It was a much improved tipping effort by the majority of the panel as well as the crowd last week, with Mike Tuckerman topping the pops with five correct selections in Round 11.
The New Year period sees three mid-week games coming our way. The traditional clash in Gosford on the final day of the calendar year sees the Mariners up against Melbourne City. Auckland hosts the following afternoon when Melbourne Victory look to bounce back after a Big Blue defeat and Wanderland is on show when Western Sydney welcomes Macarthur in a growing Sydney derby.
Good luck with your tips for the round and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say in the improving voice of the people. Here are the New Year thoughts and predictions of the panel on all the action.
Mike Tuckerman
City, Auckland, Western Sydney
Mariners coach Mark Jackson labelled some of his players “unprofessional” following their 4-1 home defeat to Auckland FC, and it’ll be interesting to see what changes the Englishman makes here. They’ve won their past couple of traditional New Year’s Eve clashes, but they go into this game having failed to win in three.
Melbourne City are coming off the bye last weekend, having drawn 1-1 in the Melbourne derby before that. They should have too much firepower not to win this game in Gosford.
Auckland are the team to beat in this season’s A-League Men, and they’ll be looking to put behind them a 4-0 mauling by Western United in their most recent home clash. They got back to winning ways by hammering the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford, and coach Steve Corica will fancy his chances of the Kiwis extending their lead at the top of the table.
Auckland FC Manager Steve Corica. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Arthur Diles had no answer to a Sydney FC onslaught last Saturday. His team looks down on confidence and could cop another defeat here.
Western Sydney fought back from two goals down to get the better of the Reds in Adelaide last time out. They’ve taken 10 points from the last 12 on offer and go into this clash as one of the in-form teams in the league. Macarthur eased to a 3-0 win over Perth Glory in the west in their most recent clash, but they’ll have to contend with a fair bit of travel as they head back to Parramatta.
The Bulls were hammered in the corresponding fixture last season and it’s hard not to see a repeat of that here.
Stuart Thomas
Central Coast, Victory, Western Sydney
Neither the Mariners or Melbourne City look in good form and that makes their mid-table match-up in Gosford even more important. Despite a belting at the hands of Auckland, the home side should respond and that might spell trouble for a still under-manned City team on the road.
Auckland continue to make statement after statement and now Victory head to the north island looking to stay in touch with the ladder leaders. Can Steve Corica lift his men yet again? I’m seeing an away win with a siege mentality focus from the Victory.
I am looking forward to attending the Western Sydney v Macarthur clash on New Year’s Day and let’s hope a few more fans of the red and black also make their way to the ground. All of a sudden, Alen Stajcic has his team humming along nicely and developing as a real threat to the top sides. Macarthur are thought of in a similar vein and this should be a willing affair.
Western Sydney to win in front of a ripping crowd and be off to a bright start to the new year.
David Shilovsky
City, Auckland, draw
Some intriguing match-ups in this mini round.
The Mariners will be desperate to rebound after a poor run of form, while City are fresh off a bye. I’ll go with Melbourne City.
Two of the pace setters clash at Mount Smart Stadium as Auckland host Melbourne Victory. At home it’s hard to back against Auckland.
A Western Sydney derby should make for good New Year’s Day viewing. Both teams are in solid form and can hurt their opposition with class up front. Draw.
Nicolas Milanovic of Western Sydney Wanderers celebrates his hat-trick against Jets. (Photo by Damian Briggs/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Andrew Prentice
Draw, Auckland, Western Sydney
There are problems afoot at both Mariners and City camps, the former seemingly discipline, the latter injuries. NYE is a boom game for Central Coast so I think they’ll lift but not enough to take all the points.
Auckland bounced back to form last round and Victory got bounced in the Big Blue. No Zinedine Machach for the visitors on top of some injury issues, while Auckland’s blip two rounds ago might just be that – a blip. The Black Knights by two.
The Wanderers are finally stringing together a good run of form. Macarthur will be a stern test, but no sterner than being 2-0 down away to Adelaide and winning. Sort out that stat and the other Sydney derby will be three points in the bank for Alen Stajcic’s men.
The battle of two in-form attacks will be a treat, so there will be goals to feast on at Wanderland.
Texi Smith
City, Auckland, Western Sydney
The traditional New Years Eve fireworks will be the climax to a long evening of football in Gosford, and the unpredictable Central Coast Mariners come back to the scene of an absolute flogging against Auckland on the weekend to right those wrongs.
The fickle home support will be boosted by the pyrotechnic blow-ins, giving an artificially big atmosphere, but it will be the visitors who silence the cannon and deflate the sauce bottles with a workmanlike dismantling of the A-League champions.
Haine Eames of the Mariners celebrates scoring a goal against Macarthur FC. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)
Auckland’s bounce-back was immediate from their first defeat, and they were comfortable in Gosford on the weekend. Melbourne Victory will be without Zinedine Machach following his harsh red in Sydney, although the remaining ten battled well in the second half and will look to build on that in New Zealand’s Big Smoke.
Bruno Fornaroli will start and terrorise the Auckland defence, and his goal in first-half injury time is enough to steal the points in a thrilling New Year’s Day shoot-out in front of a great crowd.
The traditional Western Sydney derby concludes this micro-round of A-League fixtures, and Casey Reibelt will lead her all-female referee crew into the lions’ den. The spicy tongue of Alen Stajcic will be absent following his comedy dismissal in Adelaide, but his team will continue their run of form, Nicolas Milanovic providing the flair for Brandon Borrello to poach his heart out in the box.
Macarthur FC put up a good fight, but Valere Germain misses from the spot, and the chance of a share of the spoils is completely removed as Juan Mata curls home a free kick on full time to send the big New Year’s Day crowd away happy.
| Round 11 | Mike | Stuart | David | Andrew | Texi | Crowd |
| CCM v MCY | MCY | CCM | MCY | DRAW | MCY | ? |
| AUK v MVC | AUK | MVC | AUK | AUK | AUK | ? |
| WSW v MAC | WSW | WSW | DRAW | WSW | WSW | ? |
| Last week | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Total | 30 | 21 | 27 | 21 | 22 | 26 |
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