Victory in Melbourne 

I would like to thank the following people for Melbourne winning the Premiership Plate and an automatic ACL berth:

• Danny Vukovic for making a number of crucial saves last night against Adelaide. That one with his face was certainly a classic
• Paul O’Grady for his stellar performance in the heart of the Mariners’ defence
• Aurelio Vidmar for choosing to start with Paul Agostino instead of Cristiano and always going with one striker
• The woodwork at both ends of Bluetongue Stadium for denying Adelaide on at least two occasions

For my thoughts on Friday night’s, check out my latest 442 blog post.

At the start of 2008 I wondered how many football matches that I would go and watch in a year. Matches included A-League, VPL, local league and international games. In the end I went to fifty-one matches as listed below:

Queensland Roar vs Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Victory vs Wellington Phoenix, Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory, Australia vs Qatar, Richmond vs Preston , Richmond vs Green Gully, Richmond vs Melbourne Knights, South Melbourne vs Western Suburbs, Fawkner vs Richmond, Richmond vs Altona, South Melbourne vs AIS, Altona vs Whittlesea, Western Suburbs vs Richmond, Western Suburbs vs AIS, Melbourne Victory vs Gamba Osaka, Richmond vs Frankston, Fawkner vs Coburg, Green Gully vs AIS, Heidelberg vs Richmond, Richmond vs Coburg, Green Gully vs Western Suburbs, South Melbourne vs Richmond, Richmond vs Oakleigh, South Melbourne vs Frankston, Melbourne Victory vs Chonburi FC, Green Gully vs Altona, Melbourne Victory vs Juventus, Green Gully vs Richmond, Australia vs Iraq, South Melbourne vs Oakleigh, Altona vs Richmond, Fawkner vs Whittlesea, Richmond vs Western Suburbs, Green Gully vs Melbourne Victory, Fawkner vs Heidelberg, Fawkner vs South Melbourne, Western Suburbs vs Frankston, Richmond vs South Melbourne, Trojan Athletic vs Satellite City, Fawkner vs AIS, Green Gully vs Melbourne Knights, Melbourne Victory vs Newcastle Jets, Heidelberg vs Richmond, Melbourne Victory vs Adelaide, Altona vs Melbourne Knights, Melbourne Victory vs Queensland Roar, Melbourne Victory vs Perth Glory, Melbourne Victory Women vs Perth Glory Women, Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast, Melbourne Victory vs Queensland Roar & Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC

How many matches did you watch?

Going into tonight’s game against there was always going to be a selection headache between Grant Brebner and Jose Luis Lopez for Ernie Merrick in the defensive midfield position. However, as fate would have it this little problem has been solved in the short term by the news that Brebner has been suspended for four games (two of which are suspended) for his involvement in a betting scandal that also involved Victory captain Kevin Muscat and the Roar’s Craig Moore.

Brebner, a reformed gambling addict (or so it seems) is also likely to receive further sanction from the club regarding his actions and it would surprise me if he sees game time for the rest of the season. The club also should seriously consider giving Kevin Muscat a reprimand of some sort as well for his involvement as well. Its not good way to go into an all important match against a struggling side. And as you would expect, the Melbourne Victory fans forum is going nuts.

Poor form fellas, poor form

Last week was a big week in football. Well it was for me anyway as I took in all seven days of the Homeless World Cup that was held in Melbourne last week. I think I watched close to seventy games for week in what was a great week of football. Over at the84thminute I have given a daily update on some of the many matches that I had a look it. Also as part of my weekly blog at au.fourfourtwo.com instead of writing something about the Melbourne Victory’s terrible performance against Perth I chose a much more inspiring story about the women of the Homeless World Cup. You can read it here.

It was announced today that Craig Moore has undergone surgery for testicular cancer. We wish him a speedy recovery and our thoughts go out to both him and his family.

Watching the A-League on TV when Andy Harper and Michael Cockerill are commentating is like having your teeth pulled. They simple don’t shut up. I think someone needs to point out to them that television is visual medium and we don’t necessarily need to have commentary 100% of the time. Most of the time both their commentary is pure dribble and more often than not they take the opportunity to mention Sydney FC, even when they aren’t even playing. I think this post by The Fisherman’s Friend sums them up perfectly.

I was asked to comment in my previous post about the announcement last week that the FFA has become talks with a consortium to create a second Melbourne team for the 2010/11 A-League season. I provided a brief response but I thought I would elaborate.

