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January A-League Update

Posted on February 3, 2015 by in A-League, Features // 0 Comments

With the country hosting it’s maiden Asian Cup throughout January, you’d be excused for missing out on some of A-League news and action throughout the month. In addition to a domestic hiatus over the period due to the Asian Cup, the transfer window was a busy one for many clubs around the country. All 10 A-League sides are featured below in a wrap up of the month that has been for them.

 

Adelaide United

The Reds were one of the quieter clubs throughout the January window in terms of ins and outs, but managed to have key players pen new deals. They currently sit second on the table as the new year recommences.

  • Fabio Ferreira officially left the club, moving to the Mariners.
  • Ex Real Madrid forward Miguel Palanca signed for the remainder of the season and will be in contention to debut in Round 16.
  • Jordan Elsey, Bruce Kamau and Segio Cirio all signed new contracts.
  • Adelaide managed two eye-catching results in January; an away win over top of the table Perth and a comprehensive 7-0 drubbing of Newcastle, taking their 2015 off to the one of the best possible starts.
  • Awer Mabil had a trial at Ajax in the Netherlands, but nothing came from it and he returned to Adelaide with no future agreement in place.

 

Brisbane Roar

Frans Thijssen took over a struggling Roar not long before the break and had a few problems to solve coming into the January period. The return of stars and a few key transfers has brightened their prospects for the second half of the season.

  • Added defensive cover in the shape of Luke DeVere and Jerome Polenz, who both return to the country, for the rest of the season and until the end of season 2016/17 respectively.
  • Andrija Kaluderovic has signed and given the number 9 shirt. The Serbian International will look to fill a gap in the squad that has existed since the departure of Besart Berisha.
  • Mensur Kurtisi was released by the Roar after only managing to score once from 9 appearances for the club.
    Brisbane faced Wellington in both Round 14 and 15, losing 3-0 disappointingly in early January before beating the Phoenix by 3 goals to 2 in a game which saw Thomas Broich and Michael Theo return from injury.
  • Henrique picked up a calf injury which will see him miss a predicted 2 weeks of February.

 

Central Coast Mariners

The Mariners continued to struggle throughout January as the pressure rises on manager Phil Moss, who will hope that he can turn the season around with Asian Champions League to come.

  • Released Kim Seung-yong just before the window opened, who has since moved to China.
  • Signed Travis Major and Dejan Pandurevic from Blacktown City and the Nike Football Academy respectively, looking to boost their attacking stocks.
  • Re-signed Nick Montgomery and Nick Fitzgerald for a further 2 seasons, while John Hutchinson will retire come season’s end.
  • Added Fabio Ferreira from Adelaide, who will not play against his old club this coming round due to a “gentleman’s agreement” between current and former club.
  • Managed a win, draw and loss across 3 January matches, including a 5-1 thumping by Sydney FC most recently and a surprise 2-0 home win against in-from Melbourne City.

 

Melbourne City

The newly-renamed franchise has had a shaky start to the 2014/15 season but go into the new year looking a force to be reckoned with as Van’t Schip looks to have figured out how best to setup his side.

  • Had a well documented trip to the Middle East, where they played a 1-1 draw against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and a 2-0 loss to Al Jazira Club, a tour which saw Robbie Wielaert pick up an ankle injury.
  • James Brown and Mate Dugandzic both have sustained knee injuries which have them missing the next couple of rounds.
  • Signed Josh Kennedy as their Australian Marquee player on the 1st of January. The target man is expected to play some part in the upcoming Melbourne Derby.
  • Safuwan Baharudin and Jack Clisby have been added to the squad. The defensive signings come from LionsXII in Singapore and Perth Glory respectively.
  • Coming off a massive win against the Jets coming into January, City will be disappointed with only picking up a squeaky win against the Wanderers and loss against the Mariners throughout the last two rounds.

 

Melbourne Victory

The Victory had perhaps the quietest month out of all the A-League clubs, with no transfer business occurring as Kevin Muscat looks to come out stronger in the second part of the season to make a tilt for the title.

  • Lost to the Glory early in January in Geelong before beating the Wanderers before the break. Returned to domestic action strongly being 3-1 up against the Glory in Perth at the 80th minute but conceded twice to tie the match and slip to 3rd on the table.
  • Matthieu Delpierre remains out for an indefinite period with a foot injury, which Muscat stated is improving slowly.
  • The players were given a short break before returning to training midway through the month, more can be seen here.

 

Newcastle Jets

The wheels appear to have fallen off in Newcastle who have had a traumatic January, topped off with a drubbing at the hands of Adelaide. New signings and a refreshed look might benefit the Jets, either way, they have been the busiest over the break.

