Might as well have the one match thread for the four semi final games.

Tuesday victory vs western at Aami 

Wednesday Adelaide vs city at coopers 

saturday victory vs western at Aami 

Sunday city vs Adelaide at Aami 

what’s everyone’s predictions heading in?

Bump 

I'm happier to face City than Victory.

While we haven't lost to City this season, it's taken some late miracles and Glover brain fades to achieve that.

City are at least full rested after their ACL campaign now so it's going to be a hell of a fight

GO AUFC & WU

From a Victory POV, i think we have the slightly easier opponent. But I think it'll be a derby GF. 

2 legged semi finals are weird. 

On paper Victory should be too strong for the Lost Boys but if they can draw or lose by a single goal  tomorrow night then WU will worry them leading into the second match.

Adelaide outplayed CCM ,especially catching them on the fast break,and cleverly fouling them when they threatened,Can they repeat the game plan against City over two legs? Definitely possible especially if Glover is having one of his "special" games.Goodwin and Yengi could really test him and Bernado is a real threat as a sub.

 I think a Victory v Adelaide GF is a distinct possibility.

I'm hoping Brook finally gets his goal - he's looked dangerous every time he's played, but his end product isn't quite there for some reason. Loved watching AU's young lads play this season & Goodwin was robbed not winning the Tobin Medal 

I dont know what would be a bigger final, City v Victory or Victory v Adelaide, but I'm finding it difficult to picture adelaide getting past city, unbeaten run or no.

I reckon the Melbourne Derby would be bigger, but I reckon an MV/AU final would be a better game to watch. There is always a good level of aggression from both sides in the MV/AU games. Whereas in a Melbourne Derby the teams seem to be more cautious and take less risks. 

How does the scoring work for these games? Is it just goal aggregate at the end of the two games with the second game going to pens if the aggregate is equal? Hope they aren't doing that thing where away goals are worth double.

AU would be my pick to be leading after the first game. Over the last month or so, AU have been way better at converting their chances compared to where they were at the start/mid season. They are still making errors here and there but as long as they are converting those chances it should make up for errors. MC will be well rested, but haven't been convincing in their last few games. They only scraped in with the premiership via an own goal and a set piece. MC will need to be much better in these finals. They obviously have the quality, but I predict an uphill battle in the second game. I'd pick Gauci over Glover in a shoot out. Goodwin to have his shot saved. 

MV obviously have the advantage against WU. Well rested and pretty much two home games for MV. WU have been defensively strong but not great upfront. I don't think it'll be high scoring but MV in too good of a form to not pick them to win. That being said, I'd pick Young over Kelava in a shoot out.

There's no away goal rule.

Please tell me that Western's home game tonight is not at AAMI park. Otherwise, what is the point of 2-legs or the 'away' goals rule in that matchup?

It’s actually a very stupid situation we’re in. Two games at Aami park what a joke the fan experience would be better for everyone if it was in Geelong. I really want the a league to succeed but I can’t defend western United or MacArthur anymore they are bringing the league down and taking the piss 

What would happen if AC Milan and Inter drew each other in a champions league semi final??

But is that due to this season's matchup? Or has that always been a thing?



That has happened twice in the UCLs history, the first being when AC Milan went on to win it in 2003.
The A-League hasn't had 2-Leg finals for 10 years, yet in its first season of reintroduction we have a Melbourne matchup at the same ground.

But both teams represent milan. Western is supposed to be representing west of melbourne they shouldn’t be playing at Aami 

Well the initial complaints was that the same venue will be used for both legs of the semi finals. 

But the complaint is now about western United not playing in a venue that is not located in their catchment area now??
Ok. You should've said that in the first place instead of raising the issue about the "fan experience"

Also not to mention that, given the A-L format, an AAMI Park Melbourne matchup is far more likely to occur than the Milan derby (especially since the UCL draws teams in the Round of 16 and Quarter-Finals).

Not easy finding this information, but the 'away goal rule' does not apply in these semi finals.
Semi finals winners determined by aggregate scoreline over two matches.
Which (I could be wrong but) would mean that a penalty shootout would only occur in the second game if the aggregate is a draw after the 90+30 minutes.

I assume the APL would want victory in the final. 

Any other GF match up wouldn't sellout AAMI park. 

Bloody Lowy's

Been saying it for months now-

APL want a Victory v City GF. The other traditional rivalries in the league (The Big Blue/ The Sydney Derby/ F3D) have gone stale and the APL want to milk the emerging Melbourne derby for all its worth.

They also want the narrative about the Victory's amazing turnaround from wooden spooners just a season ago to GF contestants against the team who smashed them last year. Plus, take a shot every time they talk about how great it is to see Melbourne, after the COVID lockdowns and empty stadiums, with a sold out stadium in full voice.

Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne

Melbourne Melbourne

Melbourne

....

Melbourne.

