A-League Round 1 and season preview.

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TheKanga

Brownlow Medallist
May 31, 2011
17,657
12,708
Hobart
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Arsenal, Melbourne City
Nearly time for the new season to start.
Hopefully a competitive season without any poor performing sides.

Sydney deservedly won the title/premiership after a dominant display all season last year.
It will be interesting to see if they can go again, As is often the case champion sides falter the year after

So it kicks off the weekend after the AFL grand final.

Friday 6th October

Melbourne City vs. Brisbane Roar - 7:50pm

Saturday 7th October

Central Coast vs. Newcastle Jets - 5:35pm
Melbourne Victory vs. Sydney FC - 7:50pm

Sunday 8th October

Wellington vs. Adelaide Utd - 3pm
WSW vs. Perth Glory - 6pm

Thoughts on the upcoming season?
 
Last edited:

TheKanga

Brownlow Medallist
May 31, 2011
17,657
12,708
Hobart
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Arsenal, Melbourne City
Agreed Cityboyz
To many times I've been hopeful and then the usual inconsistencies and crap performances come.
I'll reserve judgement.

Tips:

Melb City vs. Brisbane Roar - 2-1 (10k)
Central Coast vs. Newcastle Jets - 2-0 (10k)
Melbourne Victory vs. Sydney FC - 2-2 (20k)
Wellington vs. Adelaide Utd - 1-3 (9k)
WSW vs. Perth Glory - 3-0 (15k)
 

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Bomberboyokay

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts
Sep 27, 2014
34,227
28,861
AFL Club
Essendon
It's annoying for any sport other than AFL and Cricket.

I didn't mind it for the Socceroos vs whoever it was a year or two ago (not Greece lel) because it was actually nearly full, but for Victory besides the City game and January 26 it's just a cash grab by the club owners. Sitting a mile from the action is annoying in such context.
 
May 29, 2007
783
248
Ballarat
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Bungaree FNC
Good season incoming i reckon. Can make a case for everyone for the six, and prob 7 sides for top 2. Sydney look hard to beat, but ACL commitments may take their toll.

Sydney
City
Perth
Victory
WSW
Adelaide
- - - - - -
CCM
Brisbane
Newcastle
Wellington


R1
City 2-0 Brisbane
Central Coast 1-1 Newcastle Jets
Victory 0-2 Sydney
Wellington 1-1 Adelaide Utd
WSW 2-1 Perth Glory
 

SloaneysDanger

Brownlow Medallist
Feb 26, 2014
20,878
11,411
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
Adelaide Utd, Liverpool, Cavaliers
I think we'll be back in the top 4 this year. We've built a really good squad IMO and our new imports are an upgrade on last seasons. We've got depth in every position besides probably LB (until Elrich returns).

1. WSW
2. Sydney
3. Adelaide
4. Victory
5. City
6. Perth

7. CCM
8. Newcastle
9. Wellington
10. Brisbane

I really like what the Wanderers have done with their squad in the off-season and with no ACL commitments I think they can finish top.

On the flipside; I don't like the look of Brisbane's squad and reckon they're in for a dire season.
 

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Jul 5, 2011
14,830
23,704
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Victory,Napoli,Liverpool,Penguins
Arnold spewing out crap again! what an arrogant prick!

Victory coach Kevin Muscat, Sydney coach Graham Arnold duel before A-League clash
Ben McKay
2-3 minutes
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat isn't happy about his stars missing the A-League's opening round.

But Sydney FC rival Graham Arnold has a message for him: you've only got yourself to blame.

Arnold's championship-winners head south to Melbourne for a blockbuster grand final rematch at Etihad Stadium to underpin round one.

Unlike Victory, they will be at full strength.

Muscat will be without Socceroos James Troisi and Mark Milligan, with New Zealand's Kosta Barbarouses also away on international duty.

Arnold has little sympathy for his opposite number.

"Maybe they should have recruited differently," he told AAP.

"One of the first things I do when I recruit is look at the international programming, whether it's Socceroos or a (youth tournament) and you're going to miss them for three or four weeks.

