A-League Men's 2022-23 season predictions

[MathyouWSW]

Since we’re a few days away from the 2022-2023 A-League Men’s season to commence, I thought I’ll create an A-League 2022-23 predictions thread. So, here’s the predictions I’d like to see from everyone:

- What will the ladder look like at the end of the regular season?
- Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23
- Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?
- Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23
- Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?
- WSW player of the year?
- Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?
- Who will be the best foreign players?
- Which foreign players you think will flop?
- Any random/bold predictions? 

Alright…guess I’ll start:

What will the ladder look like at the end of the regular season?
Usually, when I do the ladder, I like to start from last place to first place and give a brief reason why I’ve placed each following clubs in these positions. (Also, apologies if this is a huge post):

12^th – Brisbane Roar
Last season, Brisbane Roar were arguably in my opinion very lucky to not finish last as I believe the squad looked poor, terrible and lacked some players in certain positions within the squad.

For this upcoming season, Brisbane Roar saw the departures of 6 players (Ryo Wada loan ended, Nicholas Olsen, Alex Parsons, Juan Lescano, Corey Brown and Luke Ivanovic). And seen 6 new players arrive at the club (Charlie Austin, Riku Danzaki on a 6-month loan, Carlo Armiento, Zahi Addis, Joe Knowles and Jordan Courtney-Perkins on a season loan). The squad also sees 7 youth players given scholarship contracts to the senior squad (Lachlan Duke, Cardiff Pond, James Nikolovski, Riley Gill, Sam Klein, James Murphy and Thomas Waddingham).

The squad has been upgraded significantly in some certain points with Charlie Austin who’s got experience in the Premier League and English Championship replacing Juan Lescano who would some consider had a poor season at Roar by having 5 goals in 20 games. However, Austin’s season last year at Queens Park Rangers is pretty much the same performance as well with 5 goals in only 34 games. Riku Danzaki returns to the squad who was the club’s top goal scorer in the 2020-21 season for Brisbane Roar will look to work at providing same performance he did back then and assist Austin to provide goals.

Roar’s defence last season was also questionable. Tom Aldred is their Roar’s biggest defender and didn’t play many games due to injuries which I feel impacted them. He would need to stay fit this season otherwise we will see Roar’s defence will crumble (despite signing Jordan Courtney-Perkins who will boost Roar’s defence)

However, I still think the squad will struggle this season. Even in their Australia cup run, they played against three NPL clubs and struggled as they conceded goals against them, and they were very lucky to even win against a 10 men Adelaide United squad. They may finish higher than last. But I don’t see them being a top 6 squad.

11^th – Wellington Phoenix
Wellington in my opinion will forever be the ‘dark horse club’ of the A-League as you don’t know how they’ll perform each season. However, their performance last season surprised me by scrapping into the top 6 with a squad that didn’t look appealing.

The question is “will they do it again?” Personally, I think…No.

While Ufuk Talay has managed to get some decent signings such as Steven Ugarkovic and Bulgarian Bozhidar Kraev coming from Danish club FC Midtjylland, I feel the other foreign signings Brazilian midfielder Yan Sasse and Polish striker Oskar Zawada somewhat don’t look appealing to me yet.

It seems he is also going for a repertoire of Sydney FC with the 4-2-2-2 formation and while some of the players Talay has signed to the club have a preferred choice of position they’ll usually play in, some can play in different positions which is good but, the squad in my opinion always looks to be one injury away from disaster which is kind of way I’ve ranked them down in the ladder. 

With the club actually returning back home to Wellington. Maybe the fan's at the stadium could motivate them to climb the ladder. However, I just don't think it'll happen. As I said, they're a dark horse in this league.

10^th – Perth Glory
Last season, Perth Glory had a season they would want to forget as with the whole COVID isolation scenario taking a massive toll on the squad and the signing of Daniel Sturridge arguably being one of the biggest flop signings in the history of the A-League.

However, this season the issue the squad will be facing is they’ll be playing their first 5 games away and they’ll be playing at Macedonia Park which is their temporary home stadium while HBF Park gets upgraded.

