The Crowd was the tipping performer of the week just gone as the Elimination Finals saw City conquer Roar and the Victory get home in the dying minutes of normal time against Adelaide.
With the experts trying to find a surprise winner Mike and Daniel took a stab on Adelaide and I leant Brisbane’s way. In the end, logic and ladder positions prevailed.
This week involves the four Clubs that everyone expected to be there at this stage of the season and two mouth-watering matches loom.
Be sure to insert your tips into the form below and continue the excellent tipping of the crowd Good luck to your team if they are involved in the matches this weekend.
Mike Tuckerman
Newcastle, Sydney
A-League fans could hardly have asked for two better semi-finals. The question now is: who can hold their nerve?
I’ve got no idea who will win in Newcastle. The Jets finished the season on a dreadful run of form, only to punctuate it with that 8-2 final round win over the Mariners. Will that be enough to see off a fast-finishing Melbourne City?
The latter look like the real dark horse of the final four, but they’ll be up against a parochial Novocastrian crowd. I’ll tip Newcastle in a thriller here, but not with any real confidence.
Can the Jets get to the decider? (AAP Image/Darren Pateman)
As for the Big Blue, the form guide suggests only one winner – but stranger things have happened in the finals, and Melbourne Victory have nothing to lose on their trip to the harbour city.
With the Graham Arnold era set to draw to a close, however, and a couple of key Sydney FC players likely to move on in the off-season, the Sky Blues should have enough desire and, more importantly, quality to win in front of their home fans.
A Sydney FC-Newcastle Jets grand final then? I’d like to see that.
Stuart Thomas
City, Sydney
McDonald Jones Stadium will be rocking on Friday night. There will not be a spare seat in the house and Melbourne City will enter a hostile environment in Newcastle. City look to have grown teeth and are playing with a real purpose and passion that was clearly evident against the Roar last week.
The Jets’ most recent match was the 8-2 slaughter of the Mariners. With some emotional inclusions, they will look to feed off the energy of the crowd and community. City will look to silence the fans and kill that energy as quickly as possible. I think they can do it and reach their first Grand Final.
What better way to finish a Saturday night than with a Big Blue in Sydney. Allianz will be buzzing and, hopefully, the grass has begun to knit after a poorly timed resurface.
Don’t expect anything different in this clash than what we see every time these two go at each other. Kevin Muscat and Graham Arnold will be chewing, spitting and swearing, the challenges will be hard and the contest tight.
It is hard to go past Sydney as the other Grand Finalist. The Victory can win this game yet the Sydney FC machine is fine-tuned right now and their ringmasters in the midfield will surely present enough chances to the front third options to put the defending champions into another decider.
Daniel Jeffrey
City, Sydney
I want Newcastle to win this match. I really do. A victory for the Jets in front of what is sure to be a packed-out home ground would be just what the A-League needs; a small-market team making it to the season decider, and maybe even winning it all. So I’ll be throwing away my neutral observer’s hat and supporting the Jets on Friday.
But I can’t bring myself to tip them. Aside from their demolition of the Mariners in Round 27, Newcastle have been in poor form, while Melbourne City, with Bruno Fornaroli firing, have looked like genuine contenders. It’ll be close, and the home crowd will help the Jets, but I’ll take City to win this one.
The Victory looked comfortable in their win over Adelaide last week, though there were few signs to suggest they’re good enough to topple Sydney FC. It’ll take another moment (or several) of Besart Berisha brilliance or a virtuoso performance from Leroy George to propel them past the premiers, and even then, they’ll likely need the Sky Blues to be off their game.
That is not the most likely scenario for what is probably the most talented squad in A-League history.
Again, we should be treated to a close encounter, but I can’t tip anything but a Sydney FC win.
Alan Kearney
TBC
| Semi Finals | Mike | Stuart | Daniel | Alan | The Crowd |
| NEW vs MCY | NEW | MCY | MCY | ? | MCY |
| SYD vs MVC | SYD | SYD | SYD | ? | MVC |
| Last week | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Previous Total | 58 | 57 | 63 | 55 | 59 |
| New Total | 59 | 58 | 64 | 55 | 61 |
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