"The league is short, it's only 27 games. I prefer to stay away from those internationals."

Muscat said the competitive imbalance wasn't fair.

"The fact that one team has got everyone available and the other team doesn't still doesn't sit right with me," he said.

"But I'm sick of complaining about it so I'm not going to."

"It's disappointing for our club owners, sponsors, who invest.

"And then there's the investment of people's time. Of our members and fans.

"It's not right that our members – and we've got 23,000 as we speak – turn up to round one and they don't see the team that we've prepared for the season."

There could yet be more selection pain for Victory, given New Zealand will be – and Australia hope to be - involved in intercontinental play-offs for World Cup qualification in November.

Muscat ruled out making a fixture alteration request should that come to pass.

Victory will instead soldier on, hoping to end a four-game losing streak to Sydney.

Arnold backed his players to extend their winning run on Saturday night.

"We had four great games against Victory last year," he said.

"Round one is a fantastic time to play them.

"Since I've been at Sydney we've always had a good record against Melbourne, except that one grand final (the 3-0 loss in 2015).

"We enjoy playing them; it's like our second derby.

"We're fit and ready and have an extremely strong squad."

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/socc...old-duel-before-aleague-clash-20171001-gys285
 
Jul 5, 2011
14,830
23,704
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Victory,Napoli,Liverpool,Penguins
and as always contradicts himself, Hypocrite! just hope someone any team knocks these pricks off their arrogant arsers this season!

Time for A-League to finally embrace FIFA dates, says Graham Arnold
Sebastian Hassett

With Saturday night's "Big Blue" set to be decimated by an unprecedented number of international withdrawals, Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold says the A-League has no choice but to follow the international standard of resting for dedicated FIFA dates.

Nine first team squad members – six from Melbourne Victory and three from Sydney FC – will miss the match, meaning both clubs must drastically reorganise their starting line-ups for the tournament's biggest traditional clash. Sydney's Terry Antonis was ruled out of the Australian squad after being involved in a car accident on Sunday night.

For years, the club-versus-country debate has been centred on Australians playing in Europe but with the European leagues breaking for mandated FIFA dates, that problem has largely been resolved.

Now the tables have turned, and with A-League clubs becoming a conveyer belt of international talent, the confluence of an international break – where Australia play Japan, and New Zealand play China and Thailand, in addition to a youth tournament (Australia's under-23 side plays Brazil, China and South Korea) – has crippled the domestic competition.

Arnold – who has occupied coaching positions at the club, the Socceroos and the Olyroos – has long-championed FIFA date breaks and said the predicament meant the FFA needed to follow global protocol.

"I've been saying it for five years but nobody has listened," he told Fairfax Media. "Maybe now they will. In fact, I did a document in 2006 about aligning the A-League with FIFA dates. Now I feel sorry for [Socceroos coach] Ange [Postecoglou] and sorry for [under-23 coach] Aurelio [Vidmar]. They've got to prepare their teams properly, so they need the players. It's simple – you just have to have a break, or you let teams play that aren't affected.

"If anything, instead of playing these FFA Cup matches this week, we could have at least minimised the damage by having them play this weekend while the A-League was on a week off."

Arnold said he sympathised with Victory coach Kevin Muscat this week after Sydney were hit particularly hard in round one.

"He's missing six this week, just as we copped it in the first week, so I know what that's like – and we're missing three again this time," he said. "It's tough when you've only got 23 players. It should be that if there's three or more selected from your first team, you can postpone the game. There's going to be nine players missing this weekend and that is just unacceptable.

"One of the players said to me that he felt like he was being punished playing for the national team because they miss out on their club games."

The Sky Blues would have been even worse hit had Ali Abbas been called up for the Gulf Cup of Nations. However, with only half the tournament protected by the FIFA calendar, Sydney could have recalled the Iraqi midfielder. As such, coach Hakeem Shaker left him out.

The Big Blue is set to be one of the highest-rating A-League matches. SBS has permission to broadcast the match live on free-to-air, apart from the Fox Sports broadcast. Consequently, a cumulative figure of up to 500,000 viewers has been touted.

