“Hi my name’s Lucas Neill, you may remember me from such messy dealings with Blackburn, Liverpool, West Ham and Everton.”
This encounter is bound to become a fiery occasion, at least with fans, due to Lucas Neill’s backflip of choosing Sydney over Melbourne.
Has Heart dodged a bullet? Perhaps we will learn from this experience that until the signature’s on the contract a player is fair game. It’s about time Heart stood up for themselves and this game provides the perfect opportunity to make such a statement.
David Williams has been a bit of a spokesman for the Heart this season and as expected he’s playing down the Lucas Neill situation leading into the clash. Naturally he’s more interested in bouncing back and taking the three points, to stay in touch with finals. Each week he’s getting closer to netting that elusive goal, so I’m hoping this week brings results.
This game is also the first time Heart will get a look at the great Alessandro Del Piero at a home game, so a healthy crowd is expected. It will be Heart’s biggest non Melbourne Derby crowd and I’m hoping we can attract over 10,000 fans. Congratulations to Sydney and ADP for signing for another season, he kept his promise and it can only be a good thing for the A-League.
Make no mistake this game will be a spiteful affair and is like an early final for both clubs. It could almost be season over for Heart if we don’t get the win. “Bling FC” is back with their star-studded lineup. This week they add Joel Griffiths, Lucas Neill, Ali Abbas and Brett Emerton to their squad. Heart will be missing Gerhardt due to suspension for the second time this season, but have included Dylan Macallister, Jason Hoffman and David Vrankovic as INS.
I see this match as winnable for the Heart. Sydney has had troubles this season where they’ve looked disjoined as a whole and have had a porous defence. While Heart have been Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde all season; impressive at home but insipid away. Lucky for Heart it’s our home game, and on the back of an away loss the boys will be spurred on to a win by the 12th man.
Prediction: Heart 2 – Sydney 1
