The Melbourne Victory managed to put 4 past the Wellington Phoenix yesterday afternoon, giving it the top position in the ladder after two rounds.
It wasn’t the prettiest football match ever, with heavy rain soaking the pitch and players. But for Melbourne fans, there was plenty to enjoy.
Danny Allsopp had a fine match, netting Melbourne’s first two and coming within inches of a third. He also set up Fabiano’s strike, the Brazilian’s first in the A-League. Kevin Muscat also got on the scoreboard, putting away a penalty to destroy the Phoenix hope of getting anything out of the match.
Perhaps the greatest concern was seeing Roddy Vargas hobble off the pitch in the first half, but he managed to get through the entire game. Fingers crossed that’s the last we hear of it.
The Phoenix didn’t look nearly as composed in the back as they did a few weeks ago in the Pre-Season Cup final. From most reports I’ve heard, they looked poor last week as well, and it’s disappointing to see their crowd numbers drop to the low 6,000 mark. I still think they’ve got potential to finish further up the table, but things just aren’t clicking for them at the moment.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVH3JAxZc6o[/youtube]
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Round 1 only delivered five goals, so it was nice to see this weekend’s matches deliver plenty of action. A 3-3 draw between the Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory – Newcastle again scoring a late goal to win a point – and a 2-3 away win for Sydney FC over the Central Coast Mariners preceded Melbourne’s Sunday afternoon match. Adelaide United only managed a 1-1 draw against the Queensland Roar, putting Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne on equal points. Melbourne claims top spot by virtue of a superior goal difference.
7 comments ↓
Pretty atrocious conditions on the pitch, which played their part in our first two goals, and the second did look offside but credit to Danny Allsopp for his composure. Good to see him and Ney Fabiano starting to link well and a great touch from Fabiano for his goal.
Things are starting to shape up nicely and the confidence from this win is valuable after last week’s goal-less draw. Great to see Brebner finally back on the pitch too, he may not be match fit and lack sharpness at the moment but his experience has been missed.
Hopefully there won’t be the injuries and suspensions like last year which will allow a settled midfield to link what is starting to look like a solid defence with a potent attack. Having Archie and Nick Ward yet to come back is a nice selection headache to have =)
Not the best of football skills overall due to the weather but we created probably 8 good chances and put 4 of the away. We would take that every week if it was on offer.
Great to see Danny score early in the season. Good for his confidence. And a super goal by Fabiano. Mitch looked safe in goal and is probably the best no.2 keeper in the league. The squad has real depth this year which was lacking last season and it should be relatively easy to cover injuries during the season.
Lets hope for a confident display on Friday night and a good win against the Jets. I’m predicting 2:0 with Hernandez to get on the score sheet … GO Victory!
Mitch Langerak is definitely a great back-up goalie to have. He can’t really be faulted for either of the goals. Not sure about best back-up in the league though, with Central Coast Mariners just signing Bosnich!
David, Alsopp’s 2nd goal clearly onside when the ball was played, check the replay dude.
Was a very good result, considering were we away and the conditions were terrible we managed to play a good passing game and i think looked threatening in attack.
Was great to see danny play some great football, i’ll admit i gave him abit last year when he wasnt performing, but credit where credit’s due he was one of the best on the park last week. two goals, an assit and another cleard off the line after chipping the keeperm hopefully theres much more to come. Was also impressed with fabiano, i really think he’s goping to do well at melbourne and when archie is back the think the three of them(and elasi if he gets a go) will form a great partnership up front.
Hernandez was great as usual and with his costa rican team mate there next to him i think the middle of the park is looks very solid, would like lopez to keep the ball on target, shooting does not at this stage seem to be his forte.
At the back, well i really dont see us conceding to many goals this year, thwaite, vargas, muscat and theo between the sticks, only the best teams and strickers are gonna make those boys look bad.
And then we still have some players to come back, the depth in the squad this year is definately there, things are looking very promising indeed, cant wait for newcastle tomz night, hope you can all make it:)
Eric, No doubt Bosnich was great and probably is still pretty darn good but clearly McKinna thinks Vukovic is better than Bozza or Bozza would have been the starting goalie last week. I think Mitch is as good a keeper as Vukovic who is known for brain fades. In any case Bosnich signed a contract for 6 or 7 weeks only so who is the real back-up goalie at CCM?
Astri, I looked at the replay and yes you’re right it is onside, made me realise watching it back the contribution that Kemp made to the goal too, his interception of the pass, then threading the ball through to Allsopp, also made me realise how pedestrian the Wellington defence were.
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