Early on in my mathematical studies I learned that nine does not go into six. Yet that remains the situation with a couple of weeks of A-League play remaining.
This week, Brisbane Roar continue their charge towards the finals, Macarthur FC have two key games that will decide their fate and the Phoenix, Glory and Wanderers are all in the last chance saloon and requiring nothing less than three points to remain in the fight.
All in all, it is one of the closest races for the top six we have seen in recent A-League times.
Good luck with your tips for the match week ahead and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say as the ever important voice of the crowd. Here are the thoughts and selections of the panel leading into Match Week 23.
Mike Tuckerman
Central Coast, United, City, Draw, Wellington, Brisbane, Draw, Central Coast, Brisbane
The Central Coast Mariners are heading straight down the F3 highway to the danger zone. Lose this game and they’re in serious danger of missing out on finals football altogether. They come up against an in-form Macarthur, but I reckon the visitors can jag a much-needed win.
Last weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Wellington Phoenix means the season is pretty much done and dusted for Western United, but they’ll still want to beat their big brothers in their own backyard. Melbourne Victory are absolute garbage and will finish the season as such.
Melbourne City looked like they’d rather be playing the pokies over at Redcliffe Leagues in midweek, but they should still be good enough to down the Jets. Put it this way, if Newcastle avoid defeat in this one it’ll be a major surprise.
Not for the first time this season, it’s tough to tip against Adelaide United claiming all three points at home. They fire up for the visit of Sydney FC at the best of times, but the Sky Blues should have enough resolve to hold on for at least a point at Coopers Stadium.
A raucous home crowded fired the Phoenix to a deserved 3-0 win over Western United in Wellington, and the same thing should happen when they host Perth Glory at Eden Park in Auckland… despite Glory’s excellent run of recent form.
“You’re getting sacked in the morning!” Can’t see this game ending well for Carl Robinson. Brisbane Roar are a much better side than many pundits give them credit for.
What are we up to? Western United versus Macarthur in a battle of the metric-makers? Let’s call this one a draw.
The Mariners should be too strong for the Jets in the latest instalment of the F3 Derby, especially if they fail to beat Macarthur earlier in the round.
It’s not that I necessarily think Brisbane Roar are exponentially a much better side than Perth Glory, but Redcliffe is a difficult place to come and play in midweek and Glory have never been the best of visitors when they make the long trek over to the east coast.
Stuart Thomas
Macarthur, United, City, Adelaide, Wellington, Western Sydney, Macarthur, Central Coast, Brisbane
I really want the Mariners in the top six, I think everyone does. Yet Macarthur are on the cusp of achieving something rather grand in their inaugural season. I’m seeing a bell-ringing win for the home side.
Western United and Melbourne Victory will fight out a now meaningless derby on Friday, with a United win likely and Melbourne City have the chance to get things back on track in the twilight Saturday clash again Newcastle Jets. They will.
Beating Adelaide at home will prove too tough a task for the Sky Blues hours later and afterwards the Reds may well be near favourites for the championship considering the host of players about to leave our shores on national duty.
Early Sunday, Wellington and Perth will play a blockbuster, with the loser out of the race and the winner humming towards the finals. Wellington for me in front of a big Auckland home crowd.
Later that day the Wanderers face elimination when they tackle the Roar in Sydney. Talk about a tough tip. I’ll go Western Sydney based on nothing more than home field advantage.
Western United face a highly motivated Macarthur FC on Monday in what looks a likely win for the team with most at stake, Central Coast should secure its spot in the finals with a win over the Jets on Tuesday and Brisbane will towel up a uninterested Perth in the final match of the round.
Paul Nicholls
Central Coast, United, City, Draw, Wellington, Brisbane, Macarthur, Central Coast, Brisbane
Oh anxiety, my constant companion, I’m sorry to put you through this. I blame Socceroos coach Graham Arnold. Sure he needs to pick A-League players but why does he have to choose all the best ones? I’m encouraging the Tipsters and Charlatans Union to launch a class action.
In the satellite city derby the Macarthur Rams are undefeated in six while the Mariners have scored only two goals in five games. Expect a cagey contest and Alen Stajcic to have too many tricks up his sleeve.
Western United did their bit for New Zealand football by getting thrashed in Wellington but should do their bit for Australian football by belting Melbourne Victory.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to tip Brisbane against premiers-elect Melbourne City. Unfortunately I am a rocket scientist and tipped City. Even without Jamie Maclaren, City should beat Newcastle.
