The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

The Roar's A-League expert tips and predictions: Round 9

19th December, 2018
Advertisement
Roy O'Donovan when with the Jets. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Expert
19th December, 2018
20
1350 Reads

After another promising start to the weekend, my tipping turned well and truly sour after the Victory and Phoenix grabbed early wins.

The Sydney derby honours looked like changing hands before Vedran Janjetovic lost the plot at ANZ Stadium and City continued their unpredictable form against hot favourites Adelaide United.

Sandwiched in between those results was another win for the Glory, despite the difficulty they had in putting away the Jets in wet conditions in the Hunter.

This week sees Perth looking to continue their unbeaten run, Sydney FC after a bounce-back win, and a Melbourne derby looming as the big-ticket item of the round.

Good luck with your tips and be sure to enter them into the sheet below to have your say as the voice of the crowd. Here is the way the panel sees Round 8.

Mike Tuckerman
Perth, draw, Victory, Newcastle, draw

If Perth are to lay down a marker, this is surely the game to do it. They’ve flattered to deceive for much of the season and were gifted their win against Newcastle last time out, but they’ll be fired up for this clash with the Sky Blues, and should probably win in a close one.

The Phoenix are as enigmatic as ever, and they were lucky to come up against the worst team in the league last weekend. They face arguably the second-worst team here, but the Roar should have enough quality to dig in and register at least a point across the ditch.

Advertisement

There’s only one winner in the derby and that’s Melbourne Victory. City look like a house of cards at the moment, destined to crash down against a higher quality opponent. The nominal visitors boast multiple match-winners and they should comfortably account for the hosts at AAMI Park.

The tide has to turn at some point for the Central Coast Mariners, but it may not be in the latest F3 derby in Gosford. Roy O’Donovan is back for the Jets and he’ll be itching to make his mark against his former club. Expect the Novocastrians to claim all three points.

I can’t for the life of me work out Adelaide United. Are they a decent side or not? The same could probably be said of the Wanderers, who will be missing suspended goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic here. Draw? I’ve honestly got no idea.

Roy O'Donovan of the Jets celebrates scoring

Roy O’Donovan of the Jets (AAP Image/Darren Pateman)

Stuart Thomas
Perth, Wellington, Victory, Newcastle, draw

Perth will handle the Sky Blues on Friday night and extend their unbeaten run to nine matches. It is hard to see Sydney offering enough to penetrate a typically staunch Tony Popovic defence and their own shaky backline will fail to prevent the home side finding the net on at least a couple of occasions.

Three in a row for Wellington? It looks that way after another nightmare week for the Roar, despite finding two goals against the rampant Victory last Friday night. This could be the last straw in terms of John Aloisi’s future, with the club needing a change of approach if the current period of disillusionment continues for much longer. If the hot Phoenix put Brisbane to the sword, I’m not sure how Aloisi will spin the result.

Advertisement

Logically, the Melbourne derby should play out as a comfortable win for Victory. City won well last week and sit fourth, yet Kevin Muscat’s men look certainties in this one, such is the nature of their recent form.

The old F3 derby reignites in Gosford, although ignite might be the wrong word to describe anything involving the Mariners right now. Their start is the numerically worst by any team in A-League history and Newcastle have looked much improved over the last fortnight. If Roy O’Donovan does manage a goal, the resurrection of the Jets might be well on the way to completion.

It will be a long wait until Boxing Day for the final match of the round when the Reds and the Wanderers do battle in Adelaide. I see a draw panning out here between the always stoic and solid United and the improving Western Sydney, who were well in front against Sydney FC before Janjetovic’s blooper last weekend.

Paul Nicholls
Sydney, Wellington, Victory, Newcastle, Adelaide

Sydney FC played themselves out of a mini-slump last week against the Wanderers. A bit of the old swagger has come back to the Sky Blues at just the right time. Popovic would love to get one up on his old nemesis and although still unbeaten, the Glory have done just enough to get the results in recent weeks. There is something in the air out west and Sydney might just pull off a smash and grab victory,

Hopefully all the Wellington bashers have pulled their heads in now they are challenging for a top six place. Even though Mark Rudan was a bit off the mark in his post-match comments last week, he has attackers Roy Krishna, Sarpreet Singh and Nathan Burns combining well.

Advertisement

Aloisi’s Brisbane can’t take a trick at the moment and their 4-2 home loss to Victory sees them in second-last place. Things won’t get much better in windy Wellington.

