New Year Spirit Not Enough To Overcome Macarthur

[mack]

New Year's Day 2025 saw the Western Sydney Wanderers host Macarthur FC in the first of three West Sydney derbies for the season, the match was a 3-2 goal-fest with a red card to Wanderers defender Alex Bonetig that set the stage for the visitors to take a 3-1 win back down the highway to Campbelltown.

Alen Stajcic was suspended after the ludicrous red card given against Adelaide. Dylan Scicluna missed out after suffering an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury that will keep him out for the better part of a year. With load management on the mind of the club in the hot weather and short turnarounds before and after this match, Brandon Borrello and Nicolas Milanovic dropped to the bench, Juan Mata making his long awaited return to the starting lineup and Jesse Cameron made his A-League debut at right fullback for the injured Gabriel Cleur.

The first impact of the match was a crunching midfield challenge when Bozhidar Kraev reached out for the ball only to smash Valerie Germain in the foot area with his lunging studs. The yellow card was instantly flashed and many expected a VAR check, but none was forthcoming and Germain eventually got up to continue play with a free kick that was easily cleared.

In the 9th minute there was a VAR check for a handball by Oliver Jones, but the ball did in fact hit him in the legs, missing his outstretched arm that would have seen him concede a penalty and at least a yellow card. Cameron created the first opportunity of the game, with open space on the right wing he delivered a perfect low cross for Zac Sapsford but the first time shot looped high and over the bar.

Macarthur opened the score in the 13th minute, a scrappy goal after a Macarthur break was contained, they managed to find a low powered cross into the area, it bounced several times with the defence unable to fill the space on the penalty spot it left Jed Drew a clear sight on goal and his bobbling shot wasn't stopped by the diving Lawrence Thomas.

The Wanderers piled on the pressure in the 20th minute, pressing high up field to steal the ball away multiple times. The first set of chances came to Oscar Priestman who had a duo of chances blocked after some neat interchange passing, the midfield won the ball back on the edge of the area and Josh Brillante found himself in the area, leaving space on the edge of the 18 yard box where Juan Mata met Brillante's lay-off with aplomb, a perfectly executed side foot shot placed into the back of the net to open his Wanderers goal account and to level the match 1-1.

Macarthur took the lead right back as Ariath Piol torched Bonetig for pace. A simple throw in conceded by the Wanderers on half-way was taken quickly, leaving Piol to burn the central defender for pace, around the outside like a Formula 1 race car, cut inside with the threat of a penalty and potential red card hanging under Bonetig it was left to Thomas to try and stop the shot, but he went down too soon and left space over his shoulder that Piol took to score and restore Macarthur's 1 goal lead.

Minutes before the half-time break Macarthur scored their third of the evening to take a 3-1 lead into the sheds. Drew isolated Jack Clisby in a one on one, knocked it past him with a half-nutmeg that luckily broke back to the winger. Kraev and Priestman weren't close enough to get back in time as Drew cut back onto his right foot, beating Clisby all ends up once more, shooting from the edge of the area he caught Thomas flatfooted expecting a cross rather than the shot and his leap was so late the ball was already past him before his hands went up and his feet left the ground.

Jesse Cameron's debut ended after 45 minutes, the 19 year old suffering the penalty for the defensive frailty on display in the first half. He was replaced by Anthony Pantazopoulos to make his 8th A-League appearance.

5 minutes into the half and Macathur had a huge shout for a straight red card to Dean Pelekanos, as Piol made another break into the Wanderers attacking half chasing a Drew through ball, he would have been free & clear for a one on one with Thomas if not for Pelekanos reaching out for a blatant shirt pull. Pelekanos claimed he had been held onto first but the VAR review camera wasn't in place for the early stages of the collision, and what was left after made it an extremely obvious red card.

