MVFC Blog

Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United have played their fourth friendly, ending in a 0-0 draw. That’s three draws in a row, with Melbourne winning the first friendly back in February.

Steve Pantelidis was given a straight red card in the second half after a challenge on Matthew Mullen.

Judging by the report on Goal.com, Adelaide were the more dangerous side. Merrick gave a start to Leandro Love and Kaz Patafta, and lost Leigh Broxham early on to injury. Broxham’s injury isn’t expected to keep him out of next week’s match.

The FFA has introduced a youth marquee system enabling clubs to sign one local player under the age of 23 and pay them up to $150,000 outside the salary cap. The player has to be Australian (or Kiwi for the Wellington Phoenix).

It’s a step in the right direction, as it seeks to avoid young players moving overseas for poor contracts:

“The concept is to ensure that talented younger players, who might otherwise be tempted to go overseas, stay in the A-League for as long as possible by offering them a competitive salary.”

Last year, David Carney moved to Sheffield United for just $125,000 - a sum which many in the A-League considered far too low for one of our brightest talents. Giving clubs the ability to offer players like that a bigger pay packet is an excellent idea.

So, with this new youth marquee system in place, who will ours be? Other than Kaz Patafta, none of the current stock spring to mind - and it’s hard to imagine the club offering Patafta big money when he’s only been used so sparingly. But turn your attention to the rest of the A-League, and some options start to present themselves: with the extra cash in the bank, could Melbourne entice the likes of Bruce Djite, Michael Zullo or Robbie Kruse to make the switch to the Victory?

It’s been two weeks since news hit that the Victory were looking at Costa Rican striker Windell Gabriel. Since then, a slow visa process has kept Gabriel from being able to come to Melbourne for a trial, according to the Herald Sun. With the Costa Rican league just started, time’s running out for Gabriel to get out here.

The Herald Sun article also mentions that Nathan Elasi’s contract has been extended to a two-year deal. Gary Cole is reported to say: “He’s a cracker. We’re really happy with him.”

Is that so, Gary? Does Ernie think so?

Melbourne’s recruitment so far this off-season hasn’t been inspirational. Elasi signed, never played. Pondeljak signed, never played. At least Celeski has managed to become a regular fixture in the squad.

Melbourne Victory 3, Gamba Osaka 4 (match report)

On Tuesday, I asked: Can a Melbourne side without Archie Thompson and Carlos Hernández score goals?

The answer, irrefutably, is yes.

Two goals from Danny Allsopp and another from Rodrigo Vargas, on most days, should have been enough to wrap this one up.

But three wasn’t enough to beat Gamba, nor to get a draw.

The J-League side, playing their fourth match in nine days, looked shaky at the start. For once, our long balls were paying off, due more to poor Osaka defending than Danny Allsopp’s prowess. Melbourne could have been two up within five minutes.

At one - nil, Melbourne was surging, and Gamba’s backline was betraying them. But this was an open, free-scoring match. A delicious long-range goal from Takahiro Futagawa put Osaka back on level terms in the 32nd minute.

The first surprising choice - surprised me, at least - was Ernie Merrick’s decision to replace Steven Pace with Steve Pantelidis. Pace had been slow on the ball and appeared to be playing too far forward too often, but to replace him with the lumbering Pantelidis seemed illogical, especially with Melbourne a goal down. Why not inject an energetic, creative player like Kaz Patafta into the mix?

But maybe Pantelidis’ introduction paid off, as the Victory levelled shortly after, going into the break 2-2.

Gamba seemed to settle in during the second half, cutting down on defensive errors. Consequently, the Victory long-ball approach to attacking football proved futile, as Danny Allsopp would be nullified by two defenders. You can’t blame Allsopp - not much he can do with it - but I had to wonder why none of our midfielders were pushing up behind him, ready to pounce on loose balls. As it were, there was little pressure on Gamba’s centre backs.

The Victory did manage to go ahead, a little too early according to some pundits. The second Melbourne goal from a spot-kick, tucked away by Allsopp. But with 20 minutes left on the clock, Melbourne were looking tired. This was a game in which Gamba were supposed to be the ones tiring, not us. The introduction of Kaz Patafta and Daniel Vasilevski in the final ten minutes came too late.

In the end, 3-4 was a bitter result. Besides almost killing our chances of making it past the group stage (although the Chunnam Dragons’ win over Chonburi FC certainly gives us a little more hope), it was disappointing to see the Victory leak so many goals. How many times has Theoklitos let through four in 90 minutes?

Even more frustrating was Melbourne’s continued use of long-balls. The futility of these was summed up most poignantly when Steve Pantelidis, coming into possession after a Gamba corner, decided to send a long-ball forward - despite the fact that all his team mates were with him in the Melbourne box.

