Welcome to Made With Mitre Moments, where aleagues.com.au brings you all the biggest talking points from each round of the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Read on for all the biggest talking points from Round 23, thanks to Mitre.
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Rob Stanton’s extraordinary press conference
Rob Stanton’s post-match press conference was fascinating viewing on Sunday.
MATCH REPORT: Jets crushed by shock Premiership contenders as Golden Boot leader sends Socceroos message
Western scored four goals inside 35 minutes to stun a Jets team that had gone seven games without defeat to surge into the top-six picture.
After the game, head coach Stanton fielded an array of questions, including growing speculation over his future in Newcastle.
This is every word of his press conference.
“Let’s start by congratulating Western for a very good performance, a team that’s doing extremely well, well coached, who are using everything they’ve got to perform,” Stanton told reporters.
“They’ve built a good club there. They have good people that do things properly and I go, that’s what you get when you do that, you build something, and it becomes sustainable. They’re building a facility. You go down there. So let’s first and foremost make sure we say the right thing, which is genuine. I genuinely say that to John and his players, they were excellent.
“For me to offer up this excuse would be disrespectful to Western and the coach and the club so that’s first and foremost. Yes, we were fatigued, how fatigued we were – second half says we weren’t that fatigue. Second half says we were a lot better than what we were.
“As I said, maybe there was too much. It was just going to happen, that can happen sometimes where you don’t put the the effort and the focus. But again, that’s on me, because I’m the coach, so I have to wear that, and I’m responsible for that.
“Can you do something different? Yeah, maybe. But everyone’s a wizard after the fact. Okay, it’s in the moment where you have to make the tough calls. I tried to adjust a little bit, but the reality was, I could have changed 11 players, and it doesn’t allow you to change 11 players. If I could do that and do a do over, mate, I’ll be great.
“So to be honest, as I said, I apologise for that performance. There’s a lot things to take in that have happened, but at the same time, park it in six games from now, something could be different. We could have a different conversation. At the moment, we’ll wear it. I’ll go to bed or go home, back to Sydney for a couple of days. Give the players some time off, freshen up, and then we go again.”
Asked if the result tarnished what had been a memorable month for the Jets, Stanton replied: “Not really.
“We haven’t done nothing in the last 20 years, mate. So I don’t think so. I think enjoy that moment, because it can turn very quickly. You have to appreciate that moment.
“It’s the first time we’ve achieved doing some media on it. So to be honest, it’s a good moment. Players deserve credit for that. But okay, when it doesn’t happen, you have to own it, or we have to own it as a as a group. It’s a good moment, mate. It’s good when you write a little bit of history, it’s there until someone else rewrites it for you.
“It’s good. Players deserve that moment the because it was something to do, to build. We’re building towards that. Those moments like to think in the future, we can do it again.”
Amid speculation over his future, Stanton was asked if he anticipated being at the Jets next season.
“How long’s a piece of string? I don’t know, mate,” said Stanton. “Listen, at the end of the day, I have a job to do. From from my point of view, you do your job to the end, you complete your task, and then after that, what will be will be.
“I’ve said it countless times, I’m not really concerned for me. I don’t think there’s too many people concerned for me. The players aren’t concerned for me. I make sure that the players are focused on their jobs, that the staff are focused on their jobs, because the end of the day, there’s still work to be done. There’s still potential of the team having a great year, or a lot better year, or moving forward as a club.
“So I think that’s the focus because if you look at it, the fans have suffered a lot in years, and a lot that’s down to a lot of things, things I can’t control. When I arrived here, I had to solve a lot of problems, and I still have to solve problems. Is it part of my job to solve problems? I’d like to think there’s more people around to help me solve some of the issues, but the reality is, it’s not. The club is not set up to be in that position. It’s going to take time. So the new owners, that’s their task will be to fix that.
“But it’s good to know that when you haven’t got a big budget or the lowest budget, and you don’t have all the tools, and you don’t have this that you can still break a 20-year record and get seven results. There’s some good things happening at the same time, but there’s a lot of better things that happen too.
“As I said, whether that’s with me involved or someone else, that still should be the focus to make a great club for the community and the fans so when they turn up, they’re proud of the club, they’re proud of the players, they’re proud of what’s been done on the pitch. That takes hard work and dedication for not just the coach and the staff and that, but the whole club.”
Another reporter quizzed Stanton on his future and highlighted the impact on fans and their frustration with the fact, that potentially, another coach could be leaving Newcastle.
“I’ll stop you there, I’ll stop you there,” Stanton stepped in. ” You can go through all that at the end of the day, for me I will be forever grateful, whatever the outcome to Newcastle jets.
“Why? Because they had the balls to put me in here. That’s the first one. So my obligation is to the club and the club first that I develop the best people, the players, whoever’s around me, and I do my best no matter what. That’s what I do, regardless of my future. It’s irrelevant. That’s what they hired me to do. They backed me, and they’re still backing me, and that’s what I intend to do.
