Following the disappointing result against Gamba Osaka two weeks ago, Melbourne tomorrow has the chance to make amends and keep the dream of Asian Champion League glory alive. With 3 more matches to play, not picking up points in this match would spell the end of the campaign. Even if Melbourne were to win the match, we would remain one point behind Gamba and be reliant on other results to see us through.
Still no Archie Thompson or Carlos Hernandez in the squad (although there is talk that Archie could be back sooner rather than later), but we may finally see a match debut for new recruit Tom Pondeljak. Making way for him is Daniel Vasilevski, who has picked up an injury.
Merrick has also flagged some changes up front and in the midfield, with Nick Ward likely dropping back into a more central midfield role, replacing Steven Pace, who failed to impress in the previous match. The question then is, who will fill the void in the attacking midfield? An interesting possibility is Leandro Love. Merrick now appears to believe he would be more suited to a hard-working midfield role; “He’s physically very strong, he’s fast, he’s a good tackler and he’s good in the air. An attacking midfielder would, I think, be a more suitable position for him”. I can see how this mightn’t be a bad idea. Although Love has yet to score a goal for us, he has always worked hard, dropping back to provide extra cover when needed. I also wonder if the less physical nature of the ACL would work better for Leandro.
The other option for that spot is of course fan-favourite Kaz Patafta and this is certainly an option I am fond of. Even so, I suspect Merrick will give both players a fairly even amount of playing time. Who gets the starting spot remains to be seen.
On the Osaka side, an injury cloud hangs over first-choice keeper Yosuke Fujigaya. The stand-in goalkeeper, 34 year-old Naoki Matsuyo, came off the bench in the last J-League match when Fujigaya hurt a shoulder and could very well be the primary shot-stopper in this match.
With little to lose and plenty to prove, Melbourne can be expected to come out all guns blazing in this match. Let’s hope they don’t run out of steam in the final stages like they did a fortnight ago.
Ever hopeful, I’m predicting a 1-2 result in favour of the Victory.
The match screens at 10:00* 8:00 PM on Fox Sports 3 (Viewer’s Choice)
*darn Fox Sports website got me confused. Hope no one’s based their evening on this. The match should still screen again at 10 is my understanding.
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15 responses so far ↓
1 Philip // Apr 23, 2008 at 1:12 am
The thing that annoys me about this review and recent newspaper articles is what it says about our selection policy … after all this time Ernie thinks Love is more suited to a midfield role … how long does it take to figure out where a player should be playing?? And it still smells of a stop gap measure rather than a positive move that would worry the opposition. Do we think Gamba are pondering how to counteract this cunning plan!
With that complaint out of the way, Pondeljak for Vaselevski should be a step up in quality, and Nick Ward dropping back should be a plus (assuming he has learnt how to pass the ball since his last game). Ward looks a little lost going forward as an front line attacker but coming from midfield seems more comfortable for him. I think part of this might be his fitness as he still doesnt seem capable of really running hard box-to-box at the moment so a more resticted central role might suit him.
It is a huge loss that Hernandez is unavailable as we lack real creativity in midfield. Again, much will rest on Ward’s contribution.
Up front, Ernie needs to make sure that Allsopp isnt left up forward on his own with long bombs coming his way. He gets a lot of poor press with some of the fans but he cant do everything on his own and he is severly hampered with no Archie running alongside causing defenders headaches which leaves Allsopp the only one the defence have to man mark.
And finally, our defence cant be as slack from set pieces as they were last week and hopefully, after two matches, they have learnt that you dont give the other side acres of space even when they are 30-35 metres out as they know how to put it away. (Perhaps we should learn to shoot from 30 metres occassionally, we certainly seem gun shy and always try and score from 5 yards. Caceres’ shot from outside the box in the last game agaisnt Gamba which fell to Allsopp to put away proves we can do it somtimes.)
My summary, a tighter defence, a more productive midfield, a nothing to loose attitude and a little luck; Alsopp to score twice again, a 2-1 win for Victory and the promise of keeping our ACL hopes alive for another few weeks. Fingers crossed. Go Victory!
