A-League Round 2 talking points: Kisnorbo in the right, Cumdog robbed and youngster bossing midfield

Twenty-one-year-old makes his mark, a Macarthur masterclass, 10 yellow cards at AAMI Park and the Melbourne City coach clarifies that he’s not, in fact, the Socceroos boss. It was another busy weekend of football action, so let’s not delay.

Here are your A-League Round 2 talking points.

Are you watching, Arnie?

The enigmatic Daniel Arzani had a day out this afternoon against Adelaide, notching a goal and an assist for Lachie Rose in a man of the match performance. It could’ve been more after he went very close with a free-kick.

It was against semi-professional opposition, granted, but he terrorised the Sydney United defence in the Australia Cup final just a few weeks ago, too.

Graham Arnold has stated it’ll be difficult for A-League players to book their ticket to Qatar. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, however, and at full flight the Macarthur man might just have the X-factor required at World Cup level.

(Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

There are plenty of candidates for the wing spots – Awer Mabil will be there, as will Mat Leckie. But is anyone else really locked in? The likes of Martin Boyle, Garang Kuol and Marco Tilio (more on him later) will be up against Arzani.

Watch this space. If Arzani can keep raising his level it wouldn’t shock me to see him grabbing one of the final spots in Arnold’s squad.

Cumdog robbed

How good would this have been? 

Jason Cummings would’ve etched his name into A-League lore if this goal hadn’t been denied by the VAR check.

The one they couldn’t take off the Socceroo wasn’t too shabby, a delightfully weighted chip over Oli Sail.

Ben Waine also scored a chip to open the scoring.

It finished 2-2 in a lively affair at Sky Stadium earlier this afternoon, getting the Mariners off the mark and for the Nix it’s two straight draws to start 2022-23.

If the Cumdog can stay fit this season he could power his Mariners side to a top-six finish – he’s that good. I’m just not sure if there’s enough quality and experience in the supporting cast to make finals a reality in Gosford.

Calem Nieuwenhof makes red (and black) hot start

When Nieuwenhof was released by Sydney FC and signed by their cross-town rivals at the conclusion of 2021-22, the move was noticed but there wasn’t much fanfare, especially compared to the defection of Serbian Milos Ninkovic.

I’ll admit that while noticing his talent in his time with the Sky Blues, the 21-year-old never fully held my attention. Well, that’s all changed on the back of two excellent performances for the red and black to start the new campaign.

Trusted by Marko Rudan in a central midfield role, partnering French import Romain Amalfitano, The Hof has certainly grabbed his opportunity with both hands. If he can get a run of games here, it could be scary to see how much progression he’s able to make.

And the kicker? Nieuwenhof is on a scholarship deal, so his (likely modest) salary does not count towards the Western Sydney Wanderers’ salary cap.

It’s two on the bounce for Rudan’s charges now, and things are finally looking up in Parramatta. Could this be the year they return to the finals, giving their long-suffering supporters something to cheer about?

Who’s going to stop the premiers?

Melbourne City travelled north to Suncorp Stadium where they proceeded to press and suffocate the life out of Brisbane.

Two first-half goals from Jamie Maclaren in his 100th appearance in light blue effectively ended things at half-time with Warren Moon’s side just not in the game at all. Roar’s xG (expected goals) at the break was 0. Not 0.7, not 0.2, 0. For any statisticians out there, let me know how many (if any) times that’s happened since that particular advanced stat became fashionable.

There was a hiccup to start the second stanza, midfielder Taras Gomulka sent for an early shower within two minutes of the restart for a nasty sliding challenge.

As usual, there were farcical scenes with the centre-midfielder being ushered a few metres down the tunnel while the VAR check was completed. Like Simon Hill said in commentary, if it’s taking that long, just stick with your bloody instinctual decision and stop wasting everyone’s time.

Was it a send-off? Probably somewhere between a slice of cheese and a red card, but I’m happy enough with the final outcome.

Despite playing 43 minutes against 10 men, an insipid Roar side struggled to create anything of note and it finished 2-0 to the visitors.

It shows your depth when you’ve got a Socceroo riding the pine in Marco Tilio, and Dutch central midfielder Richard van der Venne still yet to feature in the starting 11. They’ve got class all over the park, but the front three – Maclaren, Nabbout and Mat Leckie – would walk into basically any other side’s frontline.

(Photo by Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images)

Granted, City will face much more arduous tasks this season, not least of which is the Melbourne Derby at AAMI Park on Saturday evening, but the early signs show that Patrick Kisnorbo’s men are the team to beat for the regular season title once again.

What’s going on with Kisnorbo and Tilio?

Eyebrows were raised when Tilio was subbed on for about 60 seconds of game time at Suncorp, ostensibly some kind of statement from Kisnorbo according to Paramount commentator Daniel McBreen.

True, there was no slender lead to protect and it’s unlikely Tilio’s contract includes some kind of performance bonus. It was an odd substitution, I’ll admit, but is there really some larger ulterior motive at play from the City boss here?

Kisnorbo is well within his rights to make whatever call he feels is in the best interest of Melbourne City. It’s all well and good for Carl Veart to be willing to sacrifice Craig Goodwin’s minutes to give the winger the best chance for a plane ticket to Qatar. That’s the Adelaide coach’s prerogative, and it’s very altruistic. But as Kisnorbo said, he’s not the national team manager, so why should the Socceroos figure into his thinking one iota?

Tilio’s a great player, no one doubts that. But if the 21-year-old wants guaranteed minutes, he won’t find them at AAMI Park unless there’s a major injury to one of the forwards. Perhaps it’s time for him to explore his options – even if it’s a loan move for the balance of this season.