An A-league based socceroos squad.

So far from the two games Australia has played in Asian Cup qualifying using a A-league based squad only one point has been gained. In the last Asian Cup qualifier Australia played against Kuwait the starting 11 were Craig Moore, Archie Thompson, Matt Mckay, Paul Reid, Matt Simon, Rodrigo Vargas, Eugene Galekovic, Tom Pondeljak, Matt Thompson, Anthony Zullo and Daniel Mullen.

However during this A-league preseason various clubs have signed regular socceroos, semi regular socceroos and fringe socceroos and if you were to now chose a socceroos starting 11 just from A-league players it would look quite different.

GK Eugene Galekovic would keep his position as the starting goalkeeper.

RB Daniel Mullen would keep his position at right back.

CB Craig Moore would keep his position at centre back.

CB Chris Coyne. Semi regular socceroo has returned to the A-league after spending most of his career in the lower leagues of English football.

LB Shane Stefanutto. Although he has only the two appearances for the socceroos, he has been involved in many more socceroos squads over the years.

CDM Jacob Burns. Fringe socceroo has come back to the A-league after spending the last three seasons playing in Romania.

RM Mile Sterjovski although playing as a striker for Perth, Sterjovski has spent long periods of his playing as a right-midfielder.

LM Michael Zullo would keep his position at left midfield.

CAM Jason Culina has already shown his quality in the A-league with his precise passing and intelligent movement.

FOW Joel Porter although yet to score in the A-league for the Gold Coast, Porter has linked well with Jason Culina at Gold Coast.

FOW John Aloisi. After scoring only two goals in the all of last season Aloisi has already equaled that mark this season after only three games.

Team selections of the Victory

Although coaches know more about football then the typical fan, they don't always make the right decisions. As Melbourne Victory's starting 11 was named on the big screen at Etihad stadium last Saturday night, as the talk from Victory's training during the week had suggested Ernie Merrick had named Matthew Kemp the right back to play at center back and Nick Ward the attacking midfielder to play at right back. After the seeing the Victory's team lineup to face the Brisbane Roar a lot of Melbourne fans were fearing this was another case of a coach making the wrong decision in this case in regards to team selection. By half time Melbourne's fans fears had come to fruition with the score 3-1 in the Brisbane Roar's favour.

With all three of Brisbane's goals coming from Melbourne's right hand side of defence most of the blame had to be attributed to Ernie Merrick's team selections of starting Kemp and Ward out of position. Another factor which you would of thought prevented Kemp being played used in the middle of defence, is that Melbourne play with a narrow midfield and rely on their full backs to provide the width. Since Kemp come to the club he has been the best full back at providing width for the Victory. In the first half Ward did an admirable job of providing the width but didn't appear to know how to prevent his flank from being exposed when ever he pushed up. When in the second half Ward was subbed off and Kemp was moved to his usual right back position Melbourne played much better and didn't concede another goal. Although to be fair Billy Celeski coming off the bench for Melbourne and Brisbane being forced to substitute Danny Tiatto off just before half time also contributed to Melbourne's better second half showing and Brisbane's inability to influence the game as much as in the second half as they had in the first.

The match against Brisbane wasn't the first time this season that the Melbourne fans believed Ernie Merrick had made a mistake in team selection. In the first match of the season against the Central Coast also at Etihad stadium Ernie picked two defensive midfielders in Grant Brebner and Leigh Broxham, especially against the Central Coast who appeared to be one of weaker teams for the 09/10 season and were known for their defensive game especially when playing away from home. After 15 minutes of the match Melbourne were two goals down and having two defensive midfielders on the pitch didn't help in the Victory's push for a goal to get back in the game.

So after two rounds of the season Melbourne Victory has already been hampered by two cases of poor team selection by it's coach. Hopefully this won't be the case for the North Queensland Fury match this week and the signs during the week have been positive in this regard. Early in the week the talk from training was that Ernie Merrick had realised it was best to play actual centre backs in the centre back position and that centre back Steven Pace was being prepared for the Fury match. Then yesterday the news got even better regarding the Victory and centre backs when it was announced center back Adrian Leijer had rejoined the club after spending the last two seasons in Fulhams reserves. This move will permanently solve Melbourne's center backs problems for this season. Finally Celeski is now able to start matches and this should see either Broxam or Brebner or even both starting matches on the bench from now on.

