Entries Tagged 'Carlos Hernandez' ↓

After a poor start to the season, we can breathe easy again. Two wins on the trot has put Melbourne a point from first place, though the A-League is so tight this season that we’re still only in sixth place. But it’s good to see the team hit some form at last.

With a third of the season almost done, I thought I’d pop in to share my thoughts on how the mighty Victory are faring this year.

The Equilibrium Shattered: Danny Allsopp leaves, Billy Celeski injured

Melbourne came into this season with a stable squad, with just one new face. For a side that normally signs at least 3 or 4 a season, this was quite remarkable. Keeping a stable lineup has its advantages of course, but it can also make a team predictable. Whether that was part of the reason for Melbourne’s sluggish start to the season, I’m not sure. What’s clear is that Kevin Muscat’s injury earlier this season, Danny Allsopp’s departure and the season-ending injury to Billy Celeski has shattered that stability and forced the club to turn to the players market.

So far, the signings have paid off. Bringing back Adrian Leijer was a brilliant and timely coup. The purchase of Robbie Kruse had me buzzing for days, though last weekend was the most we’ve seen of the youngster so far — and even then he seemed to be struggling with the dust quite a bit. Mate Dugandzic impressed against the Gold Coast with a remarkably self-assured performance. With Costa Rican international Marvin Angulo set to join the club this week, and Thai international Sutee Suksomkit also due to arrive soon, Ernie Merrick looks to have plenty of talent at his disposal. Finding a structure that works cohesively will be his biggest challenge in the coming weeks.

The Return of Kevin Muscat

It has surprised me how much Kevin Muscat’s return has impacted the team. I for one thought Muscat had a poor season last year and expected him to hang up the boots, but it was painfully clear in his absence how leaderless and frail Melbourne looked. Granted, we’d also just lost Allsopp and Celeski, so everything was a bit topsy-turvy anyway, but Muscat’s return played no small part in our wins against Adelaide and Gold Coast. How we cope when he does decide to retire is going to be a very big challenge.

Carlos Hernández: Our greatest import ever?

Do you think he’s the best player we’ve ever had? If it came down to it, who would you rather field: Carlos Hernández or Fred?

With the way Hernández is playing right now, I think he’s the best player we’ve ever seen in Victory colours. Four goals in eight matches, every one of them a beauty. If he gets through this season un-injured, I have no doubt that we’ll finish in the top 3.

My apologies for the lack of posting lately. It is off-season though.

Here’s some news items you may have missed during the week:

• Kaz Patafta: Released by Benfica, under-utilised by the Melbourne Victory, young Kaz runs to the wide open arms of Gary Van Egmond.
• Mark Byrnes: The former Victory player has signed a short-term deal with Apia Leichardt in the NSW Premier League. He’s hoping to make his way back into the A-League.
• A-League expansion: There are plenty of people jostling for a piece of the pie, with no less than three Melbourne teams hoping to become the second Melbourne club. Meanwhile, billionaire Clive Palmer has thwarted the Gold Coast Galaxy franchise, wooing the FFA with his own – more lucrative – club, Gold Coast United, which he hopes will become the new Bling FC.
• Carlos Hernández: The injury he picked up against Juventus has forced him to forego a spot in the Costa Rican World Cup qualifying squad.

For all the latest news, you can follow two other feeds I’m updating simultaneously throughout the week. If you’re on Twitter, follow my profile. Otherwise, this page is updating regularly and has an RSS feed.

This is bad: Carlos Hernández injured himself at training last week and is expected to miss six weeks.

Ernie Merrick said:

“It was just one of those training incidents with no one near him. He turned and his foot got stuck and twisted his knee.”

Six weeks means that the Costa Rican will miss Melbourne’s first three matches in the Asian Champions League.

Hernández’ absence will be sorely felt. His form at the end of the season was excellent, earning him a call-up to the Costa Rican national team. Suddenly, this injury throws a proverbial spanner into the works. Even if he recovers sufficiently to play in the latter half of the group stage, it will undoubtedly take him a few extra weeks to regain form.

Meanwhile, it appears to be confirmed that Grant Brebner will not be getting a game in the ACL group stage. This means that both Tom Pondeljak and Joe Keenan will be able to be drafted into the squad as injury replacements.

Thank you to everyone who voted in the MVFC Awards!

Voting is now closed. In two of the categories, clear winners emerged, but in the third, it was a very tight race.

Without further ado, here’s who you voted the best Melbourne Victory players in 2007/08:

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After ten days of voting, the A-League Awards wrapped up yesterday afternoon. Thank you to everyone who voted. And a big thank you to the other bloggers who helped nominate players for each category.

Without further ado, here are the winners:

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Carlos Hernández has been called on to play a couple of friendlies for Costa Rica in late January and early February.

