Here are some of the key talking points from this week’s episode of the Official A-Leagues Podcast, where Daniel Garb and Robbie Cornthwaite are joined by Mustafa Amini and Hannah Wilkinson.
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‘He was horrendous’
Western United’s Leo Lacroix has enjoyed a bright start to life in the Isuzu UTE A-League – but Robbie Cornthwaite saw a different side to the Swiss defender as the green and black fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Melbourne Victory in Round 6.
Lacroix won the PFA Player of the Month Award for November after a string of magnificent performances in the heart of United’s defence, however Cornthwaite believes he played well below his best against a Victory attack which put three goals past United to break a four-game run of games without a single conceded.
Lacroix lost possession 14 times throughout the game – five more than his previous high of nine for the season, struck a gilt-edged chance from close range off the crossbar, and allowed Victory midfielder Jake Brimmer to skip past him with a neat one-two on his way into the box to help craft Victory’s second goal in as many first-half minutes.
Cornthwaite watched on and was reminded of the early form of Ziggy Gordon at Western Sydney Wanderers, who began the 2020/21 campaign brightly and has since fell out of favour under head coach Carl Robinson. The challenge now is for Lacroix to turn that one performance into a mere blip on the radar.
“The big surprise out of the game, though, was Lacroix,” Cornthwaite said.
“He was horrendous. We’ve been pumping him up so much and last year we did the same to Ziggy Gordon… I don’t know what the (Swiss) do for Christmas, but he must have done something on Christmas day because he was a completely different player to what we’ve become accustomed to.”
‘That was almost the turning point for my life choices’
It’s the sliding doors moment which set talented musician Hannah Wilkinson on the path to becoming a star New Zealand international, and Liberty A-League record owner.
The Melbourne City spearhead bagged five Melbourne Derby goals against Melbourne Victory on Boxing Day to storm ahead in the Golden Boot race and send a statement of intent to the rest of the competition.
But before she began her journey toward becoming the prolific striker she is today, Wilkinson – who has her own music released on Spotify – was a kid in high school forced to choose between her two passions.
“I got really into my music in my high school years, and I was in a band,” Wilkinson said. “There was one weekend I was actually going to go and do a band competition, and go with my band for the weekend, but i had a football game.
“That was almost the turning point for my life choices,” she laughed. “I chose the football game.”
“When I started out my professional career after college, I spent about five years at the University of Tennessee playing nothing but country music, I got absolutely obsessed with Nashville and fell in love with music during my time in America, that was just such an amazing experience.
“I do play the drums, mostly the guitar though. The guitar I started playing when I was about 12, so I’ve been playing it for a very long time. My dad plays so he taught me.
“Music is such an important part of my life. It helps me escape when I’m feeling a lot of pressure, it helps get me amped up. I think any athlete would tell you music is really crucial in any sort of performance preparation. For me, it does wonders.
“I love all kinds of different music. I could go from Iron Maiden to Jack Johnson in a second. It’s really important to me.”
But when picking between the relaxed tones of the smooth-singing Jack Johnson, and the high-octane heavy metal band Iron Maiden, there was only one choice to blast through her headphones in a pre-game pump up which led to her demolition of Melbourne Victory.
“I’m telling you right now, it was Iron Maiden,” she said. “I’ve started to gravitate more to that high intensity heavy metal… people don’t really listen to that, not many of my friends would but for some reason it gets me going.
“It’s my running music too. Nirvana, all of the good bands.”
How Ikonomidis can ‘hit the heights he reached’ once more
There’s been no rushing Chris Ikonomidis’ return from a two-season spell plagued by injuries, with Victory boss Tony Popovic nursing the Socceroos star back into the fray as the pair reunite at Melbourne Victory.
Ikonomidis was substituted at half-time of his side’s 3-1 win over Western United, with fears of another injury setback causing concern amongst the Victory fanbase.
Consistent minutes in the side is what Ikonomidis needs most to regain the touch which has seen him surge back into the Socceroos fold in recent seasons – and if he manages to sustain a run in the starting XI, Cornthwaite sees one area Ikonomidis has been deficient in thus far this term which would take him back to his best if recaptured.
“Ikonomidis looked really good, really sharp,” Cornthwaite said. “He had a good battle with Josh Risdon on that right-hand side.
“We know he’s been out injured, I just think it’s that final pass, that final cross, that final finish that’s just missing from his game.
If he can find that, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be able to hit the heights he reached a season or two ago.”
Ikonomidis played from the start in an attacking four consisting of Ben Folami, Jake Brimmer, and Francesco Margiotta. Ikonomidis impressed alongside his fellow Victory forwards as they broke the resolve of an otherwise stringent United defence which had conceded just one goal in five games before the Round 6 encounter.
“I thought (Western United pressed really, really well, they had almost a flat four pressing up top with two in behind, they made it really difficult for Victory to break the lines,” Cornthwaite said.
“But when Victory did break the lines, that’s when they looked so dangerous.”
Choose your fighter: City attack or Victory attack?
They’re two sides with an abundance of attacking quality; local rivals who could not be split in a thrilling Round 5 2-2 draw ,but possess the unwavering determination to finish above one another on the table by the end of the Isuzu UTE A-League season.
And it could all hinge on which attack – be it Melbourne Victory’s or Melbourne City’s – outperforms the other on a consistent basis throughout the campaign.
“Here’s a question for you: Melbourne City’s frontline… (or) Melbourne Victory’s?” Cornthwaite asked.
“On form, Ben Folami, Nishan Velupillay, Robbie Kruse, Marco Rojas, Ikonomidis, Nick D’Agsotino and Margiotta, or (are you) taking Marco Tilio, Andrew Nabbout, Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren and Stefan Colakovski?
Have your say below!
