The first time all A-League sides descended on the same city brought mixed results for the APL and its clubs. Plenty to run the rule over, so let’s get into it.
Here are your A-League Round 12 talking points.
Unite Round a tentative success
Even before the Macarthur-Western United clash kicked off on Friday evening, it’s safe to say that A-League fans are happier with the concept of the Unite Round than APL’s disastrous three-year deal with Destination NSW to host all Grand Finals in Sydney. That agreement was a stain on Danny Townsend’s and the league’s reputation, and its dissolution was a massive triumph for the game’s most important stakeholders: the supporters.
Now, on to the first iteration of Unite Round itself. By the most relevant metrics, it was not a massive success. I’m still uneasy with the concept’s introduction to football; simply copying something that works – and works very well, it must be said – in the two major football codes is not inherently a good strategy.
Probably my biggest gripe is the lack of auxiliary activities for fans before and after matches. The Asian Cup live site for Australia vs India was well-intentioned, but the unpleasant weather and technical difficulties sent anyone hanging around in Moore Park either to pubs in Surry Hills or Redfern, or to the couch at home.
Jackson Irvine celebrates Australia’s first goal (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Apart from the games on tap throughout the weekend, what else was there to do for fans wanting to make a full day of it? Sydney is one of the best cities on Earth to visit – and there are more than a few other businesses in this town willing to take visitors’ hard-earned cash. On top of ticket sales and merch, the APL need to maximise their earning potential in future.
Youth star as Wanderers rebound in style
Some good news coming out of Western Sydney last week, with Marko Rudan putting pen to paper on a three-year contract extension at CommBank Stadium. Rudan has brought much-needed stability to a club that was drifting aimlessly for years prior to his arrival; the only negative mark on his record being the finals loss to Sydney.
Rudan’s recruitment has been top-notch across two off-season transfer windows, bringing in quality foreigners like Marcelo, Jorrit Hendrix and Morgan Schneiderlin – the former two being crucial cogs in what is shaping to be another fruitful campaign.
But it was the younger members of the squad the former Socceroo has nurtured who played key roles in Friday’s win over Melbourne City, an important three points at home after a disappointing defeat last round. Dylan Pierias scored the only goal of the game as Oscar Priestman, Nicolas Milanovic and Alex Badolato also impressed.
At this point in the season every side is missing players but Brandon Borrello and Lawrence Thomas are possibly Rudan’s two best players.
Nix return to summit with high-scoring Distance Derby triumph
Despite their hot start, it took me some time to recognise that Wellington Phoenix are the real deal this season. First-time A-League head coach Giancarlo Italiano has built upon Ufuk Talay’s work at Sky Stadium, overseeing the Nix’s transform into serious contenders.
Kosta Barbarouses’ Indian summer has offset the absence of Oskar Zawada, with the Kiwi rolling back the years as Bruno Fornaroli does the same in Melbourne.
With all due respect to Alen Stajcic’s side, the ladder does not lie this deep into the season and Perth deserve to be where they are – and these are the kind of games, where they are expected to win, that Nix need to close out to ensure they remain at the pointy end of the table. The banana skin fixtures, if you will.
It was a wild affair in Parramatta, with not a lot of defending going on as seven goals flew in. A big concern for Stajcic has to be the number of goals Glory are conceding: seven in their last two fixtures, 28 for the season – equal-worst with the awful Western United.
Inconsistent Sky Blues concede four in awful display
Credit to Adelaide United, as you can only beat the team in front of you. The Reds, who themselves are in the midst of a mixed run of form, downed a pitiful Sydney FC in the back half of the A-League Men doubleheader on Saturday night.
Hiroshi Ibusuki, who’s definitely had his detractors this season, netted a hat-trick with the second goal particularly well taken. The Japanese has looked off to my eye test but a hat-trick is a hat-trick and his nose for goal is clearly still there.
