MVFC Blog

With the 3 other matches in round 11 now complete, what’s at stake for Melbourne is even clearer. Both Adelaide and Newcastle failed to win their matches, leaving Melbourne with an ideal chance to get back into the top 4 and on even points with the leaders. The Mariners for their part have a chance to regain a real lead at the top of the table. It’s an opportunity neither teams will be keen on missing.

Melbourne goes into this match after having suffered a painful defeat last week to the Newcastle Jets, albeit one in which the Victory looked to be playing some of its more attractive football of the season. The Mariners meanwhile go into this match having lost their last three of their last five matches and will be keen to put this slump in form behind them. Star recruit John Aloisi will play his first home match and it is fair to say that anticipation levels will be high among Mariners fans.

Melbourne will have to do without Pantelidis, who is facing a harsh 3 week suspension for last weeks elbowing incident. Sebastian Ryall is away on Young Socceroos duties, leaving Melbourne with a gaping hole in defense. Ernie Merrick has virtually ruled out moving Muscat back into defence. It’s understandable why too - without Muscat in the midfield, Melbourne really does not look up to scratch, as was on show in the match against Adelaide a few weeks ago. It wouldn’t be surprising therefore to see new recruit Steven Pace rushed into the starting line-up.

Elsewhere on the pitch, question marks loom over Brebner and Thompson, both with seemingly minor injuries. Owing to their prominent position in the team (and considering similar “injury scares” in the past), I would still expect both players to at least make a start in the match, but perhaps be taken off later in the game. Merrick seems happy to wait till the last minute to make that call though. No doubt, the young guns on Victory’s payroll are chomping at the bit to get some game time though and will happily fill in for either player. I’d expect to see Caceres in the starting line-up for a change and players like Patafta and either Vasilevski or Berger coming off the bench. After Galekovic left us earlier this week for Adelaide, we will also see a bench warming debut for Mitchell Langerak. Hopefully he will not need to be called into action.

All this shuffling around on Melbourne’s part would be a disadvantage going into the match, but for the fact that the Mariners face a similar, even more drastic need for change. Their greatest loss is key defender Dean Heffernan, who will be sitting out a suspension. Up to five players could be returning for the team including captain Alex Wilkinson, who has been sidelined with an injury since round 1. Prolific goal-scorer Adam Kwasnik, Damien Brown, Andrew
Clark and Paul O’Grady have also all been named in the squad.

With neither team on particular highs at the moment, the game is there for the taking. Both team will be desperate for a result. New faces will be keen to impress.

Never one to tip anything but a Melbourne win.. I’ll settle for a 0-2 victory.

Your tips?

Update: Looks like Archie will definitely be playing. Brebner is more of a concern. Source: The Age