Round Ball Australia 
Central Coast Mariners striker Alou Kuol. Photo: Texi Smith/Round Ball Australia
From derby delight to a coach who wants to bring out the boxing gloves and yet another red card for Sydney FC; Round Ball Australia keeps you up to date with all the big storylines emerging from Round 7 of the A-Leauge Men’s competition, with Sliding Doors.
Melbourne City
IF you notice that all of Melbourne City’s wins have come against the bottom four sides of the competition…
THEN a date with Auckland on Sunday afternoon represents an opportunity to prove they’re not just flat track bullies.
City have put out some convincing performances, none more so than Friday night’s effort against the Roar. Even with all of their injured forwards, the goals flowed.
The combination of Andreas Kuen and Yonatan Cohen combined for two goals, and should have combined for a third, proving again that the average Melbourne City visa signing is just a cut above the rest of the league.
However, still lacking a result against anyone in the top nine positions on the ladder, City still have plenty to prove.
Yes, you can only play who is in front of you, but it just goes to show how people may be slightly overestimating City at this point in time. Tougher challenges ahead will prove the litmus test.
Lachlan Avil
Brisbane Roar
IF the Roar can’t turn things around within the next month…
THEN Ruben Zadkovich should be fearing for his job security.
The ‘tough fixture run’ excuse is running cold in Brisbane now. They have had a rough start, but to be sitting bottom of the table in a year that includes this Perth Glory side is not a pretty sight.
The obvious issues are on the defensive end. Scott Neville looked sluggish off the back of his ACL recovery (which is more a criticism of his selection rather than the player) and was directly responsible for the first goal, sending them off the back foot.
The talent of Jay O’Shea, Florin Berenguer, Keegan Jelacic and Thomas Waddingham is more than good enough to carry a team to at least mid-table.
With a fixture run of: Wanderers, Glory, Western United, Mariners and Newcastle over their next five, there is simply no more excuses.
The end to the year must be profitable for the Roar, or else changes should be made.
Lachlan Avil
Auckland FC
IF Alex Paulsen wasn’t signed in the off-season…
THEN would Auckland’s perfect record have ended sooner?
Football works in funny ways, but the only ones who won’t find the funny side of a particular off-season transfer are the Wellington Phoenix.
Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen was a shining light for Giancarlo Italiano last season, so much so that he earned a multi-million dollar move to English Premier League club Bournemouth, only to find his way back in New Zealand with Auckland FC on loan.
The 22-year-old was pivotal once again in the second edition of the Kiwi Clasico, making a crucial double-save in the 73rd minute.
With an xGA (expected goals conceded) of 1.12 per game, Auckland have shipped the solitary goal, with Paulsen deserving his fair share of the plaudits.
Perhaps the brand-new franchise have been fortunate as Italiano alluded to in the build-up, but at times you have to make your own luck, and Auckland possess arguably the best shot-stopper in the competition.
Christian Montegan
Wellington Phoenix
IF Giancarlo Italiano goes down to the same team twice within a matter of weeks…
THEN maybe Auckland were not quite ‘there for the taking’ after all.
One of the most admirable statistics to come out of last season for the Phoenix, was that they never lost to the same team more than once.
More than that, when Wellington dropped points at all in 23/24: on the eight occasions where they had a return game against the same opposition still to be played, Chiefy turned those draws and losses into wins 75 per cent of the time.
The only exceptions were a 91st minute winner from Mikael Doka against the Champions, and a first half red card against the Victory.
You give Chiefy a second look, he almost always hits back, but not this week.
Maybe it’s that derby intangible that’s messing with Italiano’s mind, but either way, the Black Knights have found the first serious chink the armour of the Chief.
Lachlan Avil
Newcastle Jets
IF The Jets playing group don’t find a corner to turn shortly…
THEN it’s going to be long, slow season at the bottom of the ladder.
It was clear from Rob Stanton’s press conference he is feeling the pressure and is bereft of real answers as to how to get more from his underperforming squad. Undoubtedly the coach has the passion and is wearing the results, but are the playing group?
