The Big Blue

I don’t know where I’ve been but until this week I always thought ‘The Big Blue’ only referred to the 1988 Luc Besson movie about a free diver who, when facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life with Rosanna Arquette, decides a better option would be to swim down to the dark punishing depths of the ocean and never come back. Anyway, turns out The Big Blue also refers to the Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory rivalry, the latest incarnation of which will be held on Saturday in Sydney. But they’re not so different, the movie and the match. Like the movie this week’s game has ‘performance under pressure’ as a central theme, and that's particularly applicable for coach Frank Farina and his Sky Blues who are on a three-game losing streak and, at times, playing with all the structure of kids engaged in a lolly scramble. Their challenge will not only be to overcome their own recent frailties but also a slick Victory side who are in wonderful nick and not short of form players in Mitch Nichols, Adama Traore, James Troisi and Kosta Barbarouses. And you’d think Archie Thompson will have his head up after breaking his goal drought last week. But maybe, just maybe, the challenge of their big rivals might be the catalyst that turns Sydney’s season around and, at least for a while, scatters the vultures currently describing slow circles above Farina’s head. Alessandro Del Piero should make a difference on his return and the crowd’s keenness to get one over the Melburnians should also provide the local team impetus. It could be closer than the form guide suggests.

Will McBreen have sheen?

Last year’s champions Central Coast haven’t been drawing our attention quite like the Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory, but they’re undefeated and ticking along quite nicely, especially when you consider they’ve been playing without last season’s A-League golden boot, Daniel McBreen, who’s been out on loan with Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League. But in good news for the Mariners —news which goes some way to counter this week’s absence of Storm Roux and Michael McGlinchey who are in camp with New Zealand ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Mexico— McBreen is back and in Graham Arnold’s 18-man squad for their juicy Sunday match-up against the Brisbane Roar. Considering he has Mitchell Duke, Matt Simon and Marcos Flores at his disposal, Arnold may just give McBreen a cameo but it will be interesting to see how sharp he looks (or, conversely, how tired… McBreen hasn’t had an off-season) and if there are any signs the 36-year-old might be capable of matching his exploits last year, which took many by surprise. Aside from having McBreen in his quiver, Arnold will be hoping for a better start from his team. Twice in the past three matches they’ve found themselves down 2-0. They fought back for 2-2 draws on both occasions but Brisbane, you feel, are not the sort of side to blow such a cushion.

Adelaide’s long and winding road

It’s hard to comprehend how big a job it is to impart a new style or system on a football team. Many would think all it takes is half a dozen training sessions, some whiteboard tutorials and the judicious meting out of rewards, like sardines and tummy rubs, when players get things right (well, it works for dolphins, and they’re smarter than many footballers). But as Adelaide’s Bruce Djite pointed out on Fox Sports on the weekend, it’s a much bigger job than that. New Adelaide coach Josep Gombau, he said, began his regime in pre-season by taking the team back to basics. And not just tactically, said Djite, who’s close to first team action after a serious ankle injury. Gombau was instructing them on real basics, like how to pass, how to position the body for a header, and so on. This speaks of a meticulous approach at the same time it indicates just how much work Gombau believes is involved. So Adelaide fans impatiently waiting for their team to turn into Barcelona (or at least Swansea) should keep that in mind. That said, Saturday’s home match against Newcastle —who’ve named Emile Heskey— provides United a great opportunity to break their run of successive losses (albeit by one-goal margins against last season’s grand finalists) and collect a second win of the year. If Marcelo Carrusca carries through last week’s form and finds that the likes of Isaias and Jeronimo are in step, you’d have to tip a win for United.

All eyes on the referees… and Polenz

While it doesn’t change the consequences of the officiating mistakes that were made on the weekend it was pleasing to see the public confession from A-League referees director Ben Wilson on Monday. In an attempt at transparency, and possibly a pre-emptive strike in the event any Sydney fans were at Bunnings sourcing pitchforks ahead of a march on the FFA, Wilson conceded four errors were made by his referees, one of which may have ongoing ramifications for Western Sydney. The Wanderers’ full-back, Jerome Polenz, he said, should have been given a second yellow (and thus sent off) for his eye-watering challenge on Adelaide midfielder Awer Mabil on Friday night. For that matter, Wilson suggested, Polenz should have been sent off the previous week too for a similarly unsavoury tackle on Sydney’s Richard Garcia. Sure, Tony Popovich did the expected and came out in support of Polenz saying the full-back was not that kind of player (I can’t be sure but I think the “it’s not his go” defence was first uttered by supporters of Attila the Hun back in the 400s and has been in constant employment ever since), but now you’d have to figure Polenz’s card is marked. And when that happens there’s always the chance that human nature takes over and referees start to judge him on reputation as much as anything else. So against the Heart on Friday Polenz should ensure his headband is not on too tight and to keep his studs to himself. The referees, meantime, will be striving to get through the weekend without having the word “howler” attached to their adjudications.

Who’s feeling lucky?

It was widely opined that strugglers Melbourne Heart were a little unlucky last weekend for taking it to Brisbane away from home, fashioning chances, yet still coming away 3-0 losers. But how much did luck, or an absence of it, have to do with the loss? Was it just bad luck that caused the Heart to get only three of their 14 shots on target (whereas Brisbane managed seven of 11), or allowed Henrique to cushion Luke Brattan’s cute cross on his chest, fire the ball home for Roar’s first, then pen a letter, longhand, to his great aunt in Sao Paulo, before finally being sighted by the Heart defenders? As encouraging as he was about his team’s performance (taking positive thinking to a whole new level, Heart coach John Aloisi said he was “really happy with the boys”) Aloisi will know his team lost because they wasted good field position and scoring chances and failed to shut down the Roar’s midfield. Now they have to deal with a Wanderers team exuding confidence and menace, and buoyed by the return of talisman Youssouf Hersi on the right flank. The Heart, meantime, will again be without central defender Patrick Kisnorbo, whose absence was telling against the Roar. They’ll also have to do without Harry Kewell who’s so adept at getting injured he didn’t even have to wait until his next match to do it. But all is not lost for the Heart. They’re at home. Considering their away record they can count themselves lucky.

Round 5

Friday:

Melbourne Heart v Western Sydney Wanderers, AAMI Park, Melbourne

Saturday:

Wellington Phoenix v Perth Glory, AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Adelaide United v Newcastle Jets, Coopers Stadium, Adelaide

Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory, Allianz Stadium, Sydney

Sunday:

Central Coast Mariners v Brisbane Roar, Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford