3 year contract seems to be a good deal so that Juku Eja can still enjoy his output while still can profit when selling him — assuming that his value will increase. If PSM choose not to extend, they will have two options: immediately replacing him with the same kind of player (short term), or with two/three worse players, but can cover the bench depth and/or have high potential (long term, likely to affect performance in short term). A controller and decent box-to-box midfielder (on the way to their prime, preferrably) will ensure sustainable growth for Juku Eja, since it fits more to the possession-based approach.
PSM may need to think about the long term repercussions of their present approach. Keeping the squad financially healthy, tactically flexible, while also getting results will be Juku Eja’s biggest concern for the next season. Outliers will cease to be one as time goes by.
