KEEPUP previews Week One of the Isuzu UTE A-League Finals Series, with thanks to neds.
The Finals Series kicks off in the City of Churches as Adelaide United welcome Wellington Phoenix for a sudden-death Elimination Final at Coopers Stadium.
Both sides have skidded their way into finals, with Adelaide surrendering second-spot on the table in the final weekend of the season after going four games without a win, while Wellington ended a five-game winless run with a 1-0 victory over Macarthur FC last weekend to secure the last finals spot.
At their best, the Reds have been scintillating in attack, particularly throughout the 12 game unbeaten run that preceded their dip in form, but issues in defence have been at the forefront for the entire campaign.
In fact, Adelaide haven’t kept a clean sheet in 13 games (1-0 win v Macarthur on January 20) and have conceded 46 goals for the entire season – which is the worst among all teams in the six and equal-third worst with Perth Glory in the league.
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“To be honest, the defence has been terrible all season,” ex-Adelaide United defender Robbie Cornthwaite said on A-League Agenda, brought to you by Neds.
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“They’ve been scoring goals for fun and it’s kind of masked the fact that they’ve been conceding two, three, four goals, a game. So against Central Coast on the weekend, they were really, really poor. I was a little bit concerned with some of the efforts that I saw.
“There were times where the Mariners were on the counterattack and there was players jogging back almost at 75%. You don’t know what’s gonna happen, you don’t know if he’s going to score, if Joe Gauci is going to make a save or if he’s going to have a poor touch, you need to be sprinting 100% to get back and and potentially save a goal.
“It’s been a problem all year.”
Reds coach Carl Veart said these defensive issues is something Adelaide are aware of and have been focusing on trying to rectify during the lead-in to Friday night’s contest.
“It has been a concern over the course of the whole season,” Veart said.
“It is something we have been working on collectively, it’s just not the defence, it’s the whole team.
“And that was the issue last week, we just gave them far too much time on the ball.”
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On a brighter note for Adelaide, history is on the Reds’ side in home finals, going undefeated in their last six games (W5, D1) with their last defeat coming all the way back in April 2013 to the Brisbane Roar.
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And Veart believes they can turn the tide and return to the form they have shown for large portions of the campaign.
“People will talk about last week but we finished third, the best finish we have had as a club for seven years,” Veart said.
“We have had a fantastic season and (in the finals) we have to make sure we are playing the football we have all season.
“You don’t need motivation for finals games… They’re games that big players stand up and they’re also games where players can make a name for themselves.
“I know the team wants to have success and it’s important that we just carry on and have that belief that we have had all season.”
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Conversely, Wellington have lost all six of their finals matches in Australia, conceding 2.2 goals per game in these fixtures. Despite coming in with some scratchy form as of late, the ‘Nix have had some joy against the Reds in their three meetings this season – splitting the head-to-head (1W, 1D, 1L).
And despite being humbled in the last and only meeting at Coopers Stadium 5-1 back in March, Wellington missed a bucket-load of chances and in fact ended the game with a higher expected goals and shots.
However, similarly to the Reds, their defensive issues have come to the fore time and again during the run home, conceding only one less than Adelaide this campaign (45 goals) – although outgoing coach Ufuk Talay is confident his side are coming into the sudden death final with greater confidence as a result of their one-goal win over the Bulls last weekend.
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“The boys would have regained confidence from our win against Macarthur and I can’t certainly say that for Adelaide,” he said.
“Ever since (a round 24 loss to) Western United, they’ve struggled, their form has dropped.
“They were flying at one stage, they were 12 or 13 games unbeaten, but finals football is a different ball game.”
Should Wellington lose, it will be Talay’s last game as coach but also star goalkeeper Oli Sail’s, before he joins Perth next season.
Cornthwaite believes this could “galvanise” the team, as they could use being together potentially for the final time to spur them on to “do something special”.
“I think Talay should take a leaf out of Ange Postecoglou’s book and tell the players: ‘listen, we can’t waste a moment of our careers. This is an opportunity for us to do something special as a group’.
“They seem like a pretty tight knit unit, with all that trouble from New Zealand, they’re pretty well bonded, so this is their last chance to do something special, and I think they potentially could if they can use that as motivation.”