Adelaide and Sydney is a tough pick. Sydney will sorely miss Ryan McGowan and Rhyan Grant. Draw.
Wellington will again prove why New Zealand teams are a great asset to the A-League, when they pull a crowd at Eden Park. Perth’s recent form will be no match for all that Kiwi-love.
Brisbane should continue their good form against the Wanderers and if they are genuine, Macarthur must and will beat Western United. Central Coast should consolidate their ladder position against Newcastle and Brisbane will ensure a finals place at the expense of Perth.
It’s such a hard round to tip that I had to go outside for some inspiration. Great, a super blood moon. Guess who’ll be cleaning up werewolf dung in the backyard all weekend.
Texi Smith
Macarthur, United, City, Adelaide, Perth, Western Sydney, United, Newcastle, Perth
My goodness, this is going to be an exciting last two weeks. Teams that are neck and neck play each other in classic six-pointers and anything can happen. Hold on to your bobble hats, the bold and beautiful A-League is reaching its crescendo.
Either the Phoenix or the Wanderers will have one hand on the trap door as Macarthur host the Mariners in an absolute humdinger of a game at the bull pen.
Marvin’s men have had the wood over the Bulls this season, but when it counts, Macarthur will step up and grind out a result thanks to a single goal from Denis Genreau in the first half that will set the alarm bells ringing in Gosford.
Western United have endured a horror run of late but there’s no way Victory will get anything out of this game, even at AAMI Park. Tomi Uskok will turn in an all-action display to free up Alessandro Diamanti to fill his boots.
Victory will set themselves up to be overtaken by Newcastle for the wooden spoon ahead of the final day of the season.
City didn’t turn into a bad side overnight. The speed and verve of their play will be far too much for the Jets and we’ll see a one goal lead at the break blow out to four by the end; Naoki Tsubaki bagging a double to send the Premiers home happy.
Adelaide United vs Sydney FC is an enormous game. With Sydney travelling to Brisbane on the final weekend, this game could have a massive impact on the finals and home ground advantage.
Sydney’s inability to convert attacking possession into goals will haunt them here, going down by the odd goal in five; Craig Goodwin up to his usual tricks against the Sky Blues to seal the win.
A distance derby with a twist at Eden Park in Auckland. Not content to have played the majority of their home games thousands of kilometres away in Australia, the Phoenix have to travel north to take on Glory. It will affect them and Jason Geria and Diego Castro will silence the Kiwi fans to give Glory a shot at the top six.
A fight to the death at Bankwest as the Wanderers put their slim finals’ aspirations on the line in a show of all-out attack. Steven Ugarkovic will keep the sparkling Roar midfield at bay and a thunderbolt from Jordon Mutch will seal three valuable points for Western Sydney. The shots on target stats will read 20:4, but Jamie Young will have an utter blinder.
Western United’s miniscule chance of making the six will improve after they dispose of an out-of-sorts Macarthur FC, Dylan Pierias scoring twice and setting up another; the sweat forming on the Mariners who will be in action the following day desperate for the win they need.
A midweek derby game of huge importance here – Newcastle Jets will see the opportunity to jump above fellow strugglers Melbourne Victory, and they will come out all guns blazing.
The Mariners will be nervous, but at 0-2 late in the game will stage a fightback, only to see Matt Simon hit the post with a penalty to deny them a vital point.
High drama on the Cenny Coast.
The extra game that precedes the final round will hinge on a send-off just before halftime. A ridiculous second yellow for encroaching from a free kick will see Scott Neville dismissed.
Then, Perth will turn on the style, Nick D’Agostino scoring before a late penalty and VAR drama hands Diego Castro a chance to win the game.
A twice-taken penalty with Jamie Young coming off his line when saving the first will be hammered home by the silky Spaniard to steal the points.
Match Week 23 | Mike | Stuart | Paul | Texi | The Crowd |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MAC vs CCM | CCM | MAC | CCM | MAC | CCM |
WUN vs MVC | WUN | WUN | WUN | WUN | WUN |
MCY vs NEW | MCY | MCY | MCY | MCY | MCY |
ADL vs SYD | Draw | ADL | Draw | ADL | DRAW |
WEL vs PER | WEL | WEL | WEL | PER | WEL |
WSW vs BRI | BRI | WSW | BRI | WSW | BRI |
WUN vs MAC | Draw | MAC | MAC | WUN | MAC |
CCM vs NEW | CCM | CCM | CCM | NEW | CCM |
BRI vs PER | BRI | BRI | BRI | PER | BRI |
Last week | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Previous total | 57 | 57 | 63 | 51 | 59 |
New total | 62 | 60 | 68 | 56 | 64 |
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Dropping the game last night has made their task all the harder. They may end up replacing my REDs in the Top 6 though. Thursday night match has all of a sudden become either a season saving or ending game.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
None of the experts picked MVC. Woe betides!
