Peak A-League: Adelaide coach rips journalist, Wellington's incredible statistic against Victory

Kieran Francis

Peak A-League: Adelaide coach rips journalist, Wellington's incredible statistic against Victory image

Twenty goals, four points separating first and ninth, and form lines out the window?

Who says the A-League isn't one of Australia's most exciting sporting competitions?

Coach interviews were absolute fire, while Wellington got points without even having a shot.

The A-League's round four was jam packed full of weird and exciting moments.

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Who needs shots to get results?

Wellington Phoenix scored a goal and earned an excellent 1-1 draw on the road against Melbourne Victory on Friday night.

But they managed to do it without having a single shot - on target, off target or even blocked.

It was a masterful defensive performance from the Kiwis, who managed to equalise when Victory captain Damien Da Silva deflected a cross into his own net.

The Phoenix rode their luck as waves of Victory attacks came in, but surprisingly the home side failed to create many clear cut chances despite their possession advantage.

Is too much being left up to Bruno Fornaroli?

That's a problem as the Uruguayan, despite starring this season with five goals already, is 36 years old.

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Adelaide boss destroys journalist

Lucas Rinaldo won't forget this in a hurry.

The Channel 10 journalist was tasked with the job of interviewing a prickly Carl Veart after the game.

With the Reds losing 5-1 at home in Sydney, Veart was in no mood to deal with a question from Rinaldo about whether his team was missing 17-year-old Nestory Irankunda.

After giving Rinaldo a death stare, Veart retorted: "That's a silly question, he is a 17-year-old kid that's missing from a game.

"Come on, there is 11 players out there tonight."

Rinaldo was audibly shocked by the response but fair play for regaining his composure to complete the interview.

Champions told to shape up or ship out

What's it with coach interviews this weekend?

Last year's champions Central Coast Mariners are bottom of the table without a point in four games as they struggle without former coach Nick Montgomery.

At half-time with the game against Brisbane Roar evenly poised at 1-1, Mariners assistant coach Andy Bernal had a message for any of his players that were tired.

"We don't do tired at this club. If you're tired or complain, you can leave," Bernal said to Paramount+.

Questions were being asked about the suitability of new coach Mark Jackson even before the season started and the pressure is building with every poor result.

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis Photo

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.