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Gold Coast players react after Jason Culina scored in the 59th minute to put the Coast 2-0 up during the 1st round A-League football match between Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
In the first of my weekly reviews of A-League season 5, I break-down the five games and come up with my team of the week.
Melbourne Victory 0 v Central Coast Mariners 2
My thoughts on the season opener are all here. I received an email on Friday from a long time Roundball Analyst reader, Pinuts Pethia, noting he agreed McKinna got his tactics absolutely spot-on.
He noted, however, that McKinna had weeks and months to plan for the game, and that it will be interesting to see what strategy he adopts with only a week till the next game.
Adelaide United 1 v Perth Glory 0
Robbie Slater did his best to talk this one up, but in truth it was a ghastly spectacle, as space was an absolute premier on what looked a very compact Hindmarsh pitch.
The Reds did an excellent job of pressing Perth high and putting pressure on their defence, stopping them from playing out.
It was a clever strategy, especially as passing doesn’t appear to be the strong-point of both Chris Coyne and Todd’s games, while the fullbacks, Neville and Sekulovski, didn’t offer much coming forward.
Often Perth had to resort to going long, and with Dadi superbly handled by Cornthwaite and Fyfe, Sterjovski became anonymous.
Conversely, Adelaide offered some real thrust on both flanks, with Jamieson superb and Marrone impressing as a sub on the other side.
Jamieson’s set pieces were top-shelf, but they’ll need to find more in the front third.
Perth, as I’ve noted in my A-League season preview, will need time to gel, especially with many of the signings being recent arrivals. Nevertheless, the sooner Srhoj is available the better.
North Queensland Fury 2 v Sydney FC 3
In front of an under-par first night audience, the Fury did an early impersonation of the NZ Knights, copping a couple of poor goals as they struggled for any cohesion.
The turnover of players, even in the past few days, suggested far too many hasty signings had been made in the early days, and raised questions marks on Ferguson’s player judgement.
Missing their first choice central defence of Wilson and Timpano really affected the Fury early, while young left-back Hingert struggled to deal with the pace of Danning early on. The back four was a shambles, evidenced by Dodd’s inability to cover Hingert after Danning had turned him.
Sydney was cruising, but the Griffiths goal and Ferguson’s pushing of Middleby forward and Daal out to the right shifted the pendulum.
Middleby’s pace made a difference, and instead of looking to hit the giant Daal with the predictable aerial ball, suddenly the Fury got it on the deck and started playing, with Kaimoto impressive coming forward and Fowler starting to get some nice touches.
The opening 20 minutes of the second half were riveting, with North Queensland pressing and Brosque always looking a threat at the other end.
Fowler’s heads-up play in the build-up to the equaliser and his subsequent spot-kick was a great sign, but ultimately Sydney got out of jail thanks to some incisive work from their two team leaders, McFlynn and Brosque, and some hesitant work from Henderson.
Brisbane Roar 1 v Gold Coast United 3
An excellent game from two sides that should be right in the mix come seasons end, but ultimately I felt Gold Coast had more smarts that their neighbour.
Jason Culina absolutely owned the game and along with Robson they added not only a touch of class to Bleiberg’s midfield, but a touch of class to the league.
The other stand-out was centre back van den Brink, while Porter and Smeltz looked like they’d had a good pre-season of combination play.
In the first half, I can’t remember Culina giving the ball away, not once. Late on he was found in his own box one minute, helping clear danger, and then found breaking forward seconds later.
These are high standards, and on the evidence of the first round, he is comfortably the league’s premier player, and Verbeek has no cause for concern.
His cajoling and demands placed on teammates will only benefit them, and Australian football. His speaks with authority.
The Roar, meanwhile, were all muscle, but lacked the poise, a common ailment over the past four years.
Meanwhile, the Suncorp pitch was outstanding.
Newcastle Jets 3 v Wellington Phoenix 2
Branko Culina sprung a couple of surprises with his shape, starting Hoffman through the middle in a front two, Vignaroli as a deep-lying playmaker and giving Triantis a start, which pleased this correspondent no end.
A couple of months ago I saw him anchor the midfield for Sydney Olympic against Sydney United in the NSW Premier League, and while he was on the losing side, he was comfortably the best player on the pitch, proving an effective ball-winner, efficient user, and whipping in some wonderful set-pieces.
More recently, in Olympic’s pre-season friendly against Sydney FC, there were very few performances of note from either side, yet Triantis was one of the better ones.
I was convinced he could cut it at A-League level.
Yesterday’s was a handy debut, and overall the Jets were good value for their win, despite making hard work of it, just like Sydney.
Hoffman’s pace was a constant threat against as disjointed back four, while playmakers Vignaroli and Milicevic did well. Elrich chipped in in attack.
As for the Phoenix, Greenacre and Ifill where often isolated, and it wasn’t until Bertos got going that they got any decent service.
Ricki Herbert played two holding midfielders in McKain and Brown and can thus have few complaints there wasn’t enough linkage with the front two.
Tony’s team of Round 1 (4-3-3, manager of the week, Lawrie McKinna)
————————-Higgins——————
—————————————————–
Kaimoto—-Cornthwaite—van den Brink—-Jamieson
—————————————————————-
——————-Bojic—–Robson——————–
————————Culina————————–
Dodd——————————— Brosque
———————Hoffman———————–
Some of the others; Marrone, Elrich, Fyfe, Doig, Milicevic, Danning, Song, Middleby, Vignaroli, McGlinchey, McFlynn, Bertos, Spaguolo, Simon, Porter, Smeltz.
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