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)
A third of the way in, the AFL and NRL seasons over, the shadow punching done, the ladder as tight as ever, the national under 20s campaign prematurely over, Danny Tiatto back in the headlines the only way he knows how, and Sydney hitting top spot for the first time in what seems an eternity.
Then there’s Kevin Muscat propelling Melbourne to second on the back of three straight wins, better signs on the crowd front in most places this week (Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney), a top of the table blockbuster in three days time.
It’s tempting to say that A-League season five is finally up and running.
Better late than never, one might say.
I’ve noted it previously, but for all the off-field disappointment about crowds and the lack of positive noise around the season so far, the on field standard is far better than it has ever been.
If only that point had more mainstream support.
One way to measure this improvement is to try and pick your team of the season at any one point, and cast an eye over the quality of the players that you can’t fit in.
So for those of you yet to take in any A-League action this season, and the rest of you who can’t quite get enough, here’s a formation that has caught the eye in the opening nine rounds;
The goalkeeper
It’s great to see Vukovic back in the mood at Gosford. Ditto down the F3, where Bolton, after a nervy start, is displaying some of the consistency that has been missing for the past two seasons. Slow starts for Henderson, Vanstratten and Moss, but they are warming up nicely.
Meanwhile, in a poorly performing team, Galekovic has been dynamite, rescuing so many points for Adelaide. A natural selection here.
The fullbacks
On the right, Cole has developed into a handy defender under Lavicka, Sukha has taken to life in Australia nicely, Fitzsimmons did a super job in the first few rounds, while Nigel Boogaard has moved seamlessly between right back and central defence.
Middleby’s experience has helped the Fury. The left side has been even better, featuring a couple of star defenders in Traore and Heffernan, while Kemp has also caught the eye.
Byun has also had some solid displays, while Sekulovski is in career-best form. Heffernan and Sekulovski are the unluckiest to miss out, with Traore just shading them thanks to some neat integration with his attack.
On the other side, I’ve tinkered by shifting the adaptable Thwaite from midfield, mainly to accommodate the bevy of brilliant attackers.
The central defenders
Every team has strengthened in this area, and there have been some brilliant defensive displays so far. Muscat has come back into the Melbourne team and, along with Leijer, has turned the team around. Colosimo and Keller have been very solid for the league leaders, the former on the ground, Keller in the air.
Meanwhile Wilkinson, Doig and Boogaard have plugged the gaps that were so evident for the Mariners earlier this year, while Todd and Chris Coyne are building a lovely partnership out west.
Hard to leave Keller and Leijer out of this selection, but it’s Todd and Colosimo for now.
The holding midfielder
Bojic might need to refine his passing, but there’s no doubt he’s added steel to the Mariners defensive shape and made a reasonable fist at filling the Jedinak role. Meanwhile, Tiatto may be nuts, but makes it difficult for Farina to leave him out by doing a job.
McFlynn, when he is in, makes such a difference for Sydney, while Broxham and Musialik have shown better signs of late.
Talay got the Fury firing and instantly struck a rapport with Fowler, Burns has been busy at Perth and Adam D’Apuzzo has been neat for the Jets.
Thwaite though has been the best holder to date, but has been moved to right back in this team in order to accommodate team-mate Culina.
The attacking central midfielders
This is the area which highlights just how difficult it is to fit all the excellent performers into the team. Hernandez, for his set pieces and general class, has to be in the team.
The same could be argued for Miller, who has been exceptional at finding space and linking with Henrique, but that would mean that I would have to leave out Song.
I can’t.
The little Korean, whether playing wide or more central, has finally adapted to the physicality of the league, and is fulfilling the potential he showed in his early days.
Patafta has also done some nice things, while another little fella, Caravella, caught the eye before injury beset. Meanwhile, in Gosford, a pair of British schemers have been impressing, McGlinchey and Travis adding much-needed subtlety.
Srhoj has also had plenty of good moments in Perth.
The wide attackers
Like the central attackers, it has been difficult the narrow the cast down to two. Ifill, for example, has added much quality to the Wellington attack, while Abbas and Leckie have shown good signs in the past few weeks.
But it is impossible not to have both Bertos and Henrique in the mix, even if it means shaping up with only one striker. The pity is that we won’t be seeing much of Henrique in the second third of the season.
The striker
Again, there are some unlucky players, including Porter, Fowler, McBreen and van Dijk, who have all been doing a great job. Others like Thompson, Haliti and Jelic deserve a mention, but so far Smeltz has been the stand-out finisher, despite a couple of recent quiet ones.
