The A-League is back for another week, and with it comes the usual dose of our expert tips and predictions.
Last week was far from plain sailing for everyone, with Western Sydney’s come-from-behind win in Adelaide and Newcastle’s surprise demolition of the Roar stumping everyone, while only The Crowd and yours truly correctly tipped Melbourne City to get the better of their cross-town rivals.
Having said that, I don’t think anyone was expecting the nature of City’s win to be quite so convincing.
As it currently stands, Mike and Matt are leading the pack with six points apiece, myself and the Crowd are next with five, and Vas and Janek are just a point behind, both with four points.
This week is shaping up as a one which will be just as difficult to tip. Will the mid-week FFA Cup exploits, coupled with the trip to Wellington, stymie Sydney’s perfect start to the season?
Will City follow up their derby day demolition with a win over the Glory? Can either the Victory or Adelaide break out of their early-season slump? And who on earth wins between the Wanderers and the Jets?
Let’s find out.
Mike Tuckerman
Melbourne City, Brisbane Roar, Draw, Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers
Melbourne City vs Perth Glory
Glory were impressive last week, but all the momentum is with the hosts after their recent derby demolition. City win.
Central Coast Mariners vs Brisbane Roar
Both teams were dreadful in Round 2, but the Roar should have the quality to prevail in Gosford. Brisbane win.
Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory
This should be a fascinating clash between two teams looking to kick-start their campaigns. Tough to separate. Draw.
Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC
A litmus test for the high-flying Sky Blues, they’ll hope to have enough in reserve after their midweek FFA Cup exploits. Sydney win.
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Newcastle Jets
Both are coming off last-start wins, but the Wanderers will be keen to make a mark in their new Spotless Stadium home. Wanderers win.
Matt Connellan
Melbourne City, Brisbane Roar, Draw, Sydney FC, Draw
Melbourne City vs Perth Glory
Melbourne City were irresistible at times last weekend. It will be close and Perth will give a good account of themselves, but City at home for me.
Central Coast Mariners vs Brisbane Roar
Brisbane will bounce back from their indifferent showing against Newcastle. The Mariners are just short on defensive quality, for all their enterprise in attack. Brisbane win.
Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory
The original rivalry – the Victory won’t be as bad as they were last week but Adelaide are missing Cirio. A score draw here.
Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC
Wellington are strong at home but Sydney have been superb this season. Milos Ninkovic will be fresh after resting during the week and with Alex Wilkinson and Michael Zullo to come back in, I can’t see them getting beaten. Sydney win.
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Newcastle Jets
I can’t bring myself to tip the Jets to actually win, even though the Wanderers won’t be at their fortress in Parramatta. They just have a way of scrounging results as we saw last weekend but I think the Jets are good for a point. Draw.
Janek Speight
Melbourne City, Brisbane Roar, Adelaide United, Draw, Draw
Melbourne City vs Perth Glory
Perth bounced back from their collapse in Round 1 but this City side is looking the goods. City win.
Central Coast Mariners vs Brisbane Roar
Brisbane’s off-field management problems, as well as their shocking PR, continue. But against the Mariners, they have a perfect chance to show they can still perform on the pitch. Brisbane win.
Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory
Both teams are coming off disappointing home losses. The Victory are still yet to impress, so I’m leaning towards the hosts. Adelaide win.
Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC
Eight goals in just two games for the Sky Blues, which despite being slightly flattering, is mightily impressive. But Wellington have quality in their squad and they need a result. Draw.
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Newcastle Jets
There were big wins for both teams in Round 2, especially for Newcastle. Their first away game will end in a hard-fought stalemate. Draw.
Vas Venkatramani
Melbourne City, Central Coast Mariners, Draw, Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers
Melbourne City vs Perth Glory
Two from two, and now playing their first ‘home’ fixture of the season, Melbourne City are primed to make a statement this season. Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen returns for City after serving a one-game ban, but the attention is up top, given the four goals they put past a hapless Victory last week. Perth restored pride with a 2-0 victory over Wellington following their opening week defensive implosion. Their first away game comes against the high-flying City, and any result will be viewed favourably for the Glory. City win.
Central Coast Mariners vs Brisbane Roar
What is the response when two teams that lost 4-0 in their last game meet together? That is the paradigm for the Mariners and the Roar, who were both humbled on their travels last week. The Roar remain in the Hunter region for this clash, and while both teams remain at the bottom end of the table, desperation will be on show, even if the quality won’t necessarily match. At home, the Mariners should win.
Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory
This is a derby of historic proportions, yet both teams will be unaccustomed to their average starts this season. The Victory should be primed for a response following their humiliation against Melbourne City last week, while the champions Adelaide United are again at home awaiting for their season to truly kick off. Draw.
Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC
It’s a case of the bottom team versus the top. Wellington will be strong at home, but Sydney FC have been dominant. The ‘Nix need their midfield to operate with more fluidity against the early-season pacesetters. Fresh from entering the FFA Cup final midweek, Sydney FC look primed, but this will be their toughest challenge thus far, despite what the table suggests. They should get the win though.
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Newcastle Jets
The Wanderers have their second home game at Olympic Park, and on the evidence of their showing against Sydney FC two weeks ago, it may take some getting used to. The Wanderers scraped a crucial win in Adelaide last week, while the Jets were rampant against Brisbane. Tony Popovic will need to rally his side in order to recapture the spirit of Parramatta Stadium while they call Olympic Park home, and central to that is the boisterous home support. Wanderers are favourites, but Newcastle may again spring a surprise. Western Sydney to win.
Daniel Jeffrey
Melbourne City, Brisbane Roar, Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC, Draw
Melbourne City vs Perth Glory
Perth bounced back from their opening-round disaster nicely, but City looked scary last week. That Tim Cahill bloke looks like a decent signing, doesn’t he? City win.
Central Coast Mariners vs Brisbane Roar
Surely the Roar won’t be as poor as they were last week? I’ll tip them to get the better of Paul Okon’s side. Brisbane win.
Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory
This is a tough one to call, given both sides’ poor starts to the season. However, Victory have too much quality in their side to remain mired in the wrong half of the table. Victory to win.
Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC
There are a couple of hurdles for the Sky Blues to overcome in this one – they’ll be a little weary from their mid-week FFA Cup clash, and the journey to Wellington is never easy to make. That said, they’ve been looking the goods so far this season. Sydney win.
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Newcastle Jets
The Wanderers can consider themselves pretty fortunate to have come away from Adelaide with three points, and the Jets were very impressive last week. They should cancel each other out in Sydney. Draw.
| Round 3 | Mike | Matt | Janek | Vas | Daniel | The Crowd |
| MLC v PER | MLC | MLC | MLC | MLC | MLC | MLC |
| CCM v BRI | BRI | BRI | BRI | CCM | BRI | BRI |
| ADL v MVC | Draw | Draw | ADL | Draw | MVC | ADL |
| WEL v SYD | SYD | SYD | Draw | SYD | SYD | SYD |
| WSW v NEW | WSW | Draw | Draw | WSW | Draw | WSW |
| Last week | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Total | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Well, that’s that for another week of Crowd votes, and draws certainly aren’t the flavour of the round. Plenty of you reckon City will get the job done over the Glory and a majority of Roarers gave Brisbane the edge over Central Coast.
Adelaide have been tipped in the closest fixture of the round (41 per cent of you opted for the home side, 36% opted for the draw and 23% went the way of the Victory), and Sydney FC and the Wanderers were also both given the nod for the Sunday evening games.
Waz
Guest
So pretty much everyone went City. Shows how much people can buy into hype over substance. City's Achilles heal at the seasons kick off looked to be (a) their defence and (b) JVS. Both hurt them last night.
clayts
Guest
I need to remember to put a $50 on the team all the experts are saying will lose. I'll be able to retire at the end of the year. Could get $5 for Perth at kick off
AZ_RBB
Guest
Do you really want to waste that many on the Jets? BCF dont have another sale for ages.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I was saying earlier in the week that ALeague fans are a little different in the sense that because of the relative youth of the league, rapid growth and the nature of the sporting landscape that it's in, you can't help but look at some of the metrics. I consider attendance to be a vital metric especially because there is such a fan vs fan element in the ALeague. You know the whole "our fans are better than your fans". In a team of only 10 teams you sometimes craves those extra dimensions.
punter
Guest
So many flares, you are going to attract the flare police onto this thread, especially those who follow that FLAIR LESS mono culture sport.
Fadida
Guest
Why the crowd predictions??? Only in Australia
Al
Guest
CITY 3-1 CCM 1-0 ADE V VIC Draw SYD FC 2-1 (they need to concede eventually) WSW V JETS 1-1
The Phantom Commissioner
Roar Rookie
Draw Draw Draw Draw WSW..Lot's of draws this weekend then!