Whilst the inclusion for the first time this year of Lachie Rose provided some optimism pre-game, he was a lone soldier for much of his first A-Leagues stint for Newcastle. Even after being substituted Rose looked like he was more active and impassioned than many of his team mates who were still on field.
It would be an understatement to suggest despite new owners, a new CEO and some new signings this year that the Jets are back at square one, and it feels they are possibly further back than that.
Stanton talked in his post game press conference about his frustration at his team’s inability to at least draw level let alone win against an Adelaide side who were far from their best and finished with 10 men.
The coach could be right when he suggested that local fans want to see fight from his players.
“They’re too nice to each other, I might bring some boxing gloves in and let them punch on (at training). You know what? They need it,” Stanton said.
At least if the players go toe to toe with each other at training Newcastle are guaranteed some winners.
Chris Macpherson
Adelaide United
IF The general consensus is that Adelaide’s defence is too weak…
THEN There will be a lot of people with egg on their face after this resilient display.
Yes, it was only the Newcastle Jets. But to defend a one goal lead with only 10 men for some 25 minutes, regardless of the opposition, is a sure sign that the defenders are capable of doing their jobs.
Bart Vriends in particular stood up to the challenge, and controlled the right side of the defence with poise and assuredness, rarely putting a foot wrong and winning plenty of duels in crucial areas.
Dylan Pierias also displayed his versatility: forced to drop deeper than he’s been used to, he defended well, made few mistakes, and was still able to help launch pressure-relieving counter attacks.
There were still issues. In attack, the side again failed to really capitalise on a strong opening, and there is a clear lack of creativity when Zach Clough isn’t involved. Finishing is also an issue, and it seems Adelaide are still in need of a clinical striker.
In defence, James Delianov looked shaky at times – especially when dealing with aerial balls in the box – and the marking scheme was protected largely through a lack of conceded set pieces, but it was resolute defending from a side that until this round hadn’t secured a clean sheet.
Perhaps some warning signs, then, for the rest of the league. If Adelaide’s defence really is starting to wake up – watch out!
Jacob Stevens
Western United
IF Adelaide and Central Coast have been the textbook youth developers of the past 5 years…
THEN should we be starting to think about Western United in the same way?
Abel Walatee making his starting debut on the weekend against Macarthur is one of an ever growing list of examples of young talent breaking through in the West of Melbourne.
Joining the likes of Dylan Leornard, Matthew Grimaldi, Noah Botic and Oli Lavale, all making an impression under the age of 23.
It’s a youthful line-up, but with the likes of Ben Garuccio, Hiroshi Ibusuki and Tomoki Imai as the experienced leadership group, it’s a squad that shouldn’t be dismissed in 24/25 either.
Just like on the weekend against the Bulls, they’ve been competitive in every game so far, except against the Victory, and are probably unlucky to be as low as they are.
Can they find the magic equilibrium of the Mariners, mixing youth development and performance? Time will tell.
Lachlan Avil
Macarthur FC
IF Macarthur’s only victories of the season have come against Perth and 10-men Sydney…
THEN maybe we all got a little bit too excited over their Australia Cup triumph.
With experienced names on the team sheet, like Valere Germain, Marin Jakolis, Luke Brattan, Matthew Jurman and Filip Kurto, the Bulls automatically pull away from some teams towards the bottom of the table who have doubled down on the youth angle.
But it’s been their youth that has been providing the cutting edge so far. Jake Hollman and Jed Drew are obviously the standouts, providing key links in midfield and killer crosses to allow Germain and Jakolis to knick seven goals between them already this season.
To be fair, the Hollman/Drew pairing haven’t started together in a little while due to injury, but that streak was broken this weekend against Western, with more dropped points as a result.
They’ve been there or thereabouts in every game so far, so their points tally could easily be higher. But in a season where they’ve openly targeted all of the silverware on offer, they’d want to get a move on.
Lachlan Avil
Melbourne Victory
IF Victory finds its killer edge…
THEN who is going to stop them?
A 2-0 win for Victory will point to people suggesting that the Glory were relatively competitive. However, anyone who watched the game would tell you that it was a complete mismatch.
