The Perth Glory ownership issue was finally resolved, Marko Rudan learnt his fate and we saw a pretty underwhelming Melbourne Derby across another busy week.
Here are your A-League Round 17 talking points.
Did Rudan sanction go far enough?
I’ll start by saying that I believe Marko Rudan’s infamous diatribe aimed at the referees and the APL was premeditated, not purely an emotional reaction to defeat at the hands of local rivals Macarthur. Considering the way Wanderers have communicated in public since that press conference, it seems many people within the club back Rudan and may also have taken a few sips of Kool-Aid.
Perhaps it was all a ploy to galvanise his players and adopt an ‘us against the world’ mentality as Western Sydney chase an elusive first-ever A-League championship, or maybe Rudan truly believes there is a conspiracy against his club. In any case, a two-match ban with a third suspended does not go far enough after Rudan’s rant.
The behaviour of Wanderers Chairman and co-owner Paul Lederer, who was also APL Chairman until recently, was shameful. There is simply no place in the A-League – or in football at all – for this kind of abuse directed at referees. Like anyone involved at the professional level the officials’ performances will always be scrutinised, but abuse will never be tolerated. What was Lederer even doing on the field?
The marketing department – what’s left of it – at the APL may be licking their lips with a Sydney Derby at CommBank Stadium just two weeks away, but after taking just one point from a possible nine it seems the off-field drama has the potential to sink Wanderers’ title hopes.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
After talking the talk, can Pelligra Group restore Glory days?
One of the league’s biggest off-field sagas has finally come to an end, with property developers the Pelligra Group confirmed as the new owners of Perth Glory. The WA side, who are the only foundation club never to have won an A-League championship, have been struggling on and off the pitch for years, dating back to the tail end of the Tony Sage era.
It’s an important step forward for a proud club looking to return to title contention and restore pride in the Perth footballing community. The squad, as it is currently composed, is nowhere near the quality of the league’s heavyweights. If Ross Pelligra is serious about his rhetoric – and he’s said all the right things so far – there needs to be substantial investment in talent to give Glory the best chance of competing going forward.
It still leaves another unresolved ownership situation, however, with KordaMentha still searching for an interested party to purchase the Newcastle Jets.
It has been three long years since former Jets owner Martin Lee’s licence was stripped by Football Federation Australia, and unsurprisingly, they’ve been floundering on-field ever since. The final year or so of Lee’s tenure was also marred by drama, so that’s over four years of futility at McDonald Jones Stadium.
How much longer can this situation go on?
Derby draw highlights Victory’s major deficiency
Ostensibly the game of the round, the latest edition of the Melbourne Derby instead proved to be a bit of a letdown, ending in a scoreless draw. For Melbourne Victory it is their tenth draw in 17 matches but Tony Popovic’s side are still comfortably in the finals places, while the reigning premiers are on the outside looking in, three points behind sixth-placed Wanderers.
Post-game Popovic dismissed claims that his side need to take more risks in attack. Despite going 15 matches unbeaten, Victory have managed only six wins this campaign, equal with their crosstown rivals. There’s no doubting that the former Vuck’s defensive structure is top notch but with Bruno Fornaroli nursing a hand injury, a large element of their attacking threat was missing.
Fornaroli has netted 13 times, almost half of Victory’s 28 goals. There’s still plenty of attacking quality in the likes of Zinedine Machach and Daniel Arzani, but the side does seem reliant on the naturalised Socceroo to put the ball in the back of the net. Looking ahead to the business end of the season, do Victory possess enough threats to succeed in sudden death football?
Quick hits
-In some more positive off-field news, Western United have announced their training base is ready for match action. Let’s not forget, however, that despite all of Jason Sourasis’s smooth talking, an actual stadium worthy of hosting top-flight football should’ve been ready by now. Whether that ground ever gets built is anyone’s guess.
-Speaking of Western, John Aloisi’s side snapped a seven-game winless streak, downing the Newcastle Jets 2-0 at an eerily empty AAMI Park. That result keeps a glimmer of hope alive for United’s finals chances but it’ll require quite a remarkable run from here to make the playoffs.
-Adelaide United have slipped down to ninth on the ladder after a 2-1 defeat to Sydney at Allianz Stadium. Must be said that the Reds have been hit hard by injuries, but this is unchartered territory for one of the league’s most consistent sides in recent years. There’s a decent chance they could miss the finals in 2023-24.
-The table is tightening up in the middle section with just seven points separating Macarthur in third place and Brisbane in eighth.
Marzinho
Roar Rookie
Nothing's gonna happen to Farrell. If they do, it means they admit an error was made on the day. They would rather stand by their officials than rectify or apologise.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
For years, I do not know how to say this kind of trick of gaining a penalty is cheating. However, suddenly, the right idea has come to mind. In this case, Gabriel Cleur was in possession of the ball while Ronald Barcellos came from behind to try to get the ball not in his possession. Then, how could Barcellos' chance of scoring have been taken away. When an attacker, in possession of the ball is tripped down by a defender in the box, the attacker's chance of scoring is taken away, Then, to punish, a penalty of spot kick is given to the attacker's side. In this case, Barcellos was not in possession of the ball and his chance of scoring was not taken away.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
“ Western Sydney Wanderers forward Marcus Antonsson will be sidelined for the next eight weeks due to an ankle injury.” https://aleagues.com.au/news/a-league-western-sydney-wanderers-injury-news-marcus-antonsson/ Eight weeks for Farrell’s mad challenge.
