A-League Men’s Tackle: Why the Wanderers should be embarrassed
An embarrassing derby should be a watershed moment for the Wanderers as a new day dawns at Western United. This and more tackled by MARCO MONTEVERDE and ROBBIE SLATER.
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An embarrassing derby loss should be a watershed moment for the Wanderers as a new day dawns at Western United.
As they do every week of this season’s men’s A-League, Marco Monteverde and Socceroos’ great Robbie Slater delve into the big issues.
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WOEFUL WANDERERS
Saturday night’s derby embarrassment should serve as a watershed moment in Western Sydney Wanderers’ season - on and off the field.
With everything to play for at home in a derby against their arch rivals in front of a near full-house, the Wanderers came up woefully short of what was expected of them.
From the kick-off, it looked there was only one team that truly believed they could win the match, and it wasn’t the Wanderers, who after going behind 2-0 early failed to recover.
The performance and result proves they have a lot of work to do if they want to have even the slightest chance of winning the title.
Where was the belief? Where was the thirst to deliver on a big stage in front of their own fans?
Maybe they had played their game in their head numerous teams during the week and were mentally cooked before the match even started.
It wouldn’t be surprising considering how much of an “us against them” mentality that the club has adopted in recent weeks.
It’s a mentality that you can fully understand given the poor decisions that had gone against them three weeks in a row.
Wanderers coach Marko Rudan fostered such a psyche with his comments last month after Western Sydney lost a seven-goal thriller to Macarthur FC.
The outspoken Rudan was suspended for breaching Football Australia’s national code of conduct, for among other things for questioning a referee’s integrity, which he didn’t get away with.
He was fortunate to be back coaching on Saturday night considering he was given a three-match ban but one game of the sanction was suspended.
Despite Rudan’s return, the Wanderers failed to lift for their coach.
That being said, the Wanderers did well to market the entire occasion, and it was well worth the effort, considering more than 27,000 showed up.
However, many would have left the stadium disappointed such was the poor performance from the hosts.
The Wanderers’ active support group, the Red and Black Bloc (RBB), walking out during the first half wouldn’t have helped the team, but still, much more was expected of them.
As for why the RBB made a hasty exit, the APL is rightfully investigating the matter after 14 people were ejected.
What we can say for sure is that there is no place for violence and flares - which were at both ends during the game - in football.
Also disappointing was Wanderers fans throwing missiles at Sydney FC players during the game.
It’s poor behaviour that shouldn’t go unpunished. The APL should act to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
AURELIO’S ANGUISH
Aurelio Vidmar’s chances of retaining the Melbourne City coaching job beyond this season are seemingly becoming slimmer by the week.
City’s ordinary season continued on Friday night with a 2-0 loss to Macarthur FC.
While they remain in contention to finish in the top six, City look a shadow of the side that was once the A-League’s most feared outfit.
The Melbourne club – whose roster includes the likes of Mathew Leckie, Tolgay Arslan, Andrew Nabbout, Marco Tilio and a struggling Jamie Maclaren - has won just one its past eight matches, and things aren’t going to get any easier this Saturday when they take on the high-flying Wellington Phoenix.
Vidmar has been in charge for all except two of City’s matches this season after being appointed until the end of the 2023-24 campaign following the sacking of Rado Vidosic.
Time is fast running out for Vidmar to make a convincing case to keep the job, particularly with championship-winning City coach Patrick Kisnorbo back in town after his disastrous stint in charge of French club Troyes.
Kisnorbo has also been linked to the coaching position at the Canberra club supposedly joining the A-League next season.
One thing for sure is that Kisnorbo will have options, but we’re not sure if we can say the same thing about Vidmar.
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BYE BYE BALLARAT
Western United’s days of having to play home matches in Ballarat are over, and thank goodness for that.
Forced on Saturday to play another game at the vacuous Mars Stadium, United secured a rare win, beating Perth Glory 1-0.
The official crowd figure given was 3016, but maybe they were counting legs again.
However, the good news is that United don’t have to play there anymore.
Their next home game on March 14 against Melbourne Victory will be played at AAMI Park.
Following that, United have three more home games this season, all in April and all set to be played at the club’s Tarneit base.
Let’s hope that will permanently be the end of United’s nomadic existence.
The club’s coach, John Aloisi, and his players deserve to have somewhere they can properly call home.
SUPER SYDNEY
Hats off to Sydney FC for a superb derby performance.
As bad as the Wanderers were, the Sky Blues were brilliant from the opening whistle.
Their pressing game was fantastic and unlike their opponents, they truly rose to the occasion.
If they can maintain their current form, the Sydneysiders, under the impressive guidance of Ufuk Talay, have a huge chance of making some noise come the finals.
Team of the round: (4-1-2-3) Filip Kurto (Macarthur FC); Rhyan Grant (Sydney FC), Brian Kaltak (Central Coast Mariners), Tomislav Uskok (Macarthur FC), Ben Garuccio (Western United); Josh Nisbet (Central Coast Mariners); Anthony Caceres (Sydney FC), Ben Old (Wellington Phoenix); Bernado Oliveira (Macarthur FC), Marco Rojas (Brisbane Roar), Robert Mak (Sydney FC). Coach: Ufuk Talay (Sydney FC)
Player of the round: Bernado Oliveira (Macarthur FC)
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