The club have also gone with Ruben Zadkovich to make the role has the head manager of the squad which could be a big gamble as he had little to no experience at all. However, Zadkovich has years of experience playing in the A-League so that could signify he may know what is needed to have a good quality squad to maybe get themselves back into some final series contention. Zadkovich has done that with 14 players departing and 12 players being recruited.

Zadkovich has gone and recruited some decent players with some looking to prove their fight to be in the starting XI squad. Players such as Matt Hatch who barely got game time at Central Coast Mariners and Stefan Colakovski who also was mainly playing off the bench at Melbourne City. Zadkovich has also done well recruiting foreign players such as Mark Beevers (who was previously playing for English club Peterborough United) and Aaron McEneff (previously playing for the Scottish club Hearts FC) that look good on paper. Plus, Israeli striker Ben Azubel who had 16 goals in 31 games last season. If Azubel repeats this same performance for Perth Glory, then they could look at being a cracking squad that could get some finals contention.

But, as I said before, the whole scenario on having a temporary home ground could impact them.

9^th – Macarthur FC
Despite recently winning the Australia Cup. I don’t think we’ll see the Macarthur FC in the final series for a second straight season in a row…and here’s why.

The club have gone and appointed former Manchester United and Sydney FC player Dwight Yorke as the manager for the upcoming season. This is Yorke’s first time being a manager and already has a trophy next to his name in the span five games.

However, the club arguably had one of the easiest runs in the Australian Cup by facing 4 NPL clubs and 1 A-League club yet Macarthur FC had the home advantage due to the club they were facing was Wellington Phoenix.

Also, there’s a big question mark regarding the signings from Macarthur FC. Daniel Arzani joins the club after having somewhat of an abysmal performance playing in Europe, he’s back to prove himself that he is an elite player and looking to earn a ticket to Qatar for the FIFA world cup. Kearyn Baccus also returns to the A-League after a stint in Africa and it’ll be interesting to see if his skills have developed.

The big question mark is on the foreign signings of Georgian striker Bachana Arabuli and Barbadian defender Mario Williams because looking at their career stats in previous seasons don’t look very impressive. Also, Ulises Davila I think will be in for a stellar season. However, if he gets injured, they’ll be crisis mode as he seems to be the playmaker for the squad.

8^th – Newcastle Jets
The Newcastle Jets last season was described by many to be playing some brilliant football. The forwards were brilliant alongside the midfield. However, it was the defence that were letting them down and that’s why they missed out on getting into the finals.

Papas has gone for a bit of a clean sweep again within the club last he did last season with 14 players leaving the club and 12 players recently being signed to the club. One of those players departing the club was Daniel Penha who was a significant signing to the Jets last season and probably the most talked about Jets player alongside Georgian striker Beka Mikeltadze who was the league’s 2^nd top goal scorer last season.

The two vital signings for this upcoming season for Newcastle Jets will be Reno Piscopo and Jaushua Sotirio who will most likely be playing on the wings and trying to assist Beka Mikeltadze on providing goals this season just like what Daniel Penha was doing. If it works out, Mikeltadze could be close on getting the golden boot this season.

Papas has also signed Brandon O’Neill from Perth Glory and Georgian defensive midfielder Beka Bartsmelia who looked to have a great season with Georgian club FC Locomotive Tbilisi and would also be looking to assist his fellow countryman Mikeltadze as well.

Despite signing English right back Carl Jenkinson has joined the Newcastle Jets and has had experience of the A-League in the past with Melbourne City. I just feel Papas needed to sign some more centre backs that would help the defence otherwise I feel it’s going to be another season where Newcastle concedes goals.

7th – Sydney FC
Sydney FC missed out on the finals football for the first time since 2016 and the fans were not impressed, they wanted him out of the club despite guiding the club to 2 championships and 1 premiership and the club provided Corica with an extension to remain the club’s head manager.

