MVFC Blog

4,100 of us packed into Olympic Park on Saturday night, putting up with heavy rain to watch the Melbourne Victory lose their 3rd game in a row.
An own goal in the first half put us ahead of the Wellington Phoenix at half time, but the New Zealand side came back in force after half time. Goals from Shane Smeltz and Daniel gave Wellington a solid win.

All in all, it’s been a dismal Pre-Season Cup performance for the Victory, who haven’t managed a single win in their 4 matches. After last week’s loss to the Perth Glory, I wondered whether Melbourne’s lack of strike power could be blamed for poor results. This week, we played Wellington in full force: Archie Thompson was back after his duties for the Socceroos came to an end; Grant Brebner returned from injury; and Leandro Love, the young Brazilian striker signed two weeks ago as a “back-up” to Archie and Danny Allsopp.

But something in the Melbourne machine isn’t functioning.

What struck me after the match with Wellington was the scarcity of genuine goal-scoring opportunities. How many shots on target did we muster? Chances were few and far between.

Poor first touches, mis-judged passes, sluggish movement: is this just a Melbourne side lacking refinement?

Ernie Merrick said of the match:

“I thought we played well in patches and created some good opportunities but at other times looked very disorganised… Obviously new players have got to settle in, but we conceded an incredibly cheap first goal.”

From Australian 442

What do you think? Is it just a matter of time, as Melbourne Victory squad members become acquainted with their fellow players’ style? Or is there something totally amiss in the Victory side?