Entries from January 2009 ↓

Round 20 and 21 have been a little like a penalty shoot-out. Melbourne lines up; shoots; scores. Adelaide’s turn; they shoot; score. Now back to Melbourne.

It’s far from a perfect analogy, but I think it may help those disgruntled by the fact that the final round of the A-League is staggered – rather than having all the games played at once.

Personally, I don’t think we’re at a disadvantage because we play first. Let’s imagine we beat the Phoenix. Will the Mariners, who are then guaranteed passage into the finals, rest some players and play a soft game against Adelaide? I don’t think so. Lawrie McKinna’s side hasn’t had the greatest form of late and will be keen to improve that before the finals start. Regardless of tonight’s result, they will want to give a solid performance on Sunday night. Let’s not forget that there’s a chance Adelaide and Central Coast will play each other in the finals, so it’s hardly a good idea to set a standard of losing against them right before the finals.

All of which is to say, Melbourne needs to focus on tonight – nothing else. Archie reckons it’s the biggest game of the year (and he’s right), but it’s the biggest game ever for the Wellington Phoenix. Of course they’re going to come out firing. And with a guy like Shane Smeltz at their disposal, there’s plenty for the Victory to be worried about.

But our recent form at home has been exceptional. Archie and Danny Allsopp are combining well, while Ernie Merrick’s strategy of using either Ney Fabiano or Carlos Hernández has paid dividends. They’ve both been excellent and deserve a starting spot, but you have to hand it to Merrick: playing one of them off the bench works wonders.

My tips for the weekend:

• Melbourne Victory to shatter the Phoenix‘ dreams into a million pieces.
• Queensland Roar to struggle against the Perth Glory and come away with a draw.
• Sydney to end their season with a win against the fame-to-shame Newcastle Jets.
• Central Coast to pick up all three points against Adelaide United.

I’m happy to say that all the hackers’ damage has been removed from the site, so you are once again free to visit MVFC Blog. My apologies. The site should be much more secure now. Let’s hope this never happens again.

Last Friday’s game against the Central Coast Mariners was, of course, a wonderful night for Victory fans. It struck me how a single moment of inspiration can turn a game on its head. Melbourne had been wading around the Central Coast box for a spell (mind you, the Mariners had been making some pointed attacks at our end as well), when a pass from Carlos Hernandez found Archie Thompson. Archie suddenly accelerates, catching Pedj Bojic out with his speed and storming into the box to deliver a cross to Danny Allsopp who was exactly where he should have been.

One moment of brilliance. Within eight minutes Melbourne had tripled the score count, but it all started with that run from Archie.

It was enough to put us at the top of the table, but not to keep us there. On Sunday afternoon, a Wellington Phoenix side brimming with energy – even after they went down to ten men – fought hard to get three points against Adelaide United, but could only secure the draw. Adelaide can count themselves lucky.

That result put Adelaide back at the top of the table, on equal points with Melbourne but with a superior goal difference (one goal). Adelaide and Melbourne are two points ahead of Queensland Roar, so a top two finish is not guaranteed for either side. Meanwhile, the Wellington Phoenix have one shot at displacing the Central Coast Mariners in fourth place – they have to beat Melbourne. But even if they accompany that, a Central Coast win or draw will ensure last year’s Minor Premiers finish above the Kiwis.

If I wasn’t so partisan, this would be an absolutely tantalizing final round. As it stands, it’s positively nerve-racking!

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This is a match review of the Perth game last week, written on Monday but not published due to the site being down.

It never ceases to amaze how the Melbourne Victory can follow up excellent performances against top-ranked teams with mediocre efforts against teams propping up the bottom of the table.

We may have given Perth a hiding when we played them at home, but Melbourne can’t seem to get the edge over the West Australians in Perth. This is the second time this season that Melbourne has been solidly beaten by the Glory.

After last night’s match I was left wondering how Perth managed to squander its season so effortlessly when it is capable of turning in performances like that. David Mitchell has so much talent at his disposal, even with Nikita Ruykavitsya’s departure. Eugene Dadi again put two in against Melbourne, while … Sikora and Adriano Pelegrino were impressive in midfiield.