Corica has done a clean sweep at the club with 15 players gone from the club and only 5 players been signed to the club (Diego Cabello, Alex Parsons, Joe Lolley, Robert Mak and Jack Rodwell). However, Corica decided to bring in some young players by providing 5 scholarships contracts to some of the NPL academy players at Sydney (Adrian Segecic, Aaron Gurd, Jaiden Kucharski, Jake Girdwood-Reich and Corey Hollman). Even though Corica is looking to re-build the squad to get themselves back into the finals, I personally feel they won’t do it this season.

However, what I am curious to see is if some of these youth players do get some game time. They did during the Australia Cup and the squad’s performance during the Australia Cup didn’t look quite spectacular as well. Which is why I’ve placed them to miss the finals for another season.

6^th – Western United
Last year’s champions have barely changed during the off-season and looking like the same squad from last season since they only had three players depart the club (Rene Krhin, Jerry Skotadis and Ivan Vujica) and three players joining Western United (James Troisi, Jacob Tratt and Tongo Doumbia).

However, they are dealing with a lot of shambles since their main striker from last season Aleksandar Prijovic wants to be released by the club and head back to Europe. It seems they’ll be relying on Dylan Wenzel-Halls to be their main striker and I can’t see him providing as many goals like Prijovic did. They’ve also signed James Troisi who had a mediocre spell at the Western Sydney Wanderers and will be looking to make himself a big name again.

Even though Western United have some great defenders such as Leo Lacroix who was probably the centre of the year last season. I just can’t see this squad positioning high on the ladder. Unless the whole Prijovic saga gets resolved or he gets released and they sign someone equivalent to him.

5^th – Melbourne City
I’ve lost count how many times I’ve changed where Melbourne City is going to finish on the ladder. But I feel around 5^th place would be the safest prediction and I have based this off their Australia Cup run and their results in the pre-season and they the squad line-ups in the game look to the squad that Patrick Kisnorbo will most likely use for this upcoming season.

Kisnorbo has brought in some good quality signings with Finnish International Thomas Lam looking to look to strengthen City’s defence and Kosovan international Varon Berisha also looking like a great signing as well.

If the squad can eventually adapt to each other and change their results compared to what has been seen during their pre-season and Australia Cup run, they could climb the ladder.

4^th – Melbourne Victory
Originally, about a month ago, if you had asked me where I think Victory will finish on the ladder, I would have said “first”. But after their recent pre-season matches, I’ve made them slip down the ladder to 4^th after seeing some results in their pre-season and that Australia Cup performance didn’t help as well.

The talking point of course for the Victory is will Nani be the biggest foreign signing this season and I feel he’ll be very close to it. But football isn’t a one man’s squad and Popovic has gone to signs some other great players that is looking to be a decent squad yet again.

Even the signing of Paul Izzo to replace Ivan Kelava is a bit significant upgrade as Kelava consistency wasn’t very good.

Overall, without a doubt, I do think Victory will be in the top 6.

3^rd – Western Sydney Wanderers
Six years…six dreadful years from the Wanderers. It needs to stop, and the question is “will Mark Rudan end the drought”

Once again, the Wanderers squad has gone through clean sweep which happens each year as player were signed by former Wanderers manager Carl Robinson’s have most likely departed the club. Rudan has rebuilt the squad that on paper look good with signings like Lawrence Thomas, Marcelo Guedes, Gabriel Cleur, Oliver Bozanic, Romain Amalfitano, Yengi Ngbakoto, Kusini Yengi, Brandon Borello and Sulejman Krpic. The issue is A-League have said the same thing just about every year in the past and yet the Wanderers provide disappointed by slipping down the ladder and miss out of finals.

Rudan’s history looks somewhat great as every club he has been signed to, he has managed to get the squad into the final series on the maiden. Do I think it’ll happen. Yes, I will.

There’s four players that’ll need to stand out at the Wanderers.

The first one is of course Milos Ninkovic The 37-year-old (38 in December) had a disappointing final season with Sydney FC and struggled to keep fit. While his fitness may not what it used to be, he needs to provide many assists and goals to prove that Sydney FC may have made the mistake to let him depart the club.

