Guardian writers’ prediction: 4th
Last season’s position: 2nd
Benjamin Franklin once said there were only two certainties in life, death and taxes. Had he lived to watch the Wanderers grace Parramatta Stadium, he might have added a third – write these guys off and you’re an idiot.
In just two years, the league’s “oldest newest” club has blazed a trail of achievement that even the most starry eyed optimists would have imagined impossible. Premiers in their debut season, back to back grand finalists, and now a remarkable berth in the final of the Asian Champions League, with a shot at a $1.7m prize and the honour of becoming the first Australian club to win the region’s top club competition.
It’s one thing to impress amid the level-playing field of the A-League, another thing entirely given the inequality in wealth and playing personnel on offer in the top leagues in Asia. Not since 2005 has a Japanese or Korean club failed to qualify for the final; West Sydney beat four – including last year’s grand-finalists FC Seoul – en route to the final. Marcello Lippi may have won a World Cup, the Champions League and five Serie A titles, but even he couldn’t engineer a way past Tony Popovic’s men.
Off the pitch, in two years the Wanderers have forged the most devoted and passionate fanbase in the league. Sure, the supporters spend half the game singing about themselves instead of their team, but there’s no disputing the RBB have raised the bar for active support. With almost 16,000 members – at full subscription given stadium limitations – West Sydney have surpassed the Parramatta Eels, GWS Giants, Bulldogs, Tigers and Panthers. Welcome to Australian football’s heartland, the Ukraine of the Soviet Union’s food production, if you will.
And yet...
The build-up to Season 10 has seen vast improvements across the league, not just in playing staff, but also in coaching. The “big clubs” Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory appear set to wake from their slumber after a period of underachievement, and the influx of money and talent into Melbourne City (née Heart) sees last year’s wooden spooners now led by Spain’s all-time leading goalscorer, David Villa. Cogitate on that for a moment.
In this context, Western Sydney’s off-season recruitment appears, well, weak. Gone are talismanic figures Shinji Ono and Youssouf Hersi, Socceroo Aaron Mooy, and cross-machine Jerome Polenz. The combination of Hersi and Polenz in particular was a critical aspect of Wanderers’ play last season, but in these four, Western Sydney have lost four of their five top assist generators from the previous campaign.
To fill this void, in come some relatively unknown figures – Vitor Saba, Romeo Castelen, and Seyi Adeleke. A guy who sounds like an SBS journalist, a former Dutch international who was injured for almost five years, and a lad stranded in Nigeria due to Ebola (he didn’t have the condition personally).
Used only sparingly during the last rounds of the Asian Champions League, much will be expected of Saba if he is to fill the hole left by Ono. More than just a key playmaker in the Wanderers system, Ono brought experience and confidence to a young squad; a calmness on the ball, and the wisdom to dictate tempo and control possession when his side most needed.
Tony Popovic will need Castelen injury-free and at the top of his game to match his compatriot Hersi’s seven goals and 13 assists across two seasons. Castelen hails from the same town as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and fans will be hoping the new Wanderer is more this Hamburg than this Hamburg; there’s no question as to the pedigree, it’s just whether he can stay on the pitch.
In pre-season it become apparent that key rivals have evolved tactically. Kevin Muscat has abandoned Ange Postecoglou’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ 4-2-2-2 (where the 2s apparently stood for ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK) with the vastly experience duo of Milligan and Valeri to provide an at times porous (and comedic) defence with greater cover. Josep Gombau now plays a 3-4-3, but with a full pre-season under his belt, expect his Maliks and Boogaards to have a much clearer conception of their defensive responsibilities. Likewise, with Graham Arnold at the helm don’t expect 2014-2015 Sydney FC to be shipping four or five goals every time the Roar show up.
In contrast, the Wanderers’ tactical consistency has been a hallmark of their first two seasons. Now Western Sydney have proved their premiership was no fluke, expect many to have their targets set on the team. And look to see if rival managers have now had sufficient time to work out Tony Popovic’s system and approach.
And yet...
Irrespective of all the ifs and buts – if Tomi Juric left, if Matthew Spiranovic got snapped up, if Popovic himself was poached by a bigger club – a simple fact still remains: this present squad – without Adeleke, Castelen and Juric (against FC Seoul in the second leg) – just qualified for the ACL final.
While opposition scouts may not have been quaking in their boots at a frontline of Brendon Santalab, Mark Bridge, and Labinot Haliti, the Wanderers under Popovic have always been much more than just the sum of their parts, and no side in the A-League has the same collective mentality, endeavour and resilience. The 2012 Coach of the Year has a history of making silk purses out of sows’ ears; or have we forgotten Dino “Croatian Brian Deane” Kresinger so quickly?
You’ll get no rollovers from this Wanderers side and their consistency across the season should still see them safely ensconced in the six. With so many sides expected to vastly improve though, it will make for a congested top-end of the table – season three will be when Popovic really proves his mettle as a manager to see if the Wanderers can adapt and evolve in step with a rapidly improving league.
