- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Melbourne City climbed to the summit, Adrian Segecic netted a magnificent 22-minute hat-trick and Western United downed Melbourne Victory in a thriller. Plenty to run the rule over after another busy weekend.
Here are your A-League talking points.
It’s on goal difference, granted, but credit must go to Aurelio Vidmar and his playing squad with Melbourne City rising to first on the ladder after beating Brisbane 1-0 on Saturday evening. Every side is dealing with injuries three months into the season but in terms of quality, City have been the hardest hit, with Andrew Nabbout suffering the dreaded ACL injury and Marco Tilio and Mat Leckie still missing from the line-up.
Young players have stepped in and made the most of their opportunity, especially Harry Politidis and Medin Memeti, who have both impressed with the club’s stars out of action. We’re approaching the halfway mark of the 2024-25 season, typically around the time the table begins to take shape.
With so much quality to come back into this team, it’d be difficult to deny City are genuine contenders.
More pain for Brisbane, who are floundering at the bottom of the table with not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. Thomas Waddingham, one of the bright spots in a terrible season, is reportedly set to leave the club amid interest from Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday.
It’s an inevitability of following an A-League side that promising young players are sold off but it’ll still be a difficult pill to swallow if the 19-year-old departs in this window.
Thomas Waddingham with Brisbane supporters. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Rumours abound as to how Ruben Zadkovich has managed to keep his job after the club’s worst-ever record through 12 matches. Whether it’s the Bakries being too cheap or too apathetic to make a move, it’s hard to imagine that many managers in world football could endure a run like that and avoid the sack.
Down 3-2 to Melbourne Victory in a pulsating clash, John Aloisi’s side showed great character to stay in the fight and produce a sensational comeback through Noah Botic and Hiroshi Ibusuki. After a slow start to the season, United are firmly in the finals picture and playing some good football.
Ibusuki continues to show his quality, proving to be one of the best off-season purchases. As pointed out by Front Page Football reporter Antonis Pagonis, it’s actually a somewhat rare case of a move working out for both clubs – despite losing the Japanese striker’s influence, it has allowed for Luka Jovanovic and Archie Goodwin to flourish at Coopers Stadium.
Victory made a very strong start to their campaign but have now fallen back to the pack after five games without a win. That streak started with the Melbourne Derby draw, coming just days after Patrick Kisnorbo suddenly left the club. They’ve played some quality sides in that time, so it’s not solely down to the Kisnorbo effect, but it is clearly a factor.
Bruno Fornaroli is still capable of contributing but is probably more suited to an impact role at this stage of his career. Off-season signing Nikos Vergos has never been the most prolific striker, and has only scored twice in 12 appearances this season, so I can see why interim manager Arthur Diles would be looking at alternatives.
It doesn’t get much easier for Diles as his side travel to Adelaide next week to face the in-form Reds.
With pressure starting to build on Ufuk Talay after a dreadful showing last week, the Sydney gaffer needed three points at home to silence the critics. An inadvertent looping header that beat his own goalkeeper from Patryk Klimala had levelled the scores after the Polish striker got the Sky Blues in front early on.
Step up Adrian Segicic, the 20-year-old coming off the bench and completing a brilliant hat-trick in the space of just over 20 minutes to extend his side’s unbeaten run to five games. That’s five goals in ten games now for the rising star, who is hoping to find a regular place in Talay’s starting 11.
That will be easier said than done, considering the attacking options at the former midfielder’s disposal, including Patrick Wood, Jaiden Kucharski and Anas Ouahim. And that’s with Douglas Costa unavailable.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
For Mark Jackson’s champions, they’ve now won just once in their past five matches as the odds of a premiership defence become worse by the week. Scoring continues to be a problem for the Mariners, struggling to create much on Saturday evening with their only goal coming from a set-piece scramble.
Jackson wouldn’t name any specific targets post-match but will likely be in the market for some scoring help as the transfer window opens up next week. Options will be limited to domestic players only as the Englishman has already used up his five visa slots, unless there are also some departures.
It took 13 games, but Perth Glory finally secured their second victory of the campaign with a big upset over Auckland at HBF Park thanks to Jaylan Pearman’s first goal for the club. The result will alleviate some pressure on manager David Zdrilic, whose team hung on for the majority of Wednesday’s defeat to his old club until Joe Lolley turned on the style and put Perth away.
Zdrilic appears to have the backing of Ross Pelligra and the board, even though there are still question marks over whether he’s the right man for the job. The January window will provide an opportunity for the 50-year-old to strengthen, and few clubs are as in need of a quality injection as Glory.
Auckland slip to third after the weekend’s results and a mixed run of form with just one win in their last five fixtures, but that’s potentially misleading as they boast a game in hand and trail City by just one point. Some adversity for Steve Corica’s side to work through after their dream start to A-League life, but certainly not time for panic just yet.
A new era of the UEFA Champions League is here, only on Stan Sport.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.