Here is my team of the season at the end of round nine, in 4-3-3:
————————–Galekovic————————-
—————————————————————-
Thwaite———–Todd——–Colosimo———-Traore
—————————————————————–
—————————–Culina——————————
—————Hernandez————Song———————
——————————————————————-
Bertos————————————————Henrique
—————————–Smeltz—————————–
constantine
Guest
you forgot poor seating arrangements
william
Guest
the team coming first (sydney fc)only gets one spot in the team and the best two defensive sides (sydney fc and ccm) fills a grand total of 1 in the entire team? i reckon bolton is better than galekovic and byun/cole is better than odama traore
clayton
Guest
craig moore didn`t get a mention in central defence ... which is fair enough - seems he is in the socceroos squad based on what he`s done in the past, not what he`s doing this year in the a-league.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Melbourne has one rep in the team, despite sitting 2nd, and the Gold Coast have 4 reps, and yet sit around 4th. And Mid wants to ditch that sole Melbourne rep!! Interesting.
Olrac
Guest
I find it interesting that the top two teams have only 1 player each respectivly in your list. Sure it is an even competition but maybe the lesson is get a range of quality players for your money instead of spending all your cash on one. (I am looking at you NQF) I think that while I cant argue with your final lineup surly Kemp rates a mention in rightback. (WHoops just reread the article)
Midfielder
Guest
Will admit Travis is all class as well... as many have indicated.... I normally don't bag players out especially ones from your own team ... but heavens when Matty is not there we are slim up front ... IMO if we cannot get a Marquee then blood some youth league strikers ... Nil & Dylan .. well being kind are simply not up to it .. they would make excellent State league players... As for weeMac ... IMO he owned the midfield in the second half.... Is he good enough to get back to Man U ... I doubt it ... but in a Fulham he would be great... My fear is we will buy the strikers to late and Travis & weeMac will go back to Europe before we put some decent strikers in front of them ...
Pat
Guest
I reckon Musialik will be commanding a place in Tony's next team after yesterday's showing - McFlynn was very good, but Musialik was my man of the match. Composed, commanding, great distribution, a steadying presence and his positional play made Corica and Kisel look five years younger. I don't think it's any coincidence that Bridge had a good game with Musialik back in there behind him as well. If Sydney can keep that starting 11 fit, then the rest of the competition had better watch out... and that's with Aloisi, Danning and others on the bench!
cab711
Guest
Haha nice one. Try this David Coulthard F1 driver. http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_233/1202144741WWBs7v.jpg His alter ego. http://www.retrotrader.com/catalog/images/zzzxxx2g%20009.jpg
chook
Guest
not really AU, PG, WP are doing quite well and are increasing the crowds, the MV are not having a great year as far as crowds What I do think looking at BR and GCU need to accept that between them with a population of 2.4 million people they can only raise a crowd of av. 7500 people. This is terrible result on 72,000 people have watched the games live. And crowd numbers are decreasing every week for both of them. This flows from a number of factors, league is still the most popular sport, lack of media - continually the paper such as the courier mail will only give football a run of about 2 paragraphs whilst league will make up 75% of the reading and first 4 back pages. Football is still seen as game played by wogs, poofter and girls by alot of the general sporitng followers. Even the dopey CEO of the roar still call the odd Broncos game and has attended more Broncos games than Roar games. not much hope im afraid. I bang on and on about the state of football in SEQ becuase i think it is in dire need of help from either the FFA or God. I think the rest of the football in Australia is rosey compared to what is happening in Qld. SEQ has the highest growth rate and the FFA need to establish a firmer base here and a lot of help is needed starting from grass roots football.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Daniel McBreen has been going well indeed and takes a lot of pressure off Fowler. Fowler only needs one bit of magic to get a goal but to do that the defenders have to have their hands full with someone else to create the space.
Vicentin
Guest
Good pick up but I think he meant "Archie Thompson" in front of him - not that Archie. I'm with Tony in thinking that Travis looked better than McGlinchey in the earlier rounds. McGlinchey is looking better now but I'd be surprised if he ended up in anything hgher than "The Championship" - that's second division isn't it?.... Still reckon Mrjda looks like Powdered Toast Man ... http://pulp.orangephotography.com/blog/archives/assets/2007/11/LEOPOWEREDTOASTMAN.jpg
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
He is doing pretty well He isn’t a work horse but for that they have his forward partner Daniel Mcbreen. Fowler has been a bit quiet in the last couple of weeks but prior to that had goal of the week or thereabouts 3 weeks running. He is fit and his touch is still class.
cab711
Guest
Sydney FC were able to shut him out convincingly on Monday. Hardly Man U defence. Has a single move were he takes the ball outside. His passing accuracy and work rate are very good. However he has been beat with the ugly stick very badly. Poor kid looks like he came straight out of an Archie comic. http://complexmedianetwork.com/assets/images/blog/archielead2.gif Also I think Dodd should have got a mention.