Roger pilkington
Guest
Come on cool cold!! Apart from having no reserve team to keep players not picked in game time and being stuck in bloody woolongong ''!!!!! With no supporters ,the Phoenix have had a horror program(as have Perth) and Aussies should be grateful that a NZ team is in the league to show you Aussies what a great game football is when played properly!!!!
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
looks like i almost got my call right, Bernado's in the squad (first time this season) Juandes out injured and 16 year old Johnny Yull is in the squad. no room for ethan alagich though :( youngest midfield in the league this match week.
Coastyboi
Guest
Indeed. Wake up The Roar & smell the Gosford roses, as they are about to bloom.
Winter A League is Awesome
Guest
Also there is no war as the FA said before this season started that its moving to a winter game. Next season is meant to start even later than this season so it aligns with NPL to juniors that has been doing it for over a century in winter.
Winter A League is Awesome
Guest
So once again the broadcasters should run the game from the beginning :stoked: ?
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Yes, P/R is great but no one should expect the franchisees to simply walk away from the millions they've invested in our game. They'll rightly want to be excluded from R for a decade at least.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Disagree - we need the commercial and advertising support of Chanbel 10, who believe an October kick off will work and I agree. The APL need to be given a chance to grow our game. Let them have some time and support to see what they can do. We don't want another football " war".
Grem
Roar Rookie
Agreed - promotion and relegation is great but let's make A League a success on 10, who have put the money up for summer comp - which has been a huge success before. Macarthur have just purchased a lot of land near their stadium to develop training grounds for their youth and W League teams. They will also build a club house / administration building. They have signed Davila to a e year contract and the crowd last night was their best this season. They look like a team that is building.
pete4
Roar Rookie
Clisby hat-trick would have been gold last night :silly:
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
Fail
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
2nd vs 4th
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
You boys (i.e. theroar) forget there was a game on tonight?
Winter A League is Awesomw
Guest
Macarthur are spending 40 mil on a Training Facility. WU as well plus stadium. Should be fine.
Winter A League is Awesome
Guest
JJ coming through again. The saviour of football. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/new-tv-deal-locked-in-but-ten-and-fa-could-be-set-to-clash-over-season-start-20210527-p57vp3.html
Tigertown
Guest
With respect to a second division, we firstly have to make sure both WU & Macarthur are successful clubs. They simply cannot fail.
Nick Symonds
Guest
FTBL: A-LEAGUE, NPL TO ALIGN FIXTURES FOR SECOND DIVISION BY 2022 Football Australia is willing to overrule the wishes of new A-League, W-League broadcaster Channel 10 to align the competitions with the National Premier Leagues. FA today revealed that they are meeting with the AAFC in June, which represents the NPL clubs keen on starting a national second division, to finalise a model for the A-League's second tier. The crux of the meeting - other than deciding the NSD teams - will involve forming an agreement on aligning the A-League and NPL seasons, to allow for future promotion and relegation, as well as transfer windows and FFA Cup competitions. OTHER POINTS: - Network 10 is reportedly keen to spend big on advertising the competition - It's also likely to rely heavily on the A-League - and other rumoured football deals it's looking to sign, such as the Asian Cup and AFC Champions League - to promote subscriptions to its new digital streaming service, Paramount+. - “Our objective is to implement an aligned domestic match calendar in 2022 and this will involve discussions with the APL and Network Ten on the commencement of the 2021/22 A-League and Westfield W-League seasons in line with Football Australia’s objectives.” - FFA - https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/a-league-npl-to-align-fixtures-for-second-division-by-2022-565165
Winter A League is Awesome
Guest
Epic game so far with CCM v Macrthur
Australian
Roar Rookie
I dont think Macurthur is going to Lose today. This is going to be Macurthur win or Draw. Centralcoast going for finals? Maybe some other time. Macurthur is very strong and the inform team and they wont leave the field empty handed. They were defeated twice by CC and this is the right time for revenge. 1X :thumbup: