Five talking points from A-League Round 19

As we enter the final third of the Hyundai A-League season Round 19 threw up plenty of exciting stories to tell, especially under the watchful eye of the new Socceroos boss Bert Van Marwijk who attended three A-League matches this weekend.

Without further ado, here are five talking points from A-League’s Round 19.

Socceroos top dog Van Marwijk brings out the best… and the worst
The 2010 World Cup finalist coach attended three matches in New South Wales, viewing top versus bottom as Sydney FC put four past a hapless Wellington, a hot race at the top of the table as Newcastle defeated Melbourne Victory, and a sunny Sunday afternoon on the Coast as the Mariners fell to the Wanderers.

In all three contests the focus and concentration was hyped up, everyone seemed on guard under the scrutiny of the new top dog.

Some players seriously impressed with their consistent performances finally receiving the attention and plaudits they deserve, but some Socceroos hopefuls struggled to strut their stuff for the Dutchman.

Sydney FC manager Graham Arnold rang the praises of 16-time Socceroo defender Alex Wilkinson who was influential in Sydney FC keeping their ninth clean sheet of the season.

Although 33, Wilkinson has proven himself to be outright the best central defender in the league over the past 18 months and considering some of the issues we’ve had at the back, Van Marwijk may feel comfortable having an experienced professional in his ranks.

As well as Wilkinson another defender may have caught the eye of Van Marwijk in Newcastle Jets stopper Jack Duncan.

The 24-year old keeper was exceptional in keeping a clean sheet against Melbourne Victory pulling off numerous saves throughout the match as well as two point-blank stops to deny Besart Berisha and Kosta Barbarouses in the first half.

His Newcastle teammate Dimi Petratos maintained his positive performances earning himself another assist for the opening goal as well as creating two more clear cut chances for Roy O’Donovan in the match.

However, Van Marwijk would know that much more would be needed to break the Socceroos midfield stocks, although he’d keep an eye on him and Riley McGree the same.

While there were many exciting and captivating performances over the weekend, some hopefuls didn’t do much to press their cause for the new coach.

One of them being Australias Asian Cup hero James Troisi. Last season was a barnstormer for the Adelaide product, contributing to 11 goals in a season that saw Victory charge to the grand final.

However, he looks a shadow of his former self this season as his match against Newcastle showed, he as sluggish and not as sharp as we know he can be.

His fellow Melbourne custodian Rhys Williams despite some positive instances in matches for his cause, as a whole has not set Melbourne or the A-League alight with his performances. We know his quality but he is seriously underperforming and didn’t impress Van Marwijk on Saturday.

It’s up to the rest of the players in the A-League to stand up and be seen by the almighty Dutchman.

(Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images)

Kevin Muscat on eggshells after Jets loss
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat needs to find a way to rev the engines of his dressing room quickly otherwise he is in danger of recording his lowest point haul and statistically worst season as coach of the Melbourne giants.

After an uninspiring loss to the Newcastle Jets on Saturday and Adelaide United’s subsequent victory against Perth, last season’s runners-up sit in fifth place with an equal number of losses to wins.

Muscat has chopped and changed his side many times throughout the season, he hasn’t been able to find a suitable rhythm for his side, scoring consecutive wins and losses twice this season.

Scoring goals hasn’t been an enormous problem for Muscat’s side with Victory scoring in every single game this season except for this round and their first-round clash with Sydney FC where they lost 1-0.

Thomas Deng was taken out of the backline for international duty, Stefan Nigro has suffered injuries while Leigh Broxham has jumped in and out of the defence.

There is a lack of continuity while Muscat tries to find the right blend, however, three seasons without a trophy just may send him out of the job by the end of this season.

So could Kenny Lowe after Adelaide slump
At the end of December, Kenny Lowe’s side shipped six goals against the league leaders Sydney FC and some unknown reason, he seemed to just slip into the shadows and get away with the performance, leaning back onto the ‘Sydney are just too good’ excuse.

That loss sparked a five-game losing streak where they conceded 17 goals and scored only four. A home win against the Wanderers last week was short-lived relief as they tasted defeat again at the hands of Adelaide United on Saturday letting an early lead slip by conceding twice in five minutes.

Since the beginning of January I firmly believe that the knives were out against Kenny Lowe. Now they are being sharpened as he struggles to maintain positivity across his squad which produces uninspiring performances and press conference rhetoric like “I think we had enough chances to win the game.”

Football is a game about results and Kenny Lowe isn’t providing them.

(AAP Image/David Mariuz)

Wanderers purple patch on the Coast continues
The Wanderers absolutely love to play on the Coast. Josep Gombau recorded their fifth win in a row at Central Coast Stadium defeating Paul Okon’s men 2-0 thanks to goals from Jaushua Sotirio and Oriol Riera.

The victory snaps a four-game winless streak for the Wanderers as they maintain the fight for the finals. There must be something magical about the Coast for the Wanderers considering earlier this season they defeated the Mariners breaking an eight-game winless streak to begin the season.

Nevertheless, what was alarming for the Mariners was their lack of urgency and potency in the attacking third, failing to resonate Okon’s profound words before the match saying “we expect to win now, we don’t hope.” There was no desire, no passion and no intensity.

The Mariners now sit firmly in second last spot, two points from the bottom and three from eighth-placed Perth Glory.

A-League fans need to show some backbone
Now for something that is off the park and more online.

There has been a lot of interest surrounding Bert Van Marwijk and his attendance at A-League matches, but for some this was cause for them to pull out some cop out excuses and to sit back and take some pot shots at the league.

Some A-League fans decide to fall back onto the ‘I like something but when someone walks in that they want to impress they pretend to hate it and point the finger.’

Many fans after Sydney FC’s 4-0 win over Wellington Phoenix and the Wanderers victory over the Mariners, wanted to pretend to play the side of the Dutchman saying things like “Why would he want to watch these games”, “This is so embarrassing”. You get my point.

We can admit that in comparison to other leagues in Asia and the base level for what we feel is good quality football, the A-League is average. However, that doesn’t give long time fans the right to take pot shots at the league when a top class professional comes to town.

Have some backbone and have pride in our league because we’ve had to sacrifice so much to get where we are it’s worth defending.