08/09 Season Preview – Perth Glory!

By: Daniel | July 23rd, 2008

The closer and closer it gets to Season 4 of the A-League (14th of August), the more excited i get and thought it only wise to give all you Offside readers a bit of an insight on every team in the A-League and what i expect from them in the upcoming season.

First of the blocks is Perth Glory, the Oldest team in the League. Perth Glory is the only team that survived from the old NSL (National Soccer League). The Glory were the team to be reckoned with, they absolutely ripped that league apart winning 3 minor Premierships (1st on ladder position) and 2 Grand Finals (including the final NSL title) from 1997 – 2004. However since the inception of the A-League, the western side has been a bit of a shambles coming 2nd last in the past 2 seasons. Crowds have dwindled with the excitement and flare of old has all but gone..

Strengths
With a squad like this the only strengths it can possibly have are the players that have come in over the Off-season (Eugène Dadi, Adrian Trinidad and Amaral). Amaral is the one i am most excited about personally. The Brazilian possesses an impressive list of former clubs, Parma, Benfica, Fiorentina to name just but a few. Amaral brings to the squad what was missing last season and that was quality and experience in the midfield. He will more than compensate for the loss of Simon Colosimo to Sydney FC. The only thing that is a little worrying is his age. Being 35 who knows if he’ll be any good or just a Romario, it remains to be seen. The other players brought in are pretty awesome as well bringing in a bit of talent to a forward-line that failed to impress last season.

Coach David Mitchell looks like he at least looks like he knows what hes doing mixing youth and experience in a team which needs to impress in this season or risk losing its fan base forever.

Weaknesses
Look when a defender is your top-goalscorer you know something is going wrong. I don’t think it was too much the strikers fault as Jamie Harnwell and Nikita Rukavytsya know how to put a ball away. I think it was the midfield…. its just so….light. and now that Leo Bertos and Simon Colosimo have gone… what is there really in the midfield? Perth Glory fans really need to pray that these new players coming in are as good as David Mitchell says they are or Perth is fucked!

Key Player – Nikita Rukavytsya
This is a youngster that needs to put bags of goals away for Perth in season 4. Nikita has the skill, speed and finishing to make any defense in the A-League tremble in their studded boots. With the call up to the Olympic side, the 23 year old will have re-newed confidence in his own abilities and hopefully with renewed supply from the midfield, will be able to put teams to the sword!

Prediction – 6th
This should be a good season for the team in Purple. The team already had a strong back line headed by Nikolai Topor-Stanley and a forward line to be reckoned with, however it was the midfield that needed some serious attention. Dave Mitchell seems to know what hes doing though. These new players brought into the midfield and attack seem to be exactly what the team needed. Id like to see the team use some South American flair and win a lot of games with flair and determination. As many A-League sides found out recently, injecting “older” Brazilians rarely works, but it needs to in this case as this season looks to be the Glory’s last chance to win back those loyal fans!