WITH Gold Coast United set to officially unveil a 21-man squad on Wednesday, it’s undeniably one of the most talent-laden squads the A-League has seen.

Jason Culina Joel Porter are almost certain to be officially announced as the newest additions to a team already featuring exciting youngsters Minniecon, Brown and Greer, Brazilian imports Robson, Jefferson and Milson and the A-League’s top scorer Shane Smeltz.

Mile Sterjovski is also being rumoured as an outside chance to make the squad in what would make for an unbelievable attacking force.

But for all the big names, it’s hard not to worry about one thing with Bleiberg’s squad - the defence. Football history is full of massively talented teams failing to live up to their potential.

Some people are talking about GC United being the Manchester United of the A-League, but I’m worried they might end up more like Real Madrid’s ‘Galacticos’.

A-League fans have shown themselves around the country to be fickle. Merely playing attacking and attractive football has not been enough to entice crowds in Brisbane, Perth and Newcastle.

Having some of the biggest names in Australian football might not be enough to entice Gold Coast crowds if the results aren’t positive. And virtually every champion team is built on a champion defence.

So far, Gold Coast’s backline will comprise of a selection from Adam Griffiths, Daniel Piorkowski, Kristian Rees, Michael Thwaite and most likely Dutchman Bas Van den Brink. Midfielders Osman, Fitzsimmons and Pantelidis may also be converted to defenders for the sake of squad balance, but rarely have such selections proved successful for A-League clubs in the past.

In Van den Brink the club might have one of the best full-backs in the league, but similarly they might have another Geoffrey Claeys or Remo Buess. While one wants to be optimistic, Bleiberg is a man who recruited not only Buess, but also Osvaldo Carro, Tae-Yong Shin and Zhang Yuning. It’s more wishful thinking than thoughtful analysis that suggests the newest European to join the A-League will be a star.

Daniel Piorkowski and Kristian Rees are both defenders who could be revelations, or could just as easily be flops. Neither has really established himself at A-League level despite much promise. Expect roles as serviceable but not outstanding defenders for two players running out of chances to make names for themselves.

Griffiths and Thwaite are the big names of the backline. Both are capped by the Socceroos and both have big reputations. But there are big question marks over both as central defenders.

Thwaite has had a particularly ordinary season at Melbourne and many of their fans will be glad to see the back of him. Griffiths is certainly good enough, but his stronger positions are either at full-back or in a libero role.

Based on the standard of the defenders around him, he will probably be restricted in his freedom playing the ball out of defence and this could hurt his game as a whole.

The more positive fans out there will point to the midfield strength and suggest we could just about play without a defence. They might also suggest that Vanstratten will easily cover any weakness in his defenders. They might well be right.

Indeed while many criticised Bleiberg’s Queensland Roar side for being far too attacking with no quality defenders, they actually managed the best defensive record of any club in season 1 of the A-League.

If he can draw a similar effort out of the Gold Coast defensive crop, the awesome attacking line-up should almost certainly deliver Palmer’s promise to the club in a debut championship.