Shame Shame shame … no mention of weeMac or Travis … you know my throughts they will tear the A-League to shrids … just waiting for when you are prepared to admit …. weeMac ruled the center of Bluetounge last week Jason was a bystander …

Come grand final day …. weeMac & Travis + Crowell , Cahill, Huke … thats leaving out Hutch, Kwasie, & Pedj… the best midfield in the country … come on Tony … you must have been at Bluey….

Go the Mariners this weekend … Hope the Scum go down to Perth & the Choppers go down as well .. Beach Worms could loose for us as well…

Come on Tony .. weeMac & Travis the beating heart of the A-League best midfield …

But nevertheless, I can’t see Merrick using a front 3 on Saturday due to the absences.
Word is that Kruse is not completely fit either.

As for Broxham/Brebner, I acknowledged in my piece that going to a back three meant there was no room for two screeners, and I thought Broxham benefitted from that. You looked much better without both of them together.

I’d like to think Merrick will keep the 3-4-3, with only Broxham holding.

It’s far less mobile with Ney in a two man forward line, and that would benefit Rees or van den Brink, who would rather be defending him.

The other beauty of playing 3 up front is that you pin back the GC fullbacks. Play Pondi one side, Archie the other, both close to Ney who is through the middle.

If Pondi isn’t available, but Kruse is, use him, or even push Suhka, Berger or Kemp into the front third…more mobile.

This game is going to be all about psychology. Hopefully both camps come out pumped up and firing for the full 90 minutes. Both teams can afford a loss, but not a humiliating one. It’s time to put the extra-hot chilli sauce into the tacos! Vamonos!!!

They are running a few ads, they had an outside broadcast at Roar training at Ballymore and they ran a comp for one week.

The name was “Sergios dutch oven” he say the name of a food in Dutch and then you have to call up to win roar tickets.

You forgot to mention that Melbourne did not start with the dreaded Brebner/Broxham combination against Adelaide.

But with Ward out and Tommy P doubtful, Merrick will resort to using the Brebner/Broxham combination again and probably revert to the long ball with Ney Fab and Archie up front.

Likely starting XI if Tommy P does not come up

—————-Moss————
—Vargas, Muscat, Leijer
Sukha, Broxham, Brebner, Berger
———-Hernandez———–
——-Archie, Ney Fab——-

FYI – the A-League delayed kickoff of this game by 2 hours to accommodate the AFL GF.
Good move as many of the specators goong to the game would want to watch the GF before heading to the ground.

As much could be told from the post match celebrations. It was a vital 3 pts.

I’ve found the Coast to have been shirking the tough stuff of late, and Miron looks a concerned/puzzled man.

Maybe having Thwaite and Pantelidis play against their old club will add some steel, but the others will all need to lift. I’m even talking about the experienced guys like Culina and Anderson.

Not having Smeltz and Caravella won’t help. Porter back will.

For some reason, I’m expecting Muscat to rule over this game the way he does, but it will be interesting to see if Culina can stand up for his mob.

From a technical perspective, he needs to get up higher up the pitch, working closely with Porter. If the Coast are to win, Porter will need to engage Muscat and get the better of him, and he showed in the first few rounds he is capable.

Culina will need to engage Broxham.

Either way, looking forward to it.

Bit of the pity it comes on this weekend where the attention in Melbourne is on the AFL GF and the Storms game at Etihad same time, while here and up north the focus is very much on the Dogs-Eeels clash and Brisbane Broncos.

Listening to Peter Lomgman’s weekend sports review on 2BL this morning, no mention of this game or the Brisbane-Sydney game.

Very true – if Melbourne can keep the ball on the carpet, we’re certainly in with a shout (but to call MV favourites is a bit over the top).

Agree we need two up front. I was under the impression that Owusu was signed so that Cristiano would have someone to play off of, not have his spot pinched by. And the long balls we pumped up to Owusu were not pretty to watch. It was a dull game to watch as an AU fan because we seemingly couldn’t keep the ball. A friend went with me to her first A-League game Fri nite and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if she never wants to go again after that display.

I had high hopes for Hughes but I agree so far he has been unimpressive.

It came as no surprise to read in last round’s program that AU have created the least opportunities of any team. Something to think about Viddie.