25 shots to two and 69 per cent possession in favour of last season’s runners-up is clear evidence of that, yet the final cutting edge in the attacking third is hampering Victory from steam-rolling sides for fun.
Only heading into the sheds up 1-0 at half-time when it should’ve been more, had the opposition been anyone other than the Glory with all due respect, then it may have been more prickly than necessary.
Nikos Vergos seems to be Kisnorbo’s go-to option to lead the line for the meantime, but until the likes of Bruno Fornaroli and Jing Reec start firing on all cylinders with more minutes under their belts, they will need to find solutions when it comes to converting opportunities.
Christian Montegan
Perth Glory
IF calls for David Zdrilic to have his future evaluated are present…
THEN The club will be going backwards.
Sometimes, coaches aren’t always open, honest and direct in their press conferences. Zdrilic, however, is exactly that.
“What we need from any of the players, you can see that defensively we need to be very strong – that’s first and foremost. We have to understand that in this moment, particularly in a couple of the games we conceded way too many goals. So defensively is a big focus for us. It always is, but in this situation, I’m choosing players that are going to give us that first,” Zdrilic said when referring to leaving Caicedo out of the squad.
Yes, the club are struggling on the pitch, but Zdrilic can only do so much in what is a massive rebuilding process ahead.
He is trying different things. Whether it be moving players around, trying to uncover the right balance or not going fully in on the high-press as we were accustomed to seeing in the early stages of the season. You can’t fault him in that regard.
If Perth do opt to go in a different direction, then who is better equipped to lead the club that is currently available on the market?
Patience (and a lot of it) is desperately required.
Christian Montegan
Central Coast Mariners
IF the Mariners needed a win to kick start their season…
THEN they were handed a lifeline by Harrison Devenish-Meares.
Having been all but knocked out of the Asian Champions League Elite competition, the Mariners full focus can once again be placed on the league as they look to turn around their sluggish start to life as defending champions.
A fortunate win over the Newcastle Jets in their last league fixture was their first victory of the campaign, however the performance was still lacking the confidence of the well-oiled machine that Mark Jackson had put together in the treble winning season.
It was hard to see where the spark would come from, but one major occurrence in their 2-1 win over a 10-man Sydney FC was the end of a long lasting run of goalless games from Alou Kuol.
The Mariners woes are certainly not as simple as the absence of an in-form striker in the side, but Kuol’s latest performance with a lovely duet of headed goals will do wonders for his confidence as he looks likely to maintain his starting position as Central Coast’s striker.
Sure, the error from Devenish-Meares leading to his red card opened the door for the Mariners to nab a result from this game, but they still put the ball in the net twice with well worked crosses, something that hadn’t clicked for them in many games since the start of this season.
Will Booth
Sydney FC
IF there were concerns about Sydney’s disciplinary record this season before this round…
THEN they won’t be disappearing anytime soon.
Sunday’s red card given to Harrison Devenish-Meares marked the third for Sydney FC in their opening six matches of the A-League season.
Questions were asked in Round Five of Ufuk Talay, exploring the possibility that his high-risk high-reward style of offensive play that sees the team vulnerable to counter-attacks was not the wisest philosophy for keeping players on the field, as they often find themselves in dangerous positions where illegal interventions are required.
It was a similar case for Devenish-Meares, who was left in a one-on-one aerial duel with danger man Alou Kuol in which the Sydney FC keeper came out second-best.
It is awful timing for the shot stopper who had just began to make his mark in the side, taking over the number one position for the last couple of group stage games in the ACL2 competition.
With Andrew Redmayne’s dip in consistency, Devenish-Meares had the opportunity to carry his continental form into the league, but will have to wait until his suspension is served to even become an option for Talay once more.
Despite the early red card, Sydney FC remained their stubborn selves and were aggressive in their pursuit for all three points, a position in which the majority of teams with less dogmatic managers would have shut up shop and looked to grab a point.
This is Ufuk Talay football. You will never be guaranteed to end a football match with 11 players left on the field, but you will be entertained. And isn’t that what it’s all about?
Will Booth