Match preview against Wellington and Jelic's words

Good morning all, welcome to the blog.

It's gameday, and with the action coming Wellington today, it means we only have to wait a few hours for a 12 o'clock kick-off.

On the other hand, it also means we have to deal with the New Zealand commenators, who would be front-runners for the 'worst football commenators in the world' award - if one were to actually exist.

Meanwhile, with Melbourne Victory and Sydney slipping up in yesterday's game, today is a good chance for Perth Glory to remain in touch with the top of the table.

Though it's going to be tough. Just a bit of late knews, before the preview post for today's game:


---> SPORTAL'S Paul Barbieri, arguably the workhorse of sport's journalism in this state, had a midweek interview with FP's favourite player Branko Jelic.

Apparently Jelic is one of the better players to be interviewed at the Glory because, according to Barbieri, he actually tries to come up with some senisble, well-thought out responses.

Here's some of those quotes from their interview:

I'm new here, but Melbourne and Sydney, I think they've had more time together.

We need a little bit more time to make good relationships between us on the field because the atmosphere is very good between players.

I think we play well and generally I believe that we have quality and I know that we have the quality to catch them before the season finishes.

We have a lot of experienced players and I think we don't need too much time but maybe a little bit more.

That's been a familar line this season, with more occurances of the dreaded G-word then FP would like. Hopefully, the time when everything starts to click comes very very soon.


---> MATCH PREVIEW: Wellington Phoneix vs Perth Glory, Westpac Stadium, Wellington. Kick off: 12pm WST.

SO with about 5,000-odd kilometres behind them, Perth Glory are underdogs for the game against Wellington Phoenix.

The current form between the two sides couldn't me any more different. Glory have lost their last three games, oddly enough by the same margin 2-1, the latest against Melbourne Victory last Sunday.

Meanwhile, Phoenix are in pretty decent form, especially at home, with nine goals in the last two home games, with the 3-0 win over Newcastle their latest conquest on midweek.

In team news, the Phoenix have included six new players into the match-day squad (Mark Paston, Diego, Michael Farrante, Jiang Chen, David Mulligan and Marco Rojas).

Though with the limited amount of players A-League teams are allowed on the bench, it's probably a way the Phoenix can have some flexibility.

For the Glory, the official team lists were released just before the news that Jamie Coyne will not play with a thigh injury.

Victor Sikora is still out with that hamstring injury, but FP's fox-in-the-box Branko Jelic will return from illness.

With all that in mind, this is how the Glory should line-up:

Velaphi

Neville ------ Todd --- C Coyne ---- Sekulovski

Pellegrino ---- Burns (c) --- Srhoj ------ Howarth

Sterjovski ----- Jelic

Bench: Vrteski, Bulloch, Jukic, Dadi

FP would shunt Jelic straight into the first team, but don't be surprised if Eugene Dadi starts and Jelic makes a second-half appearance, considering he is short on match fitness.

Young striker Ludovic Boi has also been named in the squad, but with Mitchell saying Dadi "had a good game" last week, you'd have to expect him to sit on the pine pony of the pine pony.

Now to that time of the week, FP's match prediction:

Wellington Phoenix 2 - Perth Glory 1: Even though Wellington had a mid-week clash, the fact that it was at home should mitigate it, and they should defeat Glory in front of their home crowd.

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Well that's all from FP. Good luck to the Glory today. Remember if you're not keen on watching the game on the couch, then come and watch the game at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow.

FP will be around in the dining room, probably enjoying some lunch while watching the game. Review of the game and other half-interesting points to come in tomorrow's blog. After that we move into uncharted territory - the dreaded 'Interlull'.

Until then.

Clarification: In yesterday's blog FP wrote, somewhat flippantly, that Con Boutsianis had hired a writer to help him compile his autobiography.

However, the writer has let FP know that he has hasn't been hired per se, but: "We're in a 50/50 partnership, we'll share whatever comes in (whether it's $100 to put behind the bar, or decent money to pay some bills)."

In all fairness, the writer didn't demand this to be pointed out but FP thought that it better that it was clarified.