Football Season Review

№8: Western Sydney Wanderers

Wanderers struggled for identity under new coach Markus Babbel all season and with consistency never found they logically missed out on the play-offs. The start was okay, 2 wins and 2 draws in the opening 7 rounds, but with just 2 points collected in 10 games between rounds 8 and 17 Red and Blacks lost all hope of finishing in the top 6 even before January was over. The main issues throughout the campaign were in defence with the team conceding 2 goals or more in 18 of the 27 rounds. Without a doubt excuse for that was the bad luck with injuries for German centre-back Ziegler, who was bought to be the new pillar of the back line but poor health allowed him to play in just 6 rounds. With the main right-back Risdon also missing more than half of the campaign injured, Wanderers were really out of luck and for many months 2 19-year-old players had to play far more than they or their coach expected them to. Going forward things were not too bad, with Bonevacia having very solid season, Riera again scoring 10+ goals and also the winter arrivals of Yeboah and Duke boosted the threat in attack even more. With their new stadium still under construction Wanderers struggled for identity at home as they had to move to 4-5 different venues for their games and this explains why their home record was so poor.


Player of the Season: Roly Bonevacia