The Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast is back, and available every Monday to review the action from the weekend. Here’s a snapshot of some of the talking points discussed by KEEPUP’s David Davutovic, James Dodd and David Weiner.
The Adelaide attacker that could ‘tear the league apart’
Nestory Irankunda and Musa Toure weren’t the only attackers to make headlines in Adelaide United’s 6-0 win over Melbourne City.
Bernardo Oliveira had a brilliant late cameo in the Reds’ win, scoring a late brace to take their margin from a four-goal lead to six at the final whistle.
The son of Reds legend Cassio spent most of last season on the sidelines with a serious injury, after an impressive, breakout 2021-22 campaign.
Feautred image: Courtney Pedlar
REACTION: Irankunda’s praise for fellow Reds youngsters after 19-minute blitz of Melbourne City
“Bernardo Oliveira is a really interesting one,” Davutovic said.
“He had a pretty serious injury which kept him out for a while. He’s still only 19 and those goals that he scored, the impact that he made when he come on, he could absolutely tear the league apart this season in my view.
“I know a lot of focus is on Irankunda but them as a collective in that front third, I think they could cause some real damage and they all offer something different.”
Listen to the latest episode of The Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast! Find it on Apple, Spotify or where ever you consume your podcasts
For game-by-game discussion, timestamps are as follows:
– 6:42 – Brisbane v Sydney
– 18:42 – Wellington v Perth
– 27:19 – Western Sydney v Western United
– 32:55 – Central Coast v Macarthur
– 38:42 – Melbourne Victory v Newcastle
– 47:32 – Adelaide v Melbourne City
Hallmarks of ‘Roarcelona’ back on show at Brisbane
Brisbane Roar sent a statement to the rest of the Isuzu UTE A-League last Friday night.
Ross Aloisi’s side thumped Sydney FC 3-0 at Suncorp Stadium, exacting revenge for their Australia Cup final defeat earlier this month where the Sky Blues came from behind to claim the first piece of silverware on offer this campaign.
Roar turned plenty of heads with their performance, running rings around Sydney for the full 90 minutes.
“(My weekend highlight was) to hear the phrase ‘Roarcelona’,” Weiner said.
“To see already the hallmarks of what Ross Aloisi referenced in pre-season… about playing quickly playing through the lines, always playing forward to see the hallmarks of that Yokohama style, that attacking philosophy come through at Brisbane.
“He spoke about after the game he was hoping to play in front of 20,000 not 7000 and should they continue to play with that type of joie de vivre, that kind of energy and passion and forward play. Those crowds will increase no doubt about that.”
The win was the first Isuzu UTE A-League victory in Aloisi’s tenure, after taking over as head coach in the off-season. In a KEEPUP exclusive before the season, the new Roar boss promised an exciting, attacking style of play, which has come to fruition in the early stages of the 2023-24 campaign.
“Ross Aloisi is doing exactly what he said he wanted to do when he came into Brisbane,” Dodd said.
“The thing he learned off Kevin Muscat, the most important thing that he believes he learned from Kevin Muscat was to have your team understand the way they want to play, not just the tactics they’re going to implement, but actually to understand what it is the coach is asking of them.
“So that when things tweak or change during a game, they know exactly what they’re doing because the style is imprinted on their brains going into that football match.
ROARSOME: Brisbane exact Cup final revenge with demolition of Sydney FC
“He said: ‘I want them to play quickly, I want them to play forward balls, I want them to play through the lines, every set piece they take, be it a throw-in, be it a quick free kick, they get the ball moving straight away, so the other team doesn’t have time to settle’. That’s going to be really key, especially when you come into the summer months.
“It’s going to be really hot up there at Suncorp he wants them to play quickly, he doesn’t want to give the opposition any time to breathe and they’re just such a joy to watch. They’re doing exactly what he said they were they were going to do.”
Davutovic added: “When you look at his apprenticeship, 12-13 years he’s been either an assistant in the men’s game or a senior head coach in the women’s game.
“He had a stint at West Adelaide as well in the top tier of the state leagues, and then stints at Adelaide and Brisbane. Then you go to Yokohama under Kevin Muscat. I mean, that’s almost a PhD when it comes to coaching apprenticeships!
“By the time he gets to this job, he is absolutely crystallised.
“(His journey) is not too dissimilar to someone like Ante Milicic who I thought had a really, really thorough apprenticeship before he got his Matildas opportunity and then obviously the Macarthur opportunity.
“Going back to the kids, I sort of liken it to Adelaide United… I think it is so important for A-Leagues clubs to understand their DNA and what resonates with the fans. Seeing so many Brisbane and Queensland products in that team is what is going to get the 7,000 (fans) up to 20,000.
“I think they lost their way for a few years Brisbane Roar, yes, you want them playing good attacking exciting football, but you want a team on the pitch that is representative of the people in the stands, so whether they’re winning, losing or drawing, there is that connection there.”
Sky Blues dilemma going into huge clash with fellow strugglers
It’s been a disastrous start to the Isuzu UTE A-League season for Sydney FC.
Two losses from their opening two games has the Sky Blues nearing the bottom of the standings, heading into a crunch contest with fellow early season strugglers Melbourne City on Friday night at AAMI Park.
They are the only team in the league that is still yet to score a single goal so far this season.
