Liberty A-League: what every team needs for success

As the A-League hits a February frenzy of football, Tom Smithies and Matthew Comito chart the key for each side for the rest of the season.

ADELAIDE UNITED

Needs: nerves of steel. Two thirds of the way through their campaign, United have shrugged off an opening-round thumping to ease their way into the top four, and even have a small buffer from fifth. The only problem is it inevitably raises hopes of making the Liberty A-League finals, at a club which never has, but which knows what it’s like to choke at the death.

After conceding 12 goals in five games – albeit five of those in one game – United have tightened up, letting in only two in their past three and recording a clean sheet at last.. But in the end it will come down to whether Adrian Stenta’s side can hold their nerve, and keep the positive results coming.

BRISBANE ROAR

Needs: to avoid the late collapse. Time and again the Roar are creating opportunities to take points from games which ultimately go wasted. 

While the most recent 2-0 loss to all-conquering Sydney was no surprise, late goals have hurt Brisbane in two defeats to Perth, a draw to Canberra United and losses to Melbourne Victory, Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne City. Garrath McPherson’s side must show a stronger resolve if they wish to feature in the finals conversation.

CANBERRA UNITED

Needs: a firing frontline. Ashleigh Sykes put her second and third goals of the season on the board in a 3-3 draw with Newcastle last time out, with Allira Toby scoring her debut goal for the club – but four games without a goal from Michelle Heyman have seen the winless United struggle to ignite their campaign.

With Sykes and Toby showing promising signs, Heyman needs to come to the party. A second-consecutive finals appearance is not mathematically impossible, but it is improbable – regardless, Vicki Linton’s side will be eager to storm home this campaign – and they’ll need their strikers on song to do so. 

MELBOURNE CITY

Needs: more Stotty. In City’s 4-0 win over Wellington Phoenix on January 9, Rebekah Stott played a full 90-minute game for the first time since recovering from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and returning to the professional game.

Stott’s cancer diagnosis put a halt to her dream move to English club Brighton and Hove Albion in early 2021, but after showing bravery and strength to survive Stott is now thriving in her return to the professional game at Melbourne City. The defender took an encouraging step forward in her gradual return to full fitness by playing from start to finish in City’s 4-0 win over the ‘Nix, and proceeded to put three more 90-minute shifts in a row on the board as she roars back to full fitness. 

Fans of all clubs will hope Stott continues to rack up the minutes in a City shirt as the season ticks by.

Rebekah Stott of Melbourne City takes on Sydney FC.

MELBOURNE VICTORY

Needs: Reinforcements! When people talk about the challenges of defending a title, Victory coach Jeff Hopkin has found that all too literal a problem. Having conceded 13 goals in six games, the reigning champions are showing how much the injury to Kayla Morrison in round one has hurt. 

Though Coutney Nevin will shortly be back from the Asian Cup with the Matildas a bit earlier than expected, along with Kyra Cooney-Cross, the loan spell of US striker Lynn Williams has finished already. Alex Chidiac’s will also expire well before the end of the campaign, and Hopkin now has to put his faith in his young players stepping up.

NEWCASTLE JETS

Needs: Marie Dølvik Markussen on the park. The Jets are not out of finals contention this season, sitting sixth with two games in hand over Perth Glory (fourth) and Adelaide United (third). 

Dølvik Markussen could be the key to the Jets staying in the hunt. She’s played just four games this season, but the Norwegian has contributed two goals and three assists throughout those four appearances. 

If Dølvik Markussen can lift off in the latter part of the campaign, the Jets could soar into the top four by the season’s end.

Marie Dolvik Markussen is contested by Hayley Taylor-Young of Canberra United.

PERTH GLORY

Needs: to take this feeling and bottle it. Perth have four wins from eight games after going winless last season, and have soared into the top four at the expense of the champions Melbourne Victory.

Stuck indefinitely interstate, Alex Epakis’ young side is showing the league their immense character. Undefeated in three games, Perth have capitalised on back-to-back wins over Brisbane to start the season to find themselves in the finals conversation. A clash with the lowly Canberra awaits, before three crucial fixtures against Victory, Melbourne City (second) and Sydney FC (first). Emerge from this run in the top four, and there’s no telling how far Glory can go this season.

SYDNEY FC

Needs: an antidote to complacency. Sitting top of the ladder after nine games, seven points clear and having set a record for clean sheets… you can understand why the Sky Blues would be feeling pretty confident.

So far no one has had the answer to combatting Sydney’s attack, apart from the Wanderers in the derby, and only one goal conceded in those eight games shows the team is working at both ends of the park.

They’ve managed to sustain that in the absence of freescoring duo Remy Siemsen Cortnee Vine with the Matildas squad at the Asian Cup, thanks to Chilean international striker Maria Rojas and New Zealand winger Paige Satchell stepping up off the bench – clearly recruited for just this eventuality.

And yet… remember the defeat in last year’s grand final. Coach Ante Juric has to make sure that Sydney’s worst enemy isn’t themselves.

WELLINGTON

Needs: a long-term view. A team that is put together on the eve of a season is always likely to struggle, let alone one studded with teenagers. And so it has proved, after the false dawn of round one when Gemma Lewis’s new side, making its Liberty A-League debut, battled to a goalless draw with Western Sydney.

Since then it has been hard going, with fitness telling – many of the 25 goals they have conceded have come in the last half-hour of games, and Phoenix have only managed to score five themselves. Yet this team has never stopped fighting, despite the issues of being based in Wollongong thanks to COVID restrictions, and there is already considerably more optimism about next season.

Phoenix head coach Gemma Lewis at training in Wollongong.

WESTERN SYDNEY

Needs: goals. Simple as that. Two in eight games is easily the league’s lowest total, and Catherine Cannuli’s side has now lost three on the trot to drift away from contention for the finals. 

It seemed there might be a turning point from a goalless draw against Sydney in which the Wanderers became the only side this season to keep the Sky Blues scoreless, and which was followed by a narrow win away at Brisbane.

But that remains the only victory this season and Cannuli’s debut year as coach is becoming harder by the week.