Another weekend of Isuzu UTE A-League football done and dusted, and what a round it was.
From Daniel Arzani’s new position and Adelaide United’s stunning upset of the league leaders to the continued emergence of Noah Botic.
Are Melbourne Victory also on the cusp of another dreaded wooden spoon?
With a lot to dissect, here are the key talking points from Round 19 of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
The Arzani reshuffle: Did it work?
Returning to the Macarthur line-up after being dropped by head coach Mile Sterjovski, Daniel Arzani was trialled in a brand new role – to mixed reception – with the winger instead utilised as a No. 10.
Once the next big thing of Australian football, the fringe Socceroo has endured a topsy-turvy return to the Isuzu UTE A-League via Macarthur in 2022-23.
READ MORE: What Sterjovski wants to see from Macarthur after a chaotic 95th-minute win
Against the Roar, the 24-year-old was deployed in a central position behind Bachana Arabuli and Al Hassan Toure – away from his usual area on the flanks – as Macarthur coughed up a 2-0 lead before Jake McGing won it for the Bulls in the 95th minute.
“It’s my first time playing there professionally,” Arzani told Paramount+ post-game.
“I like it. I think there’s a lot of things about the position that suit me. I think there’s a lot I still need to work on and get used to.
“Playing in that role is a little bit different, but so far I’m liking it.”
While Arzani liked the new position as Macarthur moved within three points of the top six, Paramount+ analysts Andy Harper and Roy O’Donovan were not convinced with his output.
“I like him as a no.10 theoretically, but today, I’m not quite sure what it was, Daniel in the second half stopped more attacks than he created,” Network 10’s Andy Harper said.
“I’m not sure what happened. I’m not sure if his mind was wondering or there were specific instructions.
He wasn’t the only one but he was the key architect of not allowing an attack to grow. It’s not his CV. He is normally very exciting.
Former A-Leagues striker Roy O’Donovan added: “He slowed the game down a few times.
“His touch, no doubt about it, was fantastic. A few times there were counter-attacks, and his pace was there to be utilised. But he took three touches, went backwards. He kept possession rather than go through Brisbane. That was the frustrating part.”
Do Adelaide have City’s number?
It’s fair to say Adelaide isn’t a happy hunting ground for Melbourne City at the moment.
In fact, it hasn’t been for over four years, as the league leaders’ wait for a win in the ‘City of Churches’ extended after the Reds knocked them off 4-2 on Friday night.
Adelaide were ruthless in attack at Coopers Stadium, playing with verve and swagger on the counter and putting City’s defence under enormous pressure with their tremendous speed on the flanks.
And how about Nestory Irankunda?
City’s struggles against Adelaide stretch back to December 2018, which was the last time the Melbourne-based side came away with a victory at Hindmarsh – a 2-0 win on the day courtesy of goals from Luke Brattan and a Jordan Elsey own-goal.
Since then, it’s been all one way traffic, with Adelaide going unbeaten in eight on their home deck, with five wins and three draws – including a 4-0 win in the Australia Cup (then, FFA Cup) final in 2019.
Incredibly, if you look beyond just City’s away form, they have only beaten Adelaide twice in a combined 12 consecutive games – with one of those coming in last season’s second-leg semi-final at AAMI Park.
Astonishing.
No comparisons for emerging Western striker: ‘He’s Noah Botic’
Western United head coach John Aloisi is trying his best to curtail external excitement around his red-hot emerging striker Noah Botic – but at the same time, he’s not putting a ceiling on what the 21-year-old can achieve in the game.
Botic baged his very first professional strike against Adelaide United in February – and the goals have flown ever since. He’s now scored four goals in four games, including three in two – with the pick of the bunch coming in a 2-1 win over Perth Glory in Ballarat on Saturday afternoon.
Botic showed poise and power as he chested down Lachie Wales’ cross lifted to the back post, swivelling his right boot through the dropping ball to lash his volley into the back of the net; Western trailed 1-0 early against Perth, but Botic’s goal completed the first half comeback – and was ultimately the difference in a win which keeps Western in the finals hunt.
In the aftermath of the 2-1 win, Aloisi heaped praise on his young striker – but also issued a word of warning. Botic, who was once likened to Mark Viduka by former Socceroos midfielder Paul Reid, needs time to develop his craft, and his development will not benefit from unnecessary hype.
“You don’t want to put a ceiling on any individual, but we can’t get carried away either,” Alosi said.
“We can’t say that Noah’s going to be our next number nine for Australia, he has to work towards that.
“I don’t want any comparisons that he’s the next this player or that player: he’s Noah Botic.
“He’s still learning the game and we’re trying to help him with that.”
Are Victory set to finish as the best wooden spooners in A-League Men history?
It’s the opinion of Network 10 analyst Harper who, after watching Melbourne Victory fall to an unfortunate 1-0 Big Blue defeat in Round 19, questioned whether he’d ever seen an A-League Men side at the foot of the table showing as much quality and fight as Tony Popovic’s side are displaying at this stage in the season.
Victory find themselves marooned in 12th position after 19 rounds, trailing 11th-placed Perth Glory by two points. The club is in danger of recording a second wooden spoon within three seasons, but this iteration of Victory’s A-League Men outfit is nothing like the hapless side who recorded just 19 points from 26 games in 2020-21.
Victory’s narrow loss to Sydney FC on Saturday night was decided by an Anthony Caceres strike which came from a corner wrongly awarded to the Sky Blues after Alex Wilkinson’s touch sent the ball across the byline.
Harper says it’s the latest example of luck going against the side languishing in 12th and desperate for a slice of good fortune.
“I will say at this point, for a wooden spoon contender, in 18 years of the A-League we haven’t seen a team playing as well at the bottom of the table routinely,” Harper said in the post-match reflection.
“Normally teams at the bottom of the table are just hapless, and really struggling. Not so Victory.
“Struggling for results, struggling for confidence and now struggling for decisions. This is what happens in sport – I’m not trying to diminish the pain of losing this game on these circumstances.
“But it does seem to be in sport, and certainly our sport, the one we love, that when you’re struggling, when you just can’t seem to get things going, more things go wrong than you would normally cater for.
”Teams at the top of the competition, you say you make your own luck, but I don’t think there’s really a difference between the level of output from position one to position 12 at the moment. All teams are having a deadset go every weekend.”
Can anyone stop Borrello?
It’s Brandon Borrello’s world at the moment. We’re just living in it.
The Western Sydney Wanderers star’s decision to return to Australia after six years away is proving a wise choice.
He is enjoying a career-best season after scoring once again to lead high-flying Western Sydney past Central Coast Mariners 2-0 on Saturday.
Borrello has now scored in three consecutive games, with his tally in that period standing at four.
In 2022-23, he has eight goals. To put that into perspective, the last time the former Freiburg forward scored more than four goals in a season was back in 2016-17 for Brisbane Roar.
With the Wanderers sitting second and Borrello lighting up the competition, the four-time Australia international could be set to add to his Socceroos appearances during this month’s international friendlies against Ecuador.
