A-League 2015-16 started off with an entertaining opener on Thursday night in western Sydney, featured a mixed bag in between, and finished off with a rather drab encounter across the Tasman.
There were glimmers of hope for almost every club, with the performances on the pitch suggesting that this will be one of the most competitive and tightest seasons in the league’s short history.
Three clubs produced ‘upsets’, with last season’s under-performers – Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets – all finishing Round 1 at the top of the table.
The other two fixtures, featuring clubs many have tipped for top four honours, finished in stalemates, though nevertheless provided fans with a taster of future fortunes.
The average gate for Round 1 was 12,916, with the 64,580 aggregate down about 25,000 from last season’s opening weekend. Definitely nothing to be too concerned about, especially with Melbourne Victory’s large support missing.
There has been negativity in the media about the lack of high-profile imports arriving this season, and that will no doubt hit some crowd averages. The lack of pulling power may even result in the average attendance falling from last season, with uncertainty surrounding a number of clubs also contributing.
However, if every club remains competitive this season – which seems likely based on the first week – we should see those figures rise. Competition across the league is more valuable in drawing widespread crowds than short-fix marquee names at the cash-rich clubs.
If the overall standard improves it will vindicate the lack of big-name signings. That will come down to many of the new faces arriving in the A-League this season, and there was a lot to get excited about from the first week.
The imports
Brisbane’s Corona was the standout, looking a class above in John Aloisi’s successful return to the A-League. The 34-year-old was cool on the ball, measured with his passing and impressed with his vision. His set pieces were also quality, and led to two goals.
A 3-1 win for Brisbane over Western Sydney was slightly flattering, with the Wanderers guilty of wasting good chances stemming from periods of dominance. Their defence on set pieces also deserved a belting. The Roar took their chances, and Corona was a crucial cog.
Wanderers debutant Federico Piovaccari was lambasted on social media, with some having the cheek to compare him to Dino Kresinger. Yet the Italian made a solid debut, despite a shocking miss when trying to execute a theatrical scissor kick.
Piovaccari showed enough quality to suggest Tony Popovic’s faith has been well placed. Strong on the ball, suited to the physical nature of the A-League, and technically proficient, there is more to come from the striker. His combination with teammate Dimas will be one to watch as they get accustomed to each other.
The other two standouts were Filip Holosko, who scored on debut in Sydney FC’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne City, and Milos Ninkovic. The latter in particular looked all class, and his role in the No.10 slot will prove vital for Graham Arnold.
Holosko showed that while he is not the striker to replace Mark Janko, he is the man to supply quality balls for main man Shane Smeltz. One pass in particular, from within his own half, almost put the Kiwi through on goal in the second half. The two imports already look comfortable.
For City, Thomas Sorensen produced an expected display – making some quality saves but also looking a bit rusty at times. The Dane will take time to regain form after a long stretch without football, but will win City valuable points this campaign.
Bruno Fornaroli also looked sharp for City, forging a quick understanding with youngsters Wade Dekker and Hernan Espindola. The movement of City’s front three was impressive.
While only watching highlights of the Central Coast Mariners’ 3-2 victory over Perth Glory makes it difficult to judge, Roy O’Donovan scored on debut, making a perfect start to life in Gosford. Englishman Mitch Austin was also reportedly a handful on the left wing.
The jury seems out on Perth’s imports so far – Diego Castro reportedly frustrating, Guyon Fernandez conceding a poor penalty, and Gyorgy Sandor scoring but not knowing much about it.
The Newcastle Jets secured a surprising 2-1 victory over Wellington, arguably in a smash-and-grab performance, and Leonardo showed glimpses of quality. Though both he and goalscorer Milos Trifunovic looked undercooked. The duo will improve as they increase their fitness. Meanwhile, Wellington’s Jeffrey Sarpong did not really get a chance to make a distinct impression.
Impressive debuts
Outside the foreign influx, there were a number of Australian youngsters either making their full debut in the A-League or their club debut.
First up was Melbourne Victory’s Thomas Deng, who came on in the 78th minute of a 0-0 draw with Adelaide United on Friday night. With Victory down to 10 men (thanks to a ridiculous Leigh Broxham red card), the 18-year-old centre-back was relied on to help see out the game.
An early slip did not make a promising start, yet when faced with a fleet-footed Marcelo Carrusca Deng not only thwarted the Argentine’s charge towards goal, but also prevented a corner with a late sliding tackle. Impressive for one so young, and coming up against one of the trickiest forwards in the league. Promising stuff for an already exceptional Victory defence.
