Adelaide United to come out on top of cracking Season 7

Melbourne Victory’s Ney Fabiano is challenged by Adelaide United’s Sasa Ognenovski and Paul Reid. AAP Image/Joe Castro

With the news yesterday that star recruits Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton will both be available for the opening night of the season in 10 days time, the A-League’s seventh season is all set to kick-off with a bang.

The season, being touted as the biggest and most exciting yet, under the well-entrenched We Are Football banner, will look to build momentum in its first few weeks through some blockbuster matches across Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney.

Launching it at the conclusion of the AFL and NRL seasons, with Kewell and Emerton drawing much attention to it, has certainly helped gain the traction that has been missing in recent efforts.

This season, the public know the competition is about to begin. This has been one of the most common complaints over the past couple of seasons.

Now comes the even harder job of making sure people know when their club is playing, getting them there, and keeping them happy and wanting more. By no means is the job done. Indeed, it’s just started.

What all of this attention should provide though is an opportunity for the competition to showcase its improving quality, a point this correspondent and a few others have been trying to hammer home over the past couple of seasons.

After the quality of Brisbane Roar’s play last season, that message finally appears to have sunk in. The penny has even dropped at headquarters, with the marketing campaign selling the message about the evolving standard of play.

As a general rule, most clubs are working smarter on their recruitment and technical preparation, all of which makes finding a top six as difficult as it’s ever been.

Here’s my look at all the teams:

Wellington Phoenix (prediction 10th)
While the off-field drama surrounding the ownership of the club has undoubtedly had an impact on preparations for the season, the Phoenix will enjoy being written off.

The biggest issue though for Ricki Herbert is just how he replaces youngster Marco Rojas, undoubtedly his most creative and influential force last season, even if he was only on deck in the back half of the campaign.

For the Phoenix to make the six, you’d suggest they’d need to fill the remaining three squad spots with quality, much of it in the final third, and that Paul Ifill would need to rekindle his form of two seasons ago, when he was among the league’s best.

Gold Coast United (9th)
With many big-name losses like Shame Smeltz, Jason Culina, Zenon Caravella, Bruce Djite and Dino Djulbic, Miron Bleiberg has had to be resourceful in the off-season, building a squad mixed with youth and some overseas signings, three from Holland.

Maceo Rigters, if he gets going, has the potential to be anything.

Certainly, pre-season results have been very encouraging, and if the past two seasons are anything to go by, such form shouldn’t be treated lightly.

While Bleiberg’s first 11 still looks strong, with the likes of Glenn Moss, Adama Traore, Joel Porter, Robson and Michael Thwaite still around, building depth around them and getting his wide players firing hold the key to United’s season.

Newcastle Jets (8th)
The news last week that marquee signing Jason Culina will miss the entire season due to the need for another knee operation was a tough one for the Jets to take. If there was one thing missing from a deep squad last season, it was international quality, the type you get from Culina.

Without him, the squad still looks strong, containing many good, dependable players, but to make a real tilt at the finals, the Jets need to find some polish in the final third.

While they had the fourth best defence in the league last season, they only managed 29 goals, the third worst in the competition.

If Ryan Griffiths and Chris Payne don’t provide the goals, it might be time for Nathan Tinkler to dip into the kitty for a big name finisher. The city would love that.

Melbourne Heart (7th)
After an up and down debut season that featured target-men Gerald Sibon and John Aloisi in the front third, John van’t Schip has gone for a far more mobile attack this season, bringing in four new attackers to compliment Alex Terra.

In former Melbourne Victory attacking midfielder Fred, fellow Brazilian Maycon and Australian attackers Mate Dugandzic and David Williams, the Dutch manager has added much mobility, no doubt looking for plenty of inter-changing of positions in forward transition.

How quickly and successfully he is able to fit them into his preferred 4-3-3 will ultimately dictate how far the Heart can go.

Elsewhere, youth appears to be a focus at the back, and I’m particularly looking forward to watching the development of Curtis Good.

Perth Glory (6th)
We’ve heard it all before, how the Glory look very strong “on paper”. This season, with the addition of Shane Smeltz, Billy Mehmet, Liam Miller, Andrezinho, Danny Vukovic, and a bevy of others, they look stronger than ever.

In Andrezinho, Ian Ferguson looks to have a very exciting and dynamic player-maker, influencing from in behind the strikers, and if the Brazilian can find his feet quickly, he should provide Smeltz and Mehmet with plenty of service.