“If I do that really well, the next guy coming in should smash it. I believe I’ve done a top job so I believe the next guy will kill it whenever that is at the end of the in two years time. It’s irrelevant.
“The idea is to keep building the club, because the club’s been down here suffering for a long time. People now, I think talk a little bit different of the club and that’s a good sign there’s big things happening. Great things happen in the club. As I said, whether I’m a part of it or not, it’s irrelevant. I’m only one person, mate, but you got to think the whole club, you can’t think head coach is going to solve it all. It doesn’t work that way. You have a building from the top down or the bottom up, and they ain’t building from the top down because it costs lots of money, so you got to build from the bottom up. That’s what I’ve been doing. That’s all I’ve been trying to do.
“At the end of the day, if you want to go further, you got to get someone who’s willing to either invest money and put big bucks so you get instant results, or you’ve got to keep chipping away so your foundations are so strong when I leave, it shouldn’t alter, t should keep going up. That’s where we got to get to.
“It’s irrelevant, mate. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because I accepted the terms and conditions, and it’s irrelevant. And I said, sometimes you just you got to look at it for what it what it is. It’s a great opportunity that I’ll be forever grateful for.
“I’m telling you, when I leave here, it doesn’t matter, I’ll still be happy. I got the big challenge mate, and I asked for the challenge because I know it was going to be a tough challenge. I had a good, comfortable job at Sydney FC mate, a really good job, and I enjoyed it. I got work with the best players.
“This is a challenging, challenging job and a very lonely job, a job that takes a lot of sacrifice and a lot of commitment. When you win, the players have done a great job when you lose your public enemy number one, and the knives fly. I always think the same knives are going in me back are the same people willing to pat there’s no difference, mate. So for me, it’s irrelevant. I keep saying to you guys, it’s about the club and moving forward and I’ll stand by that.”
Stanton added: “I feel great, mate. I feel great. Why wouldn’t I? We’ve just had seven results, and it’s taken 20 years to achieve that.
“We’ve had one bad result today on the back of three games. Am I burnt out? No I’m nowhere near burnout mate. Listen, I feel great around, not today, obviously.
“I’ve said before, I’m not concerned with my future. If you’re always concerned with your future, then you’re an insecure person. I’m not an insecure person.”
Pressed once more on his future, Stanton said: “It’s not about me, it’s about the club.
“I keep saying to you, you’re missing the point, you got to think about the club. The fans are attached to a club, they’re not attached to Rob Stanton. They’re attached to a club.
“Rob Stanton works for a club to make more fans come in, because he’s got to get his team to perform right, and when he doesn’t, Rob Stanton will be out the door, right? So that’s where it is, mate and if you don’t accept that as a coach, you’re in trouble.”
Bulls recovering from situation that ‘killed our momentum’
Friday night’s game was chaos at Coopers Stadium, where there were nine goals and a disallowed goal in stoppage time.
For the eighth-placed Bulls, it snapped their three-game losing streak and five-match winless run as they kept their finals hopes alive.
MATCH REPORT: Macarthur beat Adelaide in game for the history books
“Definitely one for the fans. It was a great spectacle,” said Macarthur head coach Mile Sterjovski, who also reflected on the club trying to fill an attacking void.
The Bulls lost star captain Valere Germain (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Jed Drew (TSV Hartberg), Ariath Piol (Real Salt Lake) and Oli Jones (Randers) in January, while defender Dino Arslangic also departed.
“We lost five players who were in-form in the January window. Before we lost the, I think we were second in the table,” the retired Socceroo reflected.
“I think it killed our momentum going into January but it’s taken a while.
“Today (Friday) I thought it was a great attacking performance but we also need to review the goals conceded.”
As for Carl Veart, he watched Adelaide go five games without a win as their slide continued on Friday night.
The Reds are now sixth in the standings and only three points better off than Sydney FC, while Macarthur are five points adrift.
“To concede five goals at home, it’s not good enough really,” Veart said.
“But the boys gave everything. Couldn’t ask more from them.
“… disappointed for the playing ground. Deserved more out of the game than they got.”
Why Western Sydney have ‘all the ingredients to be a successful team’
Alen Stajcic has said it all along and he is sticking to it: Western Sydney Wanderers can “win the competition”.
Stajcic had the belief at the start of the season and the head coach still does following Saturday night’s thrilling come-from-behind 4-2 win over rivals Melbourne Victory at CommBank Stadium.
From 2-0 down, the Wanderers rallied to stun Victory thanks to Nicolas Milanovic’s go-ahead goal in the 87th minute before fellow substitute Marcus Antonsson sealed the points in stoppage time after Bozhidar Kraev and Brandon Borrello had helped the hosts draw level.
