How United will win the league.

[Geogeo]

hey guys,

It's all going to happen in January, By the 25th of Jan, we will know if we're going to win the league. Infact, we'll know which team will win it.

here are the January fixtures. I've highlighted the major ones.

FRI JANUARY 2
A-LEAGUE Melbourne Victory Perth Glory - Best result a Draw.

SAT JANUARY 3
A-LEAGUE Sydney Newcastle Jets

SUN JANUARY 4
A-LEAGUE Wellington Phoenix Brisbane Roar
A-LEAGUE Central Coast Mariners Melbourne City

MON JANUARY 5
A-LEAGUE Perth Glory Adelaide United MUST WIN!

TUE JANUARY 6
A-LEAGUE Western Sydney Wanderers Melbourne Victory

SAT JANUARY 24
A-LEAGUE Adelaide United Newcastle Jets
A-LEAGUE Central Coast Mariners Sydney

SUN JANUARY 25
A-LEAGUE Perth Glory Melbourne Victory - Best result a Draw.

SUN FEBRUARY 1
A-LEAGUE Melbourne City Western Sydney Wanderers

[Agostinho]

If Perth won all 3 of those games though (or even 2 perhaps) it would be tough to tip anything other than a Glory premiership (I almost feel sick saying that).

Definitely a good chance for us to make up points, however we'd still basically be on par with Perth & Melbourne and it would make for an exciting last few months of the league.

[Geogeo]

To say 100% of course it's not only up to these games... but to over take perth we need these results to go our way and beat them away.

[ChillyPhilly]

You can almost put your house on Victory losing away to Perth, so we'll need to rely on some other divine intervention.

[shinAUFC]

This is probably the only league in the world where you can say the bottom 2/3rds of the league will decide the top imo.

There is no easy win in this league, wsw are going to come good. City are starting to threaten and imo are dark horses for the toilet seat. Nix are dangerous and brisbane are always around the mark.

[RedTide]

Everything would have to fall our way for us to slip past the Failure and Perth, starting with Perth beating the Failure in Geelong (!) this week. From there, we need to win at least half of all our matches and draw the rest; it really is that tough now. Just one loss in the next 13 or 14 rounds and we can pretty well kiss the Premier's Plate goodbye.

So the task is not impossible, but on the positive side, the second half of our season is considerably easier than the first half was and moreover, Perth's second half will be much, much tougher than their first half. I expect them to start dropping matches quite regularly, which means that they will come back to the field.

So it's not out of the question that we could yet finish top at the end of the minor round, but as I said, everything must fall our way. Personally, I reckon we won't know until Rd 22 or Rd 23 who is likely to finish top. Until then - !Viva la revolucion!

[Stuckey]

I can't see it being as simple as that. If previous seasons have taught us anything is that a couple of key injuries can change anything for a side and with squads only 23 men deep some sides may struggle to fill key positions.
If Perth lose Griffiths and Keogh, or Victory lose Berisha and Milligan for an extended period those side will probably dip in form IMO.
Same will go for AU if we lose Cirio or Carrusca for an extended period as well.
The Jan window may have a decent impact on the season as well. Who knows who come or go...
But I do agree the two Perth-Victory games will have a bearing on it hopefully we see a couple of draws!

[EdDog]

Weren't we close to bottom this time last year and got as high as second? Way too early to call.

[ChillyPhilly]

Weren't we close to bottom this time last year and got as high as second? Way too early to call.

We reached as high as third and just two more wins at any point in the season would have seen us finish at least second. Another and we would have won the Minor Premiership.

[Geogeo]

With the Form of the top four, its going to be one of us that wins the league. If perth win the three games that i highlighted above. Its going to be almost impossible to take the premiership from them.

I dont think wellington will get close. But who knows.

I'd love to see the reds win everything this year that's for sure.

[mcjules]

I had a look at how many points the premiers received in the 3 years we've had a 27 game season.

2011-12 CCM 51pts
2012-13 WSW 57pts
2013-14 Bris 52pts

Looking at the points standings at the moment after 12 games:
Perth 29pts
MV 25pts
AU 23pts

You can see how phenomenally well Perth have done so far. The season WSW won with 57 points was in some ways similar to this one in that CCM and them were a full 10 points ahead of 3rd placed MV so I expect the premier to need something closer to that upper bound.

It'd be interesting to do this after the next round and compare the standings at the same round for the last 3 years too.

I think the AC break is going to affect things to. The couple of weeks off with all the niggling injuries will help us. Maybe for a team like Perth it won't be so much. Statistically, both MV and Perth are due for slumps (and we all of course hope that happens)!

[Geogeo]

Can anyone get a view of what the champions were in those seasons after 12 rounds? Im pretty sure WSW were low down and came storming through in the second half of the season.

To be honest, a grand final win wont be as sweet if we dont finish top.

thinking about a comment up above, that Melbourne city are dark horses (which they are).. it emphasises how crap finals series really are. Imagine if Melbourne City won the grandfinal? they certainly arent the best team this year.

[shinAUFC]

Can anyone get a view of what the champions were in those seasons after 12 rounds? Im pretty sure WSW were low down and came storming through in the second half of the season.

To be honest, a grand final win wont be as sweet if we dont finish top.

thinking about a comment up above, that Melbourne city are dark horses (which they are).. it emphasises how crap finals series really are. Imagine if Melbourne City won the grandfinal? they certainly arent the best team this year.

Meh, the grand final is just a cup for the top six. Its not so bad when you think of it that way.

[Geogeo]

dont get me wrong... I still want to win it.

But the team that finishes top is the real champion. (my opinion)

[mcjules]

Here are the tables at end of Round 12 in each of those seasons:
2011-12 CCM 26pts
2011-12 WSW 19pts
2013-14 Brisbane 27pts