2009/10 A-League Season Preview _ Part 1

Ok, here is my season preview for what it is worth.

In this first part of three, I take a look at what I tip will be the bottom four teams.

10th – Central Coast Mariners
It seems every year pundits across Australia write Central Coast off and most years they keep proving them wrong. This year though I see nothing to indicate they will be successful.

------------------Vukovic-----------------------
-Clark-------Doig------Bojic-----Heffernan-
---------------Huke----Wilkinson-------------
-----Travis-----Hutchinson-----Elrich-------
--------------------Simon----------------------

I found it hard to put a starting eleven together for the Mariners not because they don’t have some good players but because I know McKinna won’t play the formation I would like to see. To be honest I think McKinna has run his race at the Mariners and this will be his last season in charge.

So assuming McKinna will stick to what he knows best, I have gone with a 4-2-3-1. Once again the side relies on its ability to get the ball long to Simon and have Elrich and new boy Travis swooping in. Huke, Wilkinson & Hutchinson just won’t have the quality to dominate opposition midfields so expect a lot of long balls over the top again. The problem of course, is that the nine other teams in the league know this and are waiting to pounce.

It will be interesting to see if McGlinchey will push Hutchinson out of his starting role. In addition the Mariners are making noises of signing 1-2 additional strikers before the 31/08/2009 deadline. If that happens a lot of people may have to re-assess the team.

The one thing that the second half of last season demonstrated was how important Jedinak was the McKinna’s game plan. He is gambling a lot on Huke to fill the space left by his departure but I just don’t see it being enough. They will finish bottom.

Watch out for : Long ball after long ball up to Simon…yawn!


9th – Nth Queensland Fury
The first of the new sides but even with God on their side the Fury are in for a long season. They appear to lack the quality though the middle of the park to trouble some of the better teams in the League and I am not convinced about their defence.

-------------------- Henderson-------------------
-Middleby---Wilson---Tambouras---Tadrosse-
----------------------Griffith --------------------
-------Amaya-------Agius--------Spagnuolo---
--------------Williams----Fowler----------------

The Fury are very top heavy in Wingers/Strikers and it’s difficult to find a balanced formation for them. I think they are likely to play youngster Griffiths as a holding midfielder and use Agius in the central attacking role. Williams would prefer to play up forward with Fowler and a good performance against Roar in the preseason will most likely see him at least start there.

On paper they don’t look a bad attacking side, but their depth is shockingly bad in midfield and they are relying a lot on Fowler being fit up forward. If he is not, then they may see Ferguson forced to use a 4-3-3 with Spagnuolo and Willams being used as true wingers (In fact the side looks better balanced without Fowler there but the quality takes a hit).

There defence seems to lack quality on paper and I am expecting them to be the whipping boys early in the season. Key defender Wilson will start the season injured which will further hurt their ability to contain sides. And there is a question over whether Henderson will actually sign a contract.

Of the course the weather is the big unknown and teams travelling up north in summer to take on Fury may be in for a nasty shock when they get up there. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them difficult to beat at home as teams struggle to adapt to the stifling heat and humidity. Fury will have a distinct advantage at home from December onwards.

Watch out for : With fury having two very quick wingers in Williams and Spagnulo I am expecting lots of crosses into Fowler, if he remains fit he will pick up a stack of goals.


8th – Wellington Phoenix
Maybe because they are located in another country or perhaps because they deliberately take a low key approach but the Phoenix seem to have flown under the radar this preseason.

----------------------Paston----------------------
--Mulligan----McKain--Durante---Lochhead--
----------------------Brown----------------------
------Bertos-------------------------Daniel------
----------------------Diego-----------------------
---------------Ifill----------Greenacre-----------

The loss of Smeltz will have a huge impact and he will be difficult to replace but its good to see the Phoenix have recruited what appears to reasonable strikers. On paper the Phoenix team actually looks nearly as good as last year. Diego is a good pickup and if he can stay healthy will provide some excellent distribution to the new strikers.

If there is a question around Phoenix, its their ability to dominate other midfields. Daniel, Bertos, Ferrante, Lia do not exactly strike fear into the hearts of the opposition.

I think it is going to take time however for this team to gel and although I think they have the squad to make the finals if everything goes to plan. I am tipping them to fall short.

Watch Out For : With the midfield that he has to play with I am expecting Herbert having to switch and swap a lot early in the season.


7th – Newcastle Jets
Van Egmond out, Branko in. Its almost like for like. To be honest I like watching the Jets play. Over the last four years, out of all the A-League teams, they have maintained a program of keeping the ball on the deck have attempted to play attractive passing football.

---------------------Kennedy---------------------
--Elrich----Milicevic--T-Stanley---D’Apuzzo'--
----------Kantarovski---Thompson-------------
--------------------Vignaroli---------------------
---De Groot---------------------------Patafta---
--------------------Petrovski---------------------

Culina likes to play attacking football and it is likely we will at least see the Jets start the season playing a 4-3-3. Vignaroli is prefect for the creative role at AM and Patafta may finally be given a chance to fully prove himself in a starting role.

To be honest though Milicevic is the key to how well Newcastle do. He can have a huge influence as we saw throughout the ACL matches and if he can get his head right and contain that mouth of his he just might drag Newcastle higher up the ladder than expected.

But I feel there is too much riding on Ljubo and the defence without him just isn’t up to scratch. I am not a huge wrap for Topor-Stanley, who makes far too many mistakes for my liking and is often found wanting for speed.

Watch out for : Ljubo won’t be able to contain himself and at some point in the year will abuse the club, owner, manager. Entertaining it might be but it is a train wreck waiting to happen.


In the next article I will take a look at 4th to 6th

6 Days to Season V
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