I suggested yesterday that the Victory’s trip to Gwangyang, South Korea was little more than a friendly for both teams, with the Chunnam Dragons holding only the faintest hope of overtaking Gamba Osaka at the top of Group G.
The game reflected precisely how little was at stake, as both Melbourne and Chunnam churned out listless performances. There were stretches of pleasing play, but by the end I felt drained.
Perhaps I would have felt slightly more elated had I seen Tom Pondeljak’s goal. But the beauty of Viewers Choice meant that it took the pub until the 6th minute to figure out how to get the game showing.
Pondeljak’s strike was impressive, but I was also happy to note his excellent positioning behind Danny Allsopp. I remain convinced that long balls are ineffective as a means of attack, but they are all the more ineffective when the striker has no one behind him. Last night, Pondeljak was there to pick up the stray rebound, and he took his opportunity with finesse. Not bad, Tommy.
After the goal, Melbourne sat back and allowed the Dragons to attack. For 40 minutes. Painful stuff. A freakish goal from Ko Ki-Gu, from either a horrible pass or a devilish strike, brought Chunnam back on level terms. They deserved it.
Melbourne redeemed itself in the second half, while the Dragons deflated. Short, constructive passes in the midfield gave us humble spectators something to enjoy watching. Danny Allsopp had two fine chances to give Melbourne the lead, but narrowly missed on both occasions. Carlos Hernandez’ presence in the final 25 minutes gave some cause for optimism, as did Evan Berger’s short stint in the final five minutes (why Berger wasn’t brought on earlier instead of Caceres is beyond me).
In the end, it was a pointless affair for both teams, as Gamba Osaka’s 2-0 win over Chonburi FC ensures that Group G is effectively wrapped up. I hope that when the AFC reviews the Asian Champions League, it makes it possible for 2nd placed teams to progress to the next stage. If that had been the case last night, Melbourne and Chunnam would have had everything to play for. As it stands, the dominance of one team means dreary matches between teams that have nothing to play for.
Meanwhile, Adelaide United beat the Pohang Steelers 1-0 to keep themselves in the lead in their group. In their final match, they meet Changchun Yatai in China. A draw will be enough for them to progress to the quarterfinals.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Rosco // May 8, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Again, the boys seemed to try but overall another substandard performance by a team that needs a refresh of personell (Ernie being at the top of the list)
We had no system what so ever and the trusty long ball made us look rediculous at times.
Theo started well enough but made another very bad judgement call. Not on at this level.
Our defence was unorganised and our midfield couldn’t hold the ball if they tried. I wont even mention the forwards who continue to squander chances.
I agree with Eric above. Can someone tell me why Ernie brought on Caceres instead of Kaz or Berger at an earlier stage? Why would we want to put game time into him when he’s leaving and we all want to see what the youngsters are capable of? (More Merrick super coaching I think)
On the up side, Tommy P looks like he might end up being a handy squad player and Carlos was head and shoulders above the rest of the when he came on.
Looks like we need to strengthen every line. (hope we land Chippers as a start!)
Big ups to the Adelaide boys and Viddie. They keep doing exactly whats required to progress. Well done!
2 new tactix // May 8, 2008 at 10:42 pm
By the end the last ten minutes last night the first thought that came to mind was that us MVFC supporters and in my case (like most on this blog site) members have to sit and pay through another lame and poor performing season under Merrick until the day comes that the club sacks this amateur and sends him back the state leagues where he belongs!
The unfortunate reality is the club will give him another season due an empty inventory of coaching staff in this country and one thing we all can bank with ernie is that nothing will change. just more of the same old all with a positive spin of course. If I was Kaz, I would try and get the hell out of there if he is to save is career as watching Caceras go on (considering he is leaving the club) would have been a great confidence deflater. Nice one ernie that’s just what the kid needs.
