Opinion
Last year’s champions and the two biggest clubs in the country are flailing outside the top six, Central Coast keep going from strength to strength and Shaun Evans has an absolute nightmare.
Here are your A-League Round 11 talking points.
Coming into 2022-23, Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Western United all had very realistic top-six ambitions. After all, you’ve got the two most successful A-League sides, and the reigning champions.
Eleven rounds into the season, however, all three have more losses than wins. It’s often said this league is a tipster’s worst nightmare, and even the most clairvoyant of football fans surely couldn’t have envisioned these three sides struggling so badly all at the same time.
It begs the question: which manager is under the most pressure? Steve Corica looks like a man who, at best, is unable to properly motivate his squad, and at worst, has lost the dressing room. The club legend has credit in the bank, but after an abhorrent 2021-22 campaign is on track to miss the finals again.
Poppa is coming off a semi-final exit, so it’s quite unlikely he gets the sack. Having said that, Victory are in a hole and look bereft of ideas in attack. It seems the former Socceroo is still looking for his best starting 11, and Sunday’s confirmation of talisman Nani’s season-ending ACL injury could be the final nail in the coffin.
Nani of Melbourne Victory dribbles the ball. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
As for Aloisi, well, surely you’re never safer than when defending a championship.
Having watched his post-match press conference after his side’s collapse against Melbourne City, it seems Aloisi is out of answers for why Leo Lacroix’s form has fallen off a cliff. Perhaps it’s harsh to single out the Swiss, but there is no more stark form slump in the whole competition than the centre-half’s.
Will all three beleaguered bosses survive the season? Time will tell, but I’m betting on no.
Showing no signs of missing Garang Kuol, the Mariners dispatched Adelaide United 4-0 on Saturday evening. Overshadowed by the drama in Moore Park, let’s give credit where credit’s due. Nick Montgomery has got this side ticking – they’ve comfortably been the most consistent side in the league apart from City.
I was at CommBank Stadium on the night Central Coast dismantled Western Sydney on their home deck in one of the most complete performances of the season. They were fantastic that night, getting contributions from across the park.
As we approach the halfway mark, the premiership looks like it’ll stay in Victoria but the other top-four places are there for the taking. They’ve proven they’re good enough to beat any other side on their day – the challenge for the Mariners now is to put on a run of wins here and really cement themselves in the top two.
On Montgomery, the former midfield destroyer is deservedly earning plaudits for overseeing the resurgence at Central Coast Stadium. He’s got history with Sheffield United, so I wonder if a return to England may be on the cards sooner rather than later. Alternatively, could City Football Group see Monty as a fit in Melbourne? And there’s also a club down the freeway who quite possibly will be looking for a new manager within the next few months.
Reffing is the toughest gig in football – in sport, really. There’s no question about that. It’s for this reason I like to keep the officials’ mistakes in perspective and not harp on about every little call that could have gone the other way.
But now and then a refereeing performance so bad comes along that simply can’t be ignored – and unfortunately for Shaun Evans, Wellington’s 1-0 triumph over Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium is one of those times.
I’m not going to forensically investigate the two penalties and two red cards that all came in a frantic final 25 minutes or so. There’s been plenty of that across Soccer Twitter in the last 24 hours and going frame-by-frame really doesn’t interest me. But the almost universal condemnation of so-called favouritism towards Sydney FC, on this occasion, actually has some legs.
(Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
Any notions that Evans deliberately made decisions to favour the home side are nonsensical, but such an incompetent showing unfortunately gives credence to all the conspiracy theorists out there who actually believe there’s some kind of pro-Sydney and Melbourne bias amongst the referees.
As for the game as a whole, it’s tough to argue the Sky Blues deserved anything out of it. Rhyan Grant had a second-half goal ruled out for offside and there was just inches in it, however it looked to be the correct decision. Beyond that Sydney really did not create much.
On the other hand, Wellington should have been two to the good when Andrew Redmayne denied Bozhidar Kraev in a one-on-one situation.
Finally this week, to Western Sydney Wanderers. Marko Rudan’s men fell to Perth Glory in the west, making it just one win in five games since the World Cup hiatus.
Their stingy defence – a key factor in their early season success – has still conceded just eight goals in 11 matches, good enough for the third fewest league-wide behind only Melbourne City and, surprisingly, Brisbane Roar. The problem is, goals at the other have dried up.
The Wanderers have only managed to score more than one goal in a game twice – the 4-0 demolishing of Macarthur last week, and a 2-0 win over Newcastle in October.
Rudan’s set-up and tactics will keep Western Sydney in most games for the rest of the season, but unless they can find goals from somewhere, it’s difficult to see this team making any noise come finals time.
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