A-League Final Series (2015 Preview)

 

The A-League has ramped up in quality for its 10th anniversary season, but as is always the case, attention is about to hit its peak as the league enters the traditional playoff style “Final Series” to crown a champion. This structure continues to attract criticism over fairness due to its short, ruthless knockout system which offers little advantage to those who have succeeded over the course of the regular season. That being said without relegation threatening those at the bottom of the table, the AFF will attempt to keep the majority interested for as long as possible, whilst also attracting neutral observers with the enticement of a quick fire American style knockout series.

The three weekend long series kicks off on Friday, with the lowest four seeds (3rd place down to 6th) competing to face the duo at the top of the ladder next weekend who gain a bye to the next round. Given there’s only 10 teams in the division, it remains to some a farce that a below average league finish could still lead to a championship medal within three matches. This was further de-escalated with the Perth Glory salary cap scandal which saw the West coast side slapped with a $269,000 fine and demotion from the Final Series after a previously successful season saw them finish in behind the top two of Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC.

The lucky recipients of Perth’s exclusion are reigning A-League champions Brisbane Roar, who despite a drastic downturn in form which saw them finish 7th out of 10, are within one match of being placed on an equal footing as regular season Premier Plate winners Melbourne Victory. Roar’s season has seen them plunge deep into despair, only to be followed by occasional bounce backs in form that kept them in sight of the playoffs. Consistency hasn’t been seen despite continual domination of possession in much of their matches, even against the more successful sides ahead of them that finished some 10 points in front.

Their bluntness in front of goal has predictably been the source of much of Brisbane’s fortunes after hot shot Albanian forward Besart Berisha transferred to Victory in the close season. In remedy to this Brisbane have subsequently brought in Andrija Kaluđerović to supply a focal point since the turn of the year, but they remain a little in and out given the erratic form of their usually dependable Overseas Marquee player Thomas Broich. This could all be put aside given their experience at this stage of the season, clinching 3 of the last 4 playoff competitions.

Roar will travel to face Adelaide United in the first of two elimination finals, who despite finishing 12 points ahead of their initial opponent, will feel a little rough after a downtrodden run of form in the last few matches saw them slip out of top spot contention. Two defeats in the last three, most pertinently at home to Roar cost them a chance at the Premier Plate which has put a greater concern on the home fans that they won’t progress much further in the Final Series.

Adelaide for much of the season have been complimented for their solid defensive unit which starts from the front. Their coach Josep Gombau has earned rave reviews for integrating his Spanish influenced approach to his team’s play, which has seen United share the goals around the team, 5 players of which have recorded more than 5 goals, however notably none have made it into double figures. The experience has broadly come from Spanish imports, with Gombau showing his bravery by blooding plenty of home based youth talent to bolster their final series charge. On paper, as was the case at the beginning of the season, Roar’s experience could prove one of the few shocks in this knockout phases against a tiring United side.

The other elimination final sees a contrast of styles and fortunes in front of goal as Wellington Phoenix host Melbourne City. Phoenix have been one of the surprise packages of the season until a dismal last five matches which included 3 home defeats and a sole victory ended any dreams of top spot. Recent Australian international Nathan Burns has spurred on his side with 13 goals, as has Fijian Roy Krushna with 9, while Alex Gorrin in his breakthrough season and Dutch anchor Rolieny Bonevacia have also impressed in their rise. Melbourne City on the other hand, in their debut season under the Etihad franchise will be happy with their improvement but have been far from spectacular, illustrated fully in their league points total, some 3 wins off Wellington despite only a one place deficit. Their contrasting styles is simply summed up by comparing their dribbling/crossing stats where the ideology of their attacking ideology is some what stripped back.

A lack of a regular goalscorer has plagued City for much of the season, arguably all the way back to when David Villa guested for a brief 4 match cameo at the start of the campaign. Other notable names have had varying success; Irishman Damien Duff’s season was cut short through injury while former West Brom midfielder Robert Koren has lacked the forward thrust he once had. In their wake deep lying pacesetter Aaron Mooy tops the goalscoring charts with 7, 3 of which came from the penalty spot. The introduction of Harry Novillo last month has ignited a bit of excitement going forward but in all honestly most City fans will be expecting a tight display from their team, given their last two encounters against Phoenix ended goalless.

Whoever wins, will play one of the top two, with the highest ranking of them taking on freescoring Sydney FC. Austrian Marc Janko has proved more than accomplished to replace the outgoing Alessandro Del Piero, leading the line with 16 goals, the highest in the league, and at different times has found assistance from Shane Smeltz, Bruno Ibini-Isei and Alex Brosque, who have all aided in his effectiveness. While defensive slips have started to creep into their defence, goalkeeper Vedran Janjetivic finishes the regular season with the most clean sheets, while Jacques Faty has finally seemed to have settled down in front of him in place of their injured talisman Sasa Ognenovski.

That leaves the leaders Melbourne Victory who confirmed their Premier Plate victory last weekend with a comfortable victory over Central Coast Mariners. Kevin Muscat’s men have looked the strongest across all areas of the pitch, but most crucially up for the fight to clinch the A-League title. Many will point to the signing of Berat Berisha at the start of the season from Brisbane as the turning point, but the support of the ever green Archie Thompson and the growing influence of Brazlian playmaker Guilherme Finkler could’ve arguably been the greater catalysts in pushing Victory closer to their name sake.

Outsiders are already eyeing a 1-2 finale featuring Victory and Sydney, but as recent form dictates this could be far from a given. Both sides have performed tremendously well away from home, but considering their lofty standards have been pegged back too frequently in their own back yard. Sydney have been particularly robust away from home, continuing on a 100% record since the turn of the year and an unbeaten run that stretches back to the start of the season. Both sides have lost otherwise favourable matches at home, adding some extra spice once the Semi-Final draw emerges in the coming week.

It’s hard to make any against-the-grain predictions at this stage of the season, given the rankings have come into play when drawing the ties. One thing to consider of course will be the form in which they arrive in rather than the total points amassed before. Brisbane’s season has been given a rapid shot in the arm since the expulsion of Perth last month, while the likes of Wellington and Adelaide could start deflated after falling short of tasting silverware in the last few weeks.

At this point anticipation that a team outside of the top two will walk away with the big prize in three weeks’ time starts to grow, something that has yet to happen in A-League's 10 year history. With talk surfacing of a number of expansion clubs and possible relegation places in the offing, the days of playoff football could well be numbered in Australia. For all the negatives surrounding the format, the next three weeks of cut throat knockout football should keep the neutrals enthralled at the very least.