“They are a team of moments. They’re not a team that strings 60, 70, 80 minutes of a game together and controls games and win, like we know that they used to be able to do and I’m not entirely sure where that comes from,” Dodd said.
TALKING POINTS: ‘From a different planet’ to a ‘second-rate team’: Two starts no one saw coming
“Whether or not it means they miss the likes the likes of Jack Rodwell who’s out injured at the moment I think Jake Girdwood-Reich is a really impressive player and I think they could probably do with his his steel in alongside (Luke) Bratton in that midfield to ease the burden on him.
“I think that will change if Jack Rodwell gets fit and is playing with Gabriel at the back and gives them that bit more solidity, but I think the biggest problem is… if you look at their expected goals in this game, it was 0.86. They’re just not creating enough chances and it’s very hard to win games if you’re not creating any chances at all.
“Especially if you go one-nil down in the first minute and then unfortunately, Andrew Redmayne has a shocker and allows them to make it two, so personally I can’t see how this changes for Sydney. I think it looks like that Australia Cup win has somewhat papered over the cracks.”
Sydney’s run to winning the Australia Cup during the A-Leagues pre-season was spearheaded by the performances of some of their younger players, who were given opportunities during their Cup run.
Kealey Adamson, Patrick Wood, Corey Hollman, Jaiden Kucharski and Jake Girdwood-Reich were among the players handed a chance, but most, with the exception of the latter have either been relegated to the bench or dropped from the squad.
Hollman, however, is out with an injury, as is talented attacker Nathan Amantidis.
Corica turned to the youngsters in the final moments of their 3-0 defeat because, in his words, the “game was over”, but Davutovic believes giving some of the talented youngsters a crack in the weeks to come may help reinvigorate the Sky Blues.
“They do appear to lack a bit of dynamism in that sort of middle third… without having an intimate knowledge of their squad size, salary cap etcetera, someone like Ryan Teague, perhaps for a bit of balance,” he said.
“As a former player, he might have been one that they might have had a look at, and they perhaps may have, but were obviously beaten by Melbourne Victory.
“But if you look at it over the last few years, and you look at the Sydney FC Academy, (Calem) Nieuwenhof, we’ve got Clayton Taylor, who scored a brace at the weekend. There’s no shortage of talent that’s come through the academy, but it almost appears as though there’s been this constant pressure for Steve Corica and Sydney FC to get those instant results.
“They’ve never had that opportunity to take that medium to long term view and say: ‘you know what, we need to get some games into some of these younger guys’, just to sort us out for later on in the season or maybe for next season.
“It always feels like they’re kind of scrambling and you look at their bench. There’s some fantastic young players, who were there but I think there was a massive blow I mean, we talked about him a couple of months ago but (Adrian) Segecic, I mean to lose him on the eve of the season I think was a massive, massive blow.
“I’m not sure if they saw that one coming but he was one who I think was ready to take the season by storm but again, another one that I thought last year probably could have played more so they’re kind of caught between a rock and a hard place.
“No shortage of quality there in terms of the youngsters, but maybe it’s time to start throwing a few more of them in. Let’s see where they go over the next couple of weeks.”
Bruno’s masterful performance
Bruno Fornaroli put together one of the great first half performances seen in A-Leagues history, when he fired home four goals in the opening 45 minutes of Melbourne Victory’s 5-3 win over Newcastle Jets on Sunday.
The Victory striker took his tally to 94 A-Leagues goals, which took him to third in the all-time scorers chart behind Jamie Maclaren (144 goals) and Besart Berisha (142 goals).
It’s been an incredible eight year journey in the competition for Fornaroli, who arrived at Melbourne City in 2015 after playing across the globe for a host of different teams.
In fact, as documented in the latest episode of A-Leagues All Access, his journey started alongside one of the great strikers of the modern era – Luis Suarez.
“I’ll tell you what those two are cut from a similar cloth aren’t they? They are so bloody determined to win,” Davutovic said.
“They know nothing other than winning and just absolutely giving their all, their background is they’ve come from essentially poverty. Football was there was out from what would otherwise have been a really ordinary life and you can see that every time Luis Suarez and Bruno Fornaroli go out onto the pitch.
“Mark Natta opens the scoring for Newcastle Jets and Bruno equalises a couple of minutes later, he’s not celebrating, he’s grabbing the ball running back to the middle.
“That is a statement for the other Victory players. They didn’t have that for a lot of last season, so I think this guy has really helped change the mindset of Melbourne Victory. He is a winner and that’s why Tony Popovic signed him.”
MATCH REPORT: Fornaroli masterclass leads Victory to emphatic win over Jets in eight-goal epic
Davutovic added: “I’ve had a lot to do with him since he signed for Melbourne City back in 2015 and it was actually the same end where he scored his first goal for Melbourne City from the penalty spot against Wellington Phoenix and he has scored 100 or so goals since inclusive of Cup competitions.
“But he’s just the guy who loves his football, when he’s happy and he’s on, he’s fit, it’s hard to go past him as the most influential striker in the A-League.
“He loves Tony Popovic. You can see he’s fit. He’s as trim as he’s been and he’s so motivated. I mean, even at the age of 36… when Victory signed him last year (at age 35)… a lot of people were asking questions, and he’s just absolutely proved why Popovic has signed him and he’s clearly going to be a contender for the A-League Golden Boot.”