Sulejman Krpic is another player that’ll be pressured as the club hasn’t had a quality striker since Oriol Riera who provided 15 goals in the 17-18 season. Krpic’s season last year at FK Tulza City is a prime example on what the club is needing as Krpic did 14 goals in 30 games. If he doesn’t provide the goals, then Rudan will be relying on Yengi to provide the goals. However, if Krpic provides goals and then Yengi coming off the bench and provide more, the Wanderers will look like a brutal team upfront.

Third player is Yeni Ngbakoto, he looks like the player that looks to provide some additional goals and provide some assists. I personally feel him and Borello will work well as the wingers for the club.

The fourth player that’ll need to stand out is the recently appointed captain, Marcelo Guedes. He’ll look to prove that he deserved to be captain and will looking to guide the squad to being a dominant looking squad and I feel not only does the fan want to the see it happen. The whole A-League community wants to see it happen.

2^nd – Central Coast Mariners
Despite losing some big names like Lewis Miller, Noah Smith, Oliver Bozanic, Matt Hatch, Kye Rowles, Mark Birighitti and Marco Urena. Plus, they’ll be losing Garang Kuol mid-season as he’ll be off to Newcastle United. However, Nick Montgomery has recruited some quality players like veteran goalkeeper Danny Vukovic who is a significant replacement as the first-choice goalkeeper.

The likes of Paul Ayongo and Jason Cummings upfront will be providing the goals. Cummings was a mid-season transfer last season for the Mariners and provided 10 goals in 20 games. Plus, 6 assists. Statistics like this just makes you wonder how many goals will be provide this season and surely, he would be a contender for the golden boot.

Montgomery has also youngsters from the Wanderers Thomas Aqulina and Nectarios Triantis. While Aqulina struggled to be in the starting XI at the Wanderers, he should show he is a vital loss for the Wanderers while at the Mariners. Triantis in my opinion will be a big name at the Mariners that’s if he gets any game time. The youngster was the third top goal scorer at one stage for the NPL Wanderers squad…and he’s a centre back. So, it’ll be interesting to see if he’ll provide the same quality performance at the Mariners.

They have also been playing super well during the pre-season. It’s just unfortunately they lost to Sydney FC in penalties during the Australia Cup tie.

I honestly think the Mariners are in for a good season and will most likely want to provide a good performance before Garang Kuol departs to Newcastle United.

1^st – Adelaide United
Adelaide United last season looked unfortunate to be knocked out during the quarterfinals as they looked to be the better side.

Even though Adelaide have lost 9 players and only signed 3. I feel they’ll be the team to finish 1^st and win the premiership. However, will they win the championship? I don’t know.

 While Carl Veart has struggled to find new signings, he has managed to get contract extensions to those vital players within the squad. Harry van der Saag, Ben Warland and Ben Halloran are signed to the club and I feel they are three good signings made by Veart.

The main signing was Craig Goodwin signing a permanent contract who was on loan at the club. However, it’s the likes of Adelaide United’s youth players that I feel will guide Adelaide to being an unstoppable club.

I also feel Hiroshi Ibusuki will show he was a significant signing for Adelaide United. He was a mid-season signing last year and had 6 goals in 18 games. It makes you wonder he could score for this upcoming season. I really think he'll be in the double figures range.

Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23
There’s three teams I feel that could win it:

- Central Coast Mariners
- Adelaide United
- Melbourne City.

Of course, I would like to see the Wanderers win it. But I don’t think Mark Rudan may not have the squad to win this season. Also, I have placed Melbourne City at 5^th in the ladder just based off their performances recently in the pre-season and also in the Australia Cup. However, if they pick up their performance then you can’t cross them off from not winning another championship.

Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?
I feel Jason Cummings will win it.

There are some others that could win it as well. Of course, Jamie MacLaren would be another favourite. However, it would be nice to see someone else win it for this upcoming season. Beka Mikeltadze is another player that could take it as well as he was the second top goal scorer in the league last season.

Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23
Personally, I would love to see Oliver Bozanic win it if I had to pick a Wanderers player. However, if I had to pick a player from some other club. There’s three that come into mind. Nani, Craig Goodwin and Reno Piscopo.

Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?
If I had to pick someone from the Wanderers, I’ll go with Zac Sapsford. However, I think Marco Tilio or Nestory Irakunda will win it.

WSW player of the year?
I’m gonna go with Oliver Bozanic. There’s something about him that makes me think he’s going to be having a great season at the Wanderers and potentially be a captain.

Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?
Yes. I personally feel if Corica doesn’t get Sydney FC into the finals, he’ll get sacked. Another manager that could be on the chopping block is Patrick Kisnorbo. If City perform how they have been lately, I don’t think Kisnorbo will keep his role much longer.

Who will be the best foreign players?
I’m really hoping all four Wanderers new signings (Ngbakoto, Kpric, Marcelo and Amalfitano) all perform well. As for other clubs, I think Hiroshi Ibusuki will provide heaps of goals for Adelaide United. If Davila stays fit, he’ll be in for a stellar season. I personally think Thomas Lam will be a great signing for Melbourne City, and Leo Lacroix will look to be the best defender in the league.

Currently, I’m 50/50 on Nani

Which foreign players you think will flop?
Mario Williams. There’s just something about him that makes me feel he won’t be a good signing from Dwight Yorke, and I think Diego Caballo will be a disappointing signing for Sydney FC.

Any random/bold predictions? 

• Adelaide United's Nestory Irankunda will follow the footsteps of Garang Kuol and will be signed to an English Premier League club
• Warren Moon will be sacked during the season. 
• Charlie Austin will only provide around 5-7 goals all season
• After poor attendances at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Roar will play all their fixtures in the future at Moreton Daily Stadium
• Dwight Yorke will depart from Macarthur FC at the end of the season after getting offers at clubs in England.
• Macarthur FC's highest attendance will still be around 5,000 
• Perth Glory will announce that they'll play all their home games at Macedonia Park due to construction at HBF Park will not be completed in time
• Sydney FC will announced they have dropped "The Star Casino" as their main sponsor during the season after the issues the casino is currently dealing with
• The first Sydney derby at Allianz Stadium will be sold out.
• Jack Rodwell will be dealing with injuries again like last season. He'll only play around 12 games all season.
• Wellington Phoenix will announce Wollongong Wolves as a 'feeder club' due to their ongoing partnership they had with them during the COVID pandemic.
• Western United's Alexander Prijovic won't play a game at all this season and will sit out until his contract ends.
• Rhys Williams plays 2 or 3 more games and then retires at the end of the season.
• Zac Sapsford has a stellar debut season and earns a spot in the senior squad off the bench.
• The FFA start talks of either expanding the league from 12 teams to 16 teams by 2026 or talks of having a second division with 12 teams by 2025.

Edited October 3, 2022 by MathyouWSW

[mack]

What will the ladder look like at the end of the regular season?

1. City
2. WU
3. Victory
4. Adelaide
5. Macarthur
6. Mariners
7. WSW
8. Smurfs
9. Brisbane
10. Nix
11. Perth
12. Newcastle

Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23

Victory

Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?

Maclaren

Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23

Florin Berenguer

Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?

Jacob Farrell

WSW player of the year?

Lawrence Thomas

Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?

Warren Moon. Papas might be in trouble if the club is finally sold off and they're not doing well at the time. Talay might make it to the end of the season but get let go after the final round.

Who will be the best foreign players?

Davila, Marco Tulio, Charlie Austin, Cummings, Vander Venne, Berisha

Which foreign players you think will flop?

The ones at the Jets & Perth. And if we go on our clubs history of scouting ability, all of ours.

Any random/bold predictions?
A keeper will score a goal during the season.

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

- What will the ladder look like at the end of the regular season?  

1st place at the top, 12th place at the bottom

- Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23

Melbourne City

- Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?

Jamie Mclaren

- Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23

Jake Brimmer again, should he not leave in january

- Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?

Mo Toure

- WSW player of the year?

- Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?

Yes. Moon will go. Hopefully Rudan will go.

- Who will be the best foreign players?

