Wanderers’ Nicolas Milanovic failed to fire and may have cost himself a national debut

Red hot Western Sydney Wanderers star Nicolas Milanovic could not have chosen a worse moment to fall flat, and it may have cost him a shot with the Socceroos. Plus, the bad blood, and the inspiring Noah Botic.

Timing all wrong for Milanovic and Wanderers

Has Nicolas Milanovic cost himself a Socceroos debut next month after failing to fire in Western Sydney’s 2-1 A-League elimination final loss to Melbourne Victory?

Milanovic had been in red-hot form heading into Saturday night’s do-or-die affair at CommBank Stadium, having been an inspiring figure in the Wanderers’ 12-game unbeaten run.

Many were predicting Milanovic was doing enough to be named in the Socceroos squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia.

All national coach Tony Popovic would have wanted to see from the 23-year-old attacking weapon was for him to dominate proceedings in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a knockout final.

However, Milanovic saved one of his most ineffective performances in a game in which the Wanderers needed him at his best.

Nicolas Milanovic may have cost himself a Socceroos debut. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

He rarely threatened, with the Victory’s tactic of backing off him and letting him have the ball, rather than pressing and allowing him to counter attack, paying dividends.

Unable to penetrate and seemingly out of ideas, Milanovic was replaced in the dying stages of the match in what was a sad end to the Europe-bound winger’s time at the Wanderers.

Hopefully all is not lost for Milanovic in terms of his Socceroos selection hopes.

Now that Western Sydney’s season is over, he seems an ideal candidate for a training camp in the UAE that Popovic is conducting later this month ahead of finalising his squad for the games against Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Also in fairness to Milanovic, he wasn’t the only player to have an off night for the Wanderers against the Victory.

It was the worst game that Wanderers have played in months, and unfortunately, it came at a time when such a performance meant the end of their season.

The Wanderers put on their worst performance in months. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Coach Alen Stajcic has done a good job in his first campaign in charge of the club, but you can’t help but think the Wanderers have wasted a golden chance to win the title.

They were the form team heading into the finals, and at the very least should have progressed past the first week of the finals.

However, Stajcic’s men failed to lift at home in a big match much to the frustration of their fans.

Well done to the supporters that showed up at the game, but the attendance figure of 16,399 was slightly disappointing.

This was a game that pitted the clubs with two of the biggest fan bases in the A-League, and in such a high-stakes encounter, 20,000 should have been the minimum attendance.

It was a surprise that more Victory fans didn’t make the trip to Sydney, but still, the onus was on the Wanderers to ensure the stadium was at the very least three-quarters full, which unfortunately it wasn’t.

Dan’s the man

Full credit to Daniel Arzani for his superb display for the Victory in such a huge match.

At his best, Arzani is in the A-League’s top five players, and he showed that against a Wanderers side that did not know how to stop him.

His man-of-the-match performance in such a crucial game would no doubt have pleased Socceroos coach Tony Popovic.

Daniel Arzani was strong for the Victory. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Now the task for Arzani is to maintain this level of form for the remainder of the Victory’s finals campaign.

That’s going to be easier said than done over two legs against premiers Auckland FC, who are defensively better than the Wanderers and won’t give Arzani the same amount of space and time he was afforded by Western Sydney.

However, this is a real chance for Arzani to show he’s good enough to inspire the Victory to what would be an upset semi-final victory over the team that has been the A-League’s best all season.

Bad blood

There’s no love lost between Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic and his Victory counterpart Arthur Diles.

The pair were involved in a heated verbal clash when Diles went to shake Stajcic’s hand after the Victory’s 2-1 win on Saturday night.

Western Sydney Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Victory coach Arthur Diles. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Stajcic did shake his rival’s hand but it was anything but friendly, with plenty of finger-pointing taking place before the pair needed to be separated by assistant coaches from both clubs.

Neither coach would divulge what led to the fiery incident.

However, The Tackle has been told that the bad blood might relate back to the Wanderers’ 4-2 win over the Victory when the teams met at CommBank Stadium in March.

There is a suggestion that after seeing his side lose after leading 2-0, Diles was in no mood for pleasantries after the game and didn’t shake Stajcic’s hand.

Stajcic dismissed Saturday night’s incident as nothing more than “handbags”, but there’s no doubt he wasn’t happy with Diles seemingly only wanting to shake his hand after a Victory win and let him know that.

Noah Botic inspired Western United to victory. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Brilliant Botic

Western United’s Noah Botic did what Nicolas Milanovic could not do on the first weekend of the playoffs by inspiring his team to an elimination final win.

Like Milanovic, Botic is also in contention for a maiden Socceroos cap next month.

And if he needed to further his hopes of being named in Australia’s next squad, Botic did that by scoring two of United’s goals in the team’s 3-2 win over Adelaide.

Depending on who you ask, he could very well have had a hat-trick, having also taken the shot that led to his side’s other goal, which found the back of the net via a deflection off Adelaide defender Bart Vriends.

Regardless, Botic was instrumental in the win, and Socceroos coach Tony Popovic would have been very pleased with what he saw.

Let’s hope that what seems to be a quad problem doesn’t force Botic to miss his side’s two-legged semi-final against Melbourne City because the competition’s top players deserve to be on show in the biggest matches of the season.

Originally published as Wanderers’ Nicolas Milanovic failed to fire and may have cost himself a national debut