Congratulations to the Perth Glory on their first win in Wellington at the weekend. A very positive result and one that may well have been born out of the performance against Brisbane Roar. The collective commitment against the Roar augured well for the second half of the season, but it was crucial that the team start winning on the road. A point or three against Melbourne Heart this weekend would certainly build their case for a finals berth.
Should Ian Ferguson have the team clicking at the crucial part of the season come finals, will those same people baying for his head on a platter still want to see him shown the door? With Finals football determining the Champions the start of the season is irrelevant, it is the end that matters, and Ferguson could well steer Glory to a Grand Final.
As stated many times and reiterated by Ange Postecoglou after the Roar game, the nature of the game in Australia is you do not have to be the best team in the league to be crowned Champions.
Ange made it quite clear he wanted to be top of the league at the end of the season, nothing else was important, and that is the way it should be. The sad thing is some clubs take a different view, that as long as they make the finals they can still be Champions. Adelaide City was a case in point in the old NSL.
One has to ask whether that attitude affects the way teams perform over a season. Whether the lack of ambition to strive for top spot and settle for a finals berth leads to less intensity on the park.
Maybe the FFA should look at the top two teams in the league being given the Asian Champions League berths rather than the winner of the Grand final?
Super sub welcome back long time no hear!
Aubrey I agree we need them and the best option at the moment is the winners of both go through to Asia, but I do worry that some teams after week four give up on the hopes of winning the league.
It definitely should only be Top four to have over half the league in the finals is embarrassing
Unfortunately, we need finals because without a multi-league (with relegation) structure there’d be nothing for the bottom teams (e.g., Perth Glory) to play for after halfway through the season. That said it should be a top 4 not top 6. And Asian Champions League berths should go to the team finishing the top of the league and the team winning the grand final. If the same team wins both then the team finishing second in the league should get the other spot.
Never been a fan of finals and I do definitely believe that those teams who simply aim for a finals berth are harming the league. But the Muppets at the FFA would never see that or understand it.