A-League Round 4 talking points: Stunning comeback, more VAR drama and Wanderers keep rolling

Plenty of action to run the rule over again this round, with 11 goals scored and three red cards handed out on a super Saturday alone.

Let’s get into it – here are your A-League Round 4 talking points.

Early goal of the season contender

It wasn’t the match of the round but Adelaide’s Coopers Stadium homecoming produced this magical moment from the Glory’s Giordano Colli.

Wow, what a hit. You could possibly question the lack of closing down from the Reds but in fairness, Colli’s on an angle and about 35 metres out when he strikes it. Not a lot Joe Gauci could do about that one.

Perth tried hard but ultimately, as will happen time and time again this season, their dearth of quality shone through and it finished 2-1 to United.

City unleashing hell on the A-League

This week’s episode of A-Leagues All Access gave fans great insight into the restless and relentless psychology behind the success of Patrick Kisnorbo’s Melbourne City outfit. “Unleash hell,” the manager commanded his charges before they took the field for the sold-out Melbourne Derby.

After years of threatening, City finally broke through for their first premiership and championship in 2020-21 with a 15-win regular season, then completed the double by taking care of Sydney FC in the Grand Final at AAMI Park. Last season they claimed a second straight regular season crown and made it to the decider once again, only to be usurped by the noisy neighbours in Western United with everything on the line.

Judging by their start on the pitch this season, as well as the intensity of Kisnorbo’s team talks, they’re as hungry as ever to claim a third premiership on the bounce and avenge last season’s Grand Final defeat. And based on the rest of the league’s start to the new campaign, who’s going to stand in their way?

They’re still top, but today’s result shows City are fallible. Good on Wellington, they performed admirably and salvaged a point in the Melbourne rain. City’s second-half performance certainly left something to be desired, perhaps getting complacent with their 2-0 advantage.

I still expect Kisnorbo’s men to punish Perth when the Glory visit AAMI Park next Saturday, as well as the Jets up at McDonald Jones Stadium in two weeks’ time, but today’s draw will give those other sides some confidence they can also cause a boilover and grab something against the premiers.

VAR rears its ugly head again

Another week, another VAR drama in this glorious league. It’s not my favourite topic to cover but it would be remiss of me to neglect some of the bizarre calls from the booth this weekend.

First, in the interest of balance let’s discuss the send-off in Brisbane. Roar gloveman Jordan Holmes came an awfully long way out of his area and instead of getting the ball, made contact with Nicholas D’Agostino’s head with full force. It was dangerous and Holmes was deservedly red carded.

(Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Scott Wootton would’ve been in big trouble had he connected with Jamie Maclaren in the Sunday evening fixture, but luckily for Wellington there was no contact. This was also the correct call, so well done, Adam Kersey.

Now, on to some more contentious decisions.

With the Mariners trying to mount a comeback in Gosford Jason Cummings had a goal chalked off for a strange reason: an errant second ball on the pitch at the start of Central Coast’s attack.

Then at Campbelltown Stadium all hell broke loose.

Playing a give-and-go with Anthony Caceres, live wire Robert Mak appeared to draw contact from Matthew Millar as he chased the return ball, prompting Alex King to point to the spot. Replays, however, clearly showed the Sydney winger initiating the little contact there was but inexplicably King stuck with his original call.

The moment that changed this ‘Sydney Derby’ was undoubtedly Jonathan Aspropotamitis’ red card. I’m not calling this an outright howler for three reasons: he was the last man, Patrick Wood was just about in front of him, and Tomislav Uskok probably wasn’t getting across in time to cut off the Sydney forward.

The issue I have with the red card, though, is just how far Wood still is out from goal, and considering Filip Kurto was channeling prime Iker Casillas all night, who knows whether Sydney would have scored?

And whether or not it’s fair on referees, send-offs change games, or “ruin” them, to quote Paramount caller Simon Hill. There’s deservedly a high bar for what constitutes a red card. It’s not quite sending someone to jail for murder, but the person with the whistle needs to be sure of their decision.

Could stunning comeback kick-start Mariners’ campaign?

Last Sunday’s loss at home to wooden spoon favourites Perth Glory was definitely unexpected for Nick Montgomery’s side, but yesterday’s stirring come-from-behind 4-2 win over Western United was the perfect response.

It took character for the Mariners to get themselves back into this game. After dominating the early proceedings, they found themselves down by two after a couple of clinical United counter-attacks. Jason Cummings had two goals disallowed by VAR and it seemed like it wasn’t going to be Central Coast’s day.

(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)

But then Cummings finally got one in the back of the net legally after some great work from the effervescent Garang Kuol. Just seven minutes later the Mariners were level and the floodgates opened, with two more quick goals sealing the victory.

Could the result propel Central Coast to a good little run? It’s a trip to Parramatta next week to take on Marko Rudan’s Wanderers side, then Macarthur come to Central Coast Stadium to round out the Mariners’ fixtures pre-World Cup break. They’ve still got a game in hand, too after the F3 Derby washout.

Marko Rudan leads Western Sydney to second

Just quietly, the Wanderers are second on the ladder and they’ve been good value so far.

It’s never going to be champagne football under Marko Rudan’s iron fist but the Wanderers outplayed Newcastle throughout Friday’s contest, especially in the second half. They’re one of two sides with an unbeaten month to open 2022-23 and it does seem the boss is building something with his new-look side.

It’s one of the league’s most tired clichés: is this the year Western Sydney not only make the finals, but ascend to contender status? The early signs are certainly good. Two more wins before the World Cup hiatus might just send the hype into the stratosphere.

If both sides win next week, there’s going to be at least 35,000 at Allianz Stadium for the derby, if not more.

Whose idea was it to play in 30° Brisbane heat?

Scheduling six games per week while trying to keep all stakeholders happy isn’t an easy gig – I get that. But surely, as we go into summer the league needs to do away with 3pm kick-offs. If we don’t, La Niña might be the only thing preventing players from getting heatstroke. It was 30° at kick-off at Moreton Daily Stadium as the Roar hosted Melbourne Victory, and the mercury was in the mid-20s for the champions’ visit to Gosford.

It’s the same story next week as Sydney FC travel up to Queensland for the early start on Sunday afternoon. Let’s hope conditions are more palatable that day. There’s a 3pm (local) kick-off at Sky Stadium earlier on, but a quick perusal of the forecast shows that it’ll be a chilly 16° as Phoenix host Dwight Yorke’s Macarthur side.

These earlier kick-offs are only going to result in players conserving energy and managers making adjustments to ensure their game plan is more conservative. A-League players are just not fit enough to go full throttle in mid or late-afternoon heat.