Will Adelaide United will win the A-League?

unsure if sarcasm but i agree his two appearances off the bench in the 70s was great

@ thebookshelf: Your are correct in your contrast between the players, but part of that can also be explained by the contrasting nature of the teams they played in: WSW only scored 34 goals in total so 8 of them by those midfielders isn't such a bad output, especially when you consider they stood for 11 assists. MV scored 42 goals and whilst Troisi did very well, he played even further upfield in a more attacking-based team. However, I do conceed that Popovic most likely judged both Hersi & Ono to be on the downward steep of their career performance curve and it is more the loss of Mooy which he will be concerned with - as Mooy complemented Poljak well. :-)

@Arto Mooy, Hersi, and Ono scored eight goals between the three of them last season. That is my understanding of "not being up to scratch" any longer. In contrast, Troisi alone scored twelve for the Victory. That was the problem last season, and unless there is additional depth added to the WSW attacking midfield, they will continue to not close out games. We'll have to wait and see which final additions the clubs make to their squad, then we might be a little wiser.

@ Bondy: As regards the football/soccer name thing, I've been reading the articles here on The Roar for long enough to understand that some like yourself want to call it football and nothing else. That's fine at the individual level - each to his own, I say. Personally, I'm not so hung up on whether it's called football or soccer as I see that as a non-issue - usually brought up by people wanting to perpetuate the code war (which I originally commented on being a waste of fans' time as I don't see the need to 'compete' against the other codes)... The times I use the term soccer are purely to avoid confusion and are usually when I have a reference to one of the other football codes. Despite your assertion to the contrary, I think most people whether on The Roar or in Australian society in general would agree that there are 4 football codes in the country and that each codes' supporters call their specific code football. So to allow as many as possible to understand my point of view, I specify which of the 4 codes I am writing about in my comments...

Arto Good mate nice to hear your thoughts. Just a reference we call if football here on this site and football in general in Australia we dont call aussie rules or any other sport football you wouldn't expect us to would you ? . We are a Footballing Association here in Australia not a Soccer Federation ... Enjoy the site ..

@ thebookshelf: Very good analysis and very convincing argument! :-) Regarding Roar, so far in pre-season they have seemed pretty good - although a 0-2 defeat to (my favourite) SFC, a 1-1 draw with CCM (who I tip will finally have their excess baggage catch up to them this year & miss the Finals), and 4-0 win over Jets (who I also think will miss out again on the Top 6) is a bit of mixed bag so to speak. With only 1 more pre-season match scheduled (against NPL team Olympic FC) besides their FFA Cup clash next week, that match against AU could be a pretty accurate guide as to how they will go this year - particularly when the going gets tough with the additional ACL games as you mentioned also for WSW. WSW are a bit of an unknown as you pointed out with them changing their squad so much from last year (although I don't think Mooy, Hersi and Ono were considered not "up to scratch") and it really will come down to how the new boys (particularly Saba & Castellan) perform. As I mentioned they didn't suffer from 2nd Season Syndrome last season, but at some point they will enter a trough (be it through injuries, suspensions, and poor form) and Popovic will have the odd off-day or two also. Prior to their performances against Guangzhou, I thought they would struggle more and possibly only just make the Finals, but now I'm undecided. The additional fixtures will have an affect, I agree, but Popovic showed he can get WSW picking up points without having his "top 11" on the park and I expect that to continue allbeit maybe not to the same extent. I expect their biggest problem will be controlling the midfield as they have lost their biggest assets from that area of the park - Poljak is good, but he'll need help and what happens if he gets injured? I agree that MCFC look good - the big question is whether they can get their players to gel in time?? David Villa is obviously the star attraction, but their choice in midfield is astonishingly good (Koren, Paartalu, Murdocca, Mooy, Ramsay, Duff, Germano, Kalmar, & Brown shows they will be a force if they can play together). Plus, with the EPL experience and a number of solid performers carried on from last year (despite how bad that was!) and also that JvS has a full pre-season to work with, they are definitely titl-contenders. The only caveat I have is that their pre-season form hasn't been so good - 3 losses & a draw against HAL opposition. Still they have a huge amount of potential to fulfill (arguably bigger than any other HAL team), so maybe they will end up #1 after Rnd 27... :-)

@ Bondy: I'm actually a soccer fan first & foremost - don't mind AFL or the other football codes either for that matter, but don't get much of a chance to follow them closely here in Norway... The point I was trying to make is: why bring AFL into this thread? what's the point? IMO, it makes him seem childish & petty and not least he's using his efforts on denigrating another code rather than supporting the game we both like best - where's the logic in that?! Obviously 'trolls' are a different story (and if I caught the 'click bait' then more the fool is me!), but for those of us on here who are actually most interested in discussing football/soccer, the constant trashtalking of AFL or NRL or rugby serves little purpose other than to reinforce immature habits and highlight insecurities in the author's sense of being.... And frankly, I come on here to read & discuss soccer (specifically the HAL!!), so I'm not a fan of wasting my time with drivel concerning the other codes when I do come on here! :-)