Brett Loder
Roar Rookie
VAR isn't perfect...especially in the Country which trialed it for FIFA me personally...it sucks the life out of a game with the Wanderer's, bad run of decisions... it happens. But it is easier to accept a bad decision, when you're not shown replays at slow-motion. Football isn't a Video Referee Game. Hendrix' Red, fair enough...why can't the Side-Line and Match official see those. The Brook Tackle was a hundred times worse by the young Newcastle defender. Anyways, that's my BMW Perth getting Ownership, great news...Lets hope one can be found for Newcastle soon Too. To finish, a bit of a dig at the Wanderers...i'm not a Coach or anything When a Player is Red Carded. Game-plans have to change...The Wanderers `have used the Width of the Pitch to great effect this season. But with a man down, unless the person on the Ball can beat a player than pass, playing wide rarely works? The Good news is, in a few weeks we will be full strength again.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
atmosphere looked good, mainly from the away team
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
some good games on weekend, victory city draw was great to watch. I love watching the A-League on Paramount as matches are mostly attacking games. But went to bed saturday night, and some guy on Sen was bagging the A-League, preferring to promote his affinity with Arsenal. Support both ....head .
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
How you can claim it was a dive, you can see clear as day Germain cops the force of the clearance to his leg, thats a totally ridiculous claim. If you claim that Germain fouled coming through from behind thats at least possible but looking at the replay again he snuck past with minimal if any contact. Clear penalty, Evans is working for Wellington this season. The Nix penalty now that could have well have been a dive certainly, but it looked to me after bad touch takes it away he stretches out to reach it and goes off balance. Normally if you lose control of the ball you dont get rewarded even if a foul occurs, let alone the vague sort of contact that happened in this case.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
The kid Farrell at times borders on wreckless. He could easily have broken an ankle or two with his silly lunges. A lot of potential but needs a wiser head om his shoulders or does he enjoy seeing people going to the sick bay. He'll be joining them if he isn't careful.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
How did Farrell get changed to Powell?
338
Roar Rookie
Im not sure about the conspiracy thing but the inconsistent reffing decisions are hurting the game each week probably more than a coach having a winge. Ever watched Ricky Stewart give a post match assessment?? I thought the Farrel tackle (if you want to call it that) was a red and the CCM penalty was a dive....and Im a roar supporter with no skin in that game. What are the match review committee up to? They seem to just rubber stamp whatever decision the ref/VAR make despite sensible appeals..like Pat Wood.
338
Roar Rookie
I agree it was a great contest to watch.
338
Roar Rookie
The ground conditions must have led to him deciding to leave the ground completely and try flying into the tackle instead!
Grem
Roar Rookie
No, Pat Wood will be back. He’ll make a legitimate play at the ball and be red carded! It’s the inconsistency that is the problem. The Wanderers do seem to have been on more of the receiving end than most clubs, though.
Marzinho
Roar Rookie
So studs in the ankle is due to poor ground conditions? Any raised studs in a slide tackle is a red. No consistency in these calls (or is just retribution from the refs).
Marzinho
Roar Rookie
I wonder if anything will be said on the non red card for Jacob Farrell on Antonsson? So it was studs up... dangerous... reckless... and injured Antonsson. What's VARs excuse now? What's everyone going to say about it? I don't blame Rudan/Lederer after another blunder. Marketing department doesn't need to do anything. SFC fans will be licking their lips and go the the derby knowing how easy other teams are getting it against WSW and WSW fans will rock up as usual to see them fail. There will be another blunder/controversy and nothing will be done.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
In the 82th minute of the match CCM vs WSW, Ronald Barcellos ran from behind to pass Gabriel Cleur and then fell down in front of Gabriel Cleur in the box. In such a case, how could Cleur know someone was running from behind to overtake him? How could this be a penalty? Was the main referee rubbish? Was the VAR rubbish? Yeah, Rudan may have had bad behaviour. However, sonsecutively WSW is disadvantaged 3 times. And for these three matches, Mac vs WSW, WSW vs Jets, and CCM vs WSW, the main referees and VARs are rubblish. Would you please take a look at what you have done please?
Garry
Roar Rookie
Rubbish..Germain fouled Surtmann and dived. He actually shouldve been booked. He got away with it because its was hard to tell. Yes the Nix pen was soft but still technically a foul as the leg was clipped. No ‘clear and obvious’ so it stood. I think one of the reasons teams get top is they do get the rub of the green and FARRell definitely did.. a lucky boy. Im guessing the ref allowed for the ground conditions which were poor.
Garry
Roar Rookie
"Rudan comments hurt the league" actually I disagree here..unfortunately bad press can still be good press!!
Garry
Roar Rookie
They may have cancelled each other out but for me it was by far the highets quality match of all this weekend. Im hoping City continue their current trend saturday!! :silly: :happy:
Grem
Roar Rookie
I watched as much as I could of the derby -Tilio looked promising?