At the other end of the field was John Hall, making his first start for Adelaide with Eugene Galekovic on Socceroos duty. He had some nervy moments – he does not look great with the ball at his feet – yet the 20-year-old made some decent saves, especially from Gui Finkler towards the end. A solid if unspectacular debut.
The aforementioned Dekker made a great start to his Melbourne City career, netting a well taken goal to give his side the lead over Sydney FC. Dekker first dispossessed a mediocre Jacques Faty before running onto Fornaroli’s pass, and with two defenders closing in the 21-year-old produced a cool finish at the near post.
Last was Brandon O’Neill, who was superb in central midfield for Sydney. Credit to Arnold for giving him an early debut, the 21-year-old looked completely comfortable. His through ball which led to Holosko’s equaliser was top notch. Perth will regret not giving him more game time, he would have been a perfect replacement for Rostyn Griffiths.
Golden Boot candidates
Jamie Maclaren immediately vindicated pre-season predictions that he would fire at Brisbane, claiming two goals in the Roar’s win over Western Sydney. The first was an expertly taken lob over Andrew Redmayne (who was poor), and the second the type of poacher’s goal that wins goalscoring competitions.
Fabio Ferreira also has two for Central Coast, though as a winger is would be a big surprise if he scored enough to win the golden boot. If only Tony Walmsley had entrusted new signing O’Donovan with penalty duties, he would be on three. That said, there is no better penalty taker than Ferreira in the A-League, both efforts were superb. Alan Shearer-esque, even.
The other two main contenders for the Golden Boot did not break their 2015-16 duck. Besart Berisha was bizarrely off-key against Adelaide, fluffing a number of decent chances. But it is Berisha, surely he can’t have two stinkers in a row?
Then there was Smeltz, who has been given the No.9 duties at Sydney FC. He was largely kept quiet against Adelaide, often drifting wide or deep to pick up possession. You can’t count him out though, not with Ninkovic and Holosko around to service his needs.
Ian
Guest
Through pressure applied and play by Brisbane Roar?
Ian
Guest
I guess we should have been happy and not express disappointment and outrage at the abysmal handling of multiple issues by the owners of our club.
Brick Tamland of the pants party
Guest
Some big news coming out of the Glory today and Andy Keogh's return seems to be the hot tip. Of course this is the Glory we are talking about could just be the new surface at NIB is ready to play on or something.
Waz
Guest
Correct. Western Sydney lost the game. Keep racking up the excuses mind you - I believe "the floodlights were in my eyes", "the wind was in the wrong direction", "the grass was the wrong shade of green" and my favourite " Kerem Bulut had an off night" are all still available. However if you're running short of excuses you can always call 'dial-an-excuse' ..... I believe it starts with 02 :)
Waz
Guest
Of course not josh, sorry. Mind you - at least I didn't think he was playing for western Sydney last Thursday night like you lol
Realfootball
Guest
Great first round. The first derby will fire up the public profile nicely. I'm picking Adelaide and Wanderers to place 7 and 8 respectively. Amor looks clueless and Popa has blown his recruiting again. I'm also far from convinced about either his man management or his tactical smarts. Brisbane to be the surprise packet this season. Victory and Sydney to battle it out at the top. Melb City haven't got enough firepower this season. Perth to finish last. I think the Mariners, who I previously tipped to finish bottom, will sneak into the 6. There was a lot to like in their play against Perth. Nix haven't got enough goals in them to trouble the scorers, to borrow from Richie Benaud. Finally, the League does unfortunately have a slightly stale feel about it this season. We need another two teams, urgently. No idea where they will come from but long term 10 teams just aren't enough, and we're in the long term now.
TK
Guest
Give us a break fuss. I seem to recall years ago when i joined this tab the mvfc fans grizzling constantly about their treatment at the hands of your stadium security forces. The last 18 months has been an off pitch debacle that members and fans have been right to vent over and obviously made worse cos there was no football going on to divert our attention from the problems that even now are not resolved. ..just the season has started so theres a bit more to focus on that while we await the next chapter in the chose your own adventure style of management up here in brisbane.
Boban Fett
Guest
If Guyon Fernandez keeps playing like he did Stefan Valentini could be getting a lot more game time. Here's the Glory lineup I'd like to see this week: GK: Covic RB: Risdon CB: Djulbic (c) CB: Thwaite LB: Golec DM: Oxborrow CM: Sandor CM: Marinkovic RW: Castro LW: Sidnei CF: Fernandez SUBS: Tyson, Grant, Gligor, Harold, Valentini
Waz
Guest
That would explain AUs approach. It nearly cost them though, they should have lost. What I don't get is why Amor is trying to change their playing style so soon - what worked for them last year isn't working in the two competitive games this season.