‘Nuff said.

When the Melbourne Victory host Gamba Osaka tonight in the third round of the 2008 Asian Champions League, most Victory fans will harbour more than a passing sensation of trepidation. No Archie Thompson. No Carlos Hernández. Can Danny Allsopp deliver the top-shelf performance we need him to deliver?

Allsopp isn’t the only one with a fair weight on his shoulders. Rodrigo Vargas, given the job of marking Brazilian striker Bare, has an equally critical role to play, while Leigh Broxham is set to take on Bare’s countryman, playmaker Lucas. And Ernie Merrick is looking to Kevin Muscat to provide a strong attacking thrust.

The match has been fairly described as a “must-win” affair. With away matches in Japan and Korea yet to come, anything short of a victory will render the Victory’s chances of progressing past the group stage very difficult indeed.

Gamba, meanwhile, have had a hectic schedule leading up to this match, playing three J-League matches in six days before flying out to Melbourne early this week. The fact that they won all three of those matches will bolster their confidence; but the heavy schedule may take its toll against Melbourne, especially in the latter stages of the match.

With Archie absent, Adrian Caceres is likely to push up alongside Allsopp, with Nick Ward filling the hole behind them. Archie’s absence also means a promotion for someone else: fans may cry for Kaz Patafta, but my guess is that Merrick will instead bring on Steven Pace to provide extra muscle in the midfield and close down Gamba’s Yasuhito Endo.

Archie and Hernández accounted for over a third of Melbourne’s goals last season, so they will be sorely missed. But there is some hope, as our J.League Correspondent revealed last month: Gamba has major weakness in defence. It may also be encouraging to note that the Victory’s three goals in the ACL so far did not involve Archie at all. Let it be known, we can score goals without Archie.

My tip (hoping to be proved wrong): Melbourne Victory 2, Gamba Osaka 2

Your tip?

A comment left on my Pitch Invasion article about the conflict between Melbourne Victory supporters and the Telstra Dome sparked my interest:

“The conflict between the organised MVFC fans and Telstra Dome seems to have eased somewhat, but it has significantly slowed (or somewhat undone) the momentum of support for the club generated from Season 2. A mistake for a club that, being in its infancy, should be trying to attract as many supporters to their games as they can.”

Without a doubt, attendances did drop quite noticeably last season, from a season average in 2006/07 of 27,728, to an average of 26,064 supporters per match in 2007/08. The season high of 31,884 paled in comparison with the previous season’s high of 50,33 (both were home fixtures against Sydney FC). [Read more →]

With Archie Thompson set to miss the rest of the Asian Champions League group stage, Gary Cole has turned his attention to finding a replacement striker, fast. And a report in the Herald Sun today indicated that the Victory are looking to Costa Rica for their salvation.

“Encouraged by Hernandez’s form late in the A-League season, Victory is poised to trial a Costan Rican striker, perhaps as early as next week, with a possibility he could play in an exhibition game against Adelaide United.” [Read more →]

Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United fought out a 2-2 draw yesterday in Hindmarsh Stadium. With both teams missing a key striker (Adelaide are without Bruce Djite due to injury), the scoreline will provide encouragement for both coaches.

Adrian Caceres, who moved into a striker’s role alongside Danny Allsopp, opened the scoring in the 5th minute. A Lucas Pantelis goal brought Adelaide back on level terms, but Danny Allsopp made sure that Melbourne went into the break a goal up. In the second half, Adelaide had the better of play, but failed to capitalise on chances. Both Travis Dodd and Dez Giraldi missed penalties, though Young Socceroo Matthew Mullen managed to put one in the back of the net to ensure a draw.

With Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson expected to be out for the remainder of the ACL group stage, Ernie Merrick shifted Caceres up front and brought Nick Ward forward to act as an attacking midfielder just behind the strikers. While it’s encouraging to see this formula work (to an extent), the club must be looking to recruit a fresh, first-11 striker. With Caceres on his way to the Central Coast Mariners, and neither Nathan Elasi nor Leandro Love looking like first team material, Merrick’s options are starting to look rather thin.

Last week, I published an article on football blog Pitch Invasion about the conflict between Melbourne Victory fans and Telstra Dome management. As part of my research for that article, I interviewed Tunna, the leader of the Blue and White Brigade. Tunna has been a key person in negotiations between the Telstra Dome, the club, and the fans.

After the Telstra Dome agreed to ease up on restrictions for the Asian Champions League last month, I was interested to learn about Tunna’s involvement in making those changes happen. He also shared his thoughts on the atmosphere created by the fans at last month’s match against the Chunnam Dragons. [Read more →]