When my friend called me on Monday evening and asked whether Melbourne had won, he was astonished: “5-2?! You’re kidding me!”
After only winning three games all season, an overwhelming victory against the league leaders was surprising - to put it lightly.
This week’s poll: What made the difference?
I’ve come up with four possible explanations:
- Nick Ward’s introduction to the squad.
- Luck.
- A poor performance by the Mariners.
- Lack of pressure, with a finals berth all but impossible.
Which one of these best explains how the Melbourne Victory was able to surge to a 5-2 win over the Central Coast Mariners? Or was it something else altogether?
Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below! You can pick more than one answer.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Chris Hiscock // Jan 2, 2008 at 10:00 am
Two things made the difference really. First, attacking with abandon knowing that the finals are out of the question. Second, Danny Allsopp. Danny, like many, is a confidence player … he needs the supporters to get behind him at home games instead of moaning like spoiled children if he doesn’t quite get it right every time. Danny had a poor year in season one and the club failed. In season two he was the best player in the league and we thrashed all comers. This year, when he has played well we have won. We need to recognise this and act like real supporters and get behind him …
2 Shannon // Jan 2, 2008 at 10:28 am
I think we didnt do much different than any other week. This week we made the half chances into goals and capitalised on our chances. Other weeks the chances have been there but we have not taken them and failed to get the goals when needed.
When u take your chances thats what happens.
3 gerard // Jan 2, 2008 at 11:35 am
I think that there was some very poor defending by the Mariners that accounted for at least some of it.
4 chris // Jan 2, 2008 at 4:49 pm
i think first the pressure of finals is off which helped as well as having a balanced team on the park as well as a fit one. Yet in all honesty the Mariners did not play well! In reponse to chris’ comments about allsopp, he is a confidence player but i think an injury restrained him from a good performance and the two? weeks off helped him as well as the fact he lost his place. I think he was getting to comfy knowing he was a certain starter and i honestly believe that is a problem with some players in our team.
Im glad allsopp found the back of the net but he needs to be consistent and i look forward to him dominating in the ACL
5 Peta // Jan 2, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I agree on the form of Allsopp… but I also want to comment on the Thompson/Allsopp combination firing on Monday. It makes such a difference. Last season they were so in sync with each other and had so much understanding that everything just worked and the goals came. This year the combination has been missing completely and so has the team.
The Mariners were very disappointing on Monday though, their defence was terrible and that would have contributed a lot to the actual scoreline.
6 Nathan // Jan 3, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Allsopp was great, Archie was brilliant as always, but Nick Ward provided a great attacking midfield option, and Ward had an excelent game, which had a big influence. Also Melbourne were calm in defending, something that has been a problem, also they were calm on the ball.
plus the mariners defence crumbled….
7 David // Jan 3, 2008 at 11:29 pm
The early goal would have made a difference, but right from the off I thought the players’ body language was more relaxed and agree the lack of pressure was a major factor they were more confident and composed. Also agree with Chris’s point above about supporters getting behind players to be active in promoting confidence in the players. The home games have suffered a bit with the ongoing friction with TD which could have had a cumulative effect as well, I expected TD to become a fortress this year. The Mariners’ defence were pretty average though, and I’m glad Vukovic wasn’t playing, but think the performance had the focus and fire that’s been missing, almost like they could express themselves a bit without trying too hard not to make a mistake.
8 Istvan // Jan 4, 2008 at 10:56 am
I think if Melbourne had converted all their semingly straight forward chanches the’ve been creating all season, they would be in a much more respectable position amongst the other A-League teams. As they seem to have done in this game. I have only listened to the radio coverage and then watched the highlights. It looked to me like they were so much more confident in front of the goal, which was so evident - to me at least - in Caceres’ goal; flipping the ball over the keeper and then giving it that final nudge for a smooth finish. They have definitely gained a lot of confidence from some source and/or practiced shooting at the goal a lot. Let’s hope it persists through the last couple of games and then we/they can go into the ACL with a much brighter outlook.
9 Eric // Jan 4, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Great point Istvan. Melbourne (namely Allsopp, Archie and Hernandez) have missed some absolute sitters this season, a great deal of which I think had to do with confidence. Allsopp in particular seems to thrive when he feels confident; and he really struggles when confidence is low.
Chris suggested that Allsopp’s absence for a few games may have improved his performance. There’s definitely something in that. On his better days, Allsopp deserves to be in the starting 11. But when he’s missing clearcut chances, Merrick needs to show him that his spot isn’t guaranteed.
Same goes with Archie, although it’s very hard to imagine Merrick benching Archie.
10 Astri // Jan 5, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Good call on Alsopp Chris. He seems to perform when he loses his spot. Same thing happened when we signed Claudinho.
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