The False 9 Rounds 13 & 14 - Game of chess at Wanderers

The on-field action in the A-League may have temporarily ceased due to the Asian Cup, but it is still going to be fascinating to see what happens at Western Sydney Wanderers over the next few weeks.

Western Sydney Wanderers defender Brendan Hamill sits on the pitch dejected after his side's Round 14 loss to Melbourne Victory. (AAP)

Players can't be moved on simply because that is what a club would prefer. If a player has a contract and he is fulfilling his contractual obligations, then he can stay and continue to collect his wages - regardless of whether he is being picked to play or not.

Vitor Saba and Seyi Adeleke are clearly out of favour at Wanderers, but for them to be prepared to leave the club there has to be significant interest in them from other clubs.

The Wanderers can't sign new players in anticipation of other players leaving. They couldn't be registered. The players would have to leave first.

It must be extremely frustrating for Saba and Adeleke, not playing, so it is reasonable to assume they would be open to alternatives.

But for the Wanderers to have a chance of signing quality replacements they needs to act during the January transfer window. The clock is ticking.

How did that feel?

Can a farewell from the club he loves get any better for a player than it did for Jeremy Brockie, who is moving on to a new phase in his career with the SuperSport United club in South Africa?

The Wellington striker was playing in front of his home crowd, which raised banners wishing him all the best, he had his two small children out on the field before the game and he scored the second goal from a penalty and the third from a smashing shot in a 3-0 win over Brisbane.

Several minutes from fulltime he was replaced, so that he could lap up the ovation as he left the field. That is, as Brockie told False 9, fairytale stuff.

"Roly (Bonevacia) had been practicing penalties all week, with 'Burnsy' (Nathan Burns) and Roy (Krishna) out, but when I was brought down in the box he knew the deal," Brockie laughed. "He handed it over and said 'all yours'. I felt like I was never going to miss.

"My second goal, I got a lovely ball from Albert (Riera) in the box and after I got a good first touch I just put the laces through it and the ball smashed into the back of the net. I knew it was going in as soon as I'd hit it.

I was bursting out of my skin after that. It was an incredible feeling - exciting and emotional at the same time. I got a few messages on Twitter before the game asking for one last Brockie 'special' and that's how I like to score them - with lots of power. It was a fantastic day - Jeremy Brockie

Man of the hour (and a half)

Goals have been almost as hard to come by as jobs on the Central Coast recently, so when Mariners striker Mitchell Duke scores a dynamic double to get his team a much-needed win against Melbourne City he deserves recognition.

It was a real striker's double, too, the first goal coming after he allowed a through ball to run in front of him before he slid it under the goalkeeper and the second when the ball suddenly popped up in front of him just outside the penalty box and with a view of goal he automatically smashed it home.

Duke said he and his teammates had been determined to go out and get what they believed was theirs.

"Before the game we had one word that we were mainly aiming to prove out there and that was desire and I thought all the boys really did it," he said. "I thought the last two games I've been building on my performances and it was good to get some goals."

Duke marked the occasion by posting an athletic shot of himself in action on Instagram.

That winning feeling

Tweet, tweet

Vitor Saba has had plenty of support from Wanderers fans on Twitter, but it appears those who have been critical of him have won the day.

Saba tweeted "Bye Twitter" to his almost 12,000 followers on January 3, with the hashtags "enough", "youwon" and "nomorepersonalthings".

He hasn't tweeted since.

Superman and Kryptonite

False 9 is not sure Kenny Lowe is Superman, it's a bit early to tell, but until something happens to convince me otherwise I'm going to be of the opinion Adelaide United is Perth Glory's Kryptonite.

Perth just can't get the ball off Adelaide, so it is limited in its opportunities to create and score against it.

Some other teams which have lost out in the possession stakes against Adelaide have still managed to get a result against it, I hear you say, and that's true, but as much as Perth is regarded as a counter-attacking team it doesn't seem to be able to do that well enough against Adelaide.

