Can the Phoenix rise above it?

Leaders Perth Glory are admirably effective, but they’re not the team to watch if you want to see the kind of football that sits on a branch, swells its breast and sings such songs as to lift you, however momentarily, out of the shadows. No, Kenny Lowe’s Perth play football of a more utilitarian nature, and as they showed against Melbourne Victory last week it’s a utilitarianism built around relentless hard work and no small amount of physicality. “We’re not going to walk around wearing pink tutus and let them have their own way, you know?” said Lowe after last week’s game in which Perth picked up eight yellow cards, such were their efforts to shut down Victory’s flow and retain their place atop the A-League ladder. This week, if they’ve anything left in the tank, Glory – seven games without a win, but seven games of scrapping for everything – will roll their sleeves up again when Wellington, just a point behind them, come to town. Perth have beaten Wellington twice already this season (2-1 both times, away and home) but both games were played in the first seven rounds before the Phoenix found their rhythm and a joy in rushing forward like swallows, one at odds with Perth’s natural inclinations. But how well will Wellington travel? And will they be missing too much if, as Ernie Merrick has threatened, they rest Ben Sigmund and Nathan Burns? Perth appear to have a slight edge.

All’s Ferreira in love and war

The Mariners’ caretaker coach Tony Walmsley made clear this week that he would not be honouring a so-called “gentleman’s agreement” between his predecessor Phil Moss and Adelaide coach Josep Gombau; an agreement preventing the Mariners’ mid-season signing Fabio Ferreira playing against his old club Adelaide (as occurred in February when the teams last met). Quite right too. One can understand such a condition being sought by Adelaide were Ferreira out on loan, but given he’s a permanent transfer (and was released by Adelaide) the Mariners should be able to play him when and where they like, whether Moss and Gombau spat in their palms and shook hands on it or not. Of course Walmsley has further reasons to play Ferreira on Thursday night at Coopers Stadium. He’s on a streak of three goals in three games – including last week’s winner over Melbourne City – and players do have a habit of scoring against their own teams. If that happens, it will be interesting to see how Ferreira reacts. Will he allow himself to celebrate (as, notably, Danny Welbeck and David Luiz have done in Europe this week) or will he succumb to the modern pantomime and come over all funereal?

All good things come to an end

Enticingly, the two form teams of 2015 meet on Sunday afternoon when Sydney FC (17 points from seven matches) play Brisbane (13 from six) at the Sydney Football Stadium. A free-flowing attack with Marc Janko as the spearhead has underpinned Sydney’s renaissance from their mid-season blues, while Brisbane’s form has improved with the help of playmaker Thomas Broich’s return from injury (the Roar are unbeaten in five since Broich’s return after six games out) as well as the contributions of Jean Carlos Solarzano and, lately, youngster Brandon Borrello – who’s head has been kept out of the clouds, in part, by being designated chores such as pushing team luggage trolleys through airport concourses. But Brisbane’s poor start to the season means they have more to lose on Sunday, what with them involved in a two-way battle with Melbourne City for sixth place. This, as well as home ground advantage, should give Sydney a little more licence, as well as test the Roar’s willingness to push forward given Sydney’s scoring threat.

Less marquee, more Mooy

While they’ve now got a sugar daddy, a spanking new home base and a training pitch so smooth it makes Justin Bieber look rugged, Melbourne City haven’t had much luck of late with their marquee players. This week it was announced that their industrious Irishman Damien Duff will return to Ireland for good after injury ruled him out for the rest of the A-League season. Going some way to explain his lugubrious countenance while on these shores Duff said that he missed Ireland’s rain, snow and wind. Before Duff, David Villa was to play 10 games for City and remind us that there is a God and that he speaks Spanish and has a flavour savour under his bottom lip, but while he scored two goals early on Villa played just four games before going to New York for Christmas and forgetting to come back. Michael Mifsud? The Maltese Mosquito? Well, he buzzed here and he buzzed there but unlike his form elsewhere he had about as much sting as a 104-year-old boxer with pillows wrapped around his fists. Orlando Engelaar could have been a contender, could have been a great, but he missed half of last season with a busted leg before leaving the club in the off-season. Current marquee and smooth operator Robbie Koren also missed a big chunk of the season, which has cost City dearly, while Josh Kennedy has only just joined but there’s time enough yet for disaster or ineffectiveness to befall him too, not that anyone wishes it upon him of course.

The point of all this is to remind us that sometimes the best things are close to home. Like Aaron Mooy, who came to City from the Wanderers and has shown himself to be City’s, if not the A-League’s, player of the year. Mooy’s form has been rewarded with a call-up to Ange Postecoglou’s Socceroos squad for the upcoming friendlies but it’s City who need him most at the moment, walking, as they are, the semi-final tightrope. If City are to get past Newcastle this weekend – and they better, especially after losing to the Wanderers in midweek – then Mooy’s effort needs to be matched by his team-mates.

Victory need a win

You can’t just put Melbourne Victory’s recent form line – one win in five – down to bad luck and bad officiating, though they’ve had a bit of both (but who hasn’t?). No, their failure to take advantage of the stuttering form of teams around them has been largely down to their inability to hold on to a lead. In those five games Melbourne allowed Perth to come back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 late on, they squandered 2-1 and 3-2 leads against Sydney before drawing 3-3, and they had 1-0 and 2-1 leads against Wellington before losing 3-2. Had they held on to the lead in those games they’d now be clear A-League leaders. But there’s time enough yet to iron out their deficiencies and they remain the league’s most potent attacking force. But they are due to put it all together and they get the chance this week against the Western Sydney Wanderers, the league’s ninth-placed team, who are amid a gruelling run of seven games in 20 days. They should be ripe for the picking.

Fixtures

Thursday:
Adelaide United v Central Coast, Coopers Stadium, Adelaide, 7:30pm
Friday:
Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne Victory, Pirtek Stadium, Parramatta, 7:40pm
Saturday:
Melbourne City v Newcastle Jets, AAMI Park, Melbourne, 7:30pm
Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix, nib Stadium, Perth, 9:30pm
Sunday:
Sydney FC v Brisbane Roar, Allianz Stadium, Sydney, 5pm