The clue to Perth’s failure this season may be gleaned from the first 20 minutes of last night’s game. Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp caught the Perth defence napping after just three minutes, with Allsopp slotting home the opener. The onslaught from Melbourne continued, with Carlos Hernandez missing a golden opportunity and Allsopp nearly doubling his score count.

But Melbourne didn’t take its chances, and Perth seized upon this little glimmer of hope. After a short drinks break around the 22 minute mark, Perth clearly began to dominate the game. Goals from Dadi and Ruykavitsya had the Glory a goal up at half time.

In the second half, I felt that Melbourne had the edge over Perth, especially after Ney Fabiano took advantage of a stray ball in front of goal to bring the score to 2-2. Dadi’s second goal came at a perfect time for the Glory, and a horrible time for Melbourne. We’d been on the ascendancy until then, but that goal proved to be a killer blow.

The young referee, whose name I didn’t catch, had an excellent game until the final ten minutes, when he managed to make two embarrassing errors. First, he unwittingly gave a second yellow to Matthew Kemp for what was a very soft foul – I’m convinced he wouldn’t have given that yellow if he’d remembered that Kemp was already on a yellow. Second, he missed a brilliantly obvious Kevin Muscat foul minutes later: Muscat should have received a red card for trying to pull Dadi down from behind. I don’t blame David Mitchell for being upset about the decision. Muscat deserved a red; Kemp didn’t.

The loss to Perth is a serious blow to our chances of winning the Minor Premiership, as Adelaide United sit a point ahead of us with a game in hand. It’s not impossible, but we need Adelaide to lose games while we win. The result, in other words, is out of our hands.

The Victory are back at the top of the table, with their third win over Adelaide United this season. Nice one.

It was a top-of-the-table clash, with first place up for grabs, but I was still surprised at crowd attendance. Over 27,000 on a Tuesday night is a great turn-out by any stretch of the imagination, and a reminder that good performances (such as the one against Sydney) put bums of seats. Melburnians like their football, but they’d rather pay to see a team in form than a team out of form.

Adelaide looked flat for most of the 90 minutes. They had a handful of shots, Theo was forced to make one excellent save, but the former ladder leaders deserved to lose. Aurelio Vidmar admitted as much after the match:

“We had no aggression, desperation, not much at all. There was probably only a handful of players who could have came off that pitch tonight and said they gave everything they possibly could. We just weren’t at the races tonight. We were very lucky it was only 1-0.”

Melbourne certainly played with desperation, but was dogged by poor passing for much of the first 60 minutes. The ideas were right, but the execution fell short too often. Carlos Hernández, after putting in a great game on the weekend, struggled to find his rhythm. Perhaps the state of the ground had something to do with it all?

It was good, of course, to see Nick Ward get his second goal in three appearances. What’s even more encouraging is the fact that Melbourne has scored from set pieces in the last four games. In the past, Melbourne has rarely looked dangerous from set pieces – now, it’s one of our most powerful weapons. Even Carlos Hernández almost popped in a free kick, stopped only by outstretched Eugene Galekovic.

Are you looking for the preview of the A-League Grand Final, to be played between the Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United on February 28, 2009?

Number 1 meets number 2 at the Telstra Dome tonight, as Adelaide United and the Melbourne Victory go head to head to determine who takes the top of the ladder.

A win for Adelaide, giving them a 4-point lead at the top of the table with a game in hand, would all but guarantee them the Minor Premiership. On the other hand, Melbourne are fighting to stay in the race for number one. Three points going their way would put them a point above Adelaide, but the South Australian side still has a game in hand – we would need other results to swing our way.

In short, tonight is critical.

The fitness and depth of both sides will be tested, with neither side having had more than a four day break. Melbourne’s had an extra day to recover since its last match, but if there’s one thing Adelaide have proved this season, it’s that they have can dig deep and produce the goods even while running on tired legs.

