Mark Bosnich Runs the Rule over Manchester City's Struggles, Ange Postecoglou, and More

Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bosnich argues with Trevor Morley of West Ham United (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Allsport)

As a goalkeeper, you’re constantly defined by make-or-break decisions. Whether to stay in goal or come off your line, whether to punch a shot away or try to collect it into your hands, whether to play out from the back or boot it up the pitch. However, one of Mark Bosnich’s most important conundrums came AFTER hanging up his boots.

Bosnich spent the first decade of his post-playing career as a pundit covering both European soccer and A-League, traversing to television studios and commentating on matches. However, in 2021, Bosnich decided to take a step back from domestic football and only focus on covering European football. It meant less time traveling and watching games, and more time doing other stuff that he loves – like taking care of his kids and working out at ​​Kostya Tszyu's Boxing Academy in Rockdale. Whilst his wife Sara has headed back into the workforce, Bosnich has had to pick up the slack and take care of his 7-year-old son and his 13-year-old daughter.

“I've taken over the household duties,” says Bosnich in an exclusive RG interview. “I take them to school every morning and make sure that they're fed at night time, and I take my little boy to football training and to matches four times a week. I try my best, but it’s not been easy with Sara working 5-6 days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, you get a new understanding and appreciation for what moms all around the world do for their children.”

Whilst fatherhood is taking up more and more of his time, that hasn’t stopped Mark from watching a handful of matches each week and preparing for his work with Australian channel Stan Sport, where he covers UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League games. At 52, Bosnich is respected as one of the most knowledgeable pundits from Down Under, boasting acute tactical insight and in-depth analysis. RG spoke to Bosnich about a variety of pertinent topics in football, including:

RG: Have Aston Villa taken a step back this season?

MB: “The exponential growth we've seen since Unai Emery’s arrival has been extraordinary, but there was always going to be a dip. I always thought that when they got into the Champions League, they would find it very difficult. I actually think the Aston Villa squad is very good, but they’re yet another team that’s going through a sticky patch and struggling to balance the Champions League and the league, alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City. Last season, they could afford to play one team in the league and one completely different team in the Conference League, similar to what we’re seeing with Chelsea.

Now, players are having to play three times a week, and that’s taken its toll in terms of injuries, loss of form, and players not being 100% fresh.”

RG: Are footballers playing too much football?

MB: “Something has to give, there's no doubt about that. Rodri played 60+ matches last season, he comes back against Arsenal and gets an ACL injury in his first match of 2024/25 and is now out for the rest of the season. When you have the best players out, the product invariably suffers, and there will come a point where the TV executives will say ‘Rodri is worth this much money, Dani Carvajal is worth this much, Thibaut Courtois is worth this much…we’re not sure your product is what it was worth what it was last time. Maybe that’s what it’s going to take for people on the other side of the fence to take notice. Football is life, but your health is your wealth.

You’ve also got to look at it from the perspective of the owners. I remember the former Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis coming in and saying to us, ‘If you want fewer games, that’s fine, but you’re going to have to take a wage cut.’ As soon as we heard that, we shut up. There has got to be a middle ground – players need to deliver their best performances, and they can’t do that if they’re playing nonstop without any rest.”

RG: Is Emiliano Martínez the best goalkeeper in the world?

MB:  “I’m biased, but I do believe he’s the best goalkeeper in the world right now and has been for the last couple of seasons, although Courtois could lay claim to that as well. He was one of the biggest reasons why Argentina won the World Cup and two Copa America titles and one of the reasons why Aston Villa have come to prominence lately. He’s got that ability to make game-changing saves, and he has the trophies to back it up. I had the chance to interview him three years ago in Perth and told him, ‘I will hold my hands up and say that you are a better goalkeeper than me, but you’ve got to win a trophy with Villa first – that’s the only thing left for him.”

RG: Why is Australia struggling to export players to Europe?

MB: “I don't think we've quite hit the sweet spot in terms of the production of players. When the A-League was introduced in 2005, it was originally put in the summer, which I disagree with profusely, because people wanted it to have its own space in the calendar. You play from September to May and start producing a different type of players who are more suited to playing in the heat. Although the contrasts are slight, it's still a different type of player than someone who can go at full intensity in the cooler months, and I think that's had more of an effect than people than people realize. I think the most important thing for Australia is to continue to produce great male and female footballers.”

RG: What’s going wrong with Manchester City right now?

MB: “City have done something that’s never been done before in England by winning four straight league titles, they won the treble last year, but it was inevitable that they’d have a period where they weren’t so good due to the high standards they’ve set, especially when you look at the injuries they’ve suffered. But the major thing that has to change is you can't replace Rodri with one player, you need to go a bit more defensive and go with two holding midfielders in the pivot.

If you start putting in accurate crosses, teams will start going towards you and try to close down the space, which then opens up the defense and allows you to play into pockets. Teams have worked them out – it’s very difficult because a lot of those players and certainly not Pep will have been through a period like this before.”

RG: Is André Onana the right goalkeeper for Manchester United?

MB:  “He’s been very good, bordering on excellent, all season. He’s had a tough time lately, but it’s tough when you’re a goalkeeper who’s playing for an unsettled team who’ve had their worst-ever start to a Premier League season, and his shot-stopping percentage has been up there with the best. Sometimes, he gives people kittens with the way he plays out the back, but overall, he's held himself in good stead in terms of what he's achieved.

RG: What have you made of Ange Postecogou’s time in charge of Tottenham Hotspur?

MB: “Everyone in Australia wanted him to succeed because of the type of football he plays; he brought a real fresh outlook to Tottenham. I think sometimes Ange can bring a lot of things upon himself in terms of his demeanor in press conferences…he can be a bit prickly when things aren’t going too well. They’re an entertaining side to watch – he’s just got to find the balance between entertaining and self-destructing, and so do his players. No one’s asking him to change his philosophy, but to tweak certain things. You might be sitting a little deeper in certain games, you might have a lightning-quick striker, you might go a little more direct. He needs to be able to tweak things and ensure that he’s asking his players to do things that they are comfortable with.

All throughout his career, his teams have not only been attractive to watch but successful.

He’s got a point to prove, he wants people to say ‘Wow, look at that team and how they play football, who’s their manager?’ At the start, there was a need for Spurs to make sure that the excitement level went up tenfold, which it did, but he doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel now. He needs to be practical in certain situations, and I think he’s beginning to learn that. The trait that’s made him go so far – his stubbornness – can also be a weakness at times. The Tottenham faithful have a right to ask questions, but they’ve also got to keep in the back of their mind where they’ve come from and what the expectations are. In my mind, the expectation is to win a trophy.”