For a good part of 90 mins MVFC seriously could not string enough passes together to create a scoring opportunity. Seriously without archie we just do not look threatening. I am not trying to take away from Tommy’s goal (which was great) I am just stating facts. The stats show that we did not get a corner until the 92nd minute. We turn over the ball so much it is like watching an AFL match!!! Its tough viewing.
The Ernie era has to end - it is just horrible! Last nights game was not ‘a salvage of a point’ like the articles are suggesting rather just an extension of a dreadful and disappointing season. If I have to listen to another press conference or read another article the suggests ‘if only we got one of the chances in things would have been different, blah blah…’ I think I will be ill. The reality is it’s not about luck, every successful team knows that you create your own luck by playing positive, attacking and creative football. For MVFC the reality is we have bad luck because we do not create anything!!!
Now I really would like to finish on some positives and last night there were only two - 1) Tommy’s goal and 2) Hernandez coming on.
3 chris // May 8, 2008 at 11:42 pm
i would sign Hernadez for as long as we can, i think he will just get better..
4 andy // May 9, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I reckon there is too much doom and gloom around Victory at the moment. I think the Asian experience will pay dividends in the new season. The players brought in are not rejects from other clubs, but will prove to be wise choices. Pondeljak and Celevski will benifet from the Asian campaign, which has been a good opportunity for them to gel with the playing group and style. With Archie and Carlos back we will be a better side than we’ve shown in Asia.
5 Philip // May 10, 2008 at 12:27 am
You are right andy that there is doom and gloom. Partly it is because we just have such high expectations of the team on the field given the support they get off the field.
The other things is that it is in response to raising our hopes and having them dashed. Last year in the A-league we were awful and managed only 6 wins in 21 matches. We missed the finals and everone was bitter about that.
However the 3 wins and a draw in the last 4 weeks of the A-league plastered over the need for a thorough analysis of what went wrong and it lifted everyones expectations again. So we all started looking forward to solid AFC campaign where it would be a battle between us and Gamba to go through. And what has happened? We sit last on the table a mile away from Gamba and we have only 1 win in 5 matches.
So after a poor A-LeagueV3 and poor AFC showing of course there is a lot of doom and gloom.
We have some good players on paper and in theory there should be enough talent to cover for an injury here and there (Carlos and Archie were in all last year so what was happening then!).
Here is my simplest plan for improvement. The team should have the shortest possible break after the AFC and then get back together. The backline can spend time practicing how to get the ball from defence to the forwards without lobbing it over the midfield. The midfield can practice holding the ball and feeding the forwards with incisive passes though the defence, and the forwards can be taught about the offside rule (which the seem unaware of) and can practice shooting at the man who stands in front of the goals (its better than walking it in which is what we try and do). Victory somehow manage to make all these simple things look very hard.
Roll on V4 and the chance to be frustrated, or pleasantly surprised, all over again.
6 new tactix // May 10, 2008 at 11:28 am
That’s right the doom and gloom is present and I for one am regularly writing about it. But it is not due negative thinking by the majority of the MVFC supporter base rather it is a product of:
1) a dramatic fall from grace, that is A-league champions to A-league flops;
2) consistent poor results (v1, v3 & AFC) only 28 wins over all 68 competitive matches (that’s 40%!!) With 32% of our matches being a loss.
3) only achieving 50% of total competition points over competitions (on a global scale this would define poor performance).
4) an absolutely amateur and unentertaining style of play. We could live with it if we were “winning ugly” but we cant even do that.
5) Watching great talent either not being used or used ineffectively for either political or “tactical” reasons, eg. Kaz, Ljubo, Leandro, Caceras, etc.
6) Having to sit through the only the game plan regardless of the game situation, players etc
7) On top of all this is the consistent positive spin that we “have played well but were just unlucky” or “if only shot had gone in things would have been different”.