Depth is certainly something which Merrick has at his disposal. Grant Brebner and Jose Luis Lopez, neither of whom were even in the squad over the past two weeks, could come into his line-up. After last week, I get the feeling that Evan Berger may be the one to be dropped tonight. Pulled off early against Queensland, I think Berger is the main one in the 16-man squad whose removal would make sense – and who could be easily replaced. Michael Thwaite may be due for a break – like Philip said, Kemp has looked better than him the last two weeks – but in such a critical game I can’t see Merrick pulling out one of his key defensive options.

My tip for tonight: Melbourne by two goals.

If 2008 ended with a bang, 2009 began with a dull thud. Melbourne Victory rose to the top of the table, albeit only for a night, with a 2-1 win over the Queensland Roar, but it wasn’t pretty.

Queensland and Melbourne, ranked second and third on the ladder before this round started, were as evenly balanced as their ranking suggested. That is, they both had chances and bungled them. Both had, overall, a poor night. It’s just that Melbourne turned it on for fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, took a two-goal lead and was able to keep the Roar from getting two back in the remaining twenty something minutes.

Archie Thompson in particular had a frustrating night, with no less than four attempts on goal gone astray in the last twenty minutes. And let’s not forget his outburst after Carlos Hernández opted to take a shot himself, rather than passing it to Archie. Nevermind that Archie had done the same thing minutes before. Nevermind. To be fair, Archie did produce the pass setting up Danny Allsopp’s opener.

It wasn’t just Archie though. Compared to the week before, the Victory played with minimal intensity. Too many beers on New Year’s Eve perhaps? The exception to the rule was Carlos Hernández, who seemed to be moving quicker than he has before. A positive sign to be sure.

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Adelaide United won their game against Sydney FC on Saturday night, putting them back at the top of the table and forcing John Kosmina to admit his side’s season is over. It also sets up a brilliant top-of-the-table encounter between Melbourne and Adelaide on Tuesday, which will go some way to determining who grasps the Minor Premiership this year.

Meanwhile, Wellington Phoenix have kept their season alive with an emphatic 3-0 win over the Newcastle Jets. They’re a point down from Queensland Roar (who have played a game less) and three points down from the Central Coast Mariners. Whether they manage to oust one of the Aussie teams will be one of the most interesting stories to watch over the next three weeks.

The Melbourne Victory hosts the Queensland Roar tonight, in what is a critical juncture of the A-League season.

The Roar sit on equal points with Melbourne, but edge us out on goal difference. A win tonight for either side would go a long way to ensuring their finals aspirations.

The Central Coast Mariners have already played their game this round, beating the Perth Glory 1-0 on New Year’s Eve. That’s put the Mariners at the top of the table temporarily, but that’s unlikely to remain so, with Adelaide United, Queensland and Melbourne all able to overtake the Mariners.

Ernie Merrick indicated that he plans to do very little to change the squad that overcame Sydney FC last week, suggesting that Grant Brebner and Jose Luis Lopez may once again have to watch from the sidelines. Surely it is a sign of the depth of Melbourne’s squad that a hero from season 2 and a Costa Rican international are unable to make it into the squad?

The pitch is a cause for concern, as the Telstra Dome was used for New Year’s Eve festivities. The club and Dome are apparently clashing heads over it. Ernie Merrick even said: “As coach of Melbourne Victory, I find working with Telstra Dome management and preparing for a game is very difficult. That’s all I’ll say at this stage.” Enough said Ernie. We know what you mean. Telstra Dome are pains in the arses.

My tips for the weekend:

• Melbourne to shatter Queensland: Maybe not by much – Queensland have a strong defence – but if Melbourne play with the intensity they had against Sydney FC, they can win this.
• Adelaide United to beat Sydney FC: Only the bravest of punters would tip otherwise at the moment. Adelaide are riding high at the top of the table, while Sydney are tumbling down. I expect the trend to continue.
• Wellington Phoenix to beat Newcastle Jets: I suppose I could have saved time and just said I expect the home teams to win this weekend. Newcastle have nothing but pride left to play for, while a win for Wellington is essential for the finals chances.