The Not So Big Blue
Saturday night’s match between heavyweights Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory may yet be the kind of match you’d like to laminate and slip into the window pocket of your mind’s eye but due to a combined eight international withdrawals the result has already been devalued. This is not to say fans of the winning side (if it’s not a draw, that is) will refrain from sticking the boot in afterwards – three points is three points – but the rattle of ribs beneath their toes won’t bring them quite as much pleasure as it could have. Noting that five Victory players and three Sydney players will miss the match while on international duty (never mind that 18 others will also be absent from this weekend’s round of A-League matches) Sky Blues’ coach Graham Arnold said it’s time that the FFA got into step with Fifa’s international breaks to stop this kind of thing happening. No doubt he’s right for as it stands clubs are suffering for having international players on their books while the A-League is cheapened by the absence of its best players. It is surely time for the FFA to find a way to schedule the A-League season accordingly. This may mean playing a number of midweek rounds or perhaps starting the season in September. The A-League has thus far been reluctant to compete with other football codes but perhaps it’s time for the game to stop looking over its shoulder and show more faith in its product and fans.
‘Big Blue’ absentees: Victory: Kosta Barbarouses (NZ), Daniel Georgievski (Macedonia), Scott Galloway (Australia U23), Jason Geria (Australia U23), Connor Pain (Australia U23). Sydney FC: Terry Antonis (Originally selected for Australia, ruled out due to injury, recovered, but now barred from playing by the FFA), Marc Janko (Austria), Corey Gameiro (Australia U23).
Will Brisbane Purr get their Roar back?
Is Friday’s night’s clash between Newcastle and Brisbane the moment Brisbane not only get off the mark in 2014-15 but begin to resemble the team that has won three of the past four A-League championships? Then again they are not the same team – so perhaps we should stop expecting them to be. Key players have left while many others that have remained are older (though clearly not old enough to know better than to berate your own goalkeeper in the middle of the pitch) and perhaps even belly-tappingly satisfied with what they’ve already achieved. So satisfied, in fact, that it all starts to look like so much hard work. It happens to all great teams and it’s now Mike Mulvey’s job to squeeze more juice out of the orange at the same time he rebuilds and reshapes the Roar squad. But how much is left? Even last week when Melbourne City went through a second-half patch of defending like chocolate soldiers in the midday sun the Roar couldn’t capitalise and 3-1 was a fair indication of the difference between the teams.
The Roar’s opponent this week, Newcastle, will be hoping the champions’ poor form continues for at least another week, for they have problems of their own. Their 2-2 draw against Victory last week was not without merit but it marked yet another occasion this year that the Jets have squandered a lead –though an inability to build on it coupled with an inability to defend it. In terms of the latter, the Jets at least have two new old faces available this week; former Socceroo Adrian Madaschi and former Melbourne Victory defender Billy Celeski, both of whom are out of sickbay and ready to play their first games of the season. The Jets have a habit of beating the Roar so it should hardly surprise if it happens again.
A reality check
Round six opponents Perth Glory and the Western Sydney Wanderers continue to defy expectations this season – Perth by topping the ladder, the Wanderers by propping it up. If this alternate, Earth 2-type reality goes on for much longer we may have to accept that our expectations were wrong, reassess accordingly and look more closely at our loved ones. They may not be who we think they are. But I don’t think we’re there just yet, and neither does Glory coach Kenny Lowe. As he said last week, you’ve got a better chance of riding on Flipper than him getting carried away. Just where he pulled Flipper from is anyone’s guess (did Sandy and Bud’s aquatic buddy just leap out of his cerebral cortex due to some word association with last week’s opponents, the Mariners, or was it a reference, delivered on porpoise, that went over my head?) but the sentiment can’t be queried, nor can his line that it’ll take just a few losses for Perth to become a team in crisis (in the media’s eyes, that is). Similarly, a few wins for Tony Popovic’s team could trigger a return to form and then it’s possible we’ll see Perth and the Wanderers cross each other on the table, one going up, the other down. Could this game hint at the likelihood of that happening?
Complicating matters is both teams’ recent schedules and, yes, the international break. Perth (who’ll be without internationals Mitch Nichols and Jamie Maclaren) will be backing up after their Tuesday night’s FFA Cup semi-final win over Bentleigh, while the Wanderers have had little rest break from compression stockings, tray tables and safety demonstrations after racking up squillions of air miles between Sydney, Riyadh, Sydney, Wellington, Sydney and now Perth. Are the Wanderers sufficiently rested to keep tabs on their old favourite son, Youssouf Hersi? Popovic says they are. We’ll see.
City’s opportunity to build
If you include Wednesday night’s FFA Cup semi-final loss to Adelaide, the Central Coast Mariners have lost four on the trot. While they haven’t been humbled in any of them and are creating chances, these are still the choppiest waters they’ve had to negotiate for some time and confidence will be low during a period in which Phil Moss looks to rotate his squad given a rush of fixtures. Considering that, it’s tempting to think this gives their opponents this week, Melbourne City, the upper hand, especially since they are at home and relatively fresh, but City have some way to go to earn our confidence. Their win against the Roar last Saturday night was a good one, and just as good as the goals was the midfield creativity that created them. But that’s just their first win in 11 matches. City need to prove they can do it again. And again.
Wellington’s mountain to climb
Just when Wellington’s encouraging start to the season was about to face its toughest test – an away game against an Adelaide United side singing like a stool pigeon with his fingers in a vice – the international break has stripped the Phoenix of six squad members, three of whom were in the side that beat the Wanderers 1-0 last week (Michael Boxall, Michael McGlinchey and Jeremy Brockie). It’s a shame because a full-strength Phoenix would have given us a better indication of where they stood in their 3 and 2 season to date (ie have they just had a kind draw?). Unaffected by the internationals, Adelaide look the goods to overrun the Phoenix this week but they will be hoping for better finishing than they showed against Sydney last week in what was one of the more entertaining 0-0 draws in some time. Get things right in the final third – as they did against the Mariners on Wednesday night thanks to a double from Cirio and a pearler from Mabil) Adelaide should have little trouble, if they’ve got the legs.
Fixtures
Friday: Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar, Hunter Stadium, Newcastle, 7.30pm
Saturday: Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix, Coopers Stadium, 5pm
Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory, Sydney Football Stadium, 7.30pm
Perth Glory v Western Sydney Wanderers, nib Stadium, 9.30pm
Sunday: Melbourne City v Central Coast Mariners, AAMI Park, 5pm