The thing is with the shift to the a-league we have moved out of the dark days of the NSL when actively playing and following soccer people like myself didn’t watch/follow it for various reasons and with minimal coverage only soccer specific newspapers wrote about it. We have now opened the game up to a broader and open-minded audience hence average match day crowds of 25,000+. This audience is one that would like to and is trying to view and analyse our competition on an international scale (which it is now with the AFC). What comes with this shift is greater debate, discussion and critical analysis. With this greater focus aspects of the game like poor performance and poor coaching ability will become headlines and the discussion point when a team goes from 7th (v1) to champions (v2) to missing the finals (v3) then being a disappointment when representing this country for international club competitions (AFC).
The point of all this is that Ernie and his men cannot expect to slip under the radar when the above statistics is what represents them. We are paying good money for memberships or match days and hence will and will continue to want answers and explanations for why a team can so dramatically underperform. The same has happened with West Coast Eagles in the AFL even to the point where their culture is being scrutinised. More recently questions are being raised about Mick Malthouse at Collingwood. The fact is the a-league is now in the public and slowly the media spoltlight and with this comes critical analysis and questions for when a team is both performing and when they are not.
Let’s not forget that when we were winning in v2 the articles, debate and critical analysis were about why we working so well, which was usually summed up by the sorely missed Fred. So now that we are underperforming should we not expect the same discussion and critical analysis?
If Ernie cannot front up and openly defend this analysis - like his surprising after hours phone call to the folk from SEN after one of his performances - then maybe he is not cut out for coaching at this level both on a ability and media level.
What has happened in Melbourne is the rose coloured glasses have been taken off after v2 and what we are seeing now is the reality - hence we do not want to just walk into v4 without the analysis done at both a media and club level so that things can be changed for the better for v4.
Do we all want to sit through another repeat of v1, v3 or AFC before any significant change is made at our great club?
7 Astri // May 13, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Whoah…..and I thought I was pissed off! You guys make a lot of sense and it’s not just “get rid of the coach ‘cos we’re losing” comments, your comments are well thought out. I wish I knew what the answer was but I don’t. All I know is I will be there next season for better or worse. We have a right to be demanding, we are the biggest club in Australia and we deserve a team that performs and gives us something to cheer about. I think you are right about coaches…there just isn’t any available in this country that can do much better…possibly Branko Culina or Eddie Krncevic but even then I am not convinced. Maybe the money we have generated as a club should be spent on a quality coach from Europe or Asia…not necesseraly a big name but somebody who has a proven record at a decent level. I feel that we are just waiting for Muscat to take over the reigns soon and that may be a short term fix but tactically he has less experience than Ernie so I’m not sure if that will help…I hope I am wrong. Let’s just hope we have a successful year because anything less and Merrick can put a positive spin on whatever he likes as long as he is in the dole queue.
8 Sly // May 13, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Couldn’t agree more with most of what’s been said.
However I think that’s got to be tempered by the fact that most teams would struggle if their 2 most creative talents were missing ie Archie & Hernandez especially given the gulf in talents between them and their replacements.
Nonetheless that doesn’t desguise the tactical inadequacies of the reponse or lack of to deal with this. It seems like Ernie developed a game plan and then just never deviated from it no matter the quality of the opposition ie Gamba or the conditions ie steaming heat in Thailand.
Astri I’m not so sure it would be as easy as you think to attract quality coach from Europe. Lets face it why would you want to work in a minor league on the other side of the world when you could probably get the same money and greater exposure and comeptition staying at home. I sincerly hope I’m wrong but I don’t hold up much hope.
9 new tactix // May 13, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I’m with Astri - here’s to hoping for a good o/s coach. There is no reason why it can’t happen it just needs to be on the club’s agenda. Maybe Asia is an option for a coach???
10 Rosco // May 14, 2008 at 11:00 am
Agree the 2 lads above. I’m sure we could find a great o/s coach in either Asia/Sth America or even the English Championship. Someone new (and of quality) could be a great advertisment for the league as well as inpire the locals to the next level.
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