A-League Week 4 With The Phibber
Apologies for the delay in footy yarns I have, as the locals say, been on Fiji time and just like the 30 minutes it takes to get a beer my review will make it out to you eventually. Anyway the 4th week of footy was a goody, sadly it did bring to an end the rein of David Villa, with his ten week stint most likely being cut short far too soon as he has returned to New York. However there is still a chance he could return, my fingers are crossed, and my toes...
The first game was between Melbourne City and Adelaide United. The match could easily have gone either way but it was Adelaide who came out victorious with a 2-1 win. Goals to Patrick Kisnorbo (Mel), Bruce Djite (Ade) and a penalty to Marcelo Currusca (Ade). It was sad to see Villa bid goodbye to his temporary club, as he was just starting to really hit good form. There is always a settling in period for not only the player himself but also his team mates, and I think that a lot of the Melbourne players did find it quite hard to work with a player of Villas class. This showed by Villa not receiving as much ball as he should have. One player definitely does not make a team, but when you have someone of that calibre you have to be able to utilise him, and to be honest City failed to do this. They can not be blamed as like I said before there is a settling in period for all players and it did seem as though as the weeks progressed they were starting to gel more as a team, I would have loved to see how they would have worked together by the 10th game.
The second game of the week was between Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets, and thanks to the super sub Jamie Maclaren the Glory were able to continue their great start to season winning the match 2-1. Goals to Jeronimo Neumann (New) and two goals to the super sub Jaime Maclaren (New), the first of which came less then a minute after being introduced to the game. The Jets have struggled to find form early on this season, and have come away empty handed in all four matches, they have not even managed to produce a 1st half goal. In their defence however they have played all four games away from home, so it will be interesting to see what they can produce in front of a home crowd.
The third game of the 4th week was between Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners. The sky blues continued their perfect start to the 2014 season with their 4th straight win. The sky blues managed to come away victorious with a 2-0 win, goals to Terry Antonis (Syd) and Sasa Ognenovski (Syd). Terry Antonis' goal however was an absolute peach and as result I have rewarded him the Phibbers goal of the week. There is nothing more rewarding then waiting outside the box on a set piece for the ball, hoping, wishing that'll will come to you and when it does being able to punish it into the back of the net. Mmm yea that's the goods, great goal Tezza.
The fourth and final game of the week was between my beloved Phoenix and the Melbourne Victory. First things first, did you see how many bloody birds were flying around/sitting on the pitch? It was out of control, I'm pretty sure that's a recurring nightmare that I have, I hate birds, and judging from the Phoenix's performance so too must every player in the team. The Victory were severely depleted this week missing a handful of key players which gave the Nix a good chance on paper. However this was always going to be a tough fixture for the Nix, the Victory are the team to beat and sadly the Nix did not have what it took to take down the Victory who were able to show just what great depth they have as a team. As a result the Victory are back sitting on top of the table. The Nix were never able to get settled into the game and had far to few chances to get on the score sheet. But hey just like the Phoenix they are named after I am sure they will rise out of the ashes and come up with a stormer of a game next week against the Wanderers.
This concludes this weeks footy action, as I said earlier on it is going to be a real shame to see Villa departing so early, he is a great player who was just staring to settle in well to the team. Hopefully we will be able to see someone of his calibre next year, I vote we bring Becks out of retirement. Oh I almost forgot, my favourite award, the Knob Of The Week. This week this glorious award goes to.... Mitchell Duke from the Central Coast Mariners. Mitchell couldn't buy a goal this week. He missed an open header from 6 yards, rocketed a shot onto the cross bar, and then to top it off missed s pen. Awkward times for him this week. At least he hit target all three times though, always a silver lining.