Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar predicts Melbourne Victory will be the pacesetters, Perth Glory the big improvers and the Gold Coast the surprise packets in the 2009-10 Hyundai A-League season.
And of course Vidmar is confident his team will be a contender too.
Quizzed on his thoughts for the year ahead, Vidmar was happy to talk up some of the other sides in the competition.
“At this point in time, Melbourne being the champions are always going to be around the mark, Gold Coast certainly have the players in their squad to shake up the top two or three and I’d put ourselves in there as well,” he said.
“Gold Coast have brought a fair few players in and are talking up a good season already which is great. And North Queensland Fury they’ll be extremely difficult over there, especially when the weather gets a little bit warmer.”
“I think Perth is certainly going to be a dark horse, they’ve really recruited well and most teams have recruited well. You can tell the league is getting stronger.”
Adelaide has yet to become a Hyundai A-League champion but has definitely been one of the more consistent clubs over the competition’s journey.
Last year the Reds’ defence was watertight but this year Vidmar hopes a greater attacking focus will push his side forward.
“We’ve made a pretty concerted effort to try and make our game a bit more dynamic and that’s the area we’ve been trying to go into in the last couple of years and I certainly feel we are getting much closer,” he said.
“The types of players that are quick and are able to get rid of an opponent in the one-on-one situation and get the ball and get themselves moving forward quickly.”
“I think that type of dynamic movement through the midfield, going into the front third you’ll see a much better improvement this year.”
Meanwhile Vidmar said he was pleased for both the players and the supporters the Hyundai A-League had expanded this season.
“I think it will give it a much better stimulus for the fans. We have been plodding along lately with eight teams and now it’s probably got to the point when we need a change and need to see two new teams,” he said.