@ Arto I think we all agree that the HAL will be much tighter than last year. In this capped league little things will count. I believe that the ACL will have a big impact. If the WSW make the ACL final then a number of their league matches will have to be rescheduled. If they were to win the final they'd go to Marocca in December, and effectively were to play two matches per week for most of the season. It'll cost them points. It is yet to be seen how the Roar will handle the ACL duties. I have no doubt that they will drop valuable points in the league as a result. Regarding the WSW: they were very lucky on match day 27 to win against Heart. Otherwise they would have ended up 4th or even 5th in the table. Instead they ended second, had a week's rest and beat a knackered and tired Mariners side in the semis. Popovich understood very early that he had too many players who weren't up to scratch, and he rightfully let 10 players go. However, I am yet to see an improvement in the WSW creativity department. Considering his track record, one can assume that Castelen is at least as good as Isei. From the little we have seen of Saba so far he should be at least as good as someone like Flores. Beyond that there are no creative players which is why they tried hard to get Troisi. I believe they have two empty spots left in their squad, and they need to be filled with good quality creative players to add depth and spark. Otherwise they can kiss the top three spots goodbye. Regarding the Roar: together with the Jets they could be the only side which looks weaker, not stronger. Berisha and Franjic are big losses. They were chasing the Germans Hanke and Lauth, and ended up with Kurtisi. I very much doubt that he can replace Berisha. Franjic seems irreplacable. Overall they are all a year older. That's a good thing if you have a young squad. If you have an aging squad it start to cause problems. Hence VIC, ESFC, Adelaide have a big advantage. They can play they top 11 every week. Roar and WSW can't. I would not write off Wellington either. In the first half of the season they had to adjust to Merrick, in the middle part they were outstanding, just to see it all fall apart with WC qualifiers and a whole team being out with injuries. Let them perform consistenly over the season, and we are looking at a serious top four contender. Right now my money is on City though. Players with EPL experience in attack, midfield, and defence is someone no other side has. Signing Paartalu was significant. They added talented young players. Add Wielaert, Williams, and Villa and they look frightfully dangerous. Villa will make goals out of nothing, and once he goes they will present their Aussie marque Jesus Kennedy in January.

pat malone Nothing wrong with free speech, you're are quite temperamental you blokes ..

but he needs to put down other codes to feel better about his sport

@ terry: Apart from your post being more fitting on the 'expansion-themed' threads, I would counter-argue that FFA should focus more on a 10-team HAL1 to be augmented with a 10-team HAL2 and a 4-5 team Finals series and 1-2 teams promotion/relegation system. That way you could accommodate teams like Nth Qld Fury again, as well as have a bit more leeway with introducing 3rd Syd/Melb teams - let's face it, the success of WSW in such a short space of time is against the odds! Whilst what they did was excellent, the chances of being able to do the same again in an equally short space of time (ie: 6mths) are miniscule!

@ thebookshelf: I admire your courage for the puting the doubt out there, but to expect either Roar or WSW to NOT make the Top 6 is pretty fanciful! CCM I can agree with as I feel they haven't progressed as much as the chasing pack and were only 6pts ahead of 7th place Jets with -3 GD. Midfielder can possibly comment more here? WSW have proved they can rotate their players and have arguably the best manager in the HAL, but the biggest question marks will be whether their new recruits are as good as the ones they're replacing (Saba vs Ono, Castellan vs Hersi, etc.) - they didn't suffer from "2nd season blues", but maybe they just delayed it??!! ;-) Roar have lost Berisha & Franjic, but have Henrique in better form, Bratten & Broich in the middle of the park, and a very solid Back 4, so they are still a gun team with a proven good manager.

@ Fadida: I think actually the biggest difference will be that they have more tempo to their game and also a more clear gameplan - Farina was too focused on battling and fighting for points rather than playing flowing football, so we had no real gameplan (apart from fighting!) and whenever we had the ball, we played more often than not against a set defense... Btw, I thought you were a WSW fan? :-)

What, MV only at #4??? Wow, that's a big call! What makes you think that? For the record I'm an SFC member so I'd love to see MV fall short of expectations again (sorry MV fans! ;-) ), but I think they've look scarily good so far in pre-season (just like Roar were last season!). I'm not sure we'll come first in the league (the competition is too even for me to dare tip us that high), but I'm sure we'll be one of the most feared teams in the HAL and definitely in with a BIG shout of winning the league with 3-4 rounds to go (however, so will MV, Roar, AU & WSW!). Unlike last year where I predicted a clear Top 2 and then a blanket over 3-8 before PG and Nix fighting for the Spoon, this year I reckon we have a VERY even Top 5 - maybe even Top 6 if Villa lights up the HAL!) and then 4 others chomping at the bit to both avoid the Spoon AND still squeeze into the Top 6. If only ADP were starting his 2yrs at SFC now!!! ;-)

Cricket will be a big distraction as it's a WC year and if we have a disappointing Asian Cup then that could negatively affect the HAL too... Hopefully the soccer on display up to that point will build up a solid foundation of excitement and excellence so that any potential negative impact is still overcome...

@ AZ_RBB: I think the gap HAS decreased - WSW were occupied with ACL, MV have strengthened (despite losing Troisi), and SFC & AU could also be more in the mix too. Plus, whilst they may have recruited Kurtisi and have back-up to Franjic within the squad already, I think pre-season has shown so far that they aren't on the same wave they were on last season so IMO it's going to be a lot closer title-chase - all those 5 have a realistic chance of taking 1st place after Rnd 27, and maybe even MCFC if Villa has a blinder in his 10-game stint (also Koren could be the best player in the league by the end of the season!)... The remaining teams I have my doubts about: PG kept Lowe in charge so they are my tip for the Spoon...

@ Kasey: Do we have to attack the AFL on this site? I was comfortably reading the comments here until I came to yours... As a HAL supporter, my advice to you is: Drop the code war and concentrate on our game!

@ Franko: Seems like a pretty good line-up of yours on paper... I'd question the defence, but I think most teams in the HAL have one of the 4 main lines of players (ie: GK, DEF, MID, ATT) that could have question marks put next to them...

Victory and Adelaide seem to be the favourites every year before a ball is kicked, Adelaide United don't have the winning culture of an Adelaide city to win big finals, they're good bridesmaids but can't see them ever amounting to more, victory had most of its success when the quality of the league was at it's most garbage.

Formidable attacking line. I agree. I think they can win it.