Crossbar: Time for a bench swap

When you ran your eyes over the fixtures at the start of the week did you foresee that Melbourne Heart vs Adelaide on Sunday afternoon was to be the must watch game of the round? Nah, neither did we.

And did you pick that Andrea Migliorini would have the goal of the season trophy safely in his cabinet by Round Nine? We didn't either.


Where there is life there is hope and the Phoenix and Heart both got a point from their games on the weekend but miracles are needed for these clubs to make finals this season. At the other end, Brisbane are racing away and are the ones to beat. The Wanderers slipped on the Wellington banana peel on Sunday but are better than that. The next four on the table are very, very even and it will be whoever keeps their best team on the park that prospers.

Our big observation:  
People often get high scoring game and good game confused. The Melbourne Heart vs Adelaide game was a stinker for the purist, but for the casual fan I guess it was the game of the season so far. 3-3 with some cracking goals to boot.

These snuck under the Crossbar (likes) 

• 3-3 draws, we love em - great attacking football
• Our #MarinersBrassBandRequest hashtags - check it out here
• Andrea Migliorini's first goal, it wont be beaten for goal of the year, lock that one in now
• Sydney winning four in a row. It's good for the game!
• Besart Berisha, equal of any striker we've had in the league

What went over the crossbar (dislikes)

•   Mistake riddled 3-3 draws, uurrgghh
•   People on TV that hold an iPad but don't really contribute to anything
•   Nine goals in five matches, six of them in the one game. Last week we were complaining how bad A-League defences were!
•   ADP injured. What will the Sydney papers write about now??

•   Hernandez and Smeltz injured also, that's some awesome scoring power missing next week
•   Socceroos being the lowest ranked side in the World Cup

Ref Watch: Round 8
Okay, so 99% of your dislikes last year were referee related even when we said NO REFS, so we have added 'Ref Watch' this year and will try to be completely balanced in our appraisal.

Grade: C
The Penalty against Adelaide was terrible, Strebre is usually better than that. Mitch Nichols called offside on Friday cost Victory, please just pay benefit of doubt.

Our Tweet of the Week

Go on then: #MarinersBrassBandRequests, courtesy of @TheCONDO. #CCMvMVC
— The Football Sack (@TheFootballSack) November 29, 2013

Your Tweet of the Week

@SaintFrankly it's Mrda on the dance floor #MarinersBrassBandRequests
— Damian Glass (@DGlass_official) November 29, 2013

These players have played for both teams 

In this week's fixtures there are a few players that have graced the stage for both teams playing in the match. Here they are:

Sergio Van Dijk in Reds vs Roar
Best known for: Scoring heaps of goals, golden boot winner 10/11

Shane Smeltz in Glory vs Phoenix
Best known for: Goals

Dean Heffernan in Wanderers vs Heart
Best known for: Being a solid A-League left back

Noel Spencer in Mariners vs Sydney
Best known for: Being the Mariners 1st captain

Kaz Patafta in Victory vs Jets
Best known for: Playing junior football at Benfica and being the next big thing, coming home and doing Ziltch!

Last week's predictions
• Harry Kewell to finally return for Melbourne Heart scoring a Hat Trick and prompting the #Kewell4Rio hashtag - I'm convinced he has got the worst case of gout ever recorded. Melbourne Heart have done well to keep it under wraps
• Adam Taggart to be the first to score Back-to-Back A-League Hat tricks. - NO
• Phil Moss to make keep his 100% winning record as a coach in tact. - Well he didn't lose

Next week's predictions 
• Harry Kewell to announce his retirement
• Besart Berisha, being out of the headlines for so long, will do something drasti
• Someone will pull out how long in distance it is between Perth and Wellington before someone else pulls out that there is some Russian 4th division team that travels further
• John Aloisi will get the sack at half time of the WSW vs Heart game and Ante Milicic will just switch benches as he takes over