Adelaide is much better at recovering quickly and getting adequate numbers back in defence after turnovers than it was last season.

Even if Lowe did think Adelaide had Perth's number after three wins in three clashes this season (two in the A-League and the other in the FFA Cup final) he would obviously be mad to admit it, so when asked after the 2-1 loss whether Adelaide was Perth's bogey team he wasn't having a bar of it.

"They're not our bogey side," Lowe said. "They just probably got us with 10 men in the final and then coming off the back of a two-day turnaround. I'd say that's quite fortunate for Adelaide. The circumstances, dictate, you know. That's the way I look at it, anyway."

Wealth of experience

After his team's 3-0 win over Brisbane, which came after a 3-1 win over Adelaide, Wellington coach Ernie Merrick was asked, straight up, whether Phoenix is a "serious title contender".

He answered: "It isn't something we'll focus on at all. We're in the top four. We wanted to stay in the top six for the finals, we've done that. We're in the top four, it's about staying in the top four.

"It isn't about finishing first or second, that shouldn't be our focus. It's about playing that type of football, week in, week out."

It may have sounded like an answer, but it was, of course, a clever non-answer by the two-time A-League championship-winning coach.

There is enough pressure coming from other directions on teams. No sense in the coach adding to it.

Observation deck

:: Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold has now gone a frustrating seven straight games without his team winning (four draws, three losses). He never went more than four games without a win at Central Coast.

:: Perth's loss to Adelaide means its run of consecutive home wins, stretching back to last season, ended at eight, an A-League record it shares with the Victory side from the 2008-09 season.

:: Melbourne City's defence improved remarkably once central defender Connor Chapman became a part of the team after injury and illness delayed his start to the season. It went three games unbeaten (two wins and a draw) before he missed the game against Mariners that City lost.

:: The Wanderers scored a rare goal against Victory, but its scoring average at this stage of the season is still worse than the worst full season average ever, posted by New Zealand Knights in 2006-2007. The Knights scored at 0.61 goals per game. Wanderers is at 0.58, but has plenty of time left to improve.

Power rankings (after round 12 in brackets)

1 Perth Glory (1) Extended unbeaten run to 10 games with away win over Victory before the streak finally came to an end with home loss to Adelaide. Still on top though.

2 Melbourne Victory (2) Coming off a home loss to Perth it wasn't at its best on the road against the Wanderers, but still managed to get the win, which is what good teams do.

3 Wellington Phoenix (3) Two more wins, this time over Adelaide and Brisbane. Scoring at exactly two goals per game and conceding at exactly one goal, with potential to improve.

4 Adelaide United (4) Had half its team out when well-beaten by Phoenix and after getting most of them back was too good for the team it has the wood on - Perth.

5 Melbourne City (5) Exploded with a 5-2 win over Newcastle, with marquee Robert Koren scoring a hat-trick, but then disappointed in a 2-0 loss to Central Coast.

6 Brisbane Roar (6) Looking like an average, mid-to-lower-table team now, after a draw with Sydney FC and loss to Wellington. Doesn't have enough attacking threats.

7 Central Coast Mariners (9) You've got to give them credit for hanging tough. Came off a draw with the Wanderers to record a very important home win over City.

8 Sydney FC (7) Draws against Brisbane and Newcastle - two teams below it on the competition table. Collected just four points from possible 21 in last seven rounds.

9 Newcastle Jets (8) Came off battering from City to go 0-0 against Sydney, but could have been out of that game by halftime had Sydney taken chances. Struggling.

10 Western Sydney Wanderers (10) After scoreless draw against the Mariners it was very lively against Victory, but paid the price for not taking chances - again.

Can't wait for . . .

The Socceroos to kick off their Asian Cup campaign against Kuwait in Melbourne on Friday.

Hopefully, they'll make it out of the group stage, advance from the quarter-finals and still be alive in the tournament by the time the A-League resumes, on 24 January.

Follow @gregprichard