Preview: AUFC v Sydney 29.05

[blahblah]

One good thing about being on the road so much early, we get to finish at home.

It's been a tough run with 4 games in 11 days however the lads finally have a breather which will help their ability to run out the game.

Yengi appears to have done a hammy and I am not confident Juric will be fully fit, however Al Hassan has been finding the back of the net in the NPL so should be right to step in. One thing we do seem to have is an abundance of strikers.

Juande's injury status is bit of an unknown as is Mauk. We're something of the walking wounded at the moment.

Bobo scored over the weekend and as usual we'll need to keep hounding Ninkovic. Barbarouses has been pulling trigger from further out of late, so gifting him space won't be an option either. For those reasons the midfield cover is going to matter a great deal on Saturday.

[otto62]

Bobo, Ninkovic, Barbarouses, Baumjohan - I wonder what these four jointly are on?

[bpowell454]

Bobo, Ninkovic, Barbarouses, Baumjohan - I wonder what these four jointly are on?

Add Le Fondre to that list as well

[sub007]

One good thing about being on the road so much early, we get to finish at home.

It's been a tough run with 4 games in 11 days however the lads finally have a breather which will help their ability to run out the game.

Yengi appears to have done a hammy and I am not confident Juric will be fully fit, however Al Hassan has been finding the back of the net in the NPL so should be right to step in. One thing we do seem to have is an abundance of strikers.

Juande's injury status is bit of an unknown as is Mauk. We're something of the walking wounded at the moment.

Bobo scored over the weekend and as usual we'll need to keep hounding Ninkovic. Barbarouses has been pulling trigger from further out of late, so gifting him space won't be an option either. For those reasons the midfield cover is going to matter a great deal on Saturday.

So as far as I am aware, Konstand, Gauci and probably Yengi are out for the season. Juric's return date is unknown, Juande reaggravated a hamstring injury which will surely rule him out while Mauk has been playing injured most of the season but should play.

[sub007]

So with that being said, this is the line up I'll go with

Delianov
Strain Elsey Jakobsen Lopez
D'Arrigo
Mauk Cavallo
Halloran A Toure Goodwin

Oschenham, Marrone, Smith, Caletti, Niyongabire, M Toure, Kitto

[bpowell454]

Possible the game may be postponed due to a covid cluster in Melbourne. Looks like travelling fans who went to MV game can't go to any event with a covid plan for 2 weeks too.

Nothing confirmed yet.

[MartinAUFC]

So with that being said, this is the line up I'll go with

Delianov
Strain Elsey Jakobsen Lopez
D'Arrigo
Mauk Cavallo
Halloran A Toure Goodwin

Oschenham, Marrone, Smith, Caletti, Niyongabire, M Toure, Kitto

Not sure how you can drop Kitto, he's been awesome imo.
Lopez to replace D'Arrigo at DM, or give Mauk a rest and push Louis forward a bit which doesn't fill me with joy as he is definitely not an "attacking" midfielder.

[sevengoals]

Craig Goodwin talks to the press.




Since things have started happening here in Austria again I will miss this match because I'll be away in Bad Goisern working for the next 4 days!

Ya Hoo!

Looking forward to the Jamboree.

[sub007]

So with that being said, this is the line up I'll go with

Delianov
Strain Elsey Jakobsen Lopez
D'Arrigo
Mauk Cavallo
Halloran A Toure Goodwin

Oschenham, Marrone, Smith, Caletti, Niyongabire, M Toure, Kitto

Not sure how you can drop Kitto, he's been awesome imo.
Lopez to replace D'Arrigo at DM, or give Mauk a rest and push Louis forward a bit which doesn't fill me with joy as he is definitely not an "attacking" midfielder.

When Lopez is fit, he starts.

Carl said Mauk should be fine to play plus having Kitto and Pac on the bench as attacking options also means we don't have to pick Dukuly.

[milan_7]

Very tight ladder situation, just a reminder of how it stands:

1. City GP24 PTS48
2. Sydney GP24 PTS41
3. Adelaide GP24 PTS38
4. Brisbane GP23 PTS 37
5. Mariners GP23 PTS 36
6. Macarthur GP23 PTS 36
7. Phoenix GP24 PTS34
8. Perth GP23 PTS32
9. Wanderers GP24 PTS31
10. Western GP23 PTS28
11. Victory GP24 PTS15
12. Jets GP23 PTS14

FINALS HOPEFULS RUN-INS

Sydney
Adelaide (A)
Brisbane (A)

Adelaide
Sydney (H)
Wanderers (H)

Brisbane
Wanderers (A)
Perth (H)
Sydney (A)

Mariners
Macarthur (A)
Newcastle (H)
Western (H)

Macarthur
Mariners (H)
Western (A)
Phoenix (H)

Phoenix
Perth (H)
Macarthur (A)