The Phantom Commissioner
Roar Rookie
Tonights game will certainly be won in midfield, i'm hoping with Alex Grant back in the squad that Rhys Williams will partner Rostyn Griffiths as the two holding midfielders which will give us that extra bit of steel in midfield.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Only 5.5 flares? I'm taking 10 in on my own.
Paul
Guest
City v Perth. Draw with Colazzo and Taggart out. 11k CCM v Roar. Draw without the Corona replacement fit. 6k Adelaide v M. Vic. Draw with a 3pt deduction. Victory can't play that badly twice in a row but they don't have a ready made Finkler replacement. 15k Nix v East Sydney. Draw or Nix win. First away game for Arnie's team. Wilkinson injured last week so expect Ryall to play against a non-jet lagged Phoenix team with Finkler, McGlincy, Bonevacia, Krishna and Barbarouses . 9k WSW v Jets - Wanderers win with signs of cohesion starting with Aspro more mobile than Borda or Cornthwaite. Left defence looked better last week plus 8 day turnaround. Also, the attacking third is starting to tick. Would really like to see Bulut with more time with Martinez instead of being subbedDid not see the Jets-Roar game but the commentary has been that the Roar had 3 howlers to gift the Jets with 3 goals. FFA scheduling stuff up AGAIN. How can they put a Nix game on Sunday with Australian start time of 5:00pm so the start time during the school term is 7:00pm on a Sunday night. New stadium but thinking 15-16k.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Alrighty another round. Good times ahead. etc etc City v Perth - 14k. Over/Under 3.5 flares As strong as I think Perth might be this season I don't think they'll have enough to get anything here. City are on a high and fully expect to continue this. Central Coast v Brisbane - 7k. Over/Under 0.5 flares I can already tell you CCM will be the better team in this game. Even if they lose 7-0, CCM will have more possession and feel robbed. Adelaide v MVFC - 16k. Over/Under 6.5 flares This week's marquee fixtures. Should be a top notch match. Both teams will feel like they have a lot to prove. Adelaide as the defending champs. MVFC as the pre-season favourites. I think it'll be a draw. But hoping it's an entertaining draw. Wellington v SFC - 7k. Over/Under 0.5 flares SFC are in some extraordinary form at both ends of the field. I'm most interested to see if they can keep their clean sheet streak going. Regardless they should return home with all 3 points. WSW v Newcastle - 19k. Over/Under 5.5 flares We got the points last week but it wasn't particularly pretty. Whereas Newcastle were awesome. This is hardly a home match for us either. I don't think we'll win here. Take the draw.
tully101
Roar Guru
city, 12k. be interesting to see how both defences will cope with each others attack ,however glory are missing the "grunt" in the midfeild, that city have in Brattan and Kilkenny. Whoever wins the midfield, wins the game. 2-1 Mariners, 7k. Both teams have started, and conceded 4 last week. if cousins Taveres and Faty can actually perform, Mariners could keep a clean sheet for once, i'm calling it, 2-0 Victory, 14k, two underwhelming teams so far. however victory have the better players atm, and Adelaide are looking toothless upfront, and if Valeri and Bozniac work well together, it could be quite ugly. 3-0 Sydney, 8k, it is hard to win away at Wellington, but if it is to be done two games in a row, Arnold's well oiled Sydney outfit will do it, Looking extremely dangerous upfront and solid in the midfield. Krishna and Kosta could exploit some of the slower Sydney defenders, but i don't see them having too much of an opportunity to do so, 1-0 Draw, 18k, New stadium, new team (pretty much wsw) and new owners (for one), this is the real brain teaser this week, both teams seem to be the mystery cases this year. difficult to call either way, but the jets can be resilient when required, and i see them putting in a shift against the wanderers, 0-0
Griffo
Roar Guru
City Draw Adelaide Draw Jets (fingers crossed)
Waz
Guest
Draw City/Glory Roar (pleeeeeeease!!!) Victory Draw Nixs/Smurfs WSW
Kaks
Roar Guru
Melbourne City vs Perth Glory - Draw Central Coast Mariners vs Brisbane Roar - Draw Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory - Draw Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC - Nix Western Sydney Wanderers vs Newcastle Jets - Draw