Here is a summary of the most prominent water cooler talk about Round 9 of the A-League.
Brisbane’s brilliant Besart Berisha
The hottest property in the A-League again showed why with a double in the early game on Friday night. If you believe the rumours almost every A-League club has one amazing Albanian on their Christmas list but it is Brisbane at the moment who are reaping the benefits.
The Roar definitely weren’t at their best on Friday but an erratic tackle from Tarek Elrich resulting in a Brisbane penalty and then pure persistence from Brisbane’s lethal striker were enough to take three points home from Cooper’s stadium.
Adelaide again played well but were unable to take anything from the match.
A frustrating situation for the Red’s fans but you feel that if the Adelaide board persist with Josep Gombau his playing style may bear fruit in the latter part of this season which will prepare them for season 10 of the A-League.
Youthful Perth condemn the Phoenix to another away loss
The distance derby as it has been tagged resulted in a 4-2 victory to the Glory on Friday night. Credit to both teams who went out to win the game and as a result the game was open and attacking.
Spectacular for the neutral but maybe not so for the football purist. Perth flyer Sidnei bookended the scoring opening with a bullet before rounding out the scoring when his powerful shot was spilled into the net by Phoenix stopper Glen Moss.
In the absence of the long-toothed Burns, Gallas and the now departed Pantelidis, Perth put out a starting line-up with an average age of 22 which speaks volumes as to what Alistair Clarkson is trying to input in the West.
Wellington however are still yet to pick up a win this season and it doesn’t get any easier when the rampant Roar visit the Cake Tin next weekend.
Harry’s return encouraging for Heart
Harry Kewell got 20 minutes off the bench for Melbourne Heart as they drew with Western Sydney 1-1 at Wanderland. Heart were at least competitive in this game, something that they have failed to show at numerous times this season, although they were under the pump for most of the game.
A point further emphasised by a rare dominance of possession for the Wanderers.
Tactically John Alosi got it right by playing more directly and limiting the threat of Western Sydney’s swarming, pressing game. Tactics implemented to sustain confidence gained from the point against Adelaide.
The Heart recorded an A-League record 18th consecutive game without a win but if the last two weeks are anything to go by a win may not be far away.
Mariners march on as Sydney streak ends
Sydney took the Cove on the road with a trip to Gosford looking for a fifth consecutive win against the premiers on Saturday night. The Mariners ground out a 1-0 result thanks to a neat back heel from Daniel McBreen who returned to the starting line-up.
Marcos Flores was uninspiring in the number 10 role and in the absence of Alessandro Del Piero Sydney decided to play without a number 10 instead adopting a 4-5-1 formation with Nick Carle as the holding midfielder.
Ranko Despotovic worked hard for the Sky Blues but was largely ineffective in his first start for the club. Sydney will welcome back ADP ASAP as they look to get back to winning ways.
A-League’s 1000th showcases everything the A-League has become
Goals, saves, controversy, momentum swings and a team winning against the odds. The A-League’s 1000th game between the Jets and Victory provided a fantastic spectacle and was a great example of the standard of the league.
On the purpose built rectangular stadium at AAMI Park both teams showed attacking intent and displayed young Australian players that have been produced through the National Youth League.
This game proved that there is no such thing as a formality in the A-League. On paper Melbourne Victory should’ve won this comfortably but a plucky Newcastle were up for it and were good for their win.
Nathan Burns broke his goal scoring duck with a brace and James Troisi scored for the home team. Congratulations to the FFA and the fans for 1000 A-League games.
Simulation rears its ugly head again
There were several games over the weekend that had examples of simulation or diving if you like. None of them resulted in incorrect penalties or sending offs but credit must go to the A-League referees.
There have been several howlers from the referees so far this season but credit where credits due. In most cases the referees in question would simply ignore the appeals and didn’t even feel the need to be dishing out cards. Well done to the referees and well done to Osama Malik.
The Adelaide defender bluntly told reporters after the game that he made the most of the contact when questioned about a penalty claim late in the game against Brisbane.
It must be said that it could be difficult for the South American players who come to our league where they are maligned for trying to win a free kick with theatrics. In their home countries this is seen as an art but it is frowned upon in Australia.
The Australian public would like to see more skills and less spills.
Quick fire Questions
Are A-League crowds a concern?
An average of 12,000 for the round. Big crowd pullers Sydney FC and Brisbane and low crowd pullers Heart and Phoenix were all away which is probably a good indication of an average A-League round.
Does the A-League need to address concussion?