The Melbourne derby has resurfaced at just the right time – at least we can focus on some mouth-watering football. Kevin Muscat has Victory absolutely firing at the moment. What a great team to watch! I wonder if we give Muscat enough credit. City should push their cross-town enemies all the way, although the Bruno Fornaroli affair and the disbanding of the Melburnians are unwelcome distractions. Victory should come out ahead in a must-see game.

If the Mariners are going to get their season moving, the derby against Newcastle is their best chance. I am sure the Central Coast faithful will get behind Matt Simon’s men but Newcastle will get a huge boost from the return of O’Donovan and should do enough to win.

Which Wanderers will turn up to Adelaide? Which Adelaide will turn up? Both teams are suffering from a lack of consistency and the Boxing Day clash could go either way. Unlike last week I expect the home crowd should lift the Reds and help get them over the line.

Evan Morgan Grahame
Draw, Wellington, Victory, Newcastle, draw

Perth sit in first place, with the fewest goals conceded, and have secured that position thanks to some insanely efficient attacking. Last week, in their 2-0 win over the Jets, the Glory took just four total shots, while allowing Newcastle to fire off 22 shots (albeit, only five of those were on target).

This is their preferred style, and even though it’s worked well so far, it still feels as though a risk is being run.

Advertisement

Sydney were lucky to be gifted the derby by Janjetovic last weekend, but are returning to full fitness as a group. Siem de Jong – disappointing so far when he has been fit – scored, and perhaps this will kickstart him into a more effective gear. A draw, in Perth.

Yikes, the Roar are in a bad way at the moment. Drubbed last weekend by the Victory, they are currently on a three-match losing streak and face Wellington, who are enjoying a three-match unbeaten streak, including that dazzling win over Sydney. Éric Bauthéac will be suspended for this one, and so Brisbane will be shorn of their best attacker. In Wellington, this seems an almost certain Nix win, and – although losing to the Phoenix this year isn’t anywhere near as embarrassing a thing as it has been in recent seasons – the impact a bad loss will have may well spell the end for Aloisi.

The Melbourne derby will get the heart fluttering, to be sure, and we’ll see exactly how Warren Joyce reacts to the challenge of defending against the league’s most potent attack. City, by the way, seem to be completely unpredictable – well, at a glance, sure, but their last six results read: win, loss, win, loss, win, loss. So, they’re inconsistent in the most consistent way possible, a familiar criticism.

Joyce is being praised for managing not to have his team crumble after the deliberate freezing-out of their best player, starting striker and marquee. It seems to me that praise of this kind – handed over effectively because a manager has done the bare minimum demanded by his job, namely preventing his team from actively regressing as a result of his decisions – isn’t worth lavishing with any great enthusiasm. Victory to win.

Sports opinion delivered daily 

   

The longer it goes on, this winless start for the Mariners, the more painful it is to witness. Central Coast have as many defeats as they do goals scored, an astonishing statistic eight games into the season. Mike Mulvey is being drained of all hope with every passing week, a figure who seems to fade to grey as he watches yet another opposition goal fly in.

Advertisement

There’s a bit of a sliding doors feel to the Mariners, back in Round 5, when what looked like a rugged draw away at leaders Perth was turned into a devastating defeat by Chris Ikonomidis’s stoppage time winner. Had they ground that result out, perhaps they’d be a better version of themselves today.

But they didn’t, and will find it hard to get a result against Newcastle, a team that will be revitalised by star striker and leading heel O’Donovan; the return of whom is being likened to the Terminator’s.

Finally, to Adelaide and Western Sydney. The Wanderers will still be stewing in acrid regret over the derby debacle, but, in truth, the win was hardly assured before Janjetovic’s synapses betrayed him. The fact remains that the Wanderers’ only two wins have come against Central Coast, and a pre-good Wellington. Two of Adelaide’s three wins have also been over those two teams, plus that incendiary defeat of Brisbane.

Adelaide were not good in the final third last week, and Goodwin’s hot scoring start to the season has cooled off.

A draw.

Round 9 Mike Stuart Paul Evan The Crowd
PER vs Syd PER PER SYD DRAW PER
WEL vs BRI DRAW WEL WEL WEL WEL
MCY vs MVC MVC MVC MVC MVC MVC
CCM vs NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW
ADL vs WSW DRAW DRAW ADL DRAW ADL
Last week 2 2 2 3 3
Previous total 11 10 14 17 14
New total 13 12 16 20 17

close