2 Sly // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:03 am
From this quote from this morning’s Age it looks like Kaz will be playing.
“Merrick will talk to Patafta and Pondeljak overnight and make a decision, but the odds appear to lean in the youngster’s favour, with former Socceroo Pondeljak an option to be used off the bench.
“It will be between Tommy and Kaz. Kaz is 100% fit, ready to go and is jumping out of his skin. Tommy is over his injuries but he is nowhere near match fitness. I will talk to him tonight,” he said.”
If he doesn’t and Merrick plays someone half fit instead it doesn’t say much about Kaz’s playing future.
I just hope that Merrick has learnt from the first half against Chonburi that attack isn’t always the best form of defence away at this level. Victory looked really exposed in the middle with 3 up front.
I’m not so opptomistic as yourselves. I can once again see us competing well for the first hour or so and fading again in the last 20 minutes
3 Philip // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:47 am
Patafta would be a great inclusion but Ernie may still opt for experience first and bring Patafta on later when Pondeljak runs out of steam. If Kaz gets a go at the start we will finally see if the kid can do anything but its a pity it is such a do or die game to be thrown into.
Sly, you may be right about us fading in the last 20 minutes. I think we need to be agressive at the start and if we get a lead we need to slow the pace for 10-15 minutes and just control the ball and let people catch their breath. The last Gamba game was played at a cracking pace for 90 minutes which is unsustainable especially when not match fit.
And Sly, I am not really optimistic, I am just hoping that the power of positive thinking might bring some rewards. Now, if i can just find my lucky boxers and my rabbit’s foot we will be fine … repeat after me, Melb 2 def Gamba 1.
4 Brenton // Apr 23, 2008 at 6:03 pm
im with you on the positive thinking phillip, if there is one thing football is renowned for its big game upsets, you only have to look at the FA for proof of this.
I think melbourne can win, i think they have the players to win every game, the coach however….im not so sure on. Your all saying Kaz will get a go, i wouldnt bet on it, the kid should have got a shott a long time ago, experiance or not, and even if he does play, it wont be for more than 10 mins.
And i obviously wasnt the only one thinking “it took merrick this long toi figure out where to play love”!
After last game i think danny will have some confidence back so he will get on the score sheet for at least one, we werent to bad at the back if you dont count set pieces so all long as thats dealt with and kev is on fire like last time i dont see to many problems. Fitness may be an issue but if someone wises up and informs merrick he can make more than one change and they dont have to wait till the last 5 to 10 mins it would help.
Repeat after Phillip Melbourne 2 Gamba 1….
5 Sly // Apr 24, 2008 at 11:31 am
Well I don’t want to be smug……
Just simply outclassed.
How can you expect Kaz to perform within 45 minutes in only his third (?) start since he arrived against the best opposition melbourne have played against. Of course he’s not going to rip the opposition apart when the only game time he gets is 10 minutes here and there in matches that are effectively over as contests. No wonder he’s looking to go elsewhere.
I just hope that Merrick uses the last 2 matches to give the youngsters like Kaz and Elasi a bit of experience. But given his unfailing insistance on picking a system and then never wavering from it no matter the circumstances I won’t be holding my breath.
Got my tickets for the Juve game though so at least I’ll have the prospect of seeing at least one team playing some entertaining skillfull attacking football at the Dome in the near future.
6 Philip // Apr 24, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Oh well …
I personally dont think Kaz is up to it but maybe its a confidence thing given his obvious lack of opportunities during the season. I think he was stiff not being given another 10 or 15 minutes in the second half.
I agree with you though that the next 2 games should be used to give Kaz a fair run and probabaly Elasi also (at least for more than 5 minutes off the bench). Caceras should be dropped now as he is leaving anyway so that frees up a spot.
I though Ward was very ordinary and really struggled to get into the game and i have been less than impressed with his passing in particular since he arrived. I dont know if he is still carrying his injury but he just doesnt look up to the job of controlling midfield.
We were never overrun but there was certainly a class difference between us and them over the two games.