When Scott Neville was introduced to Kew Jaliens’ knee Fox Sports commentator Andy Harper expressed the idea of a free substitution to assess a player who may be suffering from concussion. What do we think?
leon
Guest
No RBBQ this time round. Been moved to the next Newcastle away.
clayts
Guest
Surely that would take too much logic and commonsense..
clayts
Guest
is it possible that it isn't exactly all rainbows and sunshine in Wanderland as Fox would have us believe? Is it 3 games in a row without a win now? Uh Oh.. :)
j binnie
Guest
asanchez - Because of the understandable promotion of some "larger" games in the early weeks of the season, allied to the normal interest generated by the season opening again, crowd figures for most teams start higher than normal & as the games unfold the trend is for aggregate crowd numbers to go into decline.There have been 44 games played to date & every club is showing this trend in their aggregate "gates" but is not a worrying occurrence just a normal statistical fact of life. The first part of your statement is correct the aggregate attendance for all games has increased this season by just under 37,000 which is very healthy,however your "up & down" forecast for coming weeks is way "off beam" for the aggregate figure trend will continue to fall,but as shown last season,will slow down until season's end. For example from game 34 to game 44 the average crowd has dropped from 15,329 to14,225..Using last year's trend our average figure by season's end should "drop' by around 1000-1500 per game or around 13,000-13,500,(last year's average at game 135 was12,343) so we still have healthy growth. jb
asanchez
Roar Guru
The crowds are well up on last season, both in average crowds per game and in the overall attendance vs this time last season. About 35k up overall, so that's tracking well. The crowds have been down overall in the last 2 weeks, which isnt ideal, however traditionally this always happens after 6-7 rounds. But what usually happens around Dec/Jan is the stats pick up again, followed by another lull, and then it picks up again coming into the Finals. Im not 100% sure on the TV figures but I'm confident that they'd be pretty similar.
premys
Guest
Should get around 13-15k locals I think on the back of a good result in Melbourne 2nd V 3rd its all the makings of a promoters dream. Are you having your BBQ at magic park again?
Brick Tamland of the Pants Party
Guest
Exactly,i think Franko summed it up nicely by saying "Glory play ok football at times",yes ok football at times is bearable for a year or two not 9.Having said that the first 20-30 minutes on Friday was the most dominant display I've seen Glory impose on an opponent at home for a loooong time,even then we tried our best to completely screw it up.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Yeah, sustained performance/entertainment leads to crowds, but you have to start performing at the required level before people can find out about it.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Saw a lot of people in red and a lot of people in purple on the way into the game. Rather as shame they went head to head as with both sides playing Kiwi teams there was a chance to cash in on Kiwis who could watch both teams instead of splitting the vote, as it were.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Perth have been playing great football when the weather has allowed. Problem was, I think we already (sun)burned a lot of people in the first couple matches. Beyond that, the lack of response from the community is rather frustrating.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
I thought he turned down West Coast to stay at Hawthorn; am terribly surprised to discover he switched codes entirely!
Stevo
Guest
Most probably thought they were going to win easily against a hapless HeartFC so why bother turning up :)
AZ_RBB
Guest
that explains a lot! not sure why WSW were missing 4000 members though.
Uncle Junior
Guest
Worth noting there were three concerts on yesterday in Melbourne to cater for all tastes - Alicia Keys (Hisense Arena), Bon Jovi (Etihad Stadium) and Stereosonic Music Festival (Showgrounds) which would impact the AAMI crowd and Melbourne Tv audience on Foxtel. I'm not an avid music head, but I think it's rare to have 3 such events on the same day? Even so, the crowd at AAMI was the third highest non-Derby ALeague crowd in the history of AAMI Park.
Brick Tamland of the Pants Party
Guest
Was actually more there than I thought would show up,i thought there only be 6-7k Wellington are generally a low drawing side.Great game but Glory need to be performing like that week in week out to see a rise in the numbers at NIB.Great to see De Silva has shaken off that ankle knock he looked so comfortable out there I hope he now gets a run of starts so we can see what he can really do.Would like to see Harold given more starts as well and Matthew Davies has been brilliant filling in for Risdon,if he was playing in a side over east he would getting raved about.
clayts
Guest
Still only an OK crowd. Combine that with just over 20k v Reds the other week, pretty ordinary I reckon. Weather was fine on Sunday too
Australian Rules
Guest
MV v NJ - 56k
Franko
Guest
Can't see AU pulling 9 against CCM. They got 8.5k against Brisbane after the Ashes on a great evening and lost - again. Will be lucky to get 8k unfortunately. I can however help you with a prediction. AU win possession stats 70-30, CCM counter attack twice and cut us apart 2-0, possibly with Nigel Boogard sent off.
Midfielder
Guest
We also have a couple of big rounds coming up... 10 MV V PG .. 18 Nix V Bri .. 5 AU V CCM ... 9 Jets V WSW .. 15 SFC V MH .. 15 Total 62 K 11 Bri V Jets ... 20 MH V MV ... 30 Nix V SFC ... 5 PG V AU .....10 WSW V CCM ... 18 Total 83K 12 SFC V Bri ... 22 MV V WSW ... 11 AU V Jets ... 10 MV V WSW ... 25 CCM V PG .... 14 ... note New Years eve. Total 82K 13 WSW V Nix ... 15 AU V SFC .... 12 Jets V PG ... 14 MV V Roar ... 25 CCM V Heart ... 10 Total 74K
j binnie
Guest
AZ -Comparing aggregate crowds in totals at game 44, Last season we had attracted 590,584. Thia season 627,239. That is a percentage growth figure of 6.25%. With Victory due a run of home games this figure should be maintained over the next 4 weeks.All clubs (except Heart) are showing a decline in their aggregate figures but this is quite normal & nothing to be concerned about,.an annual growth figure of 6% being quite acceptable for most organisations. jb