Network 10 commentator Simon Hill casts his eye over the Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final matchup between Melbourne City and Western United to see who’ll be crowned champions on Saturday night.
I’m looking forward to seeing…
The A-League Men’s best attack (Melbourne City), versus the competition’s second-strongest defence (Western United).
How does the Golden Boot winner, Jamie Maclaren, find a way past Western’s nightclub bouncers, Tomoki Imai and Leo Lacroix? Do Andrew Nabbout and Mat Leckie have the guile to get the better of the outstanding Ben Garuccio and the fit-again Josh Risdon?
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Who can dominate the midfield? In the absence of Alessandro Diamanti, Steven Lustica (until late on) and Rene Krhin, Neil Kilkenny & Jerry Skotadis dovetailed quite nicely against Melbourne Victory in the semi-final.
But Florin Berenguer and Connor Metcalfe present a different set of problems. The Frenchman’s ability to drift into space allied to Metcalfe’s box-to-box athleticism will need to be kept in check, if Western are to clinch their first championship.
Can Aleksandar Prijovic step up to the plate once again? The Serbian striker was almost unplayable in the second leg of the semi-final against Melbourne Victory, registering two goals and an assist. If he gets the sort of quality service he got from Connor Pain and Dylan Wenzel-Halls against Victory, then he could pose big problems for a City defence that has been vulnerable at times this season.
Strange but true
This is the first all-Victorian Grand Final since the 1997-98 NSL season, when South Melbourne defeated Carlton 2-1 at the old Olympic Park in front of 16,000 fans. The scorer of the opening goal for South was John Anastasiadis – now one of John Aloisi’s assistants at Western United.
This is the first A-League Men Grand Final to feature two expansion clubs. City (originally Heart), were the first “new” club to win the title last season in their 11th season in the competition. Western could win it at just their third attempt.
The home team have won 11 of the 16 Grand Finals in the A-Leagues era, meaning the odds favour City as the nominal “home” team. The exceptions were Sydney FC (2010), Melbourne Victory (2018), and Sydney FC (2019). Two finals were played at neutral venues – Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets (SFS) in 2008 and Western Sydney Wanderers v Central Coast Mariners (SFS) in 2013.
The team scoring the first goal have won 10 of the 16 Grand Finals. Only two “away” teams have scored first and gone on to win the trophy – Sydney FC in 2010, and Melbourne Victory in 2018.
Western are the 10th A-League Men’s team to reach the Grand Final – meaning of the current twelve, only Wellington Phoenix and Macarthur FC are yet to play in an end of season showdown.
The key men
Mat Leckie (Melbourne City)
The Socceroos winger has had a very good season – netting nine goals after a slow start.
His powerful running, ability to set up chances (and take them) pose a big threat to Western hopes. His battle with Ben Garuccio could be one to keep an eye on.
Curtis Good (Melbourne City)
The last remaining link to the Melbourne Heart days, Good’s re-emergence after long-term injury is testament to the work City have done with him to get him fit, and keep him fit.
Aleksandar Prijovic likes to drift in behind the central defenders, which could mean a busy night for Good and Nuno Reis. He needs to be right on top of his game.
Neil Kilkenny (Western United)
The metronome in the heart of Western’s midfield. He will be keen to make up for a Grand Final loss with Perth Glory in 2019 when he was hampered by injury, and, of course, he is up against his former club.
In the absence of several injured first choices, he shoulders much responsibility to win that midfield battle.
Josh Risdon (Western United)
Surprised everyone with his endurance against Victory after such a long injury lay-off, keeping Ben Folami largely at bay.
He will likely be up against Andrew Nabbout in the Grand Final, another important individual battle. Could he become the first Western player to lift a trophy as captain?
Surprise packets
Taras Gomulka and Jerry Skotadis
The history books show that the Joe Marston Medallist quite often comes from an unlikely source. The defensive midfielders who do the graft, such as Isaias, Jacob Burns, Iacopo La Rocca. Gomulka has done a really effective job in replacing the injured Aiden O’Neill at the base of the City midfield – while Skotadis was Mr Reliable against Victory in the semis.
In 2015, Mark Milligan gave perhaps the best performance in that part of the field ever seen in a Grand Final, in shutting down Sydney FC’s Milos Dimitrijevic completely. Can one of these two be the hero in similar fashion on Saturday?
