Sausage rolls and own goals: A-League Round 19 talking points

When thinking of the title for this week’s talking points, there were really only two things that stood out: that shocking own goal and those even more stupefying sausage rolls.

This was sort of testament to the quality of football we saw over Round 19 but as the social scrutinising football piranhas we are, there is never a shortage of things to debate.

Here are four talking points from Round 19 of the A-League.

Popa in Popa out, then you shake it all about
Same old, same old from Western Sydney. Dominating chances, dominating possession and by some miraculous affair two goals have been robbed off their watertight defence by Irishman Roy O’Donovan for the Central Coast Mariners.

I’d hardly call it robbed considering Mitch Nichols lead the line for the Wanderers, showing that lack of communication and firepower in the final third once again as chance after chance came flying thick and fast into the box but no soldier heeded the call.

Yet another disenchanting performance from the Western Sydney Wanderers has confidently rooted them to a fight for the finals. This is hardly the position coach Tony Popovic wants to be in considering the Asian Champions’ League group stage is fast approaching.

An Arsenal fan predicament seems to be emerging in the Wanderers camp as fans are split on social media on the #Popain or #Popaout debate. Restlessness has been lurking around the fans for some time as they believe Tony Popovic’s lacklustre recruiting power is once again manifesting into a fan fiasco.

Recruitment is just a small portion of the cauldron of Wanderers troubles. Tactics, substitutions, press conferences almost everything is tipping fans over the edge about the man and in fact fancy the Shanghai Shenhua move for their struggling manager.

Popa has to juggle both domestic and continental competitions and with the squad he has now, Wanderers fans won’t think missing out on a knockout berth will be a major surprise from their season.

Free sausage rolls can’t save Thursday nights, unfortunately
No-one likes football on Thursday nights. Let’s be real. Tipping the debate over the iceberg was the ploy at Allianz Stadium to hand out free sausage rolls if Sydney FC were up by two goals before the 70th minute.

Despite the fantastic double salvo by the league leaders, I sat there, in shock as Tara Rushton was brutally attacked by a small plastic canister of sauce and thought. What have we come to?

Out of seven matches played on Thursday nights this season only two have managed a crowd above ten thousand. Both crowds were in Melbourne for the Australia Day Big Blue and City’s encounter with the Mariners.

The five other matches have hardly nudged over nine thousand and affect the already mundane atmosphere at this point of the season.

Attendees under the age of 16 are the major part of our target audience and when school and work are involved, Thursday nights are a no-no.

I think this debate has run its course but I think a ‘Mates Night Out’ on a Thursday night really only reminds me of shopping with the missus instead of a football match.

FFA, Thursday nights suck. Sincerely, A-League fans.

Prodigal son Paul Okon performing miracles on the coast
As Paul Okon entered the offices on the Central Coast he was given three burned sticks and simply told “rebuild it”.

It seemed impossible with the inability to make signings of his own and a squad mixed with inexperienced players and ‘oldies’ passed their time.

Little did the A-League know the little Italian had a degree in carpentry and has proceeded to find the right formula to build the Okon dynasty on the coast as he saws and sands his way to the finals.

Okon has been given right of way this season, taking over a side that had just endured one of its worst seasons in its history. The former Socceroo has intelligently blended his youth and experience, playing a spectacular counter-attacking style which has earned the Mariners their third win on the trot culminating in a fantastic victory against the Western Sydney Wanderers at Spotless Stadium.

Say what you will but more points already than last season’s final tally, playing better football, getting better crowds as well as the absence of the aura of embarrassment around the club and I can tell you confidently that that is progress.

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, well Okon just got started on the Spanish Steps to the finals.

Melbourne City catch a crab in the Yarra
Much was expected of Melbourne City this season, the most expensive roster in A-League history, last season’s top scorer, Socceroos legend and a stylish midfield, the FFA Cup win was only the beginning of what seemed a new reign of power in the city of Melbourne and in the A-League.

Fast forward three months and City, down their manager, find themselves in equal fourth.

They did fantastically this round to fight back for a 2-2 draw at home to Brisbane but it came at the hefty cost of possibly the third place qualifying spot in the Asian Champions League.

The bare minimum for City this season and as Perth gobbled up the deficit between them, it seems it’s slipping further away under Michael Valkanis.

City’s defence were breached often against Brisbane carelessly allowing a predator like Jamie Maclaren the room to manoeuvre and stalk Sorensen and twice catch him in his coils.

It’s no surprise that since their FFA Cup win they have racked up only two wins at home and maintained only one clean sheet.

After Round 19 they see themselves only two points behind Brisbane Roar, a nice number on the eye but if they can’t maintain their leads and stack up in defence, then expect a new main man come next season as well as an altered roster.

Round 20 sees the third Sydney Derby hit our screens as The Wanderers need to rally together to stay safe in sixth. An enticing encounter rounds of a triple header as Perth look to hopefully jump into that third spot on the A-League ladder as they have a chance to throw a spanner in the works for the race to the Asian Champions League.