BY THE PALM TREES – Round 8 Preview
The Mariners trip to Melbourne finished with a not unexpected result last Thursday week. In a nutshell, the Victory was too good and they took the points with two well taken goals to the Mariners one. A five minute period in the first half was all it took for the quality of Gui Finkler to put the Victory in position to take the points, in a relative canter. Early in the game the Mariners seemed to doubt their ability to play with the attacking mindset they have so strongly presented so far this season. Hardly surprising when you see the quality Melbourne Victory has across the park.
Some fans are starting to wonder whether the manager’s philosophy of play is the way to go. Results (they say) are what will bring in the crowds. I say, we could be playing boring football and not getting results or we could be playing entertaining football, being unlucky not get some results and with the possibility of a future playing good quality, effective football. I’ll take the latter thanks. For me, the only way to get outsiders to our game into our stadium is by getting the message out that there is an entertainment proposition on sale at Mariners games. I’m by no means certain this alone will solve our financial problems but it seems to me we’re at least doing that.
The games played across last weekend exemplified why I am pleased to see our manager doing everything in his power to have our team playing an attacking style of football. At least three of the matches over that period were up there with the most boring contests I have seen for several years and one could say the Victory / Mariners match was the most exciting of the round. Some will scoff, but I believe there are similarities in the attacking way the dominant Victory play and the way we do. I believe one of the primary differences is that the Victory has a wealth of proven, experienced, quality players participating in their game plan. On the other hand we are teaching a group of largely unproved, inexperienced, but never the less potentially high quality players to play a similar method. As our players gain experience and learn from their mistakes I’m glad to say they will become highly competent at playing an entertaining and effective game plan which can only help in the future.
Issue of the week has been the banned list story from notorious football hater Rebecca Wilson. For the record I don’t really care what Rebecca Wilson or Alan Jones say about football or the A-League because I have no respect for them. I believe the FFA should have publicly registered their disgust at the leaking of confidential information and should be leading the charge to determine how it occurred. The A-League clubs should also be condemning the leaking of the list and the way the vast majority of fans have been unfairly portrayed as “louts” and “thugs”. To their credit, some of the clubs have already done this. Further the FFA policy of banning spectators without a visible and proper process of appeal is unfair and inappropriate in our free society. Finally, the medieval attitude of NSW Police is often the problem rather than the solution at A-League events. I have experienced this first hand as recently as the F3 Derby two weeks ago when my wife (generally not a football match goer) was needlessly manhandled by an overzealous, misguided and poorly trained police officer.
Having said that – while I respect the Western Sydney Wanderers fans right to protest in any way they see fit, I’m not a believer that walk-out protests or boycotts of any kind do anything other than damage the economics of football. An example of this will no doubt be seen in a lower than otherwise attendance at Central Coast Stadium. I think there are other ways to make the point as some of the fan groups have shown.
Our encounter with the Wanderers looms as an interesting match all round. The Wanderers are on a winning streak and have been decent value for it. They have shed their image as a defensive, play on the counter team to become a more entertaining prospect, so the game promises to provide plenty for fans. The Wanderers have created their winning streak without ever having done anything remarkable and that could be the sign of a team about to fire or a team about to fall.
Central Coast is seemingly wracked with injury and has been forced to make a number of changes, headlined by the probable absence of key wingers Mitch Austin (foot) and Fabio Ferreira (hamstring). The return of suspended defender Jake McGing and the introduction of Dan Heffernan are positives for the men in yellow.
I still believe the Mariners have (overall) not been rewarded for the quality of their efforts this season and it remains a matter of time and persistence before results start to come our way. I think with the home ground as an advantage an understrength Mariners can take the points through heart, determination and a continuation of their high intensity game plan.
My prediction – Mariners by 1
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