MVFC Blog

Prior to the season, we looked at Melbourne’s roster of players and one word came to mind: depth.

Ernie Merrick is a man with options this year. And boy doesn’t he need them?

Five of our players are injured. Two others have been called up for international duty. The team we’ll see lining up against Adelaide United tonight is far from the first-choice squad. Nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to the game.

In Archie’s absence, Leandro Love steps up for his first start of the season. His 25 minutes against the Perth Glory were enough to endear him to Telstra Dome. Given a chance to play a solid game tonight, I wonder if he’ll be able to endear himself to Ernie Merrick. Perhaps his supposed role as “back-up” striker might be worth reconsidering, especially if Danny Allsopp and Archie perform under par.

Besides Leandro, we can also expect to see more of Kaz Patafta, Adrian Caceres and Carlos Hernández. Daniel Vasilevski, Evan Berger and Sebastian Ryall are also along for the trip, each of them hoping to get their A-League début.

Adelaide will also be seeing some changes to the squad, as Bruce Djite and Kristian Sarkies are both of to play for the Under-23s. Nathan Burns is suspended from the Under-23s match, which means he’s still around to make life tough for the Victory. He’ll be joined by former Socceroo Paul Agostino, who was resigned to bench warming for rounds 1 and 2, making way for the Burns and Djite combo up front. Bobby Petta is also an uncertainty for United, after he didn’t complete training yesterday.

To be honest, Adelaide United looks better on paper than Melbourne for this match. The Victory will be missing some of its finest talent. But let’s not forget that this is a Melbourne side still struggling to find its feet. A dramatic shake-up of personnel may not be such a bad thing after all.

My prediction: Adelaide United 1, Melbourne Victory 1

What’s your tip?