A Christmas treat

For large parts of this season the Western Sydney Wanderers have resembled a band labouring over a second album after their first was a chartbusting success. There have been recent signs, however, that the Wanderers are discovering the chord sequences and swagger that had fans and critics throwing their knickers last season, and Monday night’s slick win over the Central Coast Mariners – one that demonstrated an attacking hunger relatively lacking in previous matches – was arguably their best performance of the campaign. It was surely no coincidence that Youssouf Hersi, Shinji Ono, Tomi Juric and Jerome Polenz were all on the park. The Wanderers opponents on Saturday night, the Melbourne Victory, are themselves enjoying a nice run, and they’ll be heading into this clear match-of-the-round having won back-to-back games for the first time under Kevin Muscat. The Melbourne Heart’s propensity for firing rounds into their own feet aided Victory in Saturday’s derby but with the excellent Mitch Nichols engineering openings in the Heart defence, and with James Troisi and Kosta Barbarouses exploiting his work, Muscat’s men finished the game strongly. Shutting down Nichols will be high on the Wanderers’ list of priorities on Saturday night, as will tracking the runs of the dangerous Adama Traore. If the Wanderers let Hersi off the leash and bring the same desire for goals they showed on Monday (though playing away, they mightn’t actually feel obliged to do that) we could be in for a treat.

A Christmas miracle

After Wellington’s win over Sydney FC last round the Melbourne Heart remain the only winless side in the competition. Considering that you’d think it fair enough that John Aloisi’s position has been questioned by Mark Bosnich and many, many others, but you can understand Aloisi bristling all the same. He’s found himself painted into a corner and he’s aggrieved. And so he should be. The brush is in his hand. What will be interesting to see, however, is how he reacts should the Heart beat the Phoenix at AAMI Park on Friday night (hey, it’s not that unrealistic, and it is Christmas, a time of miracles – the main one being that we don’t all kill each other in the lead up). So many coaches (and players) in similar situations act as if that drought-breaking win (or century, or goal, or try, or whatever) has put paid to any criticism. But it’ll take more than one swallow for Aloisi’s summer to be proof of anything, so perhaps he’ll avoid this well-trodden path and recognize that there will be a lot to do yet. But of course I’m getting ahead of myself. The Heart have to win yet. The thing is, I’ve a feeling in my waters that this week is the week (and if I continue to say this every week then eventually I’ll actually be right). The Heart were much better last week than the 0-3 scoreline suggested, and Kewell will benefit from the hit out, while the Heart will further benefit on Friday night from Patrick Kisnorbo not being around to get himself sent off. The Phoenix, meantime, facing the Heart for the first time this season (Adelaide and Perth have already played each other three times!) will miss the unlucky Paul Ifill, and their recent busy schedule might well catch up with them.

Shooting stars

We’ve seen some cracking goals this season – just like Juric’s bicycle kick on Monday – but it’s the bread and butter openings the league’s strikers are finding harder to convert this season. So many chances, good chances, have been shanked, sliced, scuffed, miscued, tamely poked or errantly smashed, thus proving to be more of a risk to the portly gentleman with the tray of beers shuffling along row Z than the opposition goal. It seems every team, barring Brisbane Roar, have publically lamented their inability to convert chances and possession into goals. For some teams, like Heart, Victory, Phoenix and Adelaide especially, it’s become an all too familiar refrain. Is more shooting practice needed, perhaps?

While some strikers are struggling to repeat their deeds of last season (were Daniel McBreen and Jeremy Brockie’s 17 and 16 goals respectively an aberration, meaning now they’re returning to type?), others, like Juric, Troisi, Adam Taggart and Mitchell Duke are striving to fulfill their promise. At this stage, however, it’s still just that: promise. Troisi (more an attacking mid than an out-and-out striker) leads the race for the golden boot with seven goals in 11 games, but with the chances he fails to convert you wouldn’t call him lethal. So 11 rounds in and no one, apart from Brisbane’s Besart Berisha (five goals in seven starts), has yet struck fear into the heart of the opposition. Let’s hope this changes.

The legacy of Taylor Swift

As if Taylor Swift doesn’t have enough to answer for, she almost certainly played a role in Brisbane’s surprise loss to Newcastle last week, what with her concert ruining the playing surface at Suncorp Stadium, something which stymied Brisbane’s inclination to play a fast game on the deck. After enduring that defeat Mike Mulvey will not only be pulling down any Swift posters he’s Blu-Tacked to his bedroom wall but he’ll have his players primed to take out their frustrations on a Sydney team who, for the ninth time in 11 visits, came away from Wellington without a win, thus continuing their up-and-down season. But that’s Sydney; beautiful one day, perfectly ordinary the next. The last time these two teams met Brisbane, despite the early loss of Berisha to injury, won 4-0. Sydney, without Alessandro del Piero, were unable to stem Roar’s onrushing midfield and it was three goals in seven minutes that killed them.

This time around, Sydney will be delighted that Berisha, a regular thorn in their side, is out with a hip injury (Henrique is set to replace him, and Kwame Yeboah should feature in what will be his last match before departing for Borussia Monchengladbach). At the same time, Del Piero is expected to return, so that’s a double bonus for the home side. Even so, you’d expect the Roar to have too much creativity in midfield. Unless of course Swift comes back to haunt the Roar. She played at Allianz on 4 December and left the away end in a mess. Mulvey will be hoping all signs that she was there have long gone.

Adelaide’s worm can continue to turn

After all their well-publicised frustrations this year Adelaide could see out 2013 in a manner that has them feeling optimistic for 2014, which is more than most of us can hope for. Two weeks ago they had a much-needed second win of the season, and last week in Perth they kept a second-straight clean sheet in drawing with the Glory. A win over Newcastle on Sunday could see Josep Gombau’s side draw within three points of the top six should other results go their way. Considering Adelaide’s slow start and the fact there will still be 15 matches of the regular season remaining it would reinforce Gombau’s insistence that building a winning team takes time and that in a long A-League season where, most generously, six out of 10 teams make the finals, it’s time you actually have. Newcastle have shown they’re no pushover and they’ll be relying on employing a compact defence and getting men behind the ball in order to frustrate Adelaide, just as it frustrated Brisbane last week. Adelaide, however, could benefit from the return of Sergio Cirio, Fabio Ferreira, and Daniel Bowles, and with Marcelo Carrusca in a rich vein of form, don’t bet against the worm continuing to turn for the Reds.

Round 12 fixtures

Thursday:

Sydney FC v Brisbane Roar, Allianz Stadium, Sydney

Friday:

Melbourne Heart v Wellington Phoenix, AAMI Park, Melbourne

Saturday:

Melbourne Victory v Western Sydney Wanderers, AAMI Park, Melbourne

Sunday:

Adelaide United v Newcastle Jets, Coopers Stadium, Adelaide

Tuesday:

Central Coast Mariners v Perth Glory, Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford