Another A-League round is on the horizon, but we have to wait an extra day for the action to get underway.
There are only four fixtures on Matchday 6, but plenty of opportunities to extract the value and find a winner.
We’re back to the Central Coast on Saturday afternoon for the first match of the round.
The Mariners failed to live up to what I expected of them almost immediately on Matchday 5 and for that reason, I can’t have them to win this. A couple of their early season performances suggested that maybe they were ready to do something, but they barely got a look in against Melbourne City and will need to improve quickly if they are going to be around the mark at the pointy end of the season.
I do concede that Melbourne City looks a decent side this season, but I don’t think they’ll find the travelling Reds, who won last week, a whole lot easier. Adelaide now sit fifth on the ladder following consecutive wins and I think they’ll make it three in a row.
I doubt anyone at Western United or beyond would have expected a start as good as they’ve had, but another great opportunity awaits them on Matchday 6.
Mark Rudan is quite clearly a good manager and the quality, well-rounded squad that the club have assembled for their inaugural season has so-far exceeded the hype. I’m sure several people reading this will be thinking about how well the Wanderers did in their maiden season, but they were god-awful for like eight weeks before the penny dropped.
The Jets have been slow from the blocks again, and they failed to capitalise on a ten-man Perth Glory at home last week. This is a harder task, particularly away from home.
Betting says otherwise but for mine, the most one-sided match of the round looks like taking place north of the border on Sunday afternoon.
Given what these two clubs have so-far achieved this season and the big difference in class, I can’t get my head around the $2.20 that is on offer for City (at publish). They are top of the league having recorded one draw and four wins, and they boast all of the momentum heading into this one.
The Roar meanwhile are ninth and are yet to record a win. Given they are new look, with a new game plan and manager it is all completely understandable, but there is a match to be won on Sunday afternoon and it would be the upset of the season if they pulled it off.
‘The Big Blue’ and other gimmicky titles is a big reason why football will never be as big as contact sports in Australia, but to its defence this match is typically a well contested one.
By their stands, Melbourne Victory have been bad this season. With only the one win on the books, they remain seventh on the ladder. Sydney FC on the other hand have recorded three wins and one loss; bouncing back into form with an easy win over the Newcastle Jets last week.
Given that there is always more than just points on the table when these two clubs meet, I do think that Sydney FC are under the odds, but I also think they’ll win.