Socceroo’s advice for A-Leagues gun amid ‘hot’ transfer speculation: Made with Mitre Moments

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.

It was another exciting weekend with goals and drama as Melbourne Victory claimed Big Blue bragging rights, Macarthur Bulls knocked off a top-six rival, Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory played out an entertaining four-goal draw and much more.

Read on for all the biggest talking points from Round 16, thanks to Mitre.

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Bulls boss reacts to ‘hot’ transfer rumour as reports emerge of young gun’s Euro interest

Macarthur Bulls head coach Mile Sterjovski said he is aware of discussion regarding a potential European move for young winger Jed Drew in the January transfer window – but believes the 21-year-old would benefit from remaining in the Isuzu UTE A-League until the end of the 2024-25 season.

Drew added another sparkling moment to his lengthening highlights reel on Saturday night, supplying a stellar assist for Valere Germain’s match-winner in Macarthur’s 1-0 win over Melbourne City.

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The young winger has previously been challenged by Sterjovski to add consistency to his game and Drew has managed exactly that this season, with seven assists and six goals to his name through 13 games.

After the win over City that gave Macarthur their first home win since Round 1, Sterjovski was asked to address rumours of potential interest from overseas in his in-form forward, who has been linked with a move to Scandinavia.

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“From what I hear, it’s pretty hot,” retired Socceroo Sterjovski said.

“But I stay out of those discussions until something concrete is there. So we’ll just have to wait and see in the next week or so.

“When you look at his form, we said it all along: once he gets consistency he’ll start getting recognition for it – and that’s exactly what’s happened.

Jed Drew.

“Is he ready to go overseas? It’s difficult to say. Everybody is different when they get over there.

“In my opinion, I think he probably should stay and play a few more games in the A-League and get some experience,” added Sterjovski, who played abroad with Lille in France, FC Basel in Switzerland and Derby County in the Premier League among others. “But if it happens to be now and he decides to go, we wish him the best.

“It always depends on the player. A player that has more experience playing in the A-league is better suited to making it work when they get overseas. Sometimes young players go over too soon because it’s a big change, the culture shock and all that, the league it’s a different level over there. Sometimes players go over too early and it’s not long before they come back if they can’t handle it.”

Coach questions Jets ‘mentality’ after latest home collapse

Newcastle Jets head coach Rob Stanton expressed his frustrations following yet another home game in which his side held the lead before the concession of late goals which led to two points dropped in a 2-2 draw with Perth Glory.

The Jets led twice in Saturday’s meeting at McDonald Jones Stadium but allowed Glory back into the contest on both occasions, with new Perth signing Lachie Wales’ 74th-minute strike sealing the visitors a point on the road and leaving Newcastle still searching for their first home triumph of the season.

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Speaking post-game, Stanton highlighted a frustrating trend developing in Newcastle, with his side leading in three straight home games against Perth, Macarthur and Sydney FC before dropping points.

Against Sydney on January 4, the Jets led 2-0 at the 72-minute mark before a late Sky Blues comeback saw the points shared. Against Macarthur on January 12, Stanton’s Jets took an early lead before three unanswered goals by the Bulls led to a 3-1 loss.

“It should be a frustrated dressing room – I hope so, I’ll be disappointed if it’s not, I’ll tell you right now,” Stanton said after the Glory draw – the sixth 2-2 draw in the past seven games between the two sides.

“Because I think we found a way to throw that away – again. We’ve done it twice now at home. It’s really disappointing.

“We even did it in the Macarthur game, we did it (against) Sydney and we’ve done it again. I’m not sure what’s going through their minds sometimes. I think they need to own that a bit. I’m happy to wear all the pressure, I’ll do that every week. When we lose, it’s my job. But when you throw it away, you need to put some hands up I think. I’m really disappointed in them today.

“It’s a mixture of things. I told them you’ve got to be aggressive in duelling. I think it’s a mentality thing. Desire. These are the things when you’re fatigued – I actually felt we were a lot fresher than them, we looked a lot fitter I felt – we weren’t cramping, no one was cramping, it’s mentality.

“I made five subs to try and make sure of that, again I’m pretty disappointed today. There’s so much I’m responsible for but I think. there’s a lot they have to.

“I know we have some injuries, I understand that – but this is why you have a squad. This is why players should have opportunities and grab it.”

Chiefy pours cold water on frustration over contentious penalty no-call

Wellington Phoenix boss Giancarlo Italiano believes his side did not deserve a penalty in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Central Coast Mariners, despite two contentious instances in the game in which the ‘Nix did not receive a spot-kick despite strong claims.

