How your A-League team is faring (part two)

 
Tony Tannous Columnist

By , 13 Jan 2010 Tony Tannous is a Roar Expert

Tagged:
 , , , ,

52 Have your say

Related coverage



Carlos Hernandez of Melbourne Victory challenges Emmanuel Muscat of Wellington Phoenix. AAP Image/Joe Castro

Carlos Hernandez of Melbourne Victory challenges Emmanuel Muscat of Wellington Phoenix. AAP Image/Joe Castro

Yesterday, in part one of my look at how the A-League clubs are travelling just over a month out from the finals, I cast an eye over the teams struggling to break out of the bottom five.

Today I look at the top five, and while Sydney FC, with a four point lead, are in pole position to finish first past the post, that could change if the Gold Coast United win their next two games, at home to Newcastle tonight, followed by what is shaping up as a cracker in Sydney on Sunday.

But, while the defending champions Melbourne Victory go through a dip, others are circling, including the Jets and the Wellington Phoenix, which is where I start;

Wellington Phoenix, 28 points (21 games)
Ricki Herbert’s men were brilliant at home against Brisbane on Saturday, as they have been for much of the season.

The addition of Eugene Dadi looks a good one, at least with the rest of this season in mind, and will give Paul Ifill the freedom to buzz about and influence, as he has been doing all season.

Meanwhile, Manny Muscat has slotted in beautifully in the holding role, allowing both Vince Lia and Tim Brown to bomb-on and influence in the front third, while skipper Andrew Durante is leading from the back.

Troy Hearfield has been converted into an attacking fullback, Liam Reddy has been another great pick up, and the team will only strengthen with the return of Ben Sigmund.

Meanwhile, Ricki Herbert has plenty of impact off the bench through the likes of Adrian Caceres and Costa Barbarouses, and the squad is as deep as any in the league.

While they only have two games left at their fortress, Westpac Stadium, they have enough front third quality to give any team a contest before and during the finals. Watch out.

Newcastle Jets, 31 (21)
Another super home performance and another comfortable win over Melbourne, who the Jets historically measure up well against. That is now eight wins in 15 against the Victory, who will be hoping to avoid them in the finals.

Branko Culina’s men are smoking, with six wins from their past eight games, and have had some wonderful performers, especially in the front third.

The likes of Michael Bridges, Labinot Haliti, Sean Rooney and Jin-Hyung Song have been combining brilliantly, and scoring some cracking goals to boot.

A few weeks ago, when the unfortunate Fabio Vignaroli limped out for the season, it was important that Matt Thompson, Jobe Wheelhouse and Adam D’Apuzzo stepped up and maintained the marquee attitude. They have done just that.

Meanwhile, Neil Young is doing well between the sticks and Nikolai Topor-Stanley has been immense in front of him.

Now and again they have a brain-fade, as they did in Perth, and must look to improve their away form in the run-in to the finals, starting tonight.

With four of their remaining six games on the road, Culina has a big job to keep his men playing the quality football they have been, while picking up away points.

If he succeeds, the Jets will go into the finals with much confidence.

Gold Coast United, 34 (21)
After a poor middle third of the season, things have really picked up at Robina, with the inclusion of Charlie Miller and the return of Zenon Caravella and Joel Porter taking plenty of the pressure off Jason Culina and Shane Smeltz.

Culina and Smeltz are flying again, and the team is starting to look more balanced in the front third, with Culina and Caravella free to roam knowing that Miller will be supporting the front two.

There are still a few issues at the back, with only one clean sheet in their past seven games, but at least Jess Vanstrattan is finally playing with some confidence.

Losing Adama Traore, again, is a big blow, and Miron Bleiberg really needs to short things out at the back with some big games coming up against some potent attacks in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington.

It is a tough finish to the campaign, and if they can start keeping clean sheets, it will give them much confidence for the finals.

Melbourne Victory, 35 (21)
After eight wins in 10 games in the middle of the season, the Victory have only won one of their past five, and that was a 3-0 win away to the struggling Mariners.

Undoubtedly Ernie Merrick’s men are going through a dip, and the worrying thing is the form of the backline, where the likes of Kevin Muscat, Adrian Leijer and Rody Vargas are being exposed far too often.

Merrick looks to be struggling to find the right way to use the three central defenders, with Muscat is being caught drifting into midfield.

Meanwhile, Merrick has problems elsewhere, chopping and changing things in central midfielder and the front third, and seemingly struggling to find a workable solution.

However, the draw might help the Victory, one senses. Three home games on the spin, four in total, and two tasty away trips to Robina and Sydney, have the potential to get the team focussed and flowing in time for the finals.

Sydney FC, 39 (22)
After three losses on the spin in November, Vitezslav Lavicka’s men have now gone six games without defeat, including maximum points from three home games, and one win and two 0-0 draws on the road.

As I noted in my piece on The Roar just over a week ago, they are ticking over like a machine, and have now kept five clean sheets in a row.

The formula has been a football classic, with the performances coming at home and the grind coming on the road, as evidenced in all three recent away trips to New Zealand, Melbourne and Perth.

The latest away performance was messy, but missing key players in Alex Brosque and Simon Colosimo, Sydney again scrabbled superbly, the sign of a desperate team, doing all the little things that lead to success.

At home, Sydney have been irresistible of late.

The key to the rest of the season will be to keep Lavicka’s preferred starting 11 together.

In particular he can’t afford to be without Brosque for too long, for John Aloisi proved again on the weekend that he just isn’t coping at this level. Indeed, right now, Chris Payne looks the next best option after an eye-catching display off the bench.

Missing Sebastian Ryall for a long period may also hurt the Sky Blues, for Ryall may have been able to put some pressure on Shannon Cole at right back.

Apart from a lack of depth and the fact young midfielders Brendan Gan and Ryan Grant aren’t keeping enough pressure on the established midfielders, right-back looks the one major weakness for Sydney, with Cole again exposed against Perth, as he was by Dean Heffernan just before Christmas.

Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyTannousTRBA
Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.

Get a daily football email

Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it.

We value privacy. More.