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Sydney FC's Steve Corica (left) is tackled by Matthew Crowell of the Central Coast Mariners FC in their round 19 match in Sydney on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
While there has been much disappointment from this correspondent about the lack of off-field growth from the A-League this season, if anyone needed a measure of the growing on-field quality, then try picking your team of the season. It’s no easy task, let me tell you.
For observers of the quality of the league, always seeking improvement, that’s a very good thing.
A bit was made a couple of weeks ago about the physicality of the league, after one particular weekend in which the natives got a little restless.
I actually enjoyed the passion that round. For mine, it demonstrated a bit of raw desperation to make the finals.
Let me tell you, the league is far less physical today then it has ever been.
In my opinion, many of the off-field problems the league is encountering today are a manifestation of the over-physicality of the league in seasons one to four.
But the league has moved on. This season the story is very different, particularly in the top half of the table.
The problem is the message isn’t being delivered to the wider masses, let alone the football market.
I, and others like Mike Cockerill and Simon Hill have been trying to spread the message through our respective forums, but overall, it is not sinking in, particularly when mass newspaper and online space is dedicated to the problems, rather than the successes.
Couple that with the FFA either lacking the football know-how or having its focus elsewhere, and the perception is not where it should be.
But if you want another measure of the on-field improvement this season, try picking your version five all-star team, and let me know how you go about fitting all the stars of the campaign in it.
In a nutshell, I’ve been finalising mine for the past few weeks, trying to fit 12 into 11, and more precisely, seven attackers into the front third.
I have finally settled on it, but at the expense of players of the quality of Robbie Fowler, Archie Thompson, Andy Todd, Fabio Vignaroli, Michael Bridges, Andrew Durante, Stephan Keller, Leo Bertos, Dean Heffernan, Zenon Caravella, Adama Traore, Tommy Oar, Mathew Leckie, Henrique, Sergio van Dijk, Jin-Hyung Song, and many others.
Such is the lot of a manager, the hard choices.
In picking my 11, I tried to make it as functional as possible, which has meant a couple of players slotting in in non-preferred roles, and a bit of front third largesse.
Let’s start between the sticks.
Clint Bolton has had his best season in years, Danny Vukovic is at least back, if not quite back to his best, and Jess Vanstratten is finally showing some quality after an indifferent start.
The one keeper that has consistently produced the goods, backing up last season, is Eugene Galekovic. While I was disappointed with his effort in Kuwait, in the A-League he has been first class, for the second season running.
Now to my back four, and while I toyed with the idea of a back three, in order to give me more options in the front third, I reasoned that I would still need wingbacks, who were likely to be my fullbacks in a back four anyway.
Left back was particularly competitive, with Naum Sekulovski, Dean Heffernan, Sung-Hwan Byun and Adama Trarore all impressing, but I went for the adaptable Matt Thompson, who will leave Newcastle after another typically consistent season.
On the right-hand side, there was only one real option, the dynamic Matthew Kemp, who has improved his touch and final ball to go with his considerable engine.
In the centre of defence, the leaner and meaner Simon Colosimo was the most obvious choice. His partner Keller is unlucky, and the same could be said about Todd and Durante. Bas van den Brink and Krisitian Rees improved as the season went on, but it is their teammate Michael Thwaite who gets the gig alongside Colosimo in this team.
While he ostensibly played in the holding midfield role and at right back, his versatility and the need to stack the midfield with quality means Thwaite starts at the back.
While Thwaite was arguably the best performing holding midfielder in the league (special mention to Vignaroli when he played there), it was only because his skipper, Jason Culina, the best screener in the league, was playing higher up the pitch and owning games.
But for the purpose of this team, and playing a couple of gun attacking midfielders ahead of him, Culina bosses this team from the screening position. Oh, and he gets the skipper’s armband.
The job of who to play in the attacking midfield spots wasn’t made easy by the great form from the likes of Song, Caravella and Nicky Travis (who I felt shaded teammate Michael McGlinchey), but two number 10’s who made all the difference were Carlos Hernandez and Steve Corica, so I’ve made room for both of them here.
They had stellar campaigns, Hernandez justifying his mega (at least by A-League standards) transfer figure, Corica, who confirmed yesterday that this will be his last season, at times irresistible.
Their ability to find space, keep the ball and carve out chances has been thrilling to watch.
It’s a star studded trio in midfield, even if it does border on the offensive.
That leaves the front three, and particularly, how to fit four into three.
Many could stake a claim, including van Dijk, Bridges, Fowler and Joel Porter, but I narrowed it down to four; Archie Thompson, Paul Ifill, Shane Smeltz and Alex Brosque.
Someone had to miss out and it wasn’t going to be either Ifill or Brosque, who have both had outstanding campaigns, proving hard to handle every time they are on the ball. Capable of playing centrally, they’re deployed on the flanks here.
So the final spot was a choice between the two finishers, Thompson and Smeltz, and by sheer weight of goals, I went for the Kiwi.
So here it is, the A-League Team of the Season (in 4-3-3)
————————-Galekovic—————————–
——————————————————————
Kemp———Thwaite——-Colosimo—–M. Thompson
——————————————————————
—————————Culina——————————-
————-Hernandez—————Corica—————–
——————————————————————
——-Ifill————————————–Brosque——
————————-Smeltz——————————–
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