A-League Round 10 talking points: Victory slumping, Kuol says farewell, Maclaren makes history

Garang Kuol played his final game in the yellow jersey as Tony Popovic’s Melbourne Victory fell to their fifth defeat of the season, there was an abundance of great goals across the six matches and we saw some encouraging festive attendances in Gosford, Adelaide and Parramatta.

Here are your A-League Round 10 talking points.

Victory’s slide continues – does Popovic have the answers?

On a balmy evening on the Central Coast of NSW, the Mariners came away with all three points after Jason Cummings refused to be denied his brace. It was another impressive performance from Nick Montgomery’s side, who are now up to third on the ladder and are building nicely for a top-four push in 2022-23.

For Melbourne Victory, however, it’s a second straight loss – and had those moronic OSM members not invaded the pitch in the Melbourne Derby, Victory likely would be staring at three consecutive defeats. They’ve slid all the way down to 11th on the A-League ladder, and while in theory they have a game in hand on the sides above them, it’s unlikely the powers that be decide the result of the abandoned derby will be anything other than a Melbourne City win.

Popovic claimed post-game that his charges created more chances of note at Industree Group Stadium, but outside of set-pieces and a fantastic individual goal from left-back Cadete, they rarely looked threatening in open play. Coming off an excellent 2021-22 campaign, midfield conductor Rai Marchan isn’t looking anywhere near as effective, Nicholas D’Agostino’s goal contributions have dried up and Nani looks like he is still adjusting to A-League football.

Nani of Melbourne Victory dribbles the ball. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

With a home game to be played in front of members only at AAMI Park on Friday, Popovic must galvanise his squad as they look to return to the winning column. Another loss would send concerned Vuck supporters into full panic mode, and heap even more pressure on the beleaguered manager.

Make us proud, Garang

In his short but sweet time with Central Coast, Garang Kuol has dazzled their fans, and indeed fans across the country. His explosive showings led to a Socceroos call-up for the two-match series against the All Whites, and Graham Arnold saw enough to reserve a spot on the plane to Qatar for the 18-year-old.

10,373 boisterous fans at Industree Group Stadium rose to their feet to applaud Kuol when he was substituted late on in his final game with the Mariners, showing how much of an impact he’s made Gosford in just eight months. Post-game, as always, he stuck around along with teammates to sign autographs and pose for photos with adoring supporters.

There’s an air of confidence surrounding the young man whose family came to Australia as refugees, but it’s certainly not arrogance. It’s a special thing to be signed by an English Premier League side as a teenager, but it’s testament to his extraordinary potential that Eddie Howe has brought Kuol to St James’ Park.

Realistically, it’s unlikely that the Socceroo stays in the northeast of England for the balance of the Premier League campaign. Chances are he will be loaned out somewhere in Europe soon after his plane touches down, but that will just be another opportunity to show his worth.

There’s a lot to play out, but the goal for both club and player is for Kuol to one day become a fixture in Newcastle’s starting 11 – and there’s no reason it can’t eventuate.

Round of the screamer

Last week I recognised Carlo Armiento’s swerving strike that completely fooled Lawrence Thomas at Kayo Stadium, as well as Craig Goodwin’s sumptuous free-kick against Wellington and Giordano Colli’s long-range rocket earlier in the season.

Well, in Round 10 we were treated to banger after banger. First off, on New Year’s Eve it was a defender’s turn to get in on the action with Cadete beating Danny Vukovic at his near post with this curling strike.

Then on New Year’s Day Sydney FC returned to winning ways on the back of classy goals from Adam Le Fondre and Robert Mak. The Englishman opened the scoring with a composed finish from Diego Caballo’s perfect cross, before Mak turned his defender in the area and rifled an outside of the foot beauty past Jack Duncan.

At Commbank Stadium, on the way to a 4-0 beatdown of Macarthur to ring in the new year Oliver Bozanic produced this delightful piece of skill.

The quality of the football in the A-League is much-maligned, and sometimes the criticism is deserved. But look at these goals and at some of the skill on display week in week out, and you realise that maybe the standard isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be.

Maclaren makes history

Finally this week, a tip of the hat to Jamie Maclaren. The Melbourne City striker notched a brace to become the first player to score in nine consecutive A-League matches. Maclaren is up to 12 goals for the season, easily good enough to lead the golden boot race. He’s sitting on 93 goals for City so he’ll surely hit triple digits before the end of the season.

At only 29 years of age, he’s a certainty to topple Besart Berisha’s all-time A-League goals record if he stays in the competition. That does seem the most likely scenario, considering he’s tried and failed overseas previously, but you never know. It’s the classic big fish in a small pond dilemma: Maclaren can dominate at this level but once the quality of competition increases, the Socceroo struggles.