A-League 21/22 Season Preview Part 1

Article by: Mitchell Grimes

Mon, Nov 15.21

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With the new A-League campaign on the horizon, we take a look at each team to preview their 21/22 season.

In part 1 we take a look at Adelaide and their young talent, Brisbane’s defence, Mariners loss of personnel, MacArthur’s inclusions upfront, Melbourne City’s title defence and whether or not Victory can bounce back from a disastrous campaign.

Adelaide United

Adelaide will be looking to build upon a decent 2020/21 season, reaching the finals and losing out to Sydney FC which is no embarrassment. The club has lost key players ahead of the 21/22 season, they’ll be without Tomi Juric, Jordan Elsey, Michael Marrone and Ryan Strain.

The club has brought back both Isaías & George Blackwood to try and cover the losses in midfield and upfront while Nick Ansell will look to help sure up the defence, arriving from Melbourne Victory. Adelaide are blessed with plenty of young talent, with the Toure, Cavallo and Louis D'Arrigo.

Expect Adelaide to compete well again this season, but premiership contenders could be a stretch too far considering the loss of talent.

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Brisbane Roar

Brisbane went through periods last season where they couldn’t lose and then couldn’t win. The roar won 4 games in a row at the start of the season, then went 8 games without a win before going on a 7 game unbeaten streak.

Brisbane boasted the 2nd best defensive record in the league behind Sydney FC but struggled to score at times. The club have also now lost Dylan Wenzall-Halls, replaced by the attacking trio of Juan Lescano, Luke Ivanovic and Nikola Mileusnic.

If Brisbane can remain solid defensively and the new signings in attack gel, they could be in for an exciting season and potentially put themselves in the top few places come finals time.

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Central Coast Mariners

After a very successful 20/21 campaign, the Mariners will find it tough without former head coach Alen Stajcic who had turned the club around, finishing 3rd with the club having not finished inside the top 4 since 2013/14.

Not only will the mariners be without Alen Stajcic, but also Daniel De Silva, Alou Kuol, Jack Clisby and Gianni Stensness who have all departed the club after last season. The club have brought in Goddard, Nkololo and Moresche who are all relatively unknown and will take time to gel into the squad.

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Macarthur FC

After finishing in 6th place last season, Macarthur did well to make it through to the semi-finals however after scoring just the 33 goals for the season, improvement will need to be made in attack.

The signing of Ulises Davila from Wellington will go a long way to help that, after winning the Johnny Warren with 12 goals and 5 assist last season. Along with Davila, Macarthur have also brought in Daniel De Silva, Juric and Noone who will no doubt help to improve the their attacking output.

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Melbourne City

Flying high after being crowned champions last season, Melbourne City might just have improved again. The club has lost Craig Noone but with Matthew Leckie and Pucciarelli coming in that shouldn’t be a problem.

The club had no problems scoring last season, with 57 goals, by far the most in the league, and with the emergence of Stefan Colakovski and Marco Tillio, they should have no problems finding the back of the net again in 21/22.

Expect Melbourne City to be right amongst it come finals time and we wouldn’t bet against them going back to back.

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Melbourne Victory

It wouldn’t take much for Victory to improve on last season, conceding 60 goals, winning just 5 games, including a 6-0 and 7-0 loss to rivals Melbourne City.

The return of Tony Popovic has many people thinking we’ll see a vastly improved Victory with the club bringing in a huge number of players, most notably Chris Ikonomidis arriving from Perth Glory.

Other additions include Josh Brillante, Roderick Miranda and Matthew Spiranovic who should go a long way in suring up the leagues leakiest defense and if Italian striker Francesco Margiotta can get up to full fitness sooner rather than later, Victory should have enough to be more than competitive this season.