  • Jets owner Nathan Tinkler took over as CEO of the club, a position in which Robbie Middleby resigned from. Ray Baartz stepped down as chairman of the club.
  • Axed 3 coaches (Assistant Clayton Zane, Goalkeeper Coach Neil Young and Strength and Conditioning Coach Andrew Packer), while Michael Bridges resigned as Youth Coach.
  • Mark Birighitti joined As Varese on loan.
  • It was announced that Andrew Hoole will leave the club upon the completion of this season.
  • James Virgili picked up an ankle injury in training that will sideline him for 2-3 months, while Jeronimo Neumann is out for another 2-3 weeks with a shoulder injury.
  • Ben Kennedy signed a contract extension with the Jets, committing until the completion of the 2016/17 season.
    Marcos Flores and Sam Gallaway were released from the club after having their contracts terminated, moving to Jacksonville Armada and the Western Sydney Wanderers respectively.
  • The Jets terminated the contracts of David Carney, Billy Celeski, Joel Griffiths, Kew Jaliens and Adrian Madaschi. Since then, Madaschi and Griffiths have been spotted back at training.
  • Signed defender Daniel Mullen, forward Travis Cooper and left back Lee Ki-je to the playing staff and assistant coach Mark Jones, who will also take over as Strength and Conditioning Coach. They are rumoured to wish to add to their stocks further over the next few days, including Appiah, the former Wanderers player who has been training with the Jets over the past couple of days.
  • Managed a 0-0 draw with Sydney FC, which masked their issues which were all unraveled in the most recent fixture, a 7-0 loss to Adelaide.

 

Perth Glory

The current table toppers are happy to watch on while other clubs make the news for the wrong reason, something the Glory have been used to seeing their own club do in previous seasons.

  • Nebo Marinkovic and Scott Jamieson have signed on for a further 2 years with the club.
  • Signed German winger Dragan Paljic until the end of the season.
  • Diogo Ferreira and Mitch Nichols remain out for at least another week with groin and hamstring injuries respectively.
    Beat the Melbourne Victory in Geelong, before going down to Adelaide and drawing with the Victory in two consecutive home games.

 



Sydney FC

Well known is the trouble Graeme Arnold and Sydney have had with injuries, and January has been a busy time for the club preparing for a stronger second half of the season.

  • Signed Senegalese pair Jacques Faty and Mickael Tavares to strengthen the defence and midfield.
  • Robert Stambolziev signed with the club after spending the past 6 years in Greece and will play as an injury replacement for Corey Gameiro.
  • Pedj Bojic parted ways with Sydney FC.
  • Have been tightening up certain parts of players fitness regimes according to the strength and conditioning coach, more here.
  • Drew with Newcastle in Wollongong in a scoreless affair and then returned from the break and beat the Mariners 5-1 in Gosford.

 

Wellington Phoenix

Wellington were very inactive in the news over the January break, but manager Ernie Merrick used the time to re-focus the squad ahead of the second half of the season in which the club aims search for their maiden A-League championship.

  • Jeremy Brockie played his last game for the club, scoring twice in his final match before leaving for SuperSport in South Africa.
  • Off the field, the club has entered into a strategic partnership with Wellington United which they hope will benefit the youth talent coming through the Wellington area.
  • Ben Sigmund signed a 1 year contract extension with the club.
  • Nathan Burns was linked with big-money moves away from the club, but no agreement was able to be met.
  • Wellington managed to beat the Brisbane Roar 3-0 at the start of January but fell short in their Round 15 encounter, losing by 3 goals to 2.

 

Western Sydney Wanderers

The Wanderers are going through a bit of a crisis currently despite being crowned Asian Club Champions only months ago. The currently winless side has been active throughout the window in an attempt to turn their season around.

  • Have released Vitor Saba and Kwabena Appiah.
  • Signed Kearyn Baccus for 2 and a half seasons.
  • Yusuke Tanaka, Kerem Bulut, Sam Gallaway and Yojiro Takahagi have all been signed as part of the squad for the Asian Champions League, all with the exception of Kerem Bulut have joined the domestic squad as injury replacements or as permanent replacements.
  • Nick Kalmar was added just before January on a short term injury replacement contract and is also in the ACL squad.
    Daniel Mullen has left the club to join the Newcastle Jets.
  • Western Sydney lost to both Melbourne sides 2 goals to 1 across the recent past, and also drew 0-0 with the Mariners at the very start of the month, a span of games which they would have expected to have done better in.

 

Who came off the best throughout this span of transfers, games and break? Who will improve their position the most throughout the rest of the season, or will things remain entirely the same? Let me know in the comments below or on social media.

Written by Luke Hall. Twitter @hally_101

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