As difficult as it might be to believe, three A-League matches still stand a chance of being played over the course of this coming weekend, with another three slated for the following Wednesday.
It would be well deserved for the fans should they finally get to see a decent week of action, with some COVID-affected teams now having multiple players returning after their isolation periods. Saturday sees the second F3 Derby of the season, a ripper between the Reds and Melbourne City in Adelaide and Sydney FC do battle with Brisbane Roar for the second time in four days in the harbour city.
Adelaide, Newcastle, Central Coast and City all back up next Wednesday, with Western United and Western Sydney joining the fray. Well, that is the plan, anyway!
Good luck with your tips for the weekend and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say as the ever-important voice of The Crowd. Texi Smith has a handy lead in the tipping yet there is a long way to go in season 2021-22.
Here is the way the panel sees all the action unfolding across what looms as an interesting set of matches.
Mike Tuckerman
Central Coast, Draw, Sydney, Draw, Western Sydney, City
It’s difficult to tip in the current climate, but hopefully we get some football in! The Mariners have proved much tougher to beat this season than might have been expected and had recorded back-to-back 2-0 wins before the string of postponements. The Jets have blown hot and cold so far and I suspect the home side will edge the latest derby.
(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
Adelaide United were unlucky not to take all three points off Melbourne Victory last weekend, but the Reds’ squad is starting to look a bit bare. That said, Carl Veart’s team never takes a backwards step and they won’t fear the visit of the defending champions.
These two sides have already drawn once this season and could repeat the feat here.
After the two sides met in the FFA Cup in midweek, Sydney FC host Brisbane Roar in league action once again. The Sky Blues always looked one decent performance away from clicking into gear and easily dispatched Macarthur FC in their most recent A-League clash. Brisbane Roar’s youngsters will give it their all, but this is a home banker.
Will the Jets be better off for their derby run-out a few days earlier? They’ve only won one game all season but Arthur Papas’ side have shown glimpses of their attacking threat, not least in the 4-0 win over Wellington.
Western United have been tough to break down but have only scored five goals so far. Is it a stretch to tip this as a draw?
The news that Lachlan Brooks is on his way back to Adelaide United is good news for a Reds side that needs a few reinforcements. They’re always tough to beat at Coopers Stadium, but they’ll run into a Wanderers side desperate to start winning. The visitors were unlucky not to do so against Melbourne City, but they could stun the Reds here.
For all their strength and depth, Melbourne City continue to flatter to deceive in their title defence. They were all at sea defensively in the 3-3 draw with Western Sydney and while the defending champions possess plenty of firepower, they haven’t really clicked so far.
Is this the game where it all comes together for Paddy Kisnorbo?
I suspect so.
Simon Hill
Central Coast, Draw, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide, Draw
The Mariners have made monkeys out of all of us again, and while the Jets are a threat (particularly in a derby), I think home advantage will get Nick Montgomery’s team over the line.
Adelaide are the draw specialists, even under extraordinary circumstances, and although they may be without several key personnel (Isaias in particular), that early season comeback against City will be fresh in the mind.
(Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)
City are not yet firing on all cylinders and I think a stalemate is the most likely outcome.
Brisbane travel to Sydney with a severely depleted squad to face the Sky Blues twice (once in the Cup). Most of Sydney’s COVID cases are now on the mend and I cannot see the A-League Men’s cellar dwellers springing a surprise.
The Jets entertain Western on Wednesday (COVID notwithstanding), but John Aloisi’s team have been hit severely by the virus. I’m not even sure this one will go ahead – but if it does, that impact points towards a home win.
I’m also tipping Adelaide to see off the Wanderers at Coopers on the same night, and for the Mariners to continue their recent revival by taking a point off City at AAMI Park.
Stuart Thomas
Jets, City, Sydney, Western United, Adelaide, City
The Mariners and Jets is always a cracking affair and this edition should be no different. It is also a mighty tricky one to line up with the improved Jets dangerous in attack and the Mariners proving yet again they people’s estimations of them pre-season were well off. A tight Jets triumph.
Adelaide at home is also a tricky match to gauge, yet the visitors look to have plenty of goals in them and the Reds were a little fortunate to gain a point against a Victory side that should have taken all three last weekend.
Sydney looked to be improving before the short break most team have had, they should beat Brisbane and it would be nigh impossible to tip any other way.
The Jets may struggle backing up against a fresh team next Wednesday and John Aloisi’s United could well take top spot should other fixtures play out to their advantage. The Reds play at home once again when the Wanderers travel to them and it is hard to see the visitors winning after indifferent form throughout their opening six matches of the season.
Wanderers will be without centre-back Rhys Williams for some time (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The final match on what could be a thrilling mid-week of football sees City and Central Coast back up, with changes to both starting 11s almost certain. That sends my preference City’s way, with the depth in their squad potentially seeing them through the busy period ahead a little better than many other teams.
