I particularly dislike the way he snarls and abuses players when they are losing then jumps up and down like he is part of the team when they score or win.

Shame - but Wanderers are Rudan to me so I cannot be happy for them to win even when they play great football.

I think the Mariners v Adelaide game is going to attract a huge amount of interest in comparative terms from aleagues followers.

Mariners, Adelaide and Nix fans are likely to watch with a vested interest, along with the people who like Mariners for their little team big results image and those who hate the Nix and hope to see them not win - on top of anyone interested in who takes out the Premiers Plate on its own merits.

Great that the season comes down to the final game.

Wednesday 1 May 7:00pm AEST

Interesting the way the finals got set up.

Despite Mariners having the game against Adelaide still to play (Win or draw and they clinch the Premiers Plate over Wellington), both them and Wellington still earn the right to home finals, so these could still be scheduled.

And two derbies (if we can call Sydney v Macarthur a derby) as elimination finals are probably APL's wet dream. 

Ah, the APL strikes again! 

Disappointing to see WSW miss out on the finals, I had high hopes they will do well but their second half of the season wasn't the best and it's cost them a spot.

Melbourne City just sneak in after their Melb derby loss so they done well to recover from that match to make the 6.

City needed to win. Otherwise WSW goes on more wins.

I think a draw would be enough because city have a superior goal difference. I’ll be happy not to see Rudan’s  antics in the finals series.

Oli Sail was a very solid keeper for Wellington a season or two back.

He came across to the mainland either last season or this season and has seemed awfully inconsistent and erorr proan (;)) since. Maybe with the Nix he was protected by a very solid defence and only needed to pull off some great reflex saves.

His decision making has been odd the few times I have noticed him this season (also not a goalkeeper so just from viewing).

When he raced to try and keep a ball in at the corner today was a perfect example. If he had gotten there in time he was then going to be faced with an opponent and a ball at his feet - hoping to avoid a turnover because he was right out at the corner flag. If he did not get there in time (which he didn't) he faced a quick throw in and an open goal behind him. Perhaps a bit of a hero gene in play...

Witches hats would be better defenders here. 

I know nothing about goalkeepers but is the Perth bloke having a shocker today?  Seems to be all over the shop.

Tough derby game for Mariners v Jets.Jets played very well and had their chances.However the Mariners finished strongly with the subs Barcellos,Edmondson,Steele and diPizio doing their jobs well.

Though they are the " enemy" it would be tragic if Jets fold.They have a good coach in Stanton and some excellent players-Stamatelopoulos,Natta, Clayton Taylor and Archie Goodwin to name a few.Also Piscopo could resurrect his career if he remains injury free.

You don't need Boyle, he looks done since his knee injury.

Melbourne city have to win tonight to secure a finals derby against victory 

Inadequate coaching is a big problem with all of our national teams at all levels I think the U23s has really exposed this. 

Great advert for a-league youth with WSW tonight, apart from Arzani’s excellent WSW were the better team.

WSW have a very good stable of young players, surely it’s better to invest in them than play overhill players that are here for a holiday. 

weekend for the kids isn't it

Hammond levels. Another youngster amongst the goals this weekend. 

I'd add Hrustic. Time flies he's 27 now.

We have this sort of flair or confidence when Mabil is around. It's nice we've got all these options now. Arnold did really well at adding. I think around 2017 we were starting to scrape the barrel a bit and needed patience for this next gen. 

i wonder who our most skillful xi is? It would skew very young

being effective against those 2nd teir teams is still something to be proud of even if its ugly to watch us squeeze past defensively minded minnows. Not that long ago we would struggle against both

The way Australia broke down those defences at the senior Asian cup or looked a better chance of scoring was in quick transition and turnover after opposition mistakes. I think we need to get opponents into a false sense of security and come forward or play out. The question is whether they'd take the bait.

No wonder we look better against Ecuador and Mexico compared to Syria. 

I just wonder how our national teams would look with coaches who'd pick the most skilful types and have our players bite with vigour in transition or when they turn it over. Good players with ball on the floor and everyone thinking a few steps ahead. Most of the time our teams don't know what to do or what anyone is doing. 

goodwin, burgess, irvine, boyle and ryan the only over 25 year olds we really need 12 months from now

I remember reading about that. Kudos to Redmayne for getting through his issues too via psychology. 

Nice one Arzani. I don't think we need to call on Leckie and Maclaren ever again. Duke will still get called up and that's what prevents someone like Stamatelopoulos getting a shout. If the rankings aren't going to change in June then just whip some of these new guys into the national team play system. 

They defend very differently. Wanderers need to win desperately. Most Asian teams are in a tight low block, have to very talented to break that down as a team. But yes genuinely A-League defence is very poor, especially in transition. 

good question. Apparently matt ryan credited a sports psychatrist for finally breaking through in the big 5

I wonder how many a league clubs even have scouts?

some well taken goals for arzani today. Think he will be a socceroo by christmasish the rate the weaker parts of his game are improving

What, if at all, investment or use do we have of sports psychology? The number of fuck ups that give away pens shows we make rash decisions. Leckie in Thailand, Karacic against Oman and Miller against SK. It'd also pay dividends down the other end. Shaq increased his free throw exponentially with sport psych. 

I heard something about Indonesia has this island scouting bloke because places with a single hut have teens playing football from dawn until dusk. Some player in the national team was found, signed for the 3rd tier and made it to the 1st division in a matter of years.