The big question though is whether Ferguson can pull the right strings at the right time. Hitherto he has struggled as the main man, at both North Queensland and Perth.

Fail with this squad, and he could be on his way.

Sydney FC (5th)
After a disastrous campaign last time around, the hallmark of which was a lack of pace, Sydney’s early work in the transfer market was rather underwhelming, with the club signing three defenders in Pascal Bosschaart, Michael Beauchamp and Jamie Coyne.

While the returning Karol Kisel was among the early recruits, it wasn’t until the big name, Brett Emerton, arrived that Sydney’s attack started to take shape.

While Emerton, Kisel and Nick Carle can be expected to provide plenty of creativity and thrust, the biggest headache for Vitezslav Lavicka is finding enough quality and goals in the front line. That’s why this is a make or break season for Mark Bridge.

Meanwhile, Lavicka also has to nurture his two gun youngsters, Terry Antonis and Dimitri Petratos, and also encourage his defenders to play through midfield rather than look long.

How effective this distribution is from the back will be telling.

Brisbane Roar (4th)
After an incredible campaign last time around, Ange Postecoglou will look to create history and become the first manager to back it up.

It’s no easy task. Not only will he be doing it against teams out to bring the Roar down to earth, he will have to do it minus the goals of Jean Carlos Solorzano and Kosta Barbarouses, and the leadership of Matt McKay.

How quickly he can integrate the likes of Besart Berisha, Kofi Danning and Issey Nakajima-Farran into his fluid 4-3-3 will be decisive.

Equally though, Postecoglou will be looking to fast-track the development of the likes of Rocky Visconte, Mitch Nicholls, James Meyer and Luke Brattan.

If he can re-generate the side and continue to produce the same flowing football, the manager will be on his way to legend status.

Melbourne Victory (3rd)
The arrival of Kewell, the competition’s most recognisable name, means the focus will be firmly on the biggest club in the competition, and how they handle this scrutiny will prove telling.

There’s no doubt the Victory look to have the most star-studded front third, with Mehmet Durakovic spoilt for choice, having to choose four from the following list of eight in his 4-2-3-1; Kewell, Carlos Hernandez, Archie Thompson, Danny Allsopp, Isaka Cernak, Marco Rojas, Tom Pondeljak and Jean Carlos Solorzano.

At the back, he also has the job of bringing through youngsters like Petar Franjic and Matthew Foschini.

This, in itself, creates pressure, and the manager, in his first season, has a big job of not only managing the squad and keeping his players happy, but managing the expectations and noise that surround the club.

If Durakovic can get the job done and Kewell can stay on the pitch, then the competition may just have a side that produces the quality to go with all the hype.

Central Coast Mariners (2nd)
Graham Arnold moulded a very well organised and fluid 4-4-2, featuring a diamond midfield, which proved very hard to beat last season, taking them to within seconds of the championship. Its hallmark was the over-lapping work of the fullbacks, with Josh Rose in particular providing much impetus down the left.

What Arnold appears to have done in the pre-season is stick with the formula, bringing in a few fresh-faces to strengthen the overall squad, including Adriano Pellegrino and Stuart Musialik.

Pellegrino, in particular, should provide plenty of attacking quality from the point of the midfield diamond, which he is expected to share with Mustafa Amini.

What the Mariners lacked last season though was some subtlety in the front line, and if Bernie Ibini-Isei can make the breakthrough and become a first team regular, scoring goals, then the Mariners will take some stopping again.

Adelaide United (1st)
When he came on board late in the pre-season last year, Rini Coolen spoke about his desire to get the team playing a creative game built around short-passing, possession and movement.

But with the squad already settled, he adapted, encouraging his team to stick to its dynamic counter-attacking game, a policy that saw them finish third. At the same time, he started his evolution, introduced the likes of Francisco Usucar and Andy Slory.

In the off-season Coolen has continued to mould his squad, off-loading the likes of Travis Dodd, Lucas Pantelis, Paul Reid and Adam Hughes, and bringing in the likes of Bruce Djite, Dario Vidosic, Spase Dilevski, Evgeniy Levchencko, Jon McKain and Zenon Caravella.

It looks a very balanced and adaptable squad, with an emphasis on ball-playing defenders and midfielders, and a dynamic and skilful front third.

If pre-season form is anything to go by, Coolen already has them ticking, but with so many new players on board, it might take a few games to click into gear.