Not those at Wanderers

- Which foreign players you think will flop?

Those at wanderers because the club has that effect on players

- Any random/bold predictions? 

A certain player will get public support from the club instead of being sacked due to their heinous actions.

Edited October 4, 2022 by theguyyouwishyouwere
because i wanted to

[MathyouWSW]

1 hour ago, theguyyouwishyouwere said:

- What will the ladder look like at the end of the regular season?  

1st place at the top, 12th place at the bottom

[Sithslayer1991]

- What will the ladder look like at the end of the regular season?  

Victory and City at the top. After that looks very interesting.

Mariners and Adelaide should be around 3rd and 4th. Hard to pinpoint us not being able to where we play so I say alongside Wanderers, Macarthur, the Nix and Western United for 5th and 6th.

I think Roar and Jets to finish last

- Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23

I think it might be Victory, strong team especially if Brimmer sticks around and strong forward line with Ikonomidis, Folami, D'agostino and of course Nani

- Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?

Cumdog will skin everyone. 20+ goals.

- Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23

Ikonomidis I feel like he might have a big season.

- Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?

Someone from the Mariners maybe the 3rd brother Kuol

- WSW player of the year?

Yengi (fingers crossed)

- Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?

Corica. Most pressure of all the clubs if his team fails to fire he is gone.

- Who will be the best foreign players?

Marcelo fingers crossed he will be the best defender we have seen since the days of Spiranovic, Alberto and NTS.

- Which foreign players you think will flop?

Rodwell. Nothing against the bloke but I see his body breaking down yet again at some point with Sydney FC

- Any random/bold predictions? 

I reckon Mariners or Nix to be dark horses come finals.

[StringerBellend]

17 hours ago, mack said:

What will the ladder look like at the end of the regular season?

1. City
2. WU
3. Victory
4. Adelaide
5. Macarthur
6. Mariners
7. WSW
8. Smurfs
9. Brisbane
10. Nix
11. Perth
12. Newcastle

Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23

Victory

Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?

Maclaren

Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23

Florin Berenguer

Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?

Jacob Farrell

WSW player of the year?

Lawrence Thomas

Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?

Warren Moon. Papas might be in trouble if the club is finally sold off and they're not doing well at the time. Talay might make it to the end of the season but get let go after the final round.

Who will be the best foreign players?

Davila, Marco Tulio, Charlie Austin, Cummings, Vander Venne, Berisha

Which foreign players you think will flop?

The ones at the Jets & Perth. And if we go on our clubs history of scouting ability, all of ours.

Any random/bold predictions?
A keeper will score a goal during the season.

If WSW finish 7th then you can add Rudan to sacked manager list

[Smoggy]

I have us in 9th place.

[StringerBellend]

33 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

I have us in 9th place.

Ever the optimist

Edited October 4, 2022 by StringerBellend

[sonar]

20 hours ago, MathyouWSW said:

- Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23

Wanderers

- Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?

Yengi

- Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23

Marcelo

- Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?

Lopane

- WSW player of the year?

Traore

- Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?

Rudan

- Who will be the best foreign players?

Ninkovic

- Which foreign players you think will flop?

All of them bar ours.

 

 

 

[mack]

1 hour ago, Smoggy said:

I have us in 9th place.

It'll be nice to reverse the "drop one place every season" problem.

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

12 hours ago, mack said:

It'll be nice to reverse the "drop one place every season" problem.

can we wait until our next manager for that to start

[StringerBellend]

Predictions

Ninkovic will be sexual for us

We will get badly shafted by a referee in the Allianz derby

Unlimited won't get his end away

We will make the top 4

Rudan will go mental at somepoint in a press conference

One club probably Brisbane Roar or Macarthur Bulls end up getting taken over by the APL by the end of the season 

Joshua Sotirio will score against us 

[Smoggy]

16 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Predictions

Ninkovic will be sexual for us

We will get badly shafted by a referee in the Allianz derby

Unlimited won't get his end away

We will make the top 4

Rudan will go mental at somepoint in a press conference

One club probably Brisbane Roar or Macarthur Bulls end up getting taken over by the APL by the end of the season 

Joshua Sotirio will score against us 

One of those is a deadset certainty….

