FTS A-League Round 9 Preview: Adelaide United vs. Western Sydney Wanderers

 

The penultimate fixture of Round 9 of the A-League for season 2014/15 sees a depleted Wanderers side travel to Coopers Stadium to face an Adelaide side coming off their first loss of the season.

Probably suffering from a bit of a burnout after a successful ACL campaign, Western Sydney are winless in the A-League so far this season and lost midweek by 1-0 against reigning champions and fellow strugglers Brisbane Roar in a grand final rematch which they would have looked at as a game to turn their season around.

Now facing one of the toughest road trips in Australian football, it will take a resurgence in Western Sydney’s defensive dominance of seasons past to halt Adelaide and in particular Cirio, who has created more chances (11) than any other player at home so far this campaign.

Juric’s form is the one shining light for the Wanderers and they will hope they he can continue scoring this weekend to give them a fighting chance, while they will hope new recruit wingers Rukavytsya and Castelen will provide outlets and service to Juric, providing they all play.

Adelaide will be looking to turn around their form back to winning ways after a tight loss to the Victory at Aami Park last weekend in an enthralling encounter. Suspect at the back, two own goals were put in by the Reds and these mistakes must be eradicated for United to become a serious title threat.

Malik’s injury in the second half of last Friday night’s game will force Gombau to make changes in defence but the attacking chances they were able to create will give them hope going forward, especially considering if Mabil’s glaring miss and the disallowed free kick had have gone a different way then they would’ve attained all 3 points away from home.

Head to Head : Adelaide 2 Draw 1 Western Sydney Wanderers 3

Last Meeting: 15/03/2014 at Pirtek Stadium. Western Sydney Wanderers 0-0 Adelaide United

Form Guide : Adelaide United : WDWWL. Western Sydney Wanderers : LDDDL.

Absentee List:

Adelaide Utd : Paul Izzo (calf – 2-3 weeks), Jordan Elsey (knee – indefinite), Osama Malik (calf – 4-6 weeks).

Western Sydney Wanderers : Brendan Santalab (shoulder – indefinite), Golgol Mebrahtu (knee – indefinite).

Adelaide Utd (probable) : Galekovic; McGowan, Boogaard, Elrich; Isaias, Jeggo; Carrusca, Mabil, Goodwin; Cirio, Djite.

Western Sydney Wanderers (probable)  : Covic; Hamill, Topor-Stanley, Spiranovic, Adeleke; La Rocca, Poljak, Bridge; Rukavytsya, Juirc, Castelen

Eyes on… Isaias Sanchez.

Often times not the man on the scoresheet of providing assists, neither is he the man pulling off last ditch tackles and saves, but the Spaniard is arguably the most important member of Adelaide United’s squad.

Kate Cohen’s article (well worth a read as always, she is a fantastic writer) which can be found here : [http://leopoldmethod.com.au/isaias-sanchez-leader-of-the-gombaus-red-revolution/] shows tactically the influence Isaias has on the Reds and the crucial cog he is to Gombau’s system. He is a massive part of transferring possession from the back of the ball into the opposition’s final third.

Rarely missing any game time for the South Australian team, Isaias is used to the attention by opposition teams by now. How well he is shut down by the Western Sydney side will contribute largely to the chances that Western Sydney have to take points from a very strong Adelaide at home. 

Prediction: Adelaide 3 – 1 Western Sydney Wanderers

FTSAUS FACT
Western Sydney Wanderers current streak of 9 A-League games with no win is the longest in the club’s short history.
Adelaide has the youngest average squad age out of all the clubs in the A-League, at 25 years old. Western Sydney rank third with 25.45 years old as the average age of the squad members.

Written by Luke Hall – Twitter : @hally_101

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