The Roar's A-League Men tips and predictions: Round 13

After a cracking round of tipping a fortnight ago, Texi Smith went from the penthouse to the outhouse with no correct selections in Round 12. He will be doing a nudie run as soon as his club side resume training in the coming weeks.

In saying that, there was little to write home about elsewhere in The Roar tipping, with two correct tips the best score managed and the voice of the people stumbling for the first time this season with just one correct prediction.

Round 13 looks another ripping week of play, with Western United versus Sydney FC looming as a desperate affair, Perth out to continue their brilliant home form and the Phoenix and Mariners both determined to remain entrenched in the top six.

Good luck with your tips for the round and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say in the voice of the crowd. After a tough weekend, here is the way the panel predicts all the action will unfold in Round 13.

Mike Tuckerman

Draw, Sydney, City, draw, Central Coast, Western Sydney

Every season I phone my tips in, and every season I’m usually running last at this point of the campaign. So nothing much has changed, although I usually rally to finish a credible second-last.

I have no idea who’ll win between Adelaide United and Macarthur. I tipped the Reds to draw last weekend, so I was on the money there, but are they a better side than Macarthur? No idea. The Bulls downed Adelaide 2-0 in Campbelltown but don’t always travel well. Let’s call it another draw.

Western United’s campaign is a looking a lot like the last time John Aloisi finished bottom. The defending champions turned in another disappointing display in their 1-1 draw with Newcastle in Ballarat last time out, and it’s hard to see how the former Socceroo manages to motivate his team to another win.

The lack of a home ground doesn’t help, and while Steve Corica is equally out of sorts in charge of the Sky Blues, the visitors should produce a match-winner for this clash in Hobart.

Brisbane Roar’s modus operandi this season seems to be to grind – or should that be bore? – opponents into submission. There’s a solid argument to suggest they need to make a few signings during the January transfer window, but given the fact that previous signings like Matti Steinmann have come and gone with no impact whatsoever, perhaps it’s advisable they don’t.

Will they beat Melbourne City? Highly unlikely. But they’ll probably make life difficult for the league leaders.

What are we up to? Another Perth Glory home game? Fantastic! What will happen in this one? The lights will probably go out at Macedonia Park again. Tony Popovic will stare off into the distance in the opposition technical area again. He might even be thinking about how he used to coach Perth during their actual glory days.

Anyway, putting aside the fact that the team from the west play on a literal park these days, both of these sides are boring enough to cancel each other out.

Every week I seem to tip against the Central Coast Mariners, and every week they seem to win. I should probably stop doing that. So I’ve tipped the Mariners here, which makes Wellington Phoenix an absolute home banker. You’re welcome, Kiwi fans.

Daniel McBreen and Arthur Papas have been jawing off against each other in the local media, which is wonderful. We need more personal grudges in the A-League! Goodness knows I’ve tried to start a few. Anyway, I must admit I can’t make heads nor tails of the Novocastrians. I suspect they’re not quite as good as many of us, myself included, would like to believe.

So chalk up another win to Marko Rudan’s team on what is hopefully not another insanely hot afternoon.

(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Stuart Thomas

Adelaide, United, City, Perth, Wellington, Newcastle

The Reds are winning the crowd contest this season and after taking an early lead, let the points slip against a desperate Victory last time out. Macarthur will struggle on the road, with confidence a little low after a poor start against the Mariners last Friday. Adelaide to win.

Western United and Sydney FC is bordering on a ‘who cares’ match, although the winner will certainly get a boost as we head towards the mid-point of the season. I’ll tip United based on the home ground advantage in Tasmania, as long as they can manage to keep 11 players on the field for the 90 minutes.

Thanks to the lone Brisbane Roar fan who shoots me a tweet whenever their team wins. Sadly, they remain silent when things don’t go so well and were very quiet last week. I’d never return serve in such a classless way. Sorry to whoever you are, but City will beat Brisbane by two clear goals on Saturday night.

Perth Glory should get all three points against the Victory at the mighty Macedonia Park; what a story it is becoming.

Who’d have thought Wellington and Central Coast could ever clearly be the match of the round? It should be a ripper and the Phoenix, inspired by a massive home crowd, should do the business at the Cake Tin.

The final match of the round is an important one for the Wanderers, with a trip to the dangerous Jets potentially causing a serious slip on the ladder should the home side stun them. It could be the fieriest of encounters and Newcastle might well be able to find the two goals required to claim an important three points.

Blayne Treadgold

Adelaide, Sydney, City, draw, Central Coast, Western Sydney

Blayne is enjoying a well-earned vacation and will be back on deck with his comments next week. He has fired these tips through from a deck chair on a tropical island. Lucky bugger!

Andrew Prentice

Adelaide, Sydney, City, draw, Central Coast, Western Sydney

There were some flickering returns to form for the Reds last week in the original rivalry against the Victory. It seems strange that they sit below their Friday opponents on the ladder but given Adelaide’s patchy form in the last month, perhaps it shouldn’t. The Bulls’ form is hard to pick. Shellacked in the first half against the Mariners, they came home strongly, but can’t afford a similar start at Hindmarsh.

The champions take their travelling roadshow to Hobart this week (can you just build the damn stadium?) and their opponents must be looking for the black cat and the ladder they’ve walked under after conceding a 104th-minute equaliser last week and missing two penalties in the last minute the week before.

(Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)

Sydney’s luck must change soon and while they fail to convince most weeks, the shine seems to have gone off the Western revival.

It’s strange times when the Roar lose two in a row but their goal-scoring woes continue to stymie their potential. Equal lowest scorers in the league, and with City’s attack looking to make amends for a frustrating experience against the Wanderers, it seems the Roar will have to score at least twice to win here. They’ve only done that once in 12 rounds.

You’ve got to hand it to the Glory – they seem impossible to overcome at Macedonia Park. 2-0 down against Sydney FC last week, they staged the latest of comebacks, with David Williams’ 104th-minute goal the latest scored in A-League history.

Victory was vastly improved against Adelaide but that’s a bit like saying tripe is an improvement on liver – it might be but you’re not lining up for it. Chris Ikonomidis and Nick D’Agostino did enough to warrant starts again this week but will Tony Popovic be tempted to throw former Glory striker Bruno Fornaroli into the mix to spice things up?

Match of the round between the two form teams not owned by City Group. Wellington will welcome back Bohzidar Kraev after the Bulgarian’s harsh dismissal against Sydney FC. After failing to keep a clean sheet all season up to Round 11, the Phoenix have now snared successive doughnuts. Keeping the Mariners out will be an altogether different task to repelling the shot-shy Roar.

Marco Tulio and Jason Cummings are rarely contained and Oli Sail, who has been in sparkling form between the posts, may feel once again that he is defending the Alamo on Sunday. This one will be a cracker.

The Wanderers found a way to stop Jamie Maclaren last week. Last season, stopping Beka Mikeltadze was equally as difficult, but the Jets striker has only scored twice in 11 games. Arthur Papas’s promise of “Ange-like” attacking flair remains hidden away on a Broadmeadow training ground and this may be the proverbial arm-wrestle between two teams who between them have troubled the scorers 23 times in 24 games.

Knowing the schizophrenic nature of this league, this game will probably end up as a 4-4 thriller.

Texi Smith

Macarthur, United, City, Victory, Wellington, Western Sydney

What a cracker to begin the weekend, with Adelaide United at home to Macarthur FC. The visitors have so much quality in their ranks but continually fail to put that quality towards the goals tally. But in Daniel Arzani 2.0, we have a new, improved version of what we have seen so far this season. His commitment, verve and desire were second to none last week when coming off the bench and he almost turned the game from a lost hope to a magical comeback.

(Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Adelaide were fortunate to hang on against Victory last week, and I fear they will struggle here. Tommy Uskok will finally go a game without making an error, and Bachana Arabuli will score two headers to put his poor return in front of goal to bed.

Hobart’s football-loving public will be treated to some quality play from Western United. Dylan Wenzel-Halls will be back in the side to torment the weak Sydney FC defence, and their busy front players will have the Sky Blues tied up in knots by half-time, two goals to the good and flying.

They will take their eyes off the prize with 20 minutes left, after the traditional 63rd to 67th minute substitution window is used again to make a needless Sydney FC midfield swap. A third goal at the death will underline Western United’s dominance.

Brisbane Roar have a Saturday night humdinger against the Rolls Royce that is Melbourne City. The league leaders have the shackles of chasing records completely off now and can start a new set of records from scratch. Roar’s form has been sparkling of late, but are now undone by their goal -coring instinct, which went out the door with Charlie Austin.

City had a similar sort of game last week, but somehow only scored one goal against the Wanderers despite a glut of chances. This will be a shootout, but it will be the Roar who bring on their secret weapons earliest, before a galloping run from Florin Berenguer will tee up Marco Tilio for a sucker punch with 10 minutes remaining and City will hang on for the points in Redcliffe.

Perth Glory are at home again against Melbourne Victory, fresh from clawing back a hopeless half-time position against the league’s weakest team Sydney FC. Victory were unlucky not to take all the points in Adelaide, and their current form is making it hard to convert possession into goals.

The lights will stay on this weekend as Mustafa Amini leads his charges into a one-goal lead at half time, but a second-half revival from Victory and a long-awaited revival in goal scoring form for Jake Brimmer will see Victory blow Perth away with a four-goal, five-star second-half showing, to finally provide some relief and lift them off the bottom of the table.

Wellington Phoenix against Central Coast Mariners will be a big test for the home team, following their successful raid on Australia to bring back the full six points from two games on the road. If they can’t follow up their important away wins with a good home win, they’re back to square one.

The Mariners were terrific at Macarthur, thoroughly deserving the win despite a rousing comeback by the Bulls, and they will need to be at their best to contain the firepower of the home team, refreshed with the return of their two suspended players from their smash-and-grab at Allianz. Wellington in the game of the round.

Western Sydney Wanderers travel to Newcastle to bake in the sun in the McDonald Jones away bay, and they must be chuckling to themselves after holding on for a draw against premiers Melbourne City, in a game they should have come out of with a hiding.

The Jets are riding the wave of unpredictability that has smashed through the A-League this season, but if they can use their secret weapon in Jack Grealish, er, I mean Daniel Stynes, this could be a glorious day for them. The game won’t pan out that way unfortunately, and Sulejman Krpic will be on hand to slide home a cross from Adama Traore to give the visitors an unexpected match-winning lead just after half-time.

As always, get involved as part of The Crowd and take on The Roar’s experts.