Western Sydney reacted best following the red card, despite their player disadvantage they produced a great piece of play on the right wing that Anthony Pantazopoulos finished well to score his first A-League goal, making it 2-3 and giving the Wanderers some hope. Temporary head coach Nahuel Arrarte reacted to the goal by throwing on the strike duo of Milanovic and Borrello, as Sapsford & Mata were physically spent after an hour of hard graft. Macarthur should have taken back their 2 goal lead with Marin Jakolis, a glorious chance to connect with a cut-back but he spurned the opportunity by blazing it over the bar. Kraev made his way off for Ayden Hammond, Macarthur bought on Daniel De Silva & Dean Bosnjak for Drew and Piol. 10 minutes to go and Arrarte threw his last roll of the dice, throwing on James Temelkovski for Antonsson.

The home side threw everything at Macarthur, waves of attack, multiple set pieces. In the 93rd minute Borrello won a corner that everyone including Thomas came up for, the ball was whipped to the back post and found the fluro yellow shirted keeper, he made contact but was perhaps put off by a touch in the back from another Wanderer and his header went very wide. It was the last action of the game, Macarthur took it to the corner and after 5 and a half minutes stoppage time took the three points with their 3-2 win, took 2nd place on the A-League ladder and left the Wanderers in 7th place & outside the finals race. The squad has a desperate need for reinforcement in defence otherwise the high scoring losses look set to continue in the forseeable future. 

The Wanderers next match is against Melbourne Victory, in Melbourne on Saturday the 4th of January with kick-off at 7:35PM.

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[Unlimited]

Their goals were all bullshit - pardon the pun

We had great energy but were unlucky to not get an equaliser

[Bangaverage]

Tough match, we showed some fight out there which was great. Thought the debutant was unlucky to be hooked at halftime, none of the goals where directly his fault, would of preferred Clisby to get the hook!

[WSWJACK]

We cannot forge on to the top if we keep  gifting, ( sorry don’t want to use that word) goals , we got to get more disciplined at the back, we’ve got to be cuter than this, when to attack the ball and when to shuffle and when to give it the full Monty, stop the leaks we will be okay, it’s not meant as a put down, cmon Staj & team a bit more focus and attention here, I believe it will come, I believe in you guys, that’s why I keep coming, Cmon you Wanderers😃

[FootballRelic]

It's going to be tough to finish top 6 with this defense unless the powers that be bring in a couple of quality defenders in the transfer window.

When you defend so atrociously in the first half especially. unfortunately you end up getting a result like this.

Really disappointing result at home again

[Neverbloom]

That was frustrating because we actually started to play after we got the red

[Sithslayer1991]

Its frustrating because in possession we actually getting better. But those transition counters. A simple lob over the top is all it takes to get through our defence.

Their goals are all preventable

[Unlimited]

#BringBackJeong

he is our saviour and will stabilise the defence

[Themumf79]

A commanding centre back and a full back that can actually defend are an absolute must when the January sales open. Won’t win sh*t with this back 4.

[scarcev]

Can’t fault effort when we went down to 10 but we were average before that.  
 

Send off was debatable as although clear DOGSO the attacker looked offside to me when the ball was played which would be the first offence.  

Could have been better but at least we didn’t lay down and showed plenty of ticker and if we continue to play like that will win more than we lose.  

[William]

This team can go all the way the kids will improve just get us a good centre back and I thought the biggest mistake tonight was separating  Borello Milanovic and Sapsford the bell ringers defence was woeful and we let them of the hook in the first half 

[Kotallo]

It's been the same all year - NPL level defence letting us down horrendously. Our season will be decided by the club's moves in this transfer window. 

[Benched]

I’m taking more positives than negatives out of the game. Our attacking play is actually pretty good. We open teams up easily and to be frank we should have won that but our finishing was terrible late in (fatigue) and everyone seemed to desperate to score so we had some calamitous moments. But we were still getting in scoring positions. Our discipline needs improving and game smarts reinforced. Defence is what needs work and fair dinkum Clisby has to go. No agility, slow, ponderous almost. 
But geez the team played with some ticker. 