Injuries are definitely affecting the Sky Blues – Jack Rodwell unfortunately cannot avoid the treatment table – but there is enough quality in this Sydney side to overcome the losses. Talay has done an admirable job since coming in mid-season to replace his mate Steve Corica and you can’t blame the kind of defensive collapse we saw on Saturday on the coach.
(Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
The challenge now will be how well he can leverage the promising youth at his disposal to plug gaps opened up by injury. Curiously, Max Burgess still cannot muscle his way into Talay’s starting 11.
Quick hits
-Ben Cahn notched his first win at A-League level as Roar snapped a four-game losing run dating back to the end of Ross Aloisi’s tenure.
-There was definitely some luck involved in Ulises Davila’s three-goal haul, but hat-tricks for midfielders are definitely collector’s items.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The third goal by Ibusuki was very good as he had to put it over the top of Grant who actually got good height on his leap and was blocking off a near post header and over Redmayne. The second goal the ball he pulled down that was off a header not a long ball, and he was unmarked because Lacerda was in no mans land marking no one , so Girdwood Reich goes to Halloran who headed the ball leaving Ibusuki unmarked when he gets the ball, then De Jesus has to rush across from right back. The weirdest occurence of a remarkable night though was when Bunovaglia slipped over and took out JCP who was about to meet a cross, and there was no var check at all. It looked a clear penalty. Talay and Stanton could be Coricas henchmen for all we know.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Cahn said post match that they expected problems as he was on debut and will take a while to settle in
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
I would suggest that the absolute opposite is the case in this instance. Ibusuki had the game of his life. The ball he pulled down, changed feet and the fired was utter control and quality football. Just because Sydney's defence was not up to par, it does not validate an attempt to downgrade the quality of Ibusuki's achivement. Ibusuki's headed goal at the Cove end was simply a big lad out jumping the defender marking him. Afford the man a little respect.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
for what its worth, i always felt he was a better striker than defender - his junior stats arent the best though (not that scoring 40 goals in a junior season means you will be a great striker as you grow up)
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
left for double his wages at sydney - it was always going to be a terrible move, as sydney dont barely give younger players minutes
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
im probably a good person to speak about majok since he is one of my findings and i keep in regular contact with the player still. just remember hes played for 2 a league clubs as a teenager (would've been a third but adelaide passed due to the sheer volume of teenage players they play in the same position) - and this is the second brisbane coach who is lauded for his work with youth and good eye for it that has taken a liking to the player. all these professional coaches cant be wrong - the talent is there but he needs the right support system behind him - which has let not only him down, but a lot of the players with backgrounds as african refugees when they leave a small city like adelaide for one of the larger east coast ones
coolncold
Roar Rookie
I think re-watching the videos is needed. Please refer to the video at 5:05. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfFdcbLWip8 At 5:05 of the video, the ball came out of Markovski's left foot, flying above the lawn towards the goal mouth. As the ball flies towards the goad mouth at 5:06, the ball hits on Ingram's right hand. Then the ball changes 90 degrees in direction to the left (in anti-clockwise manner). It may not be deliberate. But the ball, if keeps going towards the goal mouth, may result in Roar's players scoring. Despite not necessarily deliberate, this handball takes out Roar's scoraing chance. That is definitely a penalty infringement. There is no controversy.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Ryan Lethlean almost ruined the whole match. He was partly responsible for Roar’s loss of the first goal at the 18th minute. Then at the 23 minutes, Lethlean could not control or clear the ball that consequently made Buhagiar to get the ball and to shoot it into Roar’s net. Luckily, just that VAR had found the goad invalid because of offside. “The 21-year-old Ryan Lethlean, who was a striker in his younger days before being converted to a central defender by current Brisbane assistant Luciano Trani when they worked together at Victory, made his professional debut in a 2021 Australia Cup game”, according to SACHA PISANI in A-League’s web site. Probably, Roar had arrange him to deal with high ball in defence and header in attack. However, at the 65th minutes, he stood at the far post when the Jets had a corner kick. Lethlean is not the cure to Roar’s poor defence line. He is not up to A-league level. Just felt he was wandering last night. Can Lethlean be a mid-fild defender like “Erik Paartalu” in Brisbane Roar in the early 2010s? I doubt? He was not tense enough last night. But if he is very tense, he probably will get many yellow cards, will fail an intercept to let the opponent to pass him, or will make some penalty losing tackles. Should he revert back to be a striker and displace Waddingham’s number 9 position? Centre forward is probably the best position for him.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
If you watch the replay of the Perth Wellington match, some valuable insights on what are called contract years by the commentators. So if a players contract is up at the end of the season according to Archie then thats when you have to perform to get another one. What happened to performing all the time. In another contract year I can remember the help Roar gave Barbarouses 8 of his 15 goals were against the Roar, this season Barbarouses has earnt his goals but have his rivals been given a helping hand. The thing has distinguished this season is the top scorers table how many are in contract years and aging. Fornaroli had been unmarked so many times. Roar gave Maclaren a special boost, now Sydney did the job with Ibusuki. Is the PFA behind a lot of this in recent season it always seemed that players would avoid marking MacLaren, I pointed out Alex Wilkinson doing it last year.
