Normally at this time of the season, I put together my A-League team of the season. But this time around I’ve decided to do something a little different.
With our domestic competition fast becoming what it should have been all along, a nursery for Australia’s brightest talent, this time around I’ve put together an under-21s team of the season.
What’s most notable is the quality of the players I had to leave out.
Try the likes of Mustafa Amini, Jacob Pepper, Daniel Bowles, Marco Rojas, Antony Golec, Terry Antonis, James Jeggo, Chris Harold, Nick Fitzgerald, Petar Franjic, Matthew Foschini, Ben Kantarovski and Zac Anderson.
That’s more than a team on its own, and I’ve left out a few others.
So good was the talent available that I could comfortably draw a line above those players now aged 21 or under, which unfortunately ruled out four 22-year-olds that have been excellent this season in Jared Tyson, Adama Traore, Joel Chianese and Mate Dugandzic.
What this selection aims to do, of course, is reward those youngsters that have performed consistently for most of the season.
While the FFA has its own young footballer of the year award, with a different player nominated for each of the six months of the season, what that does, unfortunately, is ignore those players who have been consistent but haven’t necessarily stood out in any particular month.
The FFA’s five nominations so far this season are James Brown (October), Bernie Ibini (November), Mustafa Amini (December), Mat Ryan (January) and Tomas Rogic (February).
While all have been fitting winners in their respective month, to my mind it’s somewhat of a tragedy that both Ben Halloran and Eli Babalj, consistent throughout the campaign, have yet to receive a nomination.
While there’s still one nomination to go this month, it’s amazing to think that at least one of them won’t be among the nominations at the annual A-League awards night next month.
But here, in this XI, both Halloran and Babalj get some love. Here it is.
Goalkeeper
There was only one real option here, with Ryan now pushing Eugene Galekovic for the title of best keeper in the competition, let alone best youth keeper.
What impresses me so much about Ryan’s work is just how quickly he moves his feet. So sharp are his initial few steps that he is often able to get to balls others wouldn’t dream of reaching.
While Ryan is the only U-21 keeper currently getting regular game-time in the A-League, a couple of very talented youngsters in Mark Birighitti (21) and Andrew Redmayne (22), await their opportunity.
Birighitti, in heading to Newcastle next season, is good enough to push Ben Kennedy. As well, it gives another up and coming custodian, Paul Izzo, a chance to step into the number two role at Adelaide.
Meanwhile, Tyson impressed despite the issues on the Gold Coast. Our goalkeeping stocks continue to look good.
Back four
I toyed with the option of a back three, featuring two fullbacks and one central defender, just to give me a few more options on the final third, where there are a number of youngsters begging to be picked.
But for the sake of balance and having a functioning XI, I decided to go with a four. As well, there wasn’t much between the Melbourne Heart’s two young central defenders, Curtis Good and Brendan Hamill, who have both developed their game well throughout the season, getting 18 starts each.
On the right side of defence, I’ve been extremely impressed with Perth Glory’s Josh Risdon, who cemented his spot soon after a long term injury to Scott Neville and has never looked back. Foschini has been a bit up and down.
With Traore one year too old for this team and Jack Hingert only getting sporadic opportunities for the Roar (in which he impressed), Behich has comfortably been the stand-out young left back, driven forward regularly to add much impetus to the Heart attack.
Able to play high, Behich has allowed John van ‘t Schip to adapt between a back three and four, and he provides that option here.
A special mention also to Golec, who bounced back from his early season Twitter issues to earn an extended two-season contract.
Central midfield
Choosing a holding midfielder was no easy task, with a trio of youngsters, in Osama Malik, Pepper and Jeggo impressing in the second half of season.
Pepper, in particular, really caught the eye as Gary van Egmond introduced more youth and mobility in the centre of his midfield, while Jeggo in recent weeks has also shown he has a future.
Others that have featured in the crucial holding role include Antonis and Kantarovski, but the youngster that has perhaps looked the most comfortable in 2012 has been Malik.
In truth, he showed plenty of potential in the holding midfield alongside Gareth Edds at the North Queensland Fury last season, but there has been a noticeable difference between his work there and his work for John Kosmina.
At the Fury, Malik often drove forward from his holding role. At Adelaide, he’s dropping-off, demanding the ball, spraying it left and right with his cultured right foot. It looks exciting.
Ahead of him, I’ve gone for a kid who shone in the first half of the season, in Brown, alongside one who took the second half of the season by storm, in Rogic.
While Brown is nominally a more attacking player, playing either in the number 10 role or out wide in a front three, he proved for the Olyroos that he can do a job in a more withdrawn role, so I’m playing him between Malik and Rogic, in the crucial link role.
Rogic, while he has only featured in 10 games, has done enough to get the number 10 jersey ahead of his team-mate Amini, who had an excellent return to the Mariners team pre-Christmas, but has struggled a touch since returning from Olyroo duty.
It’s a midfield without room for Amini, Antonis, Pepper and Jeggo, and that says much about the potential that is around.
Front three
With the line drawn at 21 years of age, and Dugandzic and Chianese missing out as a result, it was a case of choosing three from four possible front-men.
Harold was the unfortunate one to miss out, with Ibini having to be shifted out wide, to the left, to make way for Babalj through the middle.
Of course, the other option was to play Brown higher, but that would only have created more selection headaches, so his adaptability gave him a berth in midfield.
Halloran, with his sheer pace and desire to burst past players and get to the byline, would be some sight linking up with the feet and finishing of Babalj and the pace and ruthlessness of Ibini.
With the problems Olyroos boss Aurelio Vidmar had in finding a creative from third during the Olympic qualifiers, it’s tantalising to think what might have been had he given this front three a shout.
Tony’s Youth (U21s) team of the season (4-3-3)
——————————-Mat Ryan———————————
—————————————————————————–
——————–Curtis Good—- Brendan Hamill——————-
Josh Risdon ————————————————-Aziz Behich
——————————————————————————-
———————————Osama Malik——————————
———————–James Brown—————————————-
—————————————–Tomas Rogic———————-
——————————————————————————-
——Ben Halloran————————————Bernie Ibini——-
———————————-Eli Babalj———————————-
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Salah was dropped from the starting side for the visit to London - and the striker was involved in a furious confrontation with Klopp…
Liverpool have fallen further out of contention for the Premier League title - but that's perhaps the least of Jurgen Klopp's problems. Just as…
Liverpool have reached a verbal agreement with Feyenoord for their head coach Arne Slot to succeed Jurgen Klopp at the end of the season.…
The past 18-24 months have been an enjoyable ride for Arsenal and their fan-base after almost a decade of turbulence. Mikel Arteta has been…
Manchester City have chalked up another big win in their hunt for an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title, with Phil Foden continuing his…
Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