Perth
Phoenix (A)
Brisbane (A)
Newcastle (H)

Wanderers
Brisbane (H)
Adelaide (A)

Western
Victory (H)
Macarthur (H)
Mariners (A)

Wanderers and Western are essentially out of it cause they are relying on a lot of results, we will be out of the top 2 race if we fail to beat Sydney on Saturday.

https://www.worldfootball.net/table_cal ... -a-league/

Was just using this site to predict the ladder, it's sort of hard to make sense of it all with teams having games in hand etc - I ended up with this

1. City 54
2. Sydney 45
3. Roar 43
4. Adelaide 42
5. Macarthur 41
6. Mariners 40
7. Phoenix 38
8. Glory 35
9. Western 33
10. Wanderers 31
11. Victory 15
12. Newcastle 14

[RedTide]

Second is not out of the equation - yet - but I can see us dropping to fourth or fifth. We had our mid-season bad run at the 3/4 mark of the season (whereas it usually happens right in the middle of the season) and could not buy a win. Until then, we were comfortably on track for a top 2 finish. I'm not so sure now that we will go as far in finals as I previously thought.

[EdDog]

Top 2 is unrealistic but if we win both games we should be guaranteed a top 4 and a crucial home elim final.

Come on boys!

[Jessesdad]

This has been such an interesting and unpredictable year. Even making the finals, with an untried coach and so many new and young players, is a significant achievement. We could easily have been in the bottom two all season based on the struggles we have had to face with uncertain line-ups, injuries and inexperience. But, instead, it's been one of the most exciting seasons to be an AU fan. Veart frustrates the hell out of me from time to time - especially in late game management - but credit where credit is due. He's helping shape the future of the club as well as holding his own in a league where there is a lot of media interest - and money - in clubs that are not us!

We might well beat Sydney tomorrow. Who the hell can predict what the boys will dish up? We might lose the next two and just scrape into the finals. Wherever we finish, the volatility (and talent) of this team means that we could either go out first week or lift the Toilet Seat. It's not been boring.

The biggest sadness of this season - for me - is that the peripheral fans have deserted us (and every team). Hindmarsh should be full to watch the lads tomorrow night. It's good football in a great stadium with a local team. And it's not as if there are no football fans in SA. One day, I hope, the penny will drop and people who love football will finally realise that the REDS are genuinely worth supporting. It's tragic that real football people let prejudice (of many kinds) get in the way of making AU the celebrated pinnacle of SA soccer.

Whatever! I'll be there again with my boys and my mates, drinking crap beer and ignorantly analysing the game from the stands. Hoping for many opportunities to leap out of my seat and scream manically about yet another Adelaide goal.

[sub007]

Adelaide United squad: 1.James DELIANOV (gk), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.George TIMOTHEOU, 4.Ryan STRAIN, 6.Louis D’ARRIGO, 7.Ryan KITTO, 8.Stefan MAUK (c), 11.Craig GOODWIN, 18.Joe CALETTI, 19.Yaya DUKULY, 21.Javi LÓPEZ, 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Jordan ELSEY, 24.Pacifique NIYONGABIRE, 26.Ben HALLORAN, 27.Josh CAVALLO, 31.BERNARDO, 33.Dakota OCHSENHAM (gk), 35.Al Hassan TOURE, 37.Jonny YULL
**2-4 to be omitted**

Ins: 3.George TIMOTHEOU (promoted), 31.BERNARDO (promoted), 35.Al Hassan TOURE (promoted), 37.Jonny YULL (promoted)
Outs: 28.JUANDE (hamstring), 29.Kusini YENGI (hamstring)
Unavailable: 9.Tomi JURIC (calf), 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS (knee), 46.Joe GAUCI (quadricep)

[MartinAUFC]

Adelaide United squad: 1.James DELIANOV (gk), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.George TIMOTHEOU, 4.Ryan STRAIN, 6.Louis D’ARRIGO, 7.Ryan KITTO, 8.Stefan MAUK (c), 11.Craig GOODWIN, 18.Joe CALETTI, 19.Yaya DUKULY, 21.Javi LÓPEZ, 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Jordan ELSEY, 24.Pacifique NIYONGABIRE, 26.Ben HALLORAN, 27.Josh CAVALLO, 31.BERNARDO, 33.Dakota OCHSENHAM (gk), 35.Al Hassan TOURE, 37.Jonny YULL
**2-4 to be omitted**

Ins: 3.George TIMOTHEOU (promoted), 31.BERNARDO (promoted), 35.Al Hassan TOURE (promoted), 37.Jonny YULL (promoted)
Outs: 28.JUANDE (hamstring), 29.Kusini YENGI (hamstring)
Unavailable: 9.Tomi JURIC (calf), 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS (knee), 46.Joe GAUCI (quadricep)

Bernardo!
Anybody know what position Cassio junior plays?