The Western Sydney Wanderers have had difficulties finding avenues to goal, as evident by the fact they are just fifth for goals scored this season in the A-League. Can they find the right mix in time for finals?
Adelaide United’s brilliant win over Melbourne City on Friday night put an end to Western Sydney’s Premier’s Plate aspirations this season, but they are still in with a strong chance of winning the title. This year’s finals series looms as the most open in A-League history, with all six teams in with a fair shout of winning their way through to a grand final.
The Wanderers will be particularly disappointed not to have finished on top of the table, after sitting up towards the summit for the majority of the campaign. But it is a fantastic achievement to end up in the top three after finishing second-last in the 2014-15 season.
There has certainly been no lack of attacking intent shown by the players this season, but Western Sydney will rue their lack of clinical finishing and their inability to capitalise on goalscoring opportunities.
Replacing Socceroo Tomi Juric in attack was always going to be a tough task, and the Wanderers thought they had struck gold when they signed Federico Piovaccari from Sampdoria in the off-season. Piovaccari was considered a proven goalscorer who had played at the highest level in both Spain and Italy, who would surely flourish in the A-League.
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But the Italian has ultimately proven to be a flop. With only a miserly two goals from 12 matches to his name this season, the marquee man has been forced to watch from the bench for the majority of the campaign. Capturing the signature of Dario Vidosic was also considered a coup for the Wanderers, but he has only produced three goals.
As a result, manager Tony Popovic has been forced to tinker with alternative strategies to find a route to goal.
Most notably, Popovic has made the masterstroke move of switching the versatile Mark Bridge from the left-wing to central-striker on a number of occasions. The result has seen 30-year-old Bridge – an inaugural squad member at Western Sydney and leading goalscorer in their maiden season of 2012-13 – in the form of his life. There are many A-League players who receive more publicity, but extraordinary statistics suggest Bridge is not only the most valuable player at the Wanderers, but also one of the most valuable in the entire competition this season.
In the five games in which Bridge did not play this season, the Wanderers won only one and that was against Central Coast Mariners, who are tailed off in last position. The Wanderers won 2-0 away against the Mariners in round eight. The other four games he missed resulted in a 3-1 home loss to Brisbane Roar in round one, a 3-2 away loss to Roar in round 22, last Friday match against the Mariners, and draws with Adelaide United away in round two (1-1) and Perth Glory away in round 11 (2-2).
When Bridge scores, the Wanderers almost always win. He has scored nine goals in eight games and Western Sydney won the first seven of those games, with the only loss coming in the round 19 game against this week’s opponents, Wellington Phoenix, 5-2. The Wanderers were totally out of sorts as a team that day.
Bridge only trails Mitch Nichols as the team’s leading scorer, and is the outright leader for goal assists, with six. And he has recorded these figures despite playing away from his best position for a large part of the season. He has failed to find the back of the net in the last few matches, and will be desperate to get back to goalscoring form in time for finals.
Brendon Santalab has been another key player, and has been hailed as a “super sub” with his eight goals from 20 appearances, 18 of which have been off the bench. You really have to admire Santalab’s mental strength, his ability to focus on the game and his job for 60 or 70 minutes (sometimes more), while looking on from the bench and still manage to come on ready to make an immediate impact. He does not waste a minute that he is out there.
The man who could really spark the Wanderers’ finals campaign into life is Romeo Castelen, who scored a brilliant long-range goal against the Mariners last week. He is the x-factor type of player who looks extremely dangerous when running at defenders with pace. If he can continue in the kind of form he showed last week, Castelen will light up the finals series. The Dutchman has been a much maligned figure due to his inconsistent nature, but at his best he is almost unstoppable.
Going into the finals, no one will fancy themselves against the Wanderers because they are so compact and difficult to break down, and they usually dominate possession because of their two Spaniards in holding midfield, Andreu and Dimas. Captain Nikolai Topor-Stanley is a formidable rock at the centre of defence, and Spaniard Alberto has been a solid signing. They have conceded the second-least amount of goals in the league.
With Nichols and Vidosic creating opportunities from midfield, along with the marauding runs from full-back by Scott Neville and Scott Jamieson, the Wanderers will be a force to be reckoned with in the finals.
Finishing the regular season with matches against the bottom two clubs could be just the tonic they needed to find the right attacking mix and finish off their opportunities. They put four past the Mariners last week and will be looking for a similar performance against Wellington. While they no longer have top spot to play for, expect the Wanderers to come out all guns blazing against the Phoenix as they seek revenge for the 5-2 drubbing at Wanderland last time these teams met.
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