I am gutted with the recent results but on a positive note a few years ago we wouldnt have contemplated Australian domestic teams playing football matches in Asian competitions … now we are … and we can see the improvement we need to make to go further … things we can only get better.
7 Astri // Apr 24, 2008 at 3:51 pm
They were certainly a class above us today, they didn’t get out of second gear. We had a couple of chances but you got the feeling that at any stage they could have put the foot down and steam rolled us. Time to build a team for next season, we need some stability. Although many of you hate his guts and I was one who had been critical, I think Kemp has been a solid performer over the campaign. His crossing still lets him down but he is starting to show the form he was in at
Adelaide so I hope he keeps improving. Lets hope we recruit well for the next season and hopefully we will have a stronger squad for our next foray into the Champions league whenever that may be.
8 chris // Apr 24, 2008 at 5:01 pm
our problem was in the midfield, i have never seen a team play a formation of 3-6-1 then have the 6 midfielders not used coz u are playing a long ball game… how stupid… Merrick has no confidence in his team particularly his midfield.
I hate to agree with andy harper during the game put panto in the back three and put muscat in the midfield…
so in essence he has no confidence in his back three, and his midfield and lacks a game plan to utilise allsopp…
time to bench love, caceres and anyone else who is not playing with us next year and blood berger, elasi and any others.
Patafta could just not get into the game… at all… he kept running to the wrong spots or to a crowded area.. Pondeljak (how ever u spell it) comes on and within a few minutes has a set shot on goal… Patafta needs game time but i dont think the ACL is for him, let him captain the youth squad
9 Sly // Apr 24, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Look I think most player’s in the A-league would struggle to make an impact in 45 minutes in one of their first starts for their team against one of the best teams in Asia. ANd yanking him off at half time is hardly going to do anything for his confidence. Merrick normally waits until the last 10 minutes before altering a side that isn’t working so what does that say about his confidence in Kaz. The kid needs some regular appearances to make his mark not 10 minutes here and there.
Yes we weren’t overrun but we never looked like winning.
Fair point about seeing domestic teams playing in Asian competitions, but we don’t just want to make up the numbers, we want to be competative. I mean compared to Sydney last year or Adelaide this year - who addmittedly seem to have an easier group - we have performed dismally. Especially given all the hype about how we’ve learned from Sydney and Adelaide in the first season and all the preperation that was supposedly put in place. I just don’t think Merrick has the tactical awareness to create a game plan which will allow us to challenge these types of team, let’s face it he struggles in the A-league.
10 David // Apr 24, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I was only able to see the second half so didn’t get to see how Kaz went, but judging from comments he wasn’t able to impose himself on the game so was hooked off at half time, I tend to think that had he been given more game time throughout last season he may have fared better, he’s not going to have an un derstanding with the other players coming in col after all this time.
What I saw in the second half seemed really lacklustre. Not much intensity and the long-ball just resulted in lots of offsides, I think it was 12-0 in the stats near the end. The midfield seemed to lack the confidence to run at them, and too many poor touches meant few attempts on goal, and set pieces seemed to go straight to their ‘keeper. I think tactically ther needed to be a different plan.
Once the second goal went in there seemed to be a resignation about the result and not quite the same passion as the home match a fortnight ago. Although technically and tactically they may have been better and more organised I was just expecting a bit more passion and fight. In the end it looked like a fatigued and frustrated team that were out of their depth playing against a confident home side who were cruising.
I agree with the comments above regarding the remaining ACL matches, if progress is impossible, use the matches to start planning for the upcoming season, forget playing anybody that’s not going to be here, and start giving game time to the younger players who need it. Bottom of the group is not where I expected Melbourne to be at this point and it’s looking like Ernie Merrick had better start planning for next season now, before it becomes his last.
11 new tactix // Apr 25, 2008 at 11:22 am
We can only hope that this will be Merrick’s last. I just cannot stomach listening to his political jargon any further eg comments following Gamba match: “I thought we have played well and I thought we played very well today, but we didn’t have 11 players out to their peak (tonight)” and lets not forget this little gem: “I don’t think we have been totally outplayed by any team in this competition”. I mean for goodness sake, how many times do we have to listen to same political rhetoric. And the summary of the goals against us: “there was one quality goal and one that has gone in off somebody’s shin”. Off somebody’s shin? What I saw was a decent free kick in and their attacker made contact and in it went, I mean how many goals have MVFC scored this season that were scrambled affairs yet he claims them as being produced from quality play.