Opta stat: Adelaide United will be aiming for back-to-back wins in the A-League Men against Wellington Phoenix for the first time since November 2018, following their 5-1 victory when they last met earlier this season (17 March 2023).
Elimination Final One: Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix
Friday, May 5 2023
Coopers Stadium
Kick-off: 7:45pm AEST (7:15 PM ACST)
Broadcast: 10 Bold, 10 Play & Paramount+
Odds: Adelaide $1.85, Draw $3.70, Mariners $3.60
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The action continues on Saturday night in arguably the biggest Sydney Derby yet, as Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC lock horns at CommBank Stadium.
Saturday night’s contest marks Western Sydney’s long awaited return to post-season action, having not played a finals game since 2017 and none since inaugural head coach Tony Popovic departed months after.
Marko Rudan has helped transform the Wanderers into one of the league’s most formidable units, finishing in fourth place on the standings and coming into finals as a team to be reckoned with.
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Western Sydney have had the edge over Sydney this season too, winning two of the three contests including the most recent meeting – a 4-0 drubbing at Allianz Stadium in March.
In the aforementioned contest, talented midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof scored a cracking goal to put some icing on the Wanderers cake and wrap up an historic victory.
Despite playing against his former side, Nieuwenhof vigorously celebrated the cracking strike, which flew past Sky Blues shot-stopper Andrew Redmayne from around 25 yards out.
“I just took a chance and I was lucky enough that it went in so I couldn’t be happier with how that went,” Nieuwenhof told AAP.
“I think it’s a bit different, maybe me celebrating against Sydney compared to Ninkovic or someone else celebrating.
“I wasn’t exactly a massive part of the club when I was there.
“But I was just really happy in the moment and I couldn’t have been happier to score for the Wanderers, it was an awesome moment for me.”
Nieuwenhof is one of many off-season arrivals who have helped re-shape the Wanderers this season, including Brandon Borrello.
The attacker has scored 13 goals – with five of those strikes coming in the last month – to go with five assists for the campaign and a subsequent recall to the Socceroos squad off the back of his ripping form.
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“I don’t know who would have predicted this type of season for Brandon Borrello at the start of the year,” Cornthwaite said.
“He came in playing as a bit of a wide man looking to make a late dash into the World Cup squad. He was very impressive but didn’t quite do enough, only three goals, I think, in the opening half of the season.
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“He’s come home with a wet sail full of confidence, scored for the Socceroos as well against Ecuador and he’s just a man on fire. He’s the one that’s really driven this Western Sydney team into the finals.
“They were really struggling for a number nine. There was no-one scoring goals. They couldn’t find anyone to fill that role and he sort of started as a makeshift striker, but he’s got predatory instincts and he’s been banging them in.”
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Sydney, on the other hand, come into finals as one of the league’s form sides, not losing since the aforementioned derby defeat and winning each of their last three to book a spot inside the top six – after missing finals a season prior.
Although they have lost twice to the Wanderers already this campaign, Sydney’s sole derby victory came at this Saturday’s venue – a 1-0 win thanks to an early Max Burgess strike.
And the magnitude of this contest isn’t lost on the Sydney players.
“It’s the biggest game of our lives,” Brattan said.
“We need to win this game. We want to win this game for the club to get back to where we belong.
“We need to defend for our lives and attack the way we can, with the freedom and quality that we have.”
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Sydney’s defence, which has been much criticised this season, has tightened up in recent weeks, only conceding twice in their last four – while Adam Le Fondre and Robert Mak have been in tremendous scoring nick – firing home seven goals accumulatively in the last month.
“We’ve been on a roll both in defence and attack. We’ve been creating good scoring chances too,” coach Steve Corica said.
“But form counts for nothing heading into finals. It’s a massive game and the first time we’ve met in finals so it is going to be interesting.
“The pressure is always on in this game and to have it in the finals, it is going to be exciting.”
Opta stat: Western Sydney Wanderers FC have conceded seven goals in the first halves of matches this A-League Men season, eight fewer than any other team in the competition; Sydney FC (24) have conceded the most of any team during this period.
Elimination Final Two: Western Sydney Wanderers v Sydney FC
Saturday, May 6 2023
CommBank Stadium
Kick-off: 7:45pm AEST
Broadcast: 10 Bold, 10 Play & Paramount+
Odds: Wanderers $2.25, Draw $3.40, Sydney $2.85
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