Far Post Perth News & Views

Three bold questions as Victory roll into town

The upswing in performance at home couldn’t be translated on the road last weekend but the Glory still managed to walk away with a point from their trip to Newcastle, drawing 2-2 against the Jets for the sixth time in seven.

Four January signings made their debuts, including Lachie Wales who scored the final goal of the game from close range in the 84th minute.

Tonight they get to play in front of a home crowd for the first time, with the out-of-sorts Melbourne Victory travelling over after a much-needed win in the Big Blue.

Can Victory continue to play themselves back into form, or will the Glory keep up their strong showings at home as of late? Here are the big questions:

Bruno’s back. Will he haunt his former side?

It’s been over two years since his sudden departure, but remarkably tonight could be the first time we see Bruno Fornaroli at HBF Park since exiting Perth.

The veteran has a habit of scoring against his old teams. He did it for Glory against City at AAMI Park and at the same venue last season, he scored a brace in a 2-1 win against the Glory for the Victory.

Fornaroli has started four of the last five matches, and while he didn’t start in their last outing he did come on and score the sealer.

Starting or not, he will be a threat and an outlet when he is on the pitch. Minimising his influence will be difficult with Victory’s plethora of attacking talent.

Zinedine Machach and Fornaroli are the ones I’ll be lookingout for. Machach has torn apart the Glory midfield before and you just know Fornaroli will pounce when given the chance.

Are Anasmo and Wales the way to go on the wings?

For near on 80 minutes, the Glory were below average up against a side just above them on the table. Conceding the second goal kicked them into gear, and that’s when Lachie Wales and Joel Anasmo went to work.

It was Anasmo’s run from deep into the box and second efforts which led to the goal from Wales, coming fortuitously but he was in the right place to take advantage.

Anasmo then had a chance to win it late, taking a heavy enough touch for Ryan Scott to close down the shot in the 94th minute.

The 20-year-old has been used as an impact sub this season; in fact, 16 of his 17 appearances for Glory have been off the bench.

With Abdul Faisal, Jarrod Carluccio and Nikola Mileusnic out of the picture through exits or injury, Anasmo could lock down a spot on the left.

Two dynamic wingers to complement Adam Taggart and Jaylan Pearman creates a more formidable looking attack which should excite the fans.

It looked good against the Jets; if we see it tonight, how it fares against a stronger Victory defence will be interesting.

Predicted lineup

Taggart

Anasmo – Pearman – Wales

Pennington – Gomulka

Misao – Mourdoukoutas – Mrcela – Risdon

Sail

And for the women…

Who lifts in the absence of Cassidy?

The Glory girls pulled off a surprise win at the Sam Kerr Football Centre last Sunday, scoring in second half stoppage time to take a 3-2 win over Brisbane.

Stephen Peters’ side pressed well and were good in transition, but didn’t take some of their chances in the first half.

The only negative from the win was the early substitution of Georgia Cassidy, who pulled a quad and will be out for a decent spell of time.

Her absence leaves an onus on other midfielders to step in, and luckily there are options for the manager to choose from.

The trio of Izzy Dalton, Nat Tathem and Charli Wainwright were good against the Roar, plus there is the more attacking option of Miku Sunaga.

The team head to the capital for a clash with Canberra, a hugely important game in the hunt for finals.

Currently in eighth just above Glory, a win would put them nine points clear of Perth; a loss closes the gap down to three.

Getting a first away win of the season would be massive, and keeps the Glory well and truly in the finals race with eight games to go after this.

All images courtesy of Tom McCarthy.

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