A look back on the 2020-21 A-League season

If someone told me, a Mariners fan, that we would finish 3rd and host a home final in Gosford this year, i wouldn't have thought it possible. This season was incredible from a fan's perspective, and to see crowd numbers growing each week, large groups of travelling fans, and the Mariners becoming a point of pride in the community again was amazing. However the way our season ended in that final was heartbreaking and truly felt like a mariners of old performance. Looking forward to seeing how we bounce back next year, although the signs are already concerning with the departure of Staj, DDS, and Clisby, which i hope is the end, but feels like only the start. Thank the stars we have resigned Birraz though, who kept us in alot of games, and Urena who was a breath of fresh air on the coast!

City have failed in recent seasons usually because players who should be playing center back in the midfield usually Griffiths and old fullbacks. Nabbout was their big signing and thats why I thought they were initially favoured to take it out. In turns out though other young players did as well as Nabbout and in the final they didnt lose anything with the players out apart from Connor Metcalfe. I believe that if they had all their squad members fully fit and available Kisnorbo would have gone with the wrong combination this season. Sydney I thought were going to fail this season because of the old players Wilkinson Baumjohan in particular. At best I thought they would scrape into the six. They started with the young strikers in partnership with Barbarouses. Buhagiar missing countless shots, while Buhagiar did nothing for Barbarouses in return when Barbarouses did finally get two good chances against Brisbane he got blamed for the whole season as a scapegoat.. Bobo coming in was a mixed blessing no longer did they get heaps of one on ones and press better but Bobo scored goals. The blessing with La Fondre was Baumjohan going to the bench and Barbarouses going to the wing. If Barbarouses had gone to the bench and Baumjohan stayed on the right then Sydney would have crashed out. I thought Adelaide were going to make the six with Juric, with then Goodwin I thought they were a title threat. Lopez was poor for a player who played La Liga the year before . I think that Cavallo was a good addition for them and Caletti when he was given a chance. Timotheu I think is their best defender and an ambitious passer more than his ability though .In the end they chose the old guys and failed. Roar they did a good move getting rid of Scott McDonald early, especially to WSW who could have made the finals had he not gone there. Danzaki was a great find, Champness was great when he came back in, DWH started the season with a lot of effort and was looking to be a serial pest but then he slacked off. Parsons looks to be a better quality player than DWH. Mebratu looked a shadow of his former self. Aldred being injured helped them not hindered them. Akhabari has developed a great engine while still having an ok passing game so he is their future. Macarthur suprised me I though they were going to be Western United oldies 2. They did better but never got enough old players off the park to have a chance to win. WSW I thought would make the finals , Simon Cox turned out to be a big failure , they could have succeeded with Urgagovic if they played more midfielders. Why not use your strongest player Bacchus instead they stay with back three and bring in McDonald. Mariners, India buying Jordan Thompson was a big part of the success, Bozanic coming in a good sign, I thought they were just going to improve on being easy beats not necessarily make the finals but they did hell of a lot better, they were top of the table before Urena,Javotna came in with a good pressing game led by Nisbet, and Urena and Javotna comprised that. I predicted they would take the title but City got their act together, and Stajic stuffed up. Melbourne Victory were a bit of mystery their recruits were not that old played high level so I thought they would make the finals. Kruse being past it was not a suprise, They were worse than I imagined slackers 11 with Brebner but suprisiingly they picked it up big time after he was gone. Western United I thought they would fail with all the old guys, but they were in contention for a while for a finals spot. Perth Glory I thought they would also fail with the oldies but they suprised me at the start though that was also due to not playing Castro. That they went belly up after he came back is not suprising. Wellington losing Liberato Caccece was a big blow, I though with Talay they would still be a threat and make it into the finals but not a title threat. Newcastle would have been my pick for wooden spoon, not because of the budget but Donovan and Boogard and their coach Deans.

