BY THE PALM TREES | Round Four Preview
It was another attractive and entertaining encounter involving the Mariners last weekend when they left AAMI stadium with nothing to show for an eye catching effort against Melbourne City.
Unlike the Brisbane encounter City were fortunate to take advantage of poor marking to notch the first mark on the scoreboard. That was immediately followed by a stunning strike from Nick Fitzgerald which silenced any initial celebrations. For much of the match both sides traded attacking blows without spending too much effort on defence and this made for an intriguing spectacle for the fans. When City’s new man managed to find the net from point blank range, Mariners fans were still glued to the match in anticipation of more excitement and City fans would not have felt the game was in the bag. Neither group were to be wrong as there was rarely a dull moment, rather both sides were intent on throwing the kitchen sink at one another all the way to fulltime. Even when City scored their final goal the action continued and had Mitch Austin found the net instead of the crossbar from a powerful volley late in the match things might even have ended differently. It wasn’t to be and the boys in yellow left AAMI park with no points but losing few admirers, especially among neutral fans, who must be pencilling Central Coast Mariners fixtures into their diaries first each week for the guarantee of excitement.
So often coaches these days use the approach of keeping tight defence and patiently waiting for an opportunity to be taken with quality – Sydney spring to mind here – and while there is nothing wrong with it, neutrals I speak with are enjoying the Mariners refreshing mantra like has rarely been seen before. An interesting statistic I noted this week was the Mariners leading the number of shots for the season so far. If we could tighten the defence a little and get some more of those shots into the net, we’d be a force to be reckoned with and with the young side we keep presenting we can only improve in each of these areas. Statements attributed to Tony Walmsley and players this week suggest there is no sign of any changes to the current formula.
This weekend we welcome the men from the Mansion – as Graham Arnold has proclaimed them to be. One or two fans apparently feel a little sensitive about making humour around our former mentor – perhaps because of the disrespectful “Arnie money” campaign from last season – but in my opinion we have every right to attract interest by taking a tongue in cheek jibe at our former mentor. These days there more fans getting beyond the “Arnie the untouchable Championship winner” afterglow and more focusing on the persistent drain of players and staff to our southern rivals. He did help us to win that elusive Grand Final but not everything Arnie did during his tenure as Mariners mentor could be considered wonderful and I think that is sometimes forgotten. Arnie was once quoted as never going to coach another A-League club and publicly enjoyed the “under the radar” position our little club afforded him when he was here – that was of course until he became the coach of the “biggest” club in Sydney and became happiest to be in charge of such. I hear he won’t be ending his Sydney FC contract for any overseas opportunities which arise, so we’ll see how that pans out… Love him as we have in the past, he’s now the opposition, and respect him as we do he should be treated as the opposition. For me lighted hearted jibes should never been seen as anything but a mark of our respect.
In terms of the on field this weekend – there is no doubt Sydney FC will be the most organised team we have come up against. We know Arnie is a master tactician and he will have had John Crawley studying our style and providing plenty of plans to foil it at every point. Not only this, he has the budget, player quality and experience in his squad to make sure when the opportunities do arise, his team takes maximum advantage. For once I haven’t noticed any attempts at mind games in the pre-match media from him.
Will the Mariners be able to take advantage of some of the many shots on goal they will likely produce? Can they tighten the defence to blunt the opposition’s quality? Or will Sydney FC defend patiently, prevent the Mariners attacking forays and pounce with a moment of quality when their chance comes? We’ll find out Saturday night.
Regardless of who wins these battles, one thing is certain – anyone who comes to Central Coast for the game is in for an entertaining night. I expect a good turnout from locals keen to take that in and in turn (as always) a great roll up from Sydney FC fans who will also be acutely aware of the entertainment proposition on offer if they travel up to watch their team take on the little club with the three sided house.
My prediction: – A 1-1 draw or the new and improved Mariners to jag a late goal to steal the show
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