Ryan Steele
Roar Pro
Some interesting decisions. Not sure what you meant by, "Every team has strengthened in this area, and there have been some brilliant defensive displays so far." Adelaide's defence has been shaky at best, conceding more this season than the last, after the same amount of games (and there were some big losses, last season). The start of yesterday's game is enough proof. Scoring less goals, as well, but that's a whole different kettle of fish. A good selection of formation and players, though, and kudos for that, with my only real concern being Thwaite in that right back position. He probably is the best for that position, though there have been better, if only non-regular players in that position. Alemao and Kaimoto immediately come to mind, and it's a shame that Kaimoto, in particular, didn't receive much attention for his time at the Fury (despite his age), and has seemingly disappeared without a trace. Alemao has once again fallen out of favour with Vidmar, for Iain Fyfe (and it will be interesting to see what happens to the "staying with the same XI" mentality, when Daniel Mullen returns from Young Socceroos duty, if he's fit and ready).
Mr cheese
Guest
Hello Tony, as a Liverpool supporter, I would like to know how well Robbie Fowler is doing over there. I saw his recent goal on Youtube, but I am surprised to read that he has been doing a "great job". His legs are obviously gone, so I assumed the defenders would have the better of him. Anyway, in another post you wrote about Salvatore Schillaci ( not sure how to spell it ). An absolute legend. Reading your stuff about him reminded me of my youth. Italia 90 is almost 20 years ago....................Yikes ! "Ou sont les neiges d'antan ?!
AndyRoo
Guest
So every week Melbourne is away we are all supposed to feel depressed about the crowds and then when they play at home get excited they have picked up again?
Tony Tannous
Expert
Mid, over the past month or so I've actually felt Travis has looked the better player. Not yesterday though.
chook
Guest
Great weekend for the crowd numbers for the A- League. Obviously the end of the AFL and the League Final were factors Gold Coast had a poor crowd with only 4209 Other did really well 2nd highest attendance for the year with 62595 attending almost double last weeks effort. The figures as they stand are average crowds overall are down -12.9% and attendance is up 8.9% 37,969 more people have attended matches. And overall summary is that Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Wellington are all having a better crowd average and numbers Syd up 1000 Perth up 1200 Adeliade up 800 Wellington up 600 Factors Syd performing better Wellington - Kiwis WC qualifiying getting more media Perth - new signings includeing Mile from Derby Adelaide- nor really a pissant town Brisbane, Newcastle, CCM, Melbourne all having a worse average than last year Brisbane down by 3000 a game Newcastle down by 1000 a game CCM down by 2000 a game Melbourne down by 5000 a game please note that the figure are taking from overall figure not round 9 last year so they are a little skewed but give perspective Factors that throw some of the figure Brisbane have only had 1 night game, poor board choices and the inclusion of GCU. Melbourne have had 2 thursday games, attendances increase after AFL season and up coming finals.
Art Sapphire
Guest
Mid - he might take you to the finals, but that might mean 5th or 6th. I can't see CCM going all the way as you don't score enough goals. Somehow, talented though the wee man is, I can't see Man U knocking on his door anytime soon. But, I have to admit that he has given CCM another dimension this season.
Midfielder
Guest
Art weeMac will be in Europe within 2 years ... I don't think many people understand his past and how good he is.. If he played with better strikers the goals would flow... aside from Matty our strikers are not worth feeding ... His background BTW and my thoughts on weemac... weeMac is a typical stereotype Mariner player, small nay dominative in size, great balance, delicate & a soft touch, speed with a deft passing game. A comment from the Celtic forum about his move to Australia ; a gifted technical player, but maybe not physical enough for the Australian league. He is re building his stalled career after an injury. At 22 he is out to prove he is back to his best. His passing at times has been sublime, to date often players have not read him and the passes have been wasted. Man U wanted him at 18 he choice to stay at Celtic.. his background. Singed by Celtic in Jan 2003, the youngest player ever to play in Celtic first team, played in Celtics under 19s side were they won 2 Scottish Cups and 1 league title, played for Scotland 35 times U 17 to U 20, in the final of the U19s European Championship. One of his most memorabile games was when Scotland U19 knocked out France in the EC, the French team included, Real’s Madrid Benzima and Arsenals Sammy Nazari. The closest player I can recall is Juno in style, he is that good BTW and will take us to the finals. We now have our own baby assassin in the top third of the park.. He has skill, guile, touch and brain… wanting to prove he is ready to return to Man U … watch for the wee man Art TBH if he had Archie or Smeltz in front instead of Nil & Dylan we would be leading the competition...