i found my initial files on him this morning. (Bear in mind this is 9/10 years old) i made reference to him being like "a headless chicken with an abundance of energy, however lacks ball control". "carlos tevez type forward, suited to 2 up top" haha that’s funny looking back it He was never going to be a 15-20 goal a season striker, what he scored this season is what i would expect him to average a year though He's a secondary scorer (not the main one) but works hard for the team. The tevez comparison was around the west ham/man utd time period. I can see how I initially mentioned that based on certain characteristics. i still think he'd work well as a foil in a big man partnership (EG. playing alongside Urena or Juric) but thats going to require a system that coaches barely use in world football these days if staj gets the western job, it could be a good fit with stajs team above everything mantra

Only one side generated more shots on goal than Roar, so DWH wasn’t in a team that was short on opportunities. Despite playing less minutes than Matt Derbyshire he had 10 more shots over the season, but scored half the number of goals. That’s a good comparison for the lad. He’s 24 soon, he needs to be hitting his peak in the next season or fo.

I hope you’re right. But I’d be interested in what you see as his strengths? - he’s got no pace - physically light/lacks strength. - no head/left foot to speak of On the plus side he has bags of confidence and a dynamic right foot

i have been chomping at the bit to see him under a different coach for the past 2 seasons that actually plays to his strengths (which fowler never did and moony sparsely did) i 100% still believe there's a solid player still there from when his name was passed my way from the ipswich days. this could be a move that comes back to bite brisbane - staj is quite close to being appointed manager of western so this could be a shrewd bit of business

If Wellington had played at home they would have been top 2, Anyway was a good season with SFC and City topping however the ladder was close and a few teams could have been 2nd a few games out which is healthy for our League and the fans. As for Roar i feel they over achieved and had some bias results go there way as usual. I wont hate on DWH as he did alright with the team he had on the park...

I fortunately have to agree, but young Dylan has got a bumper 3-year contract at Western to get things right. I said at the end of last season, and the beginning of this season, that Roar needed two key positions filled to be a really good side - a DM and a Striker. They’ve recruited a DM and there’s rumours of a visa striker having signed, so let’s see.

DWH is not A-League standard, plugs away no doubt, but delivers away from the NPL , no. A decent striker of Berisha consistency and Roar are up there next season

The only reason Brisbane Roar were the “surprise package” was because no one was looking beyond Melbourne and Sydney sides. Roar had the second best defence the prior season and kept both players and system intact for the new season – that suggested they would be tough to score against and tough to beat (which proved to be correct). That alone suggested a top 4 position was AGAIN possible (which proved to be correct). The question marks in the team were on goal scoring – would DWH be the striker to lead the line? (The answer was no, after a bright start he scored 1 goal every 10 games on the last 20 matches). Anyone who’s bother to look at Roar would have seen: – Young, the best shot-stopper in the competition (even if his distribution is suspect) – Gillesphey, one of the best CB’s and regular team of the week appearances. – O’Shea, excellent midfielder and made team of the season. – a flood of great young players, including young Danzaki who proved to be one of the signings of the season. But no one looked. And a forecast 10th place finish was frankly embarrassing for those that made it

standard east coast view point, cant see past your own noses :laughing:

Brisbane had a terrible fixture list in the final part of the season and handled it very well, full credit to Warren Moon there.

You are obviously a Sydney centric observer of football as can be seen from your original predictions and your comments on the finishing positions of each team. Sure it was a tough year for all clubs involved but Melbourne were outstanding. My own team Brisbane Roar had Covid nightmares as the Queensland, WA and the Victorian governments managed to scupper weekend home games with lightening lockdowns and abnormal wet weather wiped another leaving weekday home games a regular occurrence at the end of the season. The Roar managed to overcome this disadvantage to finish fourth. ""Brisbane Roar were the surprise package of the 2019-2020 season but looked destined to slide down the table this season" and "the jury is still out whether they can back it next year" are two comments from you that show your research is non existent and if it was you would realize that James Parsons is actually Alex and Brisbane Roar have a steady stream of young players coming through the ranks to enable the club to expand on this years performance. Wenzell-Halls has left after a bright start to the campaign but he actually lost his edge the longer the season went on and Joey Champness has returned to Newcastle after a disappointing finish to his season as he promised much but delivered little.

A good summary and confirmation that the A League is difficult to make predictions in. Central Coast were the 2nd biggest and most pleasant surprise and I think Melbourne Victory were the biggest surprise.