The Australian A-League table should be upside down to make sense. The two grand finalists, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory are down at the bottom, keeping company with new franchise Melbourne Heart, whilst up at the summit level on points sit North Queensland Fury, the team that lost not just their star player, but almost all their players, their stadium and their right to play in the league before the powers that be stepped in to keep them afloat.
Propped up by the FFA (Football Federation Australia) the Fury are second after two rounds of the competition and showing good form. Certainly they don’t look like a newly put together team struggling to mesh under a new coach. That privilege goes to Melbourne Heart who are displaying promise if not anything tangible beyond a point and a single goal.
Sydney and Melbourne Victory have been scoring at least; a 3-3 draw on the opening day of the season being a strong indicator that these two powerhouses will be fighting it out tooth and nail again, but their fragility at the back has been alarming, with Victory’s Kevin Muscat in particular being culpable and the Simon Colosimo-free Sydney backline anything but convincing with Hayden Foxe holding the fort.
Both Chris Grossman and Dyron Daal got the better of new keeper Liam Reddy as North Queensland Fury took Sydney down in Townsville in front of just a little over 5,000 people. Scott Jamieson got one back and Sydney certainly had chances, but playing one up front clunked badly and after the epic draw with Melbourne Victory this was a performance to forget. Worse yet, the Sky Blues were punished by a man who they had let go in acrimonious circumstances in the shape of a sparkling Chris Payne.
The Fury took advantage and are playing like a team who have developed a siege mentality. With Robbie Fowler gone Grossman and Payne have really stepped up, and they are playing with an impressive urgency and desire. How long it will last is open to question; next up is a visit Melbourne Victory and with a win a must to lift them off the bottom the Fury can expect a stern test.
Perth Glory were the obvious beneficiaries of the Fury’s financial implosion having scored their prized asset in Fowler. A 3-3 draw in the first game of the season showed their firepower without the ex-Liverpool star even scoring. But they followed it up with a first, travelling to Melbourne and beating the Victory at AAMI park. This was a canny performance, and Perth rode their luck, but that old adage about what you do with it rang true. Mile Sterjovski in particular has been performing and with two goals to his name so far is linking well with Fowler. This could be Perth’s year to live up to their obvious potential, although if they keep playing as physically as they have some injuries might yet unsettle them.
Just behind Perth Glory and North Queensland Fury are the less inspirationally named Central Coast Mariners, who followed up a narrow 1-0 victory at Melbourne Heart in week one with a 1-1 draw at home to Adelaide United. Adelaide of course can always be counted on for a draw, but the Mariners look in fine fettle and it was a late rally that got them the point, with striker Matt Simon equalising Iain Fyfe’s opener in the 86th minute and holding on. This was a point born of tactical acumen as coach Graham Arnold rung the changes in the second half and got the Mariners on top. Indeed, three points could have been theirs with some more astute finishing. The opportunity is there for any of their strikers to really make the focal point of the attack their own.
The middle of the table finds Gold Coast United, Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United all stuck on two points after two games with two draws. Gold Coast look the pick of that bunch and played in the game of round two, a thrilling 3-3 draw between them and Wellington Pheonix, in New Zealand. Paul Ifill opened the scoring, but Shane Smeltz did what he does best and promptly replied. Not that it lasted long; Chris Greenacre got the Phoenix back in front within barely a minute and extended the lead in the second half only for Smeltz to strike again and Jason Culina to grab the point late on.
These are two sides committed to attacking football so it was no surprise to see goals galore, but more importantly for Gold Coast’s title hopes this was a performance that suggested they had shrugged off the turgid display against Brisbane Roar in week one. For the Phoenix it’s much harder to tell. Despite this being the second round of matches it was only their first after a free week first time round and despite taking part in the third 3-3 draw of the campaign it may be a little early to be drawing any conclusions. How they look after the Mariners’ visit next week will be far more informative.
Twenty eight goals in ten games combined with poor starts for some of the favourites suggest this might be an interesting season in the A-League and with so few games you’d be crazy to start laying bets. But whilst you can safely assume that Melbourne Victory and Sydney can but improve, Melbourne Heart remain an unknown quantity. They’ve done little so far to suggest they’re a force to be reckoned with, but opened the season, their first ever game in the Hyundai A-League, with an attendance of over 11,000.
Disaffected fans will only turn up for so long and their one goal so far has been an own goal. There’s something about the way Melbourne Heart play that suggest they will be a fluid attacking force if they ever get it right, but staid, disjointed and clumsy, they might need to start thinking about a Plan B in case the flowing football never materialises. Clint Bolton, great keeper that he is, cannot keep them in it alone, and had Newcastle Jets got a modicum more luck their week two showdown could have been a shellacking. A trip to Adelaide next for the Heart beckons and the necessity for goals will be palpable.