The first Phoenix penalty shout came in the first half when Kazuki Nagasawa went to ground following a collision with Brian Kaltak, but the second incident in the 65th minute was the one met with the strongest shout for a decision in Wellington’s favour as Italiano’s side hosted the Mariners in Christchurch.

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Nagasawa went down under a challenge from Mariners youngster Diesel Herrington but after a four-minute VAR review, no penalty was awarded.

When asked whether he thought his side should have received a penalty for either of the two incidents in Christchurch, Italiano replied: “No. I don’t.”

“The first one, momentum I think they both go down at the same time and then he can stand on his feet and finish,” he added. “But he chooses to make another play at the ball – and I think by that time he has the advantage to shoot and he doesn’t so I think to give a penalty might’ve been harsh.

“The second one, I can’t make an assessment because of the angle. I think if there was an angle that showed the ball from behind the goal I could make a better assessment but I couldn’t see whether there was enough contact and enough momentum.”

“I think (it was a fair result). I don’t think we merited to win based on the quality of our chances.

“The intent was to go forward and we had enough opportunity to capitalise but just final delivery, players being in the right spots, missed control, maybe passes not sticking the way they should, maybe rushing sometimes when we had plenty of space to capitalise.

“But again, I can’t fault the intent of the players, they were focused today – it’s just more about that care factor in the final third that really hurt us.”

Mariners head coach Mark Jackson was similar in his assessment of Wellington’s second appeal for a penalty.

“I don’t think so, I was quite calm with that,” he said.

“I looked on the big screen and didn’t see much in it for me. You’ve got to trust the process and trust the officials get it right. I thought the officials were good tonight, not many interactions with the fourth official which is always good. I thought they did well and got the calls right in my opinion, so pleased with that.”

Talay confirms Sydney FC’s interest in acquiring an Australian centre-back

Sydney FC head coach Ufuk Talay said the club are targeting a homegrown central defender to bolster their Isuzu UTE A-League squad before the end of the transfer window.

Recently-capped Socceroo Hayden Matthews was absent from Sydney FC’s Big Blue defeat to Melbourne Victory in Round 16, ahead of a rumoured move to English club Portsmouth; fellow young Australian centre-back Alexandar Popovic, meanwhile, is only on loan from K-League club Gwanju, and it is unclear whether the club will move to make that deal permanent when the loan expires at the end of January.

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With Talay’s Sky Blues squad bereft of defensive depth, the Sydney coach was asked after Friday’s 2-0 loss to Melbourne Victory whether reinforcements were on the way.

“There’s a lot of discussions at the moment happening,” he said after Sydney were left in seventh spot and a point outside the top six.

“Obviously we need an Australian player because we’ve got five visa slots within the team, so it’s an Australian defender we’re looking at. Alex Baumjohann (head of player management) is currently having those discussions with certain players.

“We are definitely looking to bring in a central defender, to add value. Also, we don’t want to bring in a player that’s just going to be a number for us. He definitely needs to come in and start.”

For interim Victory head coach Arthur Diles, he celebrated his first victory since stepping in after Patrick Kisnorbo’s shock departure.

The result snapped a six-game skid for Victory as the 2023-24 Grand Finalists returned to the top six.

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After the game, Diles was asked about his contract situation and whether he was any closer to learning if he would be staying on full-time.

“That’s out of my control at the moment,” he told reporters. “I just turn up everyday and I work, and I worked my hardest and best for this football club. That’s all I can do.”

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Habit that is ‘bad for other teams’

Auckland FC just love a late goal. In less than a week, the Black Knights scored two stoppage-time goals to earn four points and move top of the table.

On Wednesday, Auckland equalised in the 100th minute to rescue a 2-2 draw at Adelaide United before Neyder Moreno’s 95th-minute strike lifted them past Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 on Sunday.

MATCH REPORT: 95th-minute drama as Auckland super-sub sends Black Knights back into top spot

Auckland, who are back at the summit, have made a habit of scoring late goals in their inaugural season. The New Zealand outfit scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to draw 2-2 at Melbourne City in December, while a 97th-minute goal saw them down Sydney FC in October.

“It’s just the culture and attitude of the players,” Auckland head coach Steve Corica said.

“We work hard at training. We drive them really hard physically and I think it shows by the end of the game, we run over a lot of teams in the second half.

We score late goals and that’s just never giving up really. It’s becoming a habit which is good for us and bad for other teams.

“When you score that late, there’s just no opportunity to get back into the game.”