Will Heart produce more Hindmarsh heroics?
Adelaide may have given up their top spot to the red hot mariners (only on Goal difference), but were still impressive as they were held at home by a determined Perth Glory. The Hindmarsh faithful should be full of confidence with their team flying high and expecting a win over the inconsistent Heart. A big Yarraside contingent is expected to travel over with the Heart this weekend, and after last week most will be expecting big things. Most say Football is a confidence game, and the Heart certainly isn’t short of that after last week’s big win. A tough game to find a winner.
Saturday Evening 17:30 AEST Hindmarsh Stadium
Form Line
Adelaide (2nd) WIN LOSS WIN WIN DRAW
Melbourne Heart (6th) DRAW LOSS LOSS LOSS WIN
Head to Head
Adelaide 3 wins Draw 2 Heart 1 win
Ben Powell on how Adelaide can claim back top spot (@bpowell454)
The Reds take on Melbourne Heart at Hindmarsh this weekend after sharing the points with Perth Glory last weekend in a hotly contested game that started slow but was great entertaining football from two top teams. Vidosic was on target for the second week in a row and is looking better and better every week. Kossie again decided to play without a target man opting to leave Djite on the bench and Van Dijk off the team sheet, I for one saw a big change in the side once Djite came on, he showed some physical presence and freed up some more space for Jeronimo to get more involved.
Heart will be high in confidence after disposing of the reigning premiers 4-1 with a wonderful strike from Williams with a great assist from Behich that may have been the thing that tipped him over the line to get his first cap for the Socceroos.
It’ll be a tough challenge for the reds and either Cameron Watson or Osama Malik are going to have a big job on Fred. Cassio will be kept busy by Dugandzic and Marrone pushing up but we have our own danger players with Bowles, Carrusca and Ferreira getting better and better every game and in form Vidosic feeding our forwards, as long as he can shake Garcia.
This is going to be a great game, both great teams, both coming in with good form and confidence but I think the home ground advantage and hopefully at least a 10k + crowd will get the Reds a hard fought win.
Vidosic will be pulling the strings in midfield and maybe scoring the goals too but Marcelo Carrusca is looking close to scoring his first for Adelaide and his assist last week pulled back the draw for the reds, he will be a key player on Saturday arvo.
My prediction AUFC 2-1 MH
Melbourne Heart man Michael Boettcher assesses the chances of his men (@CaptainFantasy)
Last Week
Heart’s season is back on track after taking down last season’s champions, the Roar 4-1. It was a game where the away team were favourites going into the contest. Even if you look at the stats in isolation you’d be forgiven for thinking Heart actually lost. Roar dominated every statistic except where it counted; Heart had 11 shots on target compared with 2 from the Roar.
Heart’s wins this season have happened against Ange-influenced sides with a similar passing game. Our forwards were disciplined in pressing the opposition at every opportunity. This caused all sorts of havoc and finally a healthy score line for the Heart faithful!
Last week Adelaide hosted Perth in a tale of two halves. Glory was the more dominate side in the first scoring through Billy Mehmet. After half time it was Adelaide in control with Marcelo Carrusca particularly dominate. Their most consistent player this season, Dario Vidosic once again added to his goal tally and I’d be surprised if Holger doesn’t include him in the next couple of Socceroos games.
This Week
I’m predicting danger man Vidosic to get on the score sheet again. It’s now been four goals in six games for him this season. Sergio van Dijk is very much on the outer for the Reds at the moment, but if he is selected he could be the wildcard as Heart tends to struggle against genuine goal poachers (Think Smeltz or Berisha).
To temper this I’m banking on the continued form of Tadic, Garcia, Williams, Gerhardt, Kalmar and Behich to influence the game, and for Heart to get a result against United.
Conclusion
One thing we know about the A-League by now is that anyone can beat anyone from week to week. After the high of the 4-1 result against the Roar, I’m anticipating a draw for Heart this week, and I’ll take it. Adelaide’s a good side, especially at Hindmarsh. Thanks to their ACL campaign they began the season battle hardened. I, like many people, expected them to drop off by about this time; instead, they seem to have carried on with their momentum. They’re sitting second on the ladder and I see no reason why they can’t maintain this high standard for an extended period.
Heart has a good record against Adelaide at Hindmarsh, but this is Kosmina 2.0 armed with his A-Licence and new imports. Jeronimo Neumann, Fabio Ferreira and Marcelo Carrusca have all shown glimpses of being valuable pickups this season. Heart is also finally clicking into gear and I’m particularly impressed with the growing partnership between Tadic and Garcia. Once Grella gives the team much needed stability in the defensive midfield position, the rest of the A-League had better watch out!
Being our neighbouring city, there’ll be a bigger than usual away presence from travelling Heart fans. To those going, make sure you take advantage of the local delicacy by trying @MenzFruChocs. If you’re lucky, the FruChoc Man might even throw you some of his chocolate-coated fruit delights at half time! This appears to be the way the local children get their nourishment.
Heart has an unchanged line up for the first time this season. With their new found confidence across the whole board; I’m expecting us to bring back a point at least!
Prediction: Adelaide 1 – Heart 1
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