There's no doubt that a victory vs city gf would be ideal for APL and the best outcome for the league (from the teams that made the finals) but there isn't any conspiracy going on. 
(Personally hope city fail against Adelaide)

Would've preferred another goal for victory but this team is very good, even when they are struggling they get results. 
If that had been a victory team from the past 5/6 years they would've certainly lost that game. 

thats strange considering the APL run the finals.


salty much?

honestly, i thought WU played into our hands last night. They let us have the ball, which allowed us to run them ragged knowing they have to play 3 games in 7 days. We played a very strategic game last night and I can see us putting a few past them on Saturday.


strange post. Are you a follower of QAnon as well? Or are you also salty Melbourne is the centre of the Football universe right now? I would have thought everyone (excluding WU and AU fans) would wanna see a derby GF. It might well be the kickstart the game needs.   

Perhaps it'd be akin to a defibrillator the league needs. 

Looking at ticket prices:

WU are charging more for tonight's game than MV is charging on Saturday.
$28 for GA tonight, $25 for GA on Saturday.

AU are charging more for tonight's game than MC is charging for Saturday.
$31 for GA tonight, $30 for GA on Sunday.

Going for MV & AU in the semis.
But I'd rather be wrong about the AU v MC result than the MV v WU result.

Here we go 

Brimmer having a great game & now scores. Kilkenny playing well for WU

Victory's time wasting this season has been an utter utter disgrace.

I haven't hated Victory this much in years 

😂 wouldn’t have it any other way 😂

Opposition coaches have had a go at him. 
Fans obviously. 
Now finally refs are wise to it. 
Too little too late.

There's no honour in winning the way they do

Wales and Pain is a fairly weak wing combo for a team that's done as well as WU really.

Both OK players but the rest of the top 4 have much better wingers 

That was a great hit by Brimmer.

Are you suggesting they did anything to get what they wanted?

You're certainly implying it so I'm curious what that is... 

They might not necessarily have to. Victory (and City) may well do what it takes to make the decider from here themselves. But it wouldn't surprise me to see WU or Adelaide get screwed with some terrible calls if it's a tight one...

Brimmer has improved so much, hes 24 and after close to or over 100 a-league games and he looks like an different player to the one that started his a-league career (hint benefit of regular match minutes), great strike to go into the 2nd leg.

The fact that its no away goals will make it interesting, usually teams just close off but you cant really do that efficiently especially from evidence in the UEFA Champions League so I think it will be an interesting 2nd leg.

Perhaps not the best game for a neutral to watch. Was pretty nervy from an MV fan’s perspective. WU started well, then once MV settled, it just seemed like WU were poised to strike on the counter. 

I love a good conspiracy but they can’t even schedule a game right I don’t think they have the brains to rig a match 

Adelaide v MCFC

McClaren suprisingly missed two good chances.

Watching the dross served up by Corica this season I'm glad Sydney didn't make the finals.   

I like Adelaide.  They're set up really well, they don't need to have the ball all the time.  They're containing City so far besides those JmC chances.

1st Half fizzled out a bit however I'm sure Carl Veart is pleased with containing MCFC's style of play. Don't want a team like that to get into their groove.   

Not a handball.

I'm going to post nudes.  Anyone else care to comment.

0-0

Good to see a football forum so interested in live football.   

Haha good effort with the commentary mate! I was watching & not looking at the forum during the game, otherwise I would've responded 

Bit of a surprising result. I was fully expecting a handful of goals in this one. Most of the shots on goal weren't that threatening, apart from Nabbout hitting the post. I reckon we could see a red card or two if Sunday's game is another nil all affair. 

I actuallly like two legged finals. 

Is it just me who doesn't rate Kisnorbo as a coach? He's been gifted an amazing squad as all he has seems to do is get them together playing as less than the sum of their parts. 

Ok and what about the coaches before him who couldn’t land us a title?

Whataboutisms are never a good argument. 

You can't deny Kisnorbo inherited a very good squad from Mombaerts. He's done well with that squad and even made some good signings here and there. However, this season definitely wasn't as good as the last season. Which is fine when you win the premiership, however he could be walking a similar path to Corica. Whether he wins the double this year or not, he has some important decisions to make in the off season. It's very easy to become complacent in a closed league. 

Some great saves by Gauci. Glover should have been taking notes 🤔

Glover did ok mate

Hardly at same level as Gauci though 

To be fair, Glover had much less to do. AU only managed 6 shots on goal and only 3 on target.

I thought Adelaide were very poor last night. Have a feeling City will destroy them on Sunday.

Bit harsh calling a clean sheet poor. City definitely had the better of the chances though.

Big semi final tonight expecting victory to hold out the win 

 

United ehh .. who the hell do you go for ?? tough choice

Tony Pop-A-Bitch

Would love to hear the rationale for not giving that penalty.