Costa Rica will be playing Iran on January 30 and Jamaica on February 6.

With the Victory out of the finals, it’s a great opportunity for Hernández to make an impression on national coach Hernan Medford. Costa Rica’s World Cup qualification campaign kicks off in June.

One important decision which Ernie Merrick will have to make in the next month is which international player he leaves out of the Melbourne Victory squad for the Asian Champions League.

Coaches have to get their 30-player squad lists in by the 11th of February. One of the stipulations is that each team can only have three foreign players.

This means that one of Melbourne’s four internationals is going to miss out on the Champions League.

Our international players are:

• Carlos Hernandez
• Grant Brebner
• Joe Keenan
• Leandro Love

Who should Merrick leave out?

Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.

I remember a game at Telstra Dome earlier this season as an overweight mid-40s bloke with a packet of chips shouted: “Lay off the KFC, Carlos!”

At the time, it was a common sentiment, obviously fed by early reports in the media that Carlos Hernandez, arguably the Melbourne Victory’s most exciting new prospect, was overweight when he arrived from the Costa Rica. Nevermind the fact that he was one of Costa Rica’s leading scorers in the build-up to the World Cup in Germany. Nevermind that he could pull off long-range strikes like this. Such feats are easily forgotten when you can reduce a player down to one simple phrase: “He’s fat.”
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Carlos Hernandez is not Fred.

Quite the obvious statement really.

But such was the impression Fred made on the A-League last season that commentators are looking at the Melbourne Victory’s struggle to get its first win of the season and pointing the fingers at Hernandez: “He’s not Fred!”

How insightful.

The Central Coast’s Tony Vidmar pointed at the absence of Fred to explain why Melbourne seems to be a shadow of its former self. Jesse Fink from Half Time Orange agrees that Melbourne without Fred is “a totally different proposition”.

Agreed, to an extent. The Victory are a revamped squad (besides Fred, another 7 players from last year’s squad aren’t around any more); and so far, they really don’t look as good as they did last year.

But I think we are over emphasising Fred’s contribution to last year’s team. And I definitely think that Victory supporters are being too harsh to Carlos Hernandez, who has been wrongly cast into Fred’s shoes.

The bloke behind me at the game last Sunday spent much of the match screaming his scorn for a number of players, especially Hernandez. Deriding the Costa Rican for being “fat” (his words, not mine), I wondered whether this was the characteristic sentiment around Victory supporters. Is Hernandez on a fast-track to becoming the proverbial Melbourne scapegoat (a la Danny Allsopp, season 1)?

Unfortunately, Hernandez seems to be judged on the extent to which he can emulate Fred. But let’s get back to the basics: Hernandez is not Fred. Where Fred would run and run and run, Hernandez takes a decidedly different approach. He’s a classy midfielder with a deft touch. We’ve already seen flashes of his brilliance. Sure, he’s not at top-flight. But neither was Fred at this time of the season last year, as Ernie Merrick is keen to point out.

I was very disappointed to see Fred leave. He was, without a doubt, one of the highlight’s of the Melbourne Victory show in 2006-07.

I don’t expect Hernandez to be the new Fred. But I do look forward to watching him come into his own: in short, to play his game, not Fred’s.

It’s official: Carlos Hernandez is coming to Melbourne

The Fox (as he is known in Costa Rica) will be filling the void left by Fred’s departure. He has big shoes to fill, but it sounds like he has the feet to fill them. Ernie Merrick says he’s “a player of enormous pedigree who is still yet to reach his prime.” And hey, if Merrick says it, I’m going to believe him.

Unfortunately, Hernandez won’t be joining the Victory squad in time for next month’s fixtures against the Chinese national team (July 4) and Tianjin Teda F.C. (July 7). Tianjin Teda consistently finishes in the top half of the Chinese Super League, looking to do one better this year under the coaching of experienced Czech coach Jozef Jarabinsky: suffice it to say that they will be fierce competitors.

Fiercer still will be the Chinese national team, for whom the game against Melbourne Victory will be their final preparation for the Asian Cup. Pitted against a Chinese side trying to instill its millions of fans with steadfast belief on the eve of Asia’s premier football competition… Merrick must be licking his chops.

The China tour is going to be valuable experience for the Victory squad. Last year’s near-perfect A-League campaign was preceded by a series of friendlies against local Victorian teams, as well as the North Queensland Cup and the regular pre-season cup. It stands to reason that two games against such high calibre competitors will provide for an even more thorough testing of Melbourne’s capabilities. Not only that, but the opportunity to play in China prior to 2008’s Asian Champions League campaign offers the team a chance to prepare itself for the dynamics of international competition.

But that’s a long way off. For now, let’s make life hard for China’s finest.