The Tackle: Robbie Slater and Marco Monteverde’s likes and dislikes from A-League round 2

LIKES

Brilliant Bruno

Many questioned coach Tony Popovic’s decision to bring Bruno Fornaroli to Melbourne Victory last season after the veteran striker’s indifferent stint at Perth Glory.

But not anymore after the 36-year-old marksman’s fantastic four-goal haul against the Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park on Sunday.

Fornaroli was magnificent, but we shouldn’t really be surprised by his goalscoring exploits as he is rightly considered to be one of the best forwards in A-League history alongside the likes of Besart Berisha, Jamie Maclaren, Archie Thompson and Shane Smeltz,

It’s only the Uruguay-born Socceroo’s fitness that needs to be carefully managed as he gets older.

Injuries haven’t helped Fornaroli in recent seasons, but under Popovic, he’s fit and firing again, as five goals in two A-League games prove.

His rejuvenation is extremely timely for a Victory side seeking redemption after a horrible 2022-23 campaign.

Fornaroli’s desire and desperation was there for all to see on Sunday, and those traits are exactly what the Victory needs if they are to rise from the ashes of last season.

“Wander-ful” performance

What a statement from the Western Sydney Wanderers.

While Western United were a defensive mess on Saturday night, there is no doubt that the Wanderers set an early season benchmark with their five-goal haul in a remarkable first half at CommBank Stadium.

Having done everything but score the previous week in a 0-0 draw with Wellington, the Wanderers couldn’t miss in the opening stanza in a game that was played in cooler evening conditions rather than the afternoon heat which contributed to the Western Sydney-Phoenix stalemate.

Lachlan Brook justified his elevation to the starting side with a brace, an effort that was matched by former Western United midfielder Nicolas Milanovic.

The smile couldn’t be wiped off the face of Wanderers coach Marko Rudan during the goal frenzy, and that’s hardly a surprise considering he parted ways with United in strained circumstances in June 2021.

The only disappointing aspect of the night for the winners was the crowd.

Only 8098 fans showed up in great conditions. It’s quite concerning that the attendance was less than the 10,468 who showed up in the heat the week before.

Now that the Wanderers are back among the goals, hopefully the fans will again turn out in their droves to “Wanderland” because the A-League definitely needs one of its biggest clubs to attract home crowds of 20,000.

Jay has his say

Age shall not weary Brisbane Roar’s Irish star Jay O’Shea, who at 35, remains one of the best players in the A-League.

O’Shea’s midfield class was again evident in the Roar’s impressive 3-0 defeat of a woeful Sydney FC at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.

Henry Hore might have grabbed the headlines with his brace, but it was O’Shea pulling the strings from the centre of the park.

After the game, it was great to hear Roar coach Ross Aloisi acknowledge how important O’Shea is to the Brisbane team.

It wasn’t the first time Aloisi had heaped praise on O’Shea, who has also expressed his admiration for the Roar coach, who in his first season in charge of an A-League club, is doing a great job on the restricted budget he’s forced to work with.

The Roar made Sydney look second-rate. It’s just a pity there were only 7688 fans on hand to see it.

Still, it’s a start, and the Roar are much better off playing at Suncorp Stadium rather than Redcliffe, where nobody from Brisbane liked having to go to see their team.

French flair

Former Monaco, Nice, Marseille and Montpellier striker Valere Germain could prove to be one of the buys of the A-League season.

Germain, 33, showed his undoubted class with a clinical finish in hot conditions for Macarthur FC in Gosford on Sunday as the Bulls defied a midweek trip to Cambodia for their AFC Cup campaign to beat Central Coast Mariners 2-1.

Don’t be surprised if the Frenchman challenges for the Golden Boot, particularly if he gets quality service from Bulls captain and talisman Ulises Davila.

For the Mariners, it’s been a disappointing start to their title defence with successive losses. The pressure is on their new coach Mark Jackson.

DISLIKES

Woeful City

The A-League season is only two weeks old but the alarm bells must be already ringing for Melbourne City after Sunday night’s embarrassing 6-0 loss to Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium.

Despite performing admirably in the AFC Champions League, City have been defensively woeful domestically.

They also conceded six goals in last season’s grand final.

Since then there has been a massive turnover of players, but there’s no excuse for losing by such a hefty margin.

There is plenty of soul-searching to be done by City ahead of their home clash against another struggling team, Sydney FC, on Friday night, when another loss could prove disastrous for coach Rado Vidosic.

Sydney suffering

If losing its opening two games of the A-League season wasn’t already bad enough for Sydney FC, what’s worse is that the Sky Blues haven’t scored yet and have conceded five goals.

There was plenty of hype about the Sydneysiders after their Australia Cup win a few weeks ago, but since then they have struggled in attack and defence.

Having been below-par in their 2-0 round one loss to Melbourne Victory, the Sky Blues should have responded with a better performance against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium.

Instead, they got worse, with the Roar playing them off the park. Sydney was lucky to lose only 3-0 such was Brisbane’s dominance.

Sky Blues coach Steve Corica has got to find a way for his side to score when creative sparks Joe Lolley and Robert Mak are kept quiet, as they were against the Roar on Friday night.

Brazilian striker Fabio Gomes might have scored two goals off the bench in the Cup final, but he’s done very little as an A-League starter. Fellow forward Pat Wood also hasn’t transferred his Cup form into the A-League.

In defence, the injured Jack Rodwell has been missed, but some Sydney fans must be wondering why the former Everton star was brought to the club such has been the time he has spent on the sidelines with injuries.

Corica needs to find some answers pretty quickly considering his team’s next opponent is Melbourne City at AAMI Park this Friday night.

Sail all at sea

Former Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Oli Sail has made a horror start to life at Perth Glory.

Sail has been one of the best keepers in the A-League for the past couple of seasons, but he hasn’t brought his form to Perth.

The Glory have played two games this season, and in both of them, Sail has made schoolboys errors that have cost his side points.

In round one, with the Glory leading Newcastle 2-1 in stoppage time, the New Zealand international gloveman got nowhere near a cross, allowing Jets striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to head home an equaliser

Worse was to follow on Sail’s return to Wellington on Saturday when he needlessly gave the ball away in trying to play out of his penalty area.

Star Phoenix striker Oskar Zawada didn’t need a second invitation, pouncing to float the ball over a stranded Sail and give the Phoenix a 1-0 lead.

Rubbing further salt into Sail’s wounds was the penalty save late in the contest made by the man who took over from him between the posts for Wellington – the impressive Alex Paulsen – to ensure the Phoenix held on for a 2-1 win.

To his credit, Sail spoke to a TV sideline reporter after the game, accepting responsibility for his role in Perth’s loss and praising Paulsen for his performance.

Still, it’s little consolation for the Glory, who were expecting a lot more from one of their key off-season recruits, who didn’t come cheap either.

VAR not needed

Speaking of the penalty that Perth was awarded, there was no way the spot kick should have been as the VAR system could not prove from the footage provided that the ball hadn’t already crossed the by-line when it hit the hand of Wellington’s Lukas Kelly-Heald.

More Coverage

Matildas shake off rust in Philippines demolition job

Eliza Reilly

Ange shatters record in wild 62-year first

AFP

While it was silly and needless for Kelly-Heald to have his hand anywhere near the cross from Perth’ Trent Ostler, there was no clear evidence to emphatically say the ball hadn’t crossed the byline.

To the naked eye, it looked like the ball had crossed the line, and there was also no chance a Glory player was going to get to the ball. The VAR, therefore, should not have intervened.

* The Tackle’s player of the round – Bruno Fornaroli (Melbourne Victory)