Yep. Only thing i can think of is that foul didn’t prevent victory player from having attack/shot at goal?? Dodgy stuff for sure

3 posts about this game. This forum has flatlined big time.

Game like this used to run to 10 pages.

Excellent game for a neutral.

The Lost Boys leading 3-1 but I feel Victory have a goal in them so set for a tight finish

100% no penalty that last one.

Would never have picked 4-1.

Hire poppa, hire a habitual loser

Aloisi 4 Socceroos 

Suck shit Victory hehahahahha 

That aged well ;)

Funny that the two in form teams leading into finals were not able to win. I would have counted on Victory winning and at least City and Adelaide was a close game despite the result being against the in form team.

WU and City should be a good game whether they get a crowd or not. The players will be playing out of their skins because, whether you like it or not, it is a bloody grand final.

For Victory and WU, Aloisi over-structures his team play, and it takes individual brilliance to rise above it when the play gets stilted and stifled. Given the quality players at his disposal the playbook works because individuals make the difference - where we could not do that at the Roar. Seems to me that Aloisi is a good coach of a quality team, but not a good coach of a mediocre team - made for rich clubs and ineffective when his tools are not as sharp.

The scoreline of 1-4 did not reflect the closeness of the game but Victory lost their way in the final third. I thought Rojas was totally lacking in confidence and effort - he rarely used his explosive pace and close ball skill, and just played a generic (lazy) linking role instead. When Victory were in front of goal it rarely felt like they had a clue how to get through. When WU were in front of goal they felt dangerous.

Been on the road for both games, saw most of the game yesterday but could not see anything except the final 5 minutes today. Commiserations to Davide and the other Reds fans - pretty shattering to go to extra time and fall. Same for Victory fans - a much better feeling at the end of this season for you but equally shattering in the end. Congrats to City folk and whoever on here is a WU fan.

The thing about this final and crowds is it actually represents more of what we might see with pro/rel when a 'nobody' supported team might get to the final.

Cheer buddy (WU fan) and great analysis 

Agree with everything you said.  As a victory supporter I'm happy with the season and where we came from.
I really feel bad adelaide they had a good shot. 
I think the officiating has been poor during the finals. Having said that going off the games this past week I don't think city has a chance. 

I hope APL do something out of the box to try and get AAMI Park full. Not likely though. It's going to look terrible on TV if it's a terrible crowd. 

Always good reviews RIMB but in ref to P/R not that its happenning anytime soon and nobodys your meaning WU right ?

Yes. The people talking about how few people will come to the final could reflect what might happen with a smaller team yet to establish a large fan base in a hypothetical future world with p/r.

I just thought it worth mentioning because we hear so much about p/r and we seem to hear as much derisive comments about crowd numbers. Low crowd numbers are a bad image on tv but do not necessarily mean that much about the quality or strength of our football.

 crowd numbers mean absolutely nothing about the quality and the strength of the football, beyond how much money gets pumped into the game to then employ players of good quality and train others to achieve both strength and quality..... Its all part of symbiosis that we don't do very well down here... 

Exciting game. Bad result for grand final atmosphere...

Prijovic is class. Thought Poppa left it late with the subs... And Ikon is not himself. 

Popovic choked before he could choke in the grand final. Next level stuff. 

Well that's well and truly fucked the A League. 

Lucky go have 5k to grand final 

Disappointed, we were in it only for 20 mins in the first half. That refereeing decision for the first penalty was one of the worst I've seen, I won't say it changed the game (not calling it) but if victory get the correct call and score it does change the game. 

I feel like I'm gracious when we lose on merit,  and we did to a point but that decision is a match killer.  10 years ago that stadium would've been intense after that.  Tonight nothing. 

This is bad for the a-league, grand final could be played in a school yard and won't fill. 

I hope adelaide make it and win. 

Western deserved it. 

they have been pretty hopeless all season

I've cancelled celled my Paramount plus sub. I'm not  watching a final with Western United playing. That club has been the disgrace and final bullet for the A League. May everyone associated with that God forsaken travesty rot in football hell. 

Regardless of you cancelling Paramount you can still watch the WU grand final on free to air CH10 or 10bold. 

Thanks but no. I'm taking a sabbatical from the A League. I hope it works out but  I can't see a future for the competition. I was there at the time very first Brisbane game at Suncorp and I've had TV subs every season ant attended game's whenever I was could but with Western United in the Final, I'm done. Idiots like Sutherland Bear can level abuse at me, but the numbers show that there's many more who feel the way I do. It's emblematic of the decline of the the competition that John Aloisi, a coach who failed so dismally with Heart and Brisbane is in the Final with a club without supporters, a sham based entirely on false promises. If people like Sutherland Bear think that this GF will never anything other than an embarrassment of an empty stadium, they are deluded. 

Go get some fresh air old man. 

You'll probably be able to attend for free