I think Merrick needs a little slap with the reality stick. As Michael Lynch of The Age simply put it MVFC were “OUTCLASSED and, for the most part, outthought and outgunned by Gamba Osaka”. For the outclassed part, well we cant do much about that at the moment as the salary cap is a restriction, although it is not the excuse, with some creative and intelligent and ‘experienced’ international recruiting we could certainly find some gems in Asia, Africa or Sth&Central America. If we want to seriously dominate the a-league and future ACL this is what we need to do as well develop and give the young guns a fair go - Zullo, Kruse and Minnecon and clear examples of this.
Regarding the point of being outgunned - we need some serious strikers. Danny’s OK if he is on song, which is usually every 5/6 games or so but it is never week in week out, but when he is not on song he is not even a good target man who can control and hold up the ball. Another problem is that our striker recruitment process is all about ‘finding back up strikers’ - this is the wrong approach. What we have to do is find strikers that keep the likes of archie and danny nervous and on their toes so that if they are not performing they get dragged and on comes a striker who should basically be in the first XI, not a Love or whoever that play 100 mins for a whole season. Thank goodness for the youth league next season otherwise Elasi would not even get his boots dirty.
Regarding the point about being outthought well this simply sums up Merrick and his tactics, although not totally true about the squad though. We have a decent squad, which unfortunately, are never played in a decent formation or tactical approach that compliments that players or the game situation at hand. Merrick’s single approach to team formation, tactical approach and match adaptability has achieved the following results over the 4 competitions:
v1 - 7th position (last Aust team) w7; D5; L9 and 26 of possible 63 points (41%)
v2 - premiers (we miss you Fred) w14; D3; L4 and 45 of possible 63 points (71%)
v3 - 5th; w6; D9; L6 and 27 of possible 63 points (43%)
ACL 2008 Group G - (last position) W1; D0; L3 and 3 of possible 12 points (25%).
Overall MVFC have achieved approx 50% of total competition points over 4 competitions.
Now apart from v2 when Fred controlled the play and made us play on the ground, not mention getting out on the wings to provide width and penetration, we simply have been pedestrian and ineffective. Now I do not want to be seen as taking a negative viewpoint each time, instead I am just trying to take the ‘rose coloured glasses’ off after season v2 to analyse how we are really performing. In regards to the ACL, I think it was great to be a part of it, and I never expected we could win the group but a convincing second should have been achieveable. It is just that we play the same way, regardless of the competition or the match scoreline and the it stinks or ineffective and inexperienced (at first division and International) coaching and team management.
If MVFC are to seriously begin the process of dissecting the fallout from ANOTHER DISAPPOINTING campaign and start rebuilding a side capable of challenging for the A-League championship next season in hope of future ACL opportunities than lets start with considering a new coaching team. Preferably, someone with ‘real’ international experience -maybe even one from Asia!
12 chris // Apr 25, 2008 at 11:22 am
im not sure if anyone has seen his recent comments… but he will “play his strongest sides for the two remaining matches”
so dont expect any changes…same old garbage to come
13 Brenton // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:04 pm
merrick says he’s looking for player to fill a couple of positions, potentially a striker and a holding midfielder…….personally i think the position we need to fill most is head coach…..
14 Astri // Apr 25, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I too get annoyed with Merricks constant positive comments. The problem is, who can we get to coach? If we can find a quality coach and not a big name flop like Terry Butcher then maybe it will work but I think he deserves 1 more season, stability is the key, we don’t want a melbourne version of Sydney (Hakoah) FC.
15 Rosco // Apr 29, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Yasuhito Endo: - Now there’s a marque player target!!
We recieved a footballing lesson by the lads from Osaka. Lets hope the MVFC board has the balls to do what is required and replace Ernie.
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