Week 10 of the Hyundai A-League is upon us and what a weekend we are in store for after what was a record ending week 9. I’m talking about Sydney FC’s brilliant performance on Sunday which ended the Roar’s remarkable 36 match unbeaten run. While it was great to see an Australian team go towards breaking some international records, I for one am glad that we can now get back to talking about the football rather than the Roar’s achievement.
Courtesy of the Courier Mail
This weekend kicks off with the Roar hosting Melbourne Heart at Suncorp Stadium. Coming off the back of that 2-0 loss to Sydney FC it will be interesting to see whether the Roar get straight back into things or if they are left with a bit of a hangover which does tend to happen when a team has a setback like that. To be honest the Roar hadn’t been at their best for well over a month but just looked to be hitting form with a 4-0 win over Perth Glory, they looked a much different team on the weekend though.
To be fair to the Roar they were without probably their best player in Thomas Broich, but they are anything but a one man team so should really have handled his absence much better. This week they should welcome him back to the fold and he will add some much needed creativity, something they looked devoid of against Sydney FC.
Melbourne Heart battled to a 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix last weekend and they’ve moved themselves up to 6th on the ladder, just one point outside of the top 4. Mate Dugandzic was the scorer for the Heart and he has really come into his own this season, the former Victory man is a player the Heart should be thankful to have in the side and he should only get better as the season goes on.
I don’t think the Roar will dwell on that record ending loss to be honest, they should have enough to see off the Heart at Suncorp in any case and should win by at least a couple of goals here.
On Saturday night we will be treated to a triple header with Wellington Phoenix hosting Perth at nib Stadium, Central Coast Mariners welcome local rivals the Newcastle Jets to Bluetongue Stadium and Melbourne Victory host Adelaide United at Etihad Stadium.
First up we see Perth Glory travel across the Tasman to take on a Phoenix side coming off the back of a morale sapping 1-0 loss to the Heart over the weekend. Perth had a 2-0 win over Gold Coast United at home but their preparations this week have been thrown into turmoil with their game against Sydney FC tonight called off due to weather conditions in Perth not allowing the squad to get a flight to Sydney in time.
This may seem like a blessing for the Glory but the fact that they had a midweek game means that they probably wouldn’t have trained anywhere near as hard in order to save a bit of energy considering the small squad sizes in the A-League. It will be interesting to see how they approach this game and whether the postponed match affects them in any way.
Wellington have been much better at home this season with 7 of their 9 points coming at the nib Stadium. On the other side Perth haven’t been been at their best away from home with just 4 of their 13 points coming on the road. I think Wellington at home might have a bit too much for the Glory and I think the midweek postponement will have an affect on them at least psychologically.
Courtesy of Football Federation Australia
Next up we have the Newcastle Jets travelling down the F3 to take on the Central Coast Mariners. These local derbies always produce some exciting play and I don’t think this one will be any different. Last time these two sides played the Jets got the points in a narrow 1-0 victory with Jeremy Brockie getting the goal.
The Mariners have been creeping their way up the table since that loss though and are currently sitting in second place just 3 points shy of the Roar at the top. Since that loss to the Jets the Mariners have gone 6 unbeaten including 5 wins, culminating in a 4-0 demolition of Adelaide on Friday night. They are in red-hot form and I think the Jets will have their work cut out in this match.
The Jets themselves are coming off a 3-1 win over Melbourne Victory at AusGrid Stadium on Saturday night. With 2 goals from Ryan Griffitha either side of a Labinot Haliti strike, the Jets came from behind in a controversial match to say the least. Melbourne would have felt hard done by to lose that match when they really should have been given a penalty to tie the match up at two a piece, instead the penalty was waved away and Griffitha made them pay 2 minutes from time to wrap up the match for the Jets.
This should be a cracking match and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few goals in this one, I can’t go past the Mariners on form though and I think they’ll sneak this one by just a goal in a high scoring one.
The final match on Saturday night sees Adelaide United travel to Melbourne to take on the Victory at Etihad Stadium. AAMI Park is the Victory’s usual home ground and is quite obviously jinxed so maybe it is a blessing that the ground is unavailable for this weekend’s match due to a concert at the Stadium leaving the pitch too hard and a risk of injury.
The Victory went down 3-1 to Newcastle last week but as I said above I think they were a little hard done by in that match. Last night they also played in a friendly match against LA Galaxy and although it was an entertaining match for the fans, I just wonder whether they will suffer from a bit of fatigue heading into this match against Adelaide, their saving grace may be the fact that they rested a number of key players.
Adelaide were thumped by the Mariners on Friday night, to be honest there’s no other way of putting it. They’ve been quite bad all season in all honesty and that’s reflected in their position on the ladder, second last. However a win here against the Victory could give them renewed hope of making the top 4 despite what has been a really poor start to the season. 3 points could move them to within just 1 point of a top 4 place such is the closeness of this competition.
The Victory did rest a number of key players against the Galaxy as stated above and a number of others were just given half of the game so they should be fresh enough to get the points in this one based on Adelaide’s form and the home support that will be behind the Victory.
On Sunday Sydney FC travel up to Skilled Park to tackle Gold Coast United fresh from their “giant killing” efforts at the weekend. Gold Coast went down by the same scoreline, 2-0, to Perth over at nib Stadium on Saturday night but they have the home ground advantage here and will be hoping that Sydney FC suffer from a hangover following their big win over the Roar.
Sydney FC were outstanding on Sunday against the Roar, they showed committment and passion that I have never seen from them before. They pressed hard, put pressure on the Roar and never let them get into the flow of their natural game. Other sides will look at this as the blueprint to beating the Roar now and they have Sydney to thank for the heads up.
Gold Coast United sit alone at the bottom of the table after an abominable start to the season, they are on a run of 5 straight losses at the moment and it’s hard to see where there next points are going to come from. What makes things worse is they were probably banking on Sydney FC having to back up just 3 days after a midweek game against the Glory but as that has now been cancelled Sydney had an extra few days to recover from the weekends exploits. As with Perth though this may be a double edged sword as their weeks plans go out the window. At least Sydney had the luxury of not having to travel and getting caught up in cancelled flights etc.
Sydney FC should get the points here, last week they pulled together as a collective unit and that can only make them a better team going forward. Complacency may be an issue but I don’t think Lavicka will allow that to be an issue here.
On Wednesday night next week, round 10 continues with the Roar travelling to Duneden to take on the Wellington Phoenix, we’ll preview that one as part of our week 11 preview early next week.
Any thoughts on this weeks matches, or bets you think are worthy of a mention, let us know in the comments section.
sportsbanter’s Tips:
Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Heart – #HALbrimh – Roar
Wellington Phoenix v Perth Glory – #HALwppg – Phoenix
Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets – #HALccmjets – Mariners
Melbourne Victory v Adelaide United – #HALmvau – Victory
Gold Coast United v Sydney FC – #HALgcusyd – Sydney FC
Banter’s Best Bets:
Roar v Heart – Roar @ $1.53
Phoenix v Glory – Phoenix +0.5 @ $1.32
Mariners v Jets – Mariners @ $1.80
Victory v Adelaide – Victory @ $1.85
Gold Coast v Sydney FC – Sydney FC +0.5 @ $1.37
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