Robbie Slater: Brisbane’s spark, City uninspired and can United maintain its undefeated status?
Uninspiring performances, Brisbane’s teenage dream and is Adelaide the real deal? Plus the team of the week. Socceroos great ROBBIE SLATER and MARCO MONTEVERDE dive in to The Tackle.
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Bland performances, a teenage spark for Brisbane and is Adelaide’s unbeaten run a true depiction of their form, Socceroos great ROBBIE SLATER and MARCO MONTEVERDE dive in to The Tackle.
Bland City
Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar was right to question the decision to award Western Sydney a first-half penalty in his side’s 2-0 loss to the Wanderers at AAMI Park on Saturday.
However, as crucial as the penalty – scored by Nicolas Milanovic – was, there is no doubting that City deserved nothing from the game such was their disappointing and uninspiring performance on their home ground.
Replays clearly showed that Callum Talbot got his foot to the ball before being barged into by Milanovic.
However, referee Jonathan Barreiro pointed to the spot.
Plenty of people were expecting the VAR, Kris Griffiths-Jones, to intervene, however he must have felt it wasn’t a clear and obvious error by Barreiro, so the decision stood.
It gave the Wanderers an important boost just before halftime, with substitute Marcus Antonsson, who has suddenly found form after a barren spell that was good enough for a foreign striker in the A-League, sealing the win with a second-half goal.
It was a win the Wanderers desperately needed, and while the game was anything but a spectacle, that’s not on Western Sydney.
As the away team, the Wanderers did what was required of them.
It was up to City – the hosts – to attack the game, but sadly for their fans, the Melbourne club produced a bland and forgettable display.
And yes, City can point to a lack of football in the past few week’s due to the FIFA international break and the club’s bye the following week for an often insipid performance.
Injuries in attack are also hurting the club, but still, you expect more from a team and club of
City’s stature.
Something seems amiss, despite Vidmar’s men currently in the top six.
City’s wins this season have come against Newcastle, Perth Glory and Western United, who are all at the wrong end of the ladder.
In the derby against the Victory, City was disappointing in losing 3-1, and Vidmar’s team was just as ordinary against the Wanderers.
We’re expecting a response from City this Saturday against cellar dwellers Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium, but we probably won’t know until the week after when current leaders Auckland visit AAMI Park about whether City really have what it takes to challenge for the title.
Are Reds the real deal?
A similar thing can be said about Adelaide United, in terms of whether the Reds’ top-six position is a true indication of their performances this season, particularly Friday night’s disappointing home display in a 2-2 draw with the lowly Perth Glory.
Before the match, Adelaide coach Carl Veart said the Reds had not got the credit they deserved for their unbeaten start to the season.
And while Adelaide remains unbeaten after Friday’s draw, there’s a reason why the Reds haven’t been given a lot of credit.
Two of their wins have come against battling clubs Brisbane Roar and Western United, and they were extremely lucky to pick up three points against United.
Adelaide’s other victory was in a seven-goal thriller against Western Sydney Wanderers, who are also yet to hit any inspiring heights this season.
The Reds have also drawn against a Mariners team that has won just one of five A-League games this season, and now a Perth outfit with just two points from six matches.
Adelaide’s “easy” draw continues in the next two weeks with games against perennial underachievers Newcastle and again the Mariners, who are yet to reach the heights of their treble-winning campaign of last season.
It’s not until the Reds host Sydney FC that we will truly discover if Veart was right in suggesting his team deserved more credit.
Until then, the jury is still out on the Reds, who still have those defensive issues that haunted them last season.
Comical defending
The Roar are finally off the mark, but neither Brisbane coach Ruben Zadkovich or his Macarthur counterpart Mile Sterjovski would be happy with Saturday night’s 4-4 draw at Campbelltown Stadium.
Some of the defending on display was comical, and both sides would be kicking themselves for not holding on to leads during the see-sawing affair.
The Bulls should be a lot better at home. If they want to contend for the title, they can’t afford to drop points in front of their own fans against one of the competition’s worst teams.
At least the Roar can take some solace from the fact they avoided becoming the first team to lose its opening five matches of an A-League season.
However, Zadkovich has plenty of work ahead of him to lift the Roar off the bottom of the ladder.
One highlight for Brisbane was the brace scored by teenage striker Thomas Waddingham.
In Waddingham, the Roar have a prized asset that will likely soon earn them a transfer fee, and subsequent bonuses.
But in the meantime, all Brisbane fans will hope that Waddingham can maintain his form because the Roar desperately need his goals.
Team of the week - (4-2-2-2)
Alex Paulsen (Auckland FC); Gabriel Cleur (Western Sydney Wanderers), Alex Bonetig (Western Sydney Wanderers), Dan Hall (Auckland FC) Francis de Vries (Auckland FC); Louis Verstraete (Auckland FC), Josh Brillante (Western Sydney Wanderers); Zach Clough (Adelaide United), Daniel Arzani (Melbourne Victory); Thomas Waddingham (Brisbane Roar), Adam Taggart (Perth Glory). Coach: Patriick Kisnorbo (Melbourne Victory)
Player of the week:
Daniel Arzani (Melbourne Victory)
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Originally published as Robbie Slater: Brisbane’s spark, City uninspired and can United maintain its undefeated status?
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