After we witnessed the most astonishing A-League season in its eight-year history, the sudden-death finals series will kick off tonight at Etihad Stadium between Melbourne Victory and the rejuvenated Perth Glory.
Last time these teams met was two weeks ago at AAMI Park, with both teams missing key players from international duty and the Glory claiming a 3-2 victory over Melbourne.
Melbourne come off a 3-2 win over Wellington at Westpac Stadium on Sunday, which was the club’s first win since round 23 when the Victory destroyed Newcastle Jets 5-0.
The game on Sunday was not a polished performance according to Ange Postecoglou, but Victory’s coach was pleased with the win as it will give his team momentum for the elimination final match.
Victory’s game on Sunday was not their best performance, as the Phoenix controlled most of the game but Melbourne took their chances when they had possession of the ball.
The opening goal was a four-pass play which started with Leigh Broxham at holding midfield, who passed to Archie Thomson, Thompson to Conner Pain and the final pass to Marco Rojas in the first half.
Victory’s second and third goals were from set plays in the second half. Their third goal was scored when the score was 2-all, as Melbourne had a little nap and invited Wellington to score two quick goals to level it.
Their defence in the last few rounds have caused concern as opposition teams catch Victory’s defence off guard and capitalise on it.
Victory will come into the finals with the worst defence out of the six teams, with 45 goals conceded, which you would think it will be their focus in training this week.
Captain Adrian Leijer will need to rally his defensive teammates with the assistance from their holding midfielders Broxham and Mark Milligan, as a Perth counter attack could threaten Victory’s finals campaign.
Their major strength is their attack. Victory also came into the finals as the most scored team with 48 goals with Central Coast Mariners.
Postecoglou’s attack is arguably one of the best in the A-League, with Rojas and Thompson’s strike rate being proven during the season.
Perth drew with Adelaide United 1-1 in Perth on Saturday night with thanks to Danny Vukovic’s last-minute save from an Adelaide free kick off the last play of the match.
It continued their great form into the finals, picking up ten points since round 23.
Credit must be given to Alistair Edwards, who has taken over a demoralised team and many people (including myself) believed that Perth Glory season was over due to their lack of scoring goals when Ian Ferguson was in charge a few months back.
Perth’s dominance throughout the match was shown as Perth’s players used the width of the fields for their attacks, which gave Ryo Nagai a lot of chances to score during the game, though he failed to convert a penalty in the middle of the first half which would have taken Glory 1-0 up at half time.
Overall Nagai and Scott Jamieson were best on ground with Jamieson looking threatening when attacking the left side of the field.
It reminded me of back in the days when he was playing with Adelaide how dangerous his attacks were when in possession of the ball and has sparked his form back since moving to Perth from Sydney FC.
When Jamieson did not establish his form during his stint with Sydney FC the move was a good option for Jamieson’s career and it is paying good dividends for Perth Glory.
Going into this game tonight, both teams will need to take their opportunities and full concentration is needed to succeed as both teams turnovers have cost them goals via counter attack.
A good example was shown in Perth’s game, leading most of the game and being in control.
At the 90th minute a turnover from Perth gave Jake Barker-Daish for United the chance to equalise the game and Adelaide could have won the game but for Danny Vukovic’s save.
Melbourne will be having players Mark Milligan, Archie Thompson and Marco Rojas in their line-up which they did not play two weeks ago and Perth is hoping Shane Smeltz is available from injury.
I believe this game will be a very entertaining battle and could go down to penalties shootout (hope not).
I think Victory will win this game by a goal, with Melbourne having more experience in their side and their passionate supporters matching them on at Etihad.
It will be tough for Glory, but the Glory will play will great determination and effect and who knows what could happen in this match.
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