EPL 09/10 season predications Part 2

With less then a day until the new EPL season here's the second part of my predication's...

Pushing for Europe

West Ham. This will be Gianfranco Zola's first full season in charge of West Ham after he was brought in to replace Alan Curbishley last season. If West Ham suffer less injuries then the previous season, with their attractive style of play they should just finish in the the top half of the table.

Fulham. Had their best ever season last season by finishing seventh. Fulham have not lost any of their important players however they also haven't made any big signings. This will make it hard for Fulham to match the previous seasons effort.

Aston Villa. For most of last season looked like they were going to break into the top four but faded late to miss out. Will likely slide down the table this season and possibly miss out on Europa league qualification after losing important players from their spine such as midfielder Gareth Barry and center-back Martin Laursen.

Europa League qualifications

Tottenham Hotspur. After being brought in last season to save Tottenham from relegation last season, Harry Rednapp will hope to push Tottenham up the table with a whole season in charge. With a couple of useful additions in Peter Crouch and Sebastien Bassong Tottenham should qualify for Europe.

Everton. Although Everton haven't made any big signings they haven't lost any of their quality players. Everton should once again be able to finish in a Europa League place.

Manchester City. Manchester City have spent big in the transfer window to try to push their way into the top four. They should push Arsenal all the way for fourth position but the lack of quality and depth of defenders should see them fall just short.

Top four

Arsenal. Should be able to do just enough to remain in the top four even those they lost striker Emmanuel Adebayor and centre back Kolo Toure to their main rivals for the final champions league position. Arsenal's lack of a top class centre or centre defensive midfielder should prevent them from making a genuine claim for the title this season.

Manchester Untied. During the transfer window Manchester have lost Ronaldo to Real Madrid and fan favourite Carlos Tevez to local rivals Manchester City. As replacements Manchester Untied have brought in Antonio Valencia who although good is not in the same class as Ronaldo and injury prone Michael Owen for Tevez. This should see Manchester slip down to third position.

Liverpool. With Ronaldo going to Real Madrid, Liverpool now have arguably the two best players in the EPL in Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and Liverpool will be hoping they can play together more then 14 times this season. However this will still probably not be enough for Liverpool to win the league.

Chelsea. Have not lost any important players in the off season and look to have the most quality and best depth for their squad of any club in the EPL this season. Chelsea's only worry will be about how quickly new Italian manger Carlo Ancelotti can adjust to the EPL.

EPL 09/10 season predications Part 1

With just over a week to go to the new English Premier League season here are my predication's for where the teams will finish, starting with the...

Relegation candidates

Burnley. Newly promoted Burnley, have not signed enough players of premier league quality in the transfer window to stop themselves getting relegated after just one season in the top division.

Wolverhampton. Another promoted team the wolves, like Burnley look to have a lack of players of premier league quality in their squad to avoid the club from suffering automatic relegation.

Portsmouth. Since their victory in 2008 FA Cup a lot of quality players have left pompey, tall striker Peter Crouch is just the latest with not many new players being brought in to replace them. This coupled with a small squad should see Portsmouth relegated.

Clubs that will just escape the drop.

Hull. Just survived the drop last season and should do just enough to survive the drop once again. New signing young gun USA striker Jozy Altidore should help them be more clinical in front of goal this season.

Wigan. In the last six months Wigan have lost important players Wilson Palacios and Antonio Valencia and it's doubtful if the players brought in to replace them are of the same quality. Young up and coming manager Roberto Martinez will have a difficult first season in charge of Wigan.

Birmingham City, are the third of the promoted teams. Compared to the other promoted teams Birmingham have a bit more quality across the field and have made a couple of quality signings. Birmingham should enjoy a successful first season back in the EPL and avoid automatic relegation.

Mid table mediocrity.

Stoke City. Stoke surprised many by staying in the top flight last season and shouldn't suffer any second season blues. Stoke have been able to keep their squad together and should have a mid table finish.

Bolton. During the pre season Bolton have been able to make some useful signings with out losing any important players. This should enable Bolton to have a comfortable season finishing mid table.

Blackburn. After having a poor season last season, experienced premier league manager Sam Allardyce has made some useful additions to the squad. This should see Blackburn finish the season in mid table mediocrity.

Sunderland. Sunderland have a new manager in Steve Bruce, and strengthened all areas of their squads with some handy signings. However even with the new additions Sunderland will probably struggle to finish in the top half of the table.