[immortalshogun]

if any game exposed our lack of defensive depth, it was this one. Clisby should never be allowed on a pitch again after how we conceded the third goal ffs

[WSWJACK]

4 minutes ago, immortalshogun said:

if any game exposed our lack of defensive depth, it was this one. Clisby should never be allowed on a pitch again after how we conceded the third goal ffs

I was hoping improvements were in the air, but just this season’s highlights reel alone , more than a few gifts in there😕

[mack]

5 minutes ago, immortalshogun said:

if any game exposed our lack of defensive depth, it was this one. Clisby should never be allowed on a pitch again after how we conceded the third goal ffs

Clisby & Cameron might be the worst defensive duo the team has ever had at fullback. If this league was one where the owners could freely add new players from January 1, it might have been their last games in the A-League for both of them.

[immortalshogun]

Im also a huge fan of Milanovic but deadset he must be hungover from last night. How he expects to get a European move when he doesn’t track back or continuously chooses to shoot rather than lay a pass on is beyond me 

[Bangaverage]

Harsh on a 19 year old debutant playing against Jakolis with mata who doesn’t defend and a midfielder playing centre back?

[Erebus]

Clisby gets 100 crosses a game yet is still terrible at them.

[Legionista]

Top 4? Top 6?

[Davo]

I’d like to see Clisby’s pass map. I reckon his number one pass recipient would be Kurto.

[SNS100]

These young boys will learn. Showed some heart after going down to ten men. 

Playing fast and direct, with most of the team running forward, had them back foot. There is your blueprint. 

Play Pantazopoulos at left back... seriously, Clisby has can't continue to start ffs.

Milanović, for all his potential, has an attitude problem. He is the ultimate hog, more often than not. His own highlights reel seems to be his priority. Constantly ignoring the simple pass. His body language after losing the ball is poor. 

Frustrates me, because we need him firing. 

Edited January 1 by SNS100

[EmMac]

54 minutes ago, immortalshogun said:

Clisby should never be allowed on a pitch again after how we conceded the third goal ffs

Agree re Clisby. I thought he was more of a liability than young Jesse Cameron. I think the characterisation by some that he (Cameron) didn't have a good debut is a bit harsh.

[redpanther61]

Disappointed with the effort of Temelkovski when he came on in 81st min. For a young bloke he’d did a lot of walking, jogging and didn’t really chase the ball. It seems a common thread with a few in the squad.

[EmMac]

49 minutes ago, mack said:

Clisby & Cameron might be the worst defensive duo the team has ever had at fullback. If this league was one where the owners could freely add new players from January 1, it might have been their last games in the A-League for both of them.

Jaysus the lad has played one game. I think that's a bit harsh.  Clisby on the other hand

[Davo]

The red card was in the 53rd minute. In the second half we had 49% possession, had 3 shots on target to their 0, completed only 11 fewer passes, and only 2 fewer touches in the opposition penalty area.

Without the red card we get something out of that game.

[matty]

1 minute ago, Davo said:

The red card was in the 53rd minute. In the second half we had 49% possession, had 3 shots on target to their 0, completed only 11 fewer passes, and only 2 fewer touches in the opposition penalty area.

Without the red card we get something out of that game.

Not sure about that, both teams played differently after the card so we'll never know but we were very unconvincing before the red. 

[Themumf79]

2 minutes ago, redpanther61 said:

Disappointed with the effort of Temelkovski when he came on in 81st min. For a young bloke he’d did a lot of walking, jogging and didn’t really chase the ball. It seems a common thread with a few in the squad.

100%. You’d think he would be desperate to make an impression but he barely touched the ball and certainly didn’t use any effort chasing it. Strange. 

[EmMac]

3 minutes ago, Davo said:

The red card was in the 53rd minute. In the second half we had 49% possession, had 3 shots on target to their 0, completed only 11 fewer passes, and only 2 fewer touches in the opposition penalty area.

Without the red card we get something out of that game.

Agreed, overall I didn't think they were much better than us.

[matty]

1 minute ago, Themumf79 said:

100%. You’d think he would be desperate to make an impression but he barely touched the ball and certainly didn’t use any effort chasing it. Strange. 

Hammond certainly understood what was required, well done lad