[MathyouWSW]

1 hour ago, StringerBellend said:

Joshua Sotirio will score against us 

Oh geez. I could see that happening.

He scores at the goals the active bay is behind at Commbank and then does the "I can't hear you" gesture.

He'll probably get more bottles pelted at him at for doing that than what Toure got during the Australia Cup final.

[MartinTyler]

15 minutes ago, MathyouWSW said:

Oh geez. I could see that happening.

He scores at the goals the active bay is behind at Commbank and then does the "I can't hear you" gesture.

He'll probably get more bottles pelted at him at for doing that than what Toure got during the Australia Cup final.

Our man Yengi's good at that stuff....be nice if he did it in front of the Cove in November

[StringerBellend]

2 hours ago, MartinTyler said:

Our man Yengi's good at that stuff....be nice if he did it in front of the Cove in November

Be better if Ninko scores then shows his arse to the Cove 

[MartinTyler]

11 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Be better if Ninko scores then shows his arse to the Cove 

2-0 then 

[MathyouWSW]

Alright, I guess it's time to 'dust the cobwebs off' this post, bump it and see how good (or bad) the predictions went. 

Start off with the ladder predictions:

12th - Macarthur FC (Predicted: 9th) 
11th - Melbourne Victory (Predicted: 4th)
10th - Newcastle Jets (Predicted: 8th)
9th - Perth Glory (Predicted: 10th)
8th - Brisbane Roar (Predicted: 12th)
7th - Western United (Predicted: 6th)
6th - Wellington Phoenix (Predicted 11th)
5th - Sydney FC (Predicted: 7th)
4th - Western Sydney Wanderers (Predicted: 3rd)
3rd - Adelaide United (Predicted: 1st)
2nd - Central Coast Mariners (Predicted: 2nd)
1st - Melbourne City (Predicted: 5th)

Who will win be crowned the A-League champions for 2022-23
Central Coast Mariners (Predicted: Central Coast Mariners, Adelaide United or Melbourne City) 

As mentioned above, the Mariners, United and City were competitive squads so I knew one of these clubs was going to win the championship.

Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?
Jamie MacLaren (Predicted: Jason Cummings) 

It would of been nice to see someone else win it but MacLaren just knows how to score, simple as that.

Who will win the Johnny Warren Medal in 2022-23
Craig Goodwin (Predicted: Nani, Craig Goodwin, Reno Piscopo) 

Another very predictable winner here.

Who will win the A-League Men Young Footballer of the Year for 2022-23?
Jordan Bos (Predicted: Marco Tilio or Nestory Irakunda) 

Bos had an outstanding season and I don't think I knew leading up to the start of the season. He's the type of young player that every club wish to hope for which is have an astounding season in the A-League but only be to signed by an overseas club with a transfer fee. Anyway, I wish him all the best in Belgium. 

WSW player of the year?
Brandon Borello (Predicted: Oliver Bozanic) 

Borello has been a great signing to the club. Bozanic looked to be a great signing at first but he's been quite average this season.

Will we see a manager get sacked? If so, who?
Yes, Warren Moon (Predicted: Warren Moon, Patrick Kisnorbo)

Moon being sacked was so predictable. Kisnorbo was sort of a bold prediction.

Which foreign players you think will flop?
Predicted: Mario Williams

The guy didn't even turn up at Macarthur FC at all so would you classify it as a flop? You be the judge:

Any random/bold predictions? 
- Adelaide United's Nestory Irankunda will follow the footsteps of Garang Kuol and will be signed to an English Premier League club
It might not happen this season despite there's rumours he's been looked at by clubs from Germany, Italy and England.

- Warren Moon will be sacked during the season. 
It was so predictable that I predicted it twice.

- Charlie Austin will only provide around 5-7 goals all season
I'm not counting his FFA/Australia Cup goals. So, he did 2 goals in 7 games. Makes you wonder how many more he could of done if he was still at the club. 