David Shilovsky
Expert
Just a bizarre signing in hindsight. So strange for Corica to poach him then never give him a proper opportunity to succeed.
David Shilovsky
Expert
It was over as a contest after the third Adelaide goal, but the goals kept flying in after that so I think it's unfair to call it a boring match.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
NM you've redeemed yourself brother :laughing: That was a cracking game of football.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Lads, the Roar played the Jets off the park in the second half and full marks to them. But kudos to Stamatelopoulous for calling out the refs. Quote; the refs told us before the start of the season that if the ball comes off part of your body and hits your hand it's not a handball. Unquote. The biggest detraction to the Unite round was the refereeing, especially in the Mariners game and with the penalty in the Jets/Bris game. That was not a penalty and to remove all trace of intent from decision making and the rules of the game, for me has damaged the game. Teams are being penalised for doing nothing wrong and it's not just the Jets. The blokes masquerading as referees couldn't get a job as Garbos, they'd fail the intelligence test in my opinion.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Bull Crap it was boring, The Adelaide v SFC game was great to watch and i don't follow either clubs, both teams put on a show for the neutrals as well as there fans.
Bondi Hawk
Roar Rookie
Went to Allianz on Saturday night. Boring, a terrible crowd and I reckon about 27 Adelaide supporters there. If the NSW Government paid more than a few thousand for this it was a waste of money.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Agree on all counts - and thank goodness they did. We badly needed a win.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Parsons is an outstanding player albeit one-footed and is known to be temperamental so has highs n lows. He’s been poor this season but may respond better under Cahn than RA. I felt he left a season too early for SFC, not unusual in the A League and a familiar story of youth from Brisbane showing promise and going nowhere.
NickA
Roar Rookie
Do you both rate Parsons? When he first broke onto the scene I really thought he could be something special. I don't know if Markovski & Majok will last the distance at this level though.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Cahn said it was a tactical tweak at half-time, rather than an inspirational speech. Surprisingly, the aggression came from the young subs, Parsons, Markosvi and (can’t believe I’m saying this) Majok. Home game advantage got us through.
Waz
Roar Rookie
The Roar players looked completely dejected in that first half, like they’d not been paid or something equally as bad. It’s hard to imagine what can get 10 outfield players to perform so poorly that even making a straightforward pass under no pressure only had a 50/50 outcome. It’s not like Jets were playing particularly well or were “unplayable”; it was a decent Jets side going about their business well but up against a Roar side that looked like the training team who had been told “play at 50%, no aggression, let the attackers work through some of their combinations to build confidence” Only Freke got a pass in the first half, and even his second half double-blunder is forgivable given his age, wet-weather, and relative lack of experience (plus the defenders let him down twice). It’s the polar opposite of the first few rounds where Roar were aggressive in the press and precise with the pass. Equally the second half Roar performance was unrecognisable from the first, what changed that??