Initially I was skeptical of the idea of a second team in Melbourne, mainly because there was probably other areas in Australia that could be better served by an A-League team rather than create a second team here in Melbourne. But after some thought I personally can’t wait for the inclusion of a second team in Melbourne. The A-League in order to continue to grow needs to great some serious rivalries. Whilst Melbourne Victory has fairly intense rivalries with Sydney and Adelaide - a city rival would be so much better. I can’t wait for the sold out crowds that will surely be the envy of all other states.

I’m not too sold on the name “Melbourne Heart” but it is my understand that this is just a consortium name and is more likely to Melbourne City or Melbourne United. And as for colours for the proposed new team - I reckon they should be red. Why red you may ask? When you think of all the city rivalries around the world, more often than there is a red half and a blue half. Think of Liverpool and Everton, Manchester United and Manchester City, AC Milan and Internazionale, Lazio and Roma and Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich just to name a few.

My only concern with a second team in Melbourne is their proposed target. With the Victory already well established as one of the best supported teams in the country it will be initially difficult for the new team to attract their own audience. Their has been talk of this team targetting or basing themselves in the ever expanding south eastern suburbs of Melbourne. For me I don’t believe this is a wise move, they should just aim to be an alternative to the Melbourne Victory.

Bring on 2010 I say - I can’t wait for the derby games. Plus it gives me the opportunity to go and watch football every weekend.

I don’t particularly like the Australian propensity to give people nicknames or shorten their names. Therefore I was particularly non-plussed when reading this article, to note that Melbourne Victory players had nicknamed new signing Jose Luis Lopez, J-Lo. Not very original boys. In the unlikely chance that I would choose a nickname for our new central midfielder, I would have called him George, but that’s just me.

I’m a big fan of fantasy football although usually not that good, unless you count my performance in selecting a bunch of twats at Euro 2008. Any of recent times I have been trying to pick my fantasy teams for the start of both the A-League and the English Premier League seasons and have noticed a disparity in the points allocated to players in the A-League. Its extremely difficult to pick a decent squad with your allocated 100 points. See below for my comparison between the two teams I have picked.

A-League Fantasy Team (One Minute Wonders)

Covic (8.0), de Vere* (4.5), McKain (7.5), Djulbic (6.5), Thwaite (8.0), Lopez (6.0), McKay (11.0), Miller (8.0), Pantelis (10.0), Smeltz (13.0), Hoffman (7.5), and Cristiano (10.0)

EPL Fantasy Team (One Minute Wonders)

Friedel (5.5), Schwarzer* (4.0), Laursen (6.0) Lescott (7.0), Clichy (6.5), Meite* (4.5), McShane* (4.0), Davies (6.0), Essien (8.0), Ireland (5.5), Fabregas (10.0), Hamann* (4.5), Torres (12.0), Santa Cruz (9.0) and Carew (7.5)

As you can firstly see I’m not really imaginative with the naming of my teams but as I have said above the points allocated by Fox Sports to players makes it really difficult to put together a quality balanced squad. Maybe they could take a leaf out of the Premier League’s system, which in my opinion is one of the best fantasy leagues going around.

Anyway if you want to challenge my One Minute Wonders for the A-League don’t forget to enter your team in the84thminute A-League fantasy football league. For all the details check out the84thminute site.

impressive adj. capable of impressing, esp. by size, magnificence, etc.; awe-inspiring; commanding

I made my way down to Bob Jane Stadium yesterday to take in the clash between South Melbourne and the AIS and put it simply I was impressed. Impressed by the AIS and their quality of their play. Impressed by a team that wasn’t intimidated by a much physically stronger and more experienced team and even took it up to their opponents. For the record the AIS team picked up a 2-0 victory, which put them in second place on the VPL table only a point behind leaders Oakleigh and with a game in hand.

Players that impressed me were Jason Naidovski, scorer of both goals and leading scorer in the VPL with 8 goals to his name; Matthew Theodore, who controlled the AIS midfield and almost got on the score sheet himself; and Luke Devere in the centre of defence, who was rarely beaten and marshalled his defence well. I am looking forward to seeing these players on a more regular basis as I am sure most of this team will be picked for either A-League youth squads or their senior squads.

To read my report on the match, click here, where I impressed myself by not using the word impressive as much as I thought I would. And as bonus you can hear me talk about the game by listening to Eamonn’s Nearpost Radio Show here.