Arnold said resting for FIFA dates was as much about showing respect to the national sides as it was to the A-League.

"My mission is to get as many young Australian players into the national team and to develop them," he said. "That's the pinnacle for these players. But the conflict that exists is only going to get worse and worse if we don't put a stop to it."

Wellington Phoenix will have six of their 23-man squad missing after being called up for New Zealand. Louis Fenton and Tom Doyle were also originally named but had to pull out due to injury.

The Phoenix now have to dig deep into their youth stocks to field a full squad for their clash with Adelaide United. By contrast, Adelaide have only one missing player – reserve goalkeeper John Hall.

Perth Glory will lose four players, and Brisbane Roar three.

Melbourne will miss Stefan Mauk and Aaron Mooy, and the Newcastle Jets lose Andrew Hoole.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/...dates-says-graham-arnold-20141110-11jwe1.html
 
Apr 12, 2012
45,862
41,465
AFL Club
GWS
Arnold spewing out crap again! what an arrogant prick!

Victory coach Kevin Muscat, Sydney coach Graham Arnold duel before A-League clash
Ben McKay
2-3 minutes
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat isn't happy about his stars missing the A-League's opening round.

But Sydney FC rival Graham Arnold has a message for him: you've only got yourself to blame.

Arnold's championship-winners head south to Melbourne for a blockbuster grand final rematch at Etihad Stadium to underpin round one.

Unlike Victory, they will be at full strength.

Muscat will be without Socceroos James Troisi and Mark Milligan, with New Zealand's Kosta Barbarouses also away on international duty.

Arnold has little sympathy for his opposite number.

"Maybe they should have recruited differently," he told AAP.

"One of the first things I do when I recruit is look at the international programming, whether it's Socceroos or a (youth tournament) and you're going to miss them for three or four weeks.

"The league is short, it's only 27 games. I prefer to stay away from those internationals."

Muscat said the competitive imbalance wasn't fair.

"The fact that one team has got everyone available and the other team doesn't still doesn't sit right with me," he said.

"But I'm sick of complaining about it so I'm not going to."

"It's disappointing for our club owners, sponsors, who invest.

"And then there's the investment of people's time. Of our members and fans.

"It's not right that our members – and we've got 23,000 as we speak – turn up to round one and they don't see the team that we've prepared for the season."

There could yet be more selection pain for Victory, given New Zealand will be – and Australia hope to be - involved in intercontinental play-offs for World Cup qualification in November.

Muscat ruled out making a fixture alteration request should that come to pass.

Victory will instead soldier on, hoping to end a four-game losing streak to Sydney.

Arnold backed his players to extend their winning run on Saturday night.

"We had four great games against Victory last year," he said.

"Round one is a fantastic time to play them.

"Since I've been at Sydney we've always had a good record against Melbourne, except that one grand final (the 3-0 loss in 2015).

"We enjoy playing them; it's like our second derby.

"We're fit and ready and have an extremely strong squad."

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/socc...old-duel-before-aleague-clash-20171001-gys285
As apposed to the big sook that is Muscat......

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
The FFA once again doing a stellar job to promote the impending season :rolleyes:

If you're a casual fan, you wouldn't any clue that this is on next week.

With the FFA front loading the season with blockbusters in the hope it gets a chance to brag about crowd sizes and tv ratings, you'd think the might let people know that it's on.

Christ I hate the FFA. They really only have 2 jobs - to run the game and to grow the game. At the moment they're doing a ******* shithouse job in both of those endeavors.
 
Dec 21, 2012
19,907
15,661
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
Chelsea, Redbacks, Adelaide United
The FFA once again doing a stellar job to promote the impending season :rolleyes:

If you're a casual fan, you wouldn't any clue that this is on next week.

With the FFA front loading the season with blockbusters in the hope it gets a chance to brag about crowd sizes and tv ratings, you'd think the might let people know that it's on.

Christ I hate the FFA. They really only have 2 jobs - to run the game and to grow the game. At the moment they're doing a ******* shithouse job in both of those endeavors.

This 100%, I had to look up whether the A-league started next weekend or the weekend after and I follow it somewhat closely.
 

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