- After poor attendances at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Roar will play all their fixtures in the future at Moreton Daily Stadium.
Seems like I was incorrect here since they are contracted to be playing at Suncorp Stadium. Plus out of the three games they played at Suncorp, they're average about 9,000 per game which is a good decent amount.

- Dwight Yorke will depart from Macarthur FC at the end of the season after getting offers at clubs in England.
Yes, he departed the club. However, I don't think he's got any offers yet.

- Macarthur FC's highest attendance will still be around 5,000 
Their average attendance is 3,514. It's utterly pathetic.

- Perth Glory will announce that they'll play all their home games at Macedonia Park due to construction at HBF Park will not be completed in time
They ended up going back to HBF Park on 10th March 2023 which saw them with a 95th goal winner against the Wanderers.
 

- Sydney FC will announced they have dropped "The Star Casino" as their main sponsor during the season after the issues the casino is currently dealing with
As far as I'm aware, The Star Casino are still sponsoring them. Hopefully, the A-League won't follow the same path as what has been done in the Premier League which is ban all gambling sites/places to be the main sponsor for a club. 

- The first Sydney derby at Allianz Stadium will be sold out
I think they almost did. 32,500 at the game.

- Jack Rodwell will be dealing with injuries again like last season. He'll only play around 12 games all season.
Close enough...he only played 10 games in the regular season (3 games in the final series).

- Wellington Phoenix will announce Wollongong Wolves as a 'feeder club' due to their ongoing partnership they had with them during the COVID pandemic.
Safe to say that's incorrect.
 

- Western United's Alexander Prijovic won't play a game at all this season and will sit out until his contract ends.
Yeah, got that wrong...played 16 games.

- Rhys Williams plays 2 or 3 more games and then retires at the end of the season.
Wrong

- Zac Sapsford has a stellar debut season and earns a spot in the senior squad off the bench.
Unfortunately, his ankle injury during the season didn't help him at all. Maybe this upcoming season might be his breakout season hopefully.

- The FFA start talks of either expanding the league from 12 teams to 16 teams by 2026 or talks of having a second division with 12 teams by 2025.
Well, this is somewhat true as the A-League will have 14 teams in the 2024-25 season and there's talks of the second division (A2 League) to happen sometime in the future.

Anyway, seems some predictions were correct. How did everyone else go?

[Edinburgh]

Well, I didn't get any wrong!

[StringerBellend]

Ok looking back on mine

 

Predictions

Ninkovic will be sexual for us

He was mostly (although not in the last game when it mattered). I'm giving this one a TRUE

 

We will get badly shafted by a referee in the Allianz derby

We bummed them senseless, and I can't remember the referee shafting us at Allianz, although he did at Parra by letting Redmayne shamelessly waste time (in both games). But lets face it we shafted ourselves in both of the Parra derbies so FALSE

 

Unlimited won't get his end away

That really was an easy one TRUE

We will make the top 4

TRUE we did

Rudan will go mental at somepoint in a press conference

TRUE I think he went a bit bonkers about Corica 

 

One club probably Brisbane Roar or Macarthur Bulls end up getting taken over by the APL by the end of the season 

FALSE - although I'm putting this in again for next year, it's so going to happen

 

Joshua Sotirio will score against us 

FALSE - I can't be bothered looking it up to confirm but I thiink I'd remember besides @mack will correct me if I'm wrong

 

 

[Wobblies]

Predictions can be very  difficult especially about the future.

I recall many years ago walking past the Clairvoyant Society office in Sydney, they had  a sign on the office door saying that they were closed due to unforseen circumstances.

[MartinTyler]

13 hours ago, MathyouWSW said:

Who will be 2022-23 Golden Boot Winner?
Jamie MacLaren (Predicted: Jason Cummings) 

It would of been nice to see someone else win it but MacLaren just knows how to score, simple as that.
 

City could have done with that Maclaren last Saturday 

[Unlimited]

9 hours ago, StringerBellend said:

Ok looking back on mine

 

Unlimited won't get his end away

That really was an easy one TRUE