MATCH REPORT: 2-0 down? No worries as Western Sydney Wanderers complete great escape in dramatic comeback
The Wanderers are now third in the table on goal difference ahead of Melbourne City, four points behind Western United and eight adrift of Auckland FC, though they are only a point clear of Victory and Adelaide.
“I’ve said it,” Stajcic said in his post-game press conference. “People didn’t believe me when I said early on in press conferences that I’d seen our team play in pre-season and I had enough belief we could win the competition.
“Sometimes a lot of people say that and think it’s empty rhetoric but I fully believed it all the way through.
“I just see the talent in the team, the depth, the character and unity within the team with the leaders we have… it has all the ingredients to be a successful team.
“But you have to grow and improve. We’ve done that throughout the season.
“We have lofty goals but not for one second are we thinking we’re home and hosed in the final either. It’s just such a tight race.”
Big praise for Roar’s ‘terminator’ after memorable birthday performance
Birthday’s don’t come much better than this after Sam Klein guided Brisbane Roar to a 3-1 victory away to fellow strugglers Perth Glory at HBF Park on Saturday night.
MATCH REPORT: Unlikely hero delivers huge twist in race to avoid wooden spoon
It also means Brisbane are now on track to escape the prospect of finishing last for the first time in the club’s 20-year history.
“Kleiny is great, we call him the terminator. He is a big Dennis Bergkamp lookalike,” Roar head coach Ruben Zadkovich told Paramount+ post-game. “He is great.
“I remember taking my analyst, driving down through traffic an hour and a half to watch him play for Gold Coast under Scott McDonald.
“I remember watching the hunger he had, he didn’t know I was in the crowd. He is a fierce competitor but he is also a really good technician of the game, just needs a bit of coaching about positional awareness and understanding space.
“To be fair, his attitude is first class.
“… For him to get those goals, it could be a real penny-drop moment for him. He is definitely box to box and has a lot of ability.
“It’s great too because he is a Queenslander and that’s part of this process in this rebuild, to try and identify as many of them as we can, and he is one.”
‘We took our foot off the pedal’
Auckland FC missed the chance to take another step towards the Premiership after their dramatic 2-2 draw at home to two-time reigning champions Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.
All of a sudden, Auckland have seen their lead whittle down to four points amid a run of three consecutive draws.
MATCH REPORT: Last-minute drama as 21yo’s first A-Leagues goal earns Mariners a point in Auckland draw
“Disappointed. Just the nature of the draw is similar to Adelaide (result). When you thought you had it in the back and they score late on,” said Black Knights head coach Steve Corica.
“We know how it feels to score an equaliser or winner. Tough to take.
“We should’ve wrapped it up and defended better. We switched off in crucial parts of the game, you can’t do it.”
“I was very happy with the first 30 minutes and then I think we took our foot off the pedal a little bit and gave them opportunities to get back into the game. We stopped working as hard as we were,” he continued.
After the international break, Auckland will face Brisbane Roar (A), Western Sydney Wanderers (H), Sydney FC (A), Melbourne Victory (A), Perth Glory (H) and Western United (A).
“Definitely not over,” Corica said when discussing the Premiership race. “I know how hard it is to win the league.
“These are the kind of games you have to win. The international week has probably come at a good time for us.
“Three draws, we can take stock, work hard while we’re off.”
Chiefy replies to Talay dig after reunion: ‘I’ll just leave it at that’
There was plenty of spice on the field during Sydney FC’s 1-1 draw with Wellington Phoenix. There was also some off it, too.
Sydney were left frustrated in their top-six pursuit after being held to a surprise draw by Wellington as Ufuk Talay and Giancarlo Italiano reunited at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
It was a physical battle in Sydney, where Kosta Barbarouses cancelled out Adrian Segecic’s seventh-minute opener and tensions rose amid both teams.
MATCH REPORT: Cards, chaos & carnage – Sydney & Wellington deliver fitting end to bonkers A-Leagues weekend
After the game, Sky Blues boss Talay was critical of the officials following the Phoenix’s approach to the contest.
“It was very hard to break them down but being the protagonist in football is not always the easy one,” Talay told reporters with Sydney three points outside the top six.
“In my opinion, the officials allowed them to be able to play their game a lot more by slowing the game down, especially in the dead-ball moments.
“I think Wellington Phoenix were happy to walk away with a point, especially away from home against a good opponent against Sydney FC. I understand the mentality and why.
“But I don’t understand – we’re trying to speed up the game and be fluid, we want the ball in play and my belief, the officiating allowed them to play their game.
“Every goal-kick took 30-45 seconds for the ball to come into play which is disappointing the fans pay money to see football be played and not the ball out of play.”
Italiano, who was Talay’s assistant at Wellington before succeeding the latter in 2023-24, responded to the post-game comments with a smile.
“I’m not going to say anything but I’m just saying that Sydney’s known for fouling quite a bit and slowing the game down. I’ll just leave it at that,” said Italiano, whose Wellington are 11th and 13 points adrift.