Texi Smith
Central Coast, City, Sydney, United, Western Sydney, City
The F3 derby, one of those beautifully named fixtures on the football calendar, referencing the historical name of the road between the towns of Gosford and Newcastle, is a much-anticipated game in both camps, with both teams light on for recent football.
Central Coast’s victory four weeks ago against the Wanderers was another display of home dominance and we’ll see that continue here as the Jets toil and look the most likely in the first half with Daniel Penha sparkling. But a professional second half display from the home team and a classy Glenn Hoddle-style Cy Goddard chip will see the Mariners take the honours.
Adelaide United at home is usually a home banker for me. There is something special about playing at Coopers Stadium, expectations are high for entertaining football and with the champions in town, the locals will be smelling the anxiety that is building up in the City camp.
But this is Melbourne City, and they have quality across the park. The much-maligned Mathew Leckie will prove his doubters wrong here, outscoring Craig Goodwin in an entertaining 3-2 win for the visitors.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
With FFA Cup out of the way on Wednesday night, the scene will be set for the main event between Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar, the return of Luke Ivanovic to his spiritual home and a match-up between two teams who are nowhere near where they ought to be.
Expect fireworks as Nikola Mileusnic silences the vocal home crowd and Roar lead at the break. The calm home players though will rise to the occasion upon the introduction of Milos Ninkovic and Patrick Wood, and the two will combine to steer the ship and give Sydney another win, sneaking the winner minutes from the end.
Western United missed out on an easy three points at Macarthur on Friday night, and they will go into their first fixture of 2022 ready to hand out a hiding. Dylan Wenzel-Halls has a goal in him and the returning Alessandro Diamanti will be the key.
Despite Olivier Boumale and Valentino Yuel providing the trickery down he wings for Newcastle, their inability to turn possession into goals will haunt them and a single strike on the break from superstar Dylan Pierias will be the difference.
Wanderers’ change in fortunes at Melbourne City was as refreshing as it was unexpected. This time they get the opportunity to prove their doubters wrong when they travel to a zesty Adelaide United. This one is a flip of the coin; on one day, Adelaide would absolutely murder Wanderers by pressing from the opening whistle, on another, they would retreat into their shell and meekly fold to defeat.
I’m going against all my good judgement and tipping the latter – a Wanderers win here, Jack Rodwell on fire.
Have the wheels come off the Melbourne City juggernaut? This is as good a time as any to play the champions on their own turf and the Mariners will be up for a result here. It’s hardly a fortress and there are leaks in their defence that a slick passing team can exploit.
But just when you think there are chinks in the armour and the swagger has disappeared, they can pull out a big performance to remind the doubters of their credentials. As they did on the weekend, City will provide much entertainment in another high scoring game, and another win for the reigning Premiers.
| Match Week 10 | Mike | Simon | Stuart | Texi | The Crowd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCM vs NEW | CCM | CCM | NEW | CCM | ? |
| ADL vs MCY | DRAW | DRAW | MCY | MCY | MCY |
| SYD vs BRI | SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD |
| NEW vs WUN | DRAW | NEW | WUN | WUN | ? |
| ADL vs WSW | WSW | ADL | ADL | WSW | ? |
| MCY vs CCM | MCY | DRAW | MCY | MCY | ? |
| Previous total | 12 | 12 | 11 | 16 | 13 |
| Last week | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| New total | 13 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 14 |
As always, get involved as part of The Crowd and take on The Roar’s experts, including Paramount+ commentator Simon Hill, using the form below.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
SFC v Roar on Ten, with AU v MC on Paramount. I've got both games on silmutaneously for an entertaining Sat night.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Since day one, sourcing overseas players has been a very hit and miss affair, with big ramifications. Get five good, productive starters, and your on your way, but waste on, say, 2 or 3 duds, and you're already behind the 8 ball.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Brebner sourced 4 highly experienced overseas players for MV, and they got the wooden spoon . Montgomery at CCM has less coaching experience, small budget and doing an ok job. The problem at Roar lies with the experienced players and the coach. Steinman is only half the player he was at Wellington, OShea effort levels have declined, Lescano has been a flat zero so far . I was quite impressed with the Roar performance in the first match . They need to get rid of Lescano. Only one of OShea and Steinman must be on the park at the same time if at all. The energy of youth is the solution for Roar. If Moon cant get anything out of his experienced players then he needs to go.
jbinnie
Guest
Lionheart - The fact that there is a huge difference in standard, not only between the top and the bottom of the A-league, but also the difference between the A-League and lower divisions is finally starting to manifest itself despite the "proof" having been around for more than a few years ,with the progressive results in the FFA Cup proving it time after time. This is not a new problem, we have had it in football for 40 years that I know off and the truth is little has been done to improve the situation. Inevitably, as knowledgeable coaches know, it is always easier to source talent from overseas, or even signing local top talent from poorer clubs, than it is to put the "hard yards" into developing local talent. Roar this year have embarked not only on an inexperienced player route but also in an inexperienced staff recruitment and the results are starting to show ,even to the most diehard of supporters. Can this state of affairs be allowed to continue in a professional league which ultimately depends on it's attraction to a ticket paying public for it's success. When they, the fans, start to ignore the games, the end is actually in sight and history will again repeat itself, albeit a generation or two later. Not so cheery jb
jbinnie
Guest
Brainstrust -If you use your stop button to stop the game when the ball is in mid-flight towards the scorer you will see that in roughly the back third of Roar's area there are 8 Roar outfield players and only 5 Sydney players in the picture. Only one of those 5 Sydney players are being "man marked", the other 7 Roar players are involved in" ball watching" with no thought towards picking up and getting goal-side of their opponents, which really is basic football thinking. One has to wonder where Roar are bound with displays like this. one can only feel for regular contributors like Lionheart and Waz. Not so cheery jb.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Mariners v Jest postponed means going into the FFA Cup we have not played for a month.. SFC lots of match time in their legs... Gonna be interesting but whether it's Cov related or not it seems a tad unfair
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
No research I only watched the highlights, suggests Sydney must have dominated possession in the final 30 minutes if their names kept being called some of that with 10 men. The worst bit of defence in the highlights was where Steinman is left all alone in the area to shoot on goal and hits it straight at Redmayne. Your wrong about Hingert, you had one center back at the near post, two Sydney players in addition to Kamsoba so one center back goes on the first, that means Hinger has two players to mark . In the end he did well to pressure Kamsoba, who hit it first time into the goal. Steinman looks the culprit and the other slacker OShea.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
it's poor. They are the only team to have same day, fly in/-fly out matches consecutively, which can't have helped. I remain hopeful they'll improve but I've given up on the League and the new management and broadcaster. Three steps forward, ten backward.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
my point is to the general lack of discussion and interest by the media in this (and other) matches. Great way to grow the game - come and find us.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
again we see a massive mismatch with your handle and the research you (fail to) undertake. I watched about 30 minutes, about twenty five of those minutes was about Sydney, naming players, praising attack and defence. The remaining five minutes in the call was about that other side. Occasional player named, attack rarely mentioned (they called Sydney's defence instead) and defence, well that was all about Sydney's attack. The worst bit of defence on display was Hingert's for the Kambosa goal, not mentioned, all praise for the attack. It's beyond ridiculous that our top ranked game caller would serve up such nonsense, we all know he is better than that, but not so in this match.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Well spotted.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Are you sarcastic?
TK
Guest
Brisbane Roar. ALM goals for this season....1. Nothing more to say.... Oh alright. Maybe they are taking a ScoMo approach and waiting until it's a crisis until doing something. They've only played 4 ALM games in afterall.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Yeh biased call, that corner from Oshea was tremendous, how dare they criticise it.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
maybe you're right, but the promising juniors need to deliver more than promise when they're given the chances they are getting at Roar. Roar has always carried a lot of juniors but don't retain many in later years. All that time with youth players like Brattan and Donachie, D'Aggers and a bundle of others bears little fruit for Roar. Brown is about it, of that older generation of Roar juniors. This year is impaired a lot by the Covid draw which makes it very difficult to maintain interest. But that aside, they still look very average on the park, completely lacking the unpredictable spark that usually makes watching juniors more interesting. I'm hoping they'll turn it around when they do eventually get a few home games, but the signs of better days to come just aren't there at present.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i dont believe moons in any danger of being sacked, the on the field issues arent translating to off field issuses - theyre still comfortably clearing $30k a home match, which will makes the owners happy after losing a considerable amount of money each week at suncorp. what that saying? 'short term, pain for long term gain' something like that. i was very critical of brisbane and moon in particular last season with the way they played and the UK influence in that line up - (hopefully they can be done with aldred and o'shea at seasons end and replace them with players more suited to the a league). there are some really promising players in all age groups at the club, i honestly dont think this season is anything to be massively concerned about - given the quality of youth currently there if lescano can stay fit, then moon needs to play to his strengths - he's a link striker, use him like one. adjust the formation and solely play counter attacking football
coolncold
Roar Rookie
$200m! Good to everyone. The one who pays, the ones who receive and all soccer participants.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS: Farmers next-door to future Western United home ground collect $200m+ in Tarneit - https://www.realestate.com.au/news/farmers-nextdoor-to-future-western-united-home-ground-collect-200m-in-tarneit/?rsf=syn:news:nca:news:spa
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
We are forever in your debt.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Surprised to read that many do not know the schedules of soccer. Maybe, it is because that I am old styled. My style is using pc more than mobile. With a pc, I typed in Google's chrome "A league", "Brisbane Roar" or "socceroos". Then, I know the schedule. I do this daily. The same applies to EPL and many big leagues around the world. If I type and enter "Manchester United" or " Juventus" the fixture and results show up on the top of the webpage.