Waz
Guest
The counter-attack thing has been our soft underbelly for a couple of seasons, I guess it emphasises the need to get the high-press right. And probably also why Roar went so tight defensively in the second half. These two sides were a conundrum going in to this: Roar with an unproven coach but a relatively settled squad, Wanderers with a proven coach but an unsettled/new squad ... I just don't get (what seems to me) an over-reaction from media in NSWs? At half time it could easily have been 3-2 even 3-3 but equally having led 3-1 at h/t Roar had the three best chances in the second half one of which should have been buried (Borrello one on one with the keeper, kaluderovic would have finished it) so shock would have been justified at 4-1 or certainly 6-1 but over 90 minutes Wanderers were pretty much two goals worse than Roar imo but that's no reason for what seems an over-reaction in defence of Wanderers, it suggests things aren't at all stable in the west of Sydney when post-match propaganda appears (bizzarly even stretching to misreporting the match stats)
Horto Magiko
Roar Rookie
Can't remeber the AUFC player, in his post game interview stated that they were actually only playing for a draw...or to basically contain MVFC.. Give em a bit of time to gel with their new gaff and 9 though...not that I'm predicting any silverware for them this year..but then anythings possible with a coach who's had such a decorated and prolific playing career at the highest level....if he can convert that into coaching nous that is.. As for popovic, by the looks of things he is attempting a change in style.. IMO Covic is solid but doesn't have feet.. Completely agree re redmayne though. Makes you wonder what's going on in popas head.
Janek Speight
Expert
Agree on Redmayne, Popovic will regret letting Covic go. The difference between those two could be a couple of wins.
Janek Speight
Expert
Agree, Waz. I didn't think it was an upset at all, hence the inverted commas. Though based on most predictions from MSM about the Roar it was. WSW were the better side in the first half, Brisbane looked extremely flat-footed dealing with counter-attacks. But they improved, took their chances, deserved the win.
Eamonn Flanagan
Roar Rookie
Worst signings of the a league off season? Early days but when Diego Castro wouldnt pass to Fernandez during the game for Perth u just wondered if Castro has seen in training what we saw in the game. Will he last five weeks? Popovic. Signing Andrew Redmayne as your number 1 keeper is incomprehensible. You cant be a top four keeper with him in your team can you? Vukovic, Sorensen, Covic mean the Victory Heart and Glory defenders have real confidence and personality behind them. What was Popovic thinking? Beyond belief that WSW have their whole strategy based around Redmayne. Hope they prove me wrong! And lets not forget the legacy of Josip Gambau. Whoosh. Yep think it was the first minute when john hall booted long clearly hehad no Gambau like Iinstruction to olay from the back. Love legacy. But Adelaide are a different already under Amor. And it ain't better.
SVB
Guest
Steve I detect from your posts that you spend more time talking about what you hate than what you like. Surely you can find something more productive to do with your life.
Horto Magiko
Roar Rookie
Steve Haha! Fussballs merry men. Funny. Yep me and old fuss, blood brothers till the end lol. This is all about the unbearable snobbery and the constant denigration of the HAL that we're all sick of. When I was last based in Europe id be constantly getting updates about the HAL..but truth be told, I was obviously more viscerally connected to the local clubs/games I was attending week in week out.. Mostly top tier European football. Now that I'm based here again, the same is true for the NPL/HAL. Football isn't only on the pitch...it's community, and it's relative...It doesn't exist in a void or in your case, ONLY on foxtel. And really Its not all about eating a 3 Michelin star meal 7 days a week in an Ivory tower either. Peasant cuisine is some of the best food in the world lol. In fact give me a little restaurant off the beaten path with no menu any day of the week. And that's not being hipster about it as you'll probably argue..it's what's called being an actual football fan as opposed to being a sofa bound, EPL/La Liga groupie with a pay TV subscription.
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
This season has been 5 games for crying out loud & you yourself has only seen about 90 minutes of it!!!! Call us names if you like Steve. 'Fuss & his merry men'. I have my own opinion & don't always agree with Fuss, but yet you accuse us of calling names for not agreeing, yet you doing same. I enjoyed my first game on Sat night & enjoyed most of the game it or you don'es, were they all great games, no. It's been a long off season. However, I was there for the first game of the season with 17K others & I don't really need stats to show me whether I enjoyed or not.
Lionheart
Guest
of course I only mean the media the rest of us are the same all over, all equally parochial
Waz
Guest
Sorry, duplicate post. Looks like the # comment held it up first time
josh
Guest
Because anyone who comments on a player and doesn't even know the league he currently plays in isn't worth taking seriously.