Victory in Melbourne 

At the halfway mark of the season its nice to be sitting on top of the league after our second win in a row on the road. Much more pleasing was the way the result was achieved and the new attacking mentality of Ernie Merrick, a man not normally known for this attribute. It takes a brave man to send out a team with three strikers on the road, and a much braver coach when you consider two of those three strikers were returning from suspension.

After the Victory weathered the first twenty minutes of intense pressure by the Roar I was fairly confident that we would take out the three points as the Roar looked bereft of ideas in attack. Also our attacking triumvirate was looking extremely dangerous and Ney Fabiano was immense and didn’t look like he had just sat out the last six weeks. Maybe there was also sense of having to prove himself to both the team and the fans after such a long lay off.

Another standout was Billy Celeski whose pinpoint cross lead to the only goal for the game. He was dominant in the fifteen to twenty minutes leading up to the goal and capped it off with that cross. He has really raised his level in the last two weeks when the really needed someone in the midfield to really stamp themselves on the game.

The Victory can go into the mid season break feeling pretty happy with their position on the table considering the number of suspensions that have been accrued on the way. It has been good in recent times that the team has been a lot more disciplined of late and even their yellow card count is down. With this year’s competition being one of the closest, they can’t afford to slip up as they chase the title

Earlier in the day I went and watched the Victory women triumph over Perth Glory 3-0 which sees them sitting third on the ladder with two wins out of three matches, equal on points with both Sydney and Adelaide. This is also the subject of my latest au.fourfourtwo.com blog post, which can be found here.

Friday night was a great performance from the Victory. It was a game that certainly had me on the edge of my seat. For my thoughts on the game, visit my blog on au.fourfourtwo.com.

On another note, as part of Movember, I will be trying my best to grow some bad facial hair. If you want help me raise some money for a good cause, please feel free to donate here or you can just visit mospace page. I promise I will post some photos as it progresses.

Must admit that I am fairly nervous about tonight’s game against Adelaide. The team in red are in good form and the boys in blue are looking particularly toothless without the likes of Thompson, Ney Fabiano and Hernandez. A loss would see us drop six points behind our arch rivals - a gap we can ill afford at this stage of the season. The match could also see the debut of Matthew Theodore - a player I have been particularly impressed with since I watched play a number of times for the AIS in the VPL season just gone. A player with a bright future ahead of him.

On another note, the Victory ladies are taking on Sydney this weekend in their second W-League match. Will be a tough gig away from home with the arch enemy having a strong squad and are firm favourites along with Queensland Roar to challenge for the inaugral W-League title.

I missed only my second ever Victory home game on the weekend and from all reports I shouldn’t have really been too bothered about the fact. Haven’t even managed to see any footage of the game and I don’t think I will really bother.

In other news the good people at Four Four Two have seen it in their hearts to give me an opportunity to also blog on their website as well. I have got the Monday morning gig and you can check out my first post about the Victory’s ill discipline here. It might mean there will be a few less posts here, but I won’t let it slip too much.

The Melbourne Victory W-League squad was announced earlier this week. Didn’t get much coverage in the local press, but you can find a bit more about them here. Members of the inaugral squad are as follows:

Melissa Barbieri
Nicole Paul
Megan Archer
Daniela Digiammarco
Maika Ruyter-Hooley
Marlies Oostdam
Laura Alleway
Bronwyn Nutley
Stephanie Tanti
Tal Karp
Louisa Bisby
Ursula Hughson
Sophie Hogben
Selin Kuralay
Rebecca Tegg
Brittany Timko
Alisha Foote
Deanna Niceski
Sarah Groenewald
Enza Barilla

Emergencies:
Ashley Brown
Stephanie Catley
Brianna Davey

Coach: Matt Shepherd
Ass Coach: Bill Murray
Team Manager: Naomi Hirst

First game is this coming weekend against the Central Coast Mariners as a curtain raiser to the Melbourne vs Sydney A-League match. So get there a little early and support our team.

Last nights game made me angry. I’m not sure whether I was angry  at Archie Thompson for being so stupid for calling Matthew Breeze what he did and being sent off and thus missing the clash next against Sydney (even if it is possibly true - can’t give me a red card Mr Breeze); angry at Matthew Breeze for reacting angrily to Thompson’s comments and giving the red card; angry that we conceded a late goal again after going to ten men; or angry at the way the team played.

To put it simply, the Victory came across a team that responded to a week of heat from their coach. They were more hungry and for long periods of the game dominated all aspects of the match. The absence of Lopez from the Victory enabled the Jets to dominate this area of the pitch and Hernandez struggled without his fellow countryman, being constantly double and triple teamed.

The red card for Thompson, will surely be the talking point of this match. Clearly frustrated by the lack of opportunities provided to him and the fouling when he did get the ball, he snapped when Breeze failed to call a foul. Breeze, who always seems to be at the centre of controversy, had no hesitation in bringing out the fourth red card in five matches for the Victory. Probably a bit harsh in my opinion, a yellow and a talking to would have sufficed.

Merrick has finally admitted that the team does have an issue with discipline. Constant red cards are slowly bringing down what was a promising start to the season and is costing us in important matches, especially the upcoming match in what will be a top of the table clash against Sydney.

On a brighter note, the Melbourne Youth team picked up their first every win in their inaugral season, with Matthew Theodore (who impressed me in his time with the AIS) scoring the only goal. I wonder if Ernie, will bring in Nathan Elasi from the youth team to replace the suspended Thompson.

Yesterday the FFA officially launched the W-League with the first round beginning on the weekend of the 25th and 26th of October. The Victory women’s first up game is against Central Coast Mariners on the 25th October as a curtain raiser to the blockbuster Melbourne v Sydney A-League fixture. Not sure why we couldn’t have played Sydney in this fixture, it would have made more sense. All the rest of the games will be played at either Bob Jane Stadium or Epping Stadium, so I will be definitely be able to check out the ladies in action during their first season. Also good to see at least one match each week will be televised. The FFA didn’t announce any details, but it was pretty obvious would be getting the gig with the ABC1 logo splashed over the draw. Now we all need to know, is who will be wearing the navy blue? Melissa Barbieri is a definite along with Louisa Bisby according to my sources. We just need to know the rest of the 20 person squad.

It was nice to get back on the winner’s list last night with a 4-0 thumping of Perth. But as the title suggests the opposition, to put it simply were quite ordinary. Could you imagine what the scoreline would have been if Melbourne were at full strength with Hernandez and Fabiano available, it could have been quite scary. And to be honest I got a little bored throughout the second half and spent most of it watching and listening to the Northern Terrace (shown above) in action.

The crowd of 18,000 was quite disappointing but the odd kick off (5pm on a Saturday) would have contributed to the number of people not being able to attend along with the prospect of seeing Perth in action. Thankfully we only play them once at home this year. Crowd numbers should be boosted for the next home game, which in all likelihood will be a top of the table clash against Sydney. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend :(.

It was good also to see Danny Allsopp back on the scorer’s sheet with a double, which was also especially good for my A-League Fantasy Football team as he is my captain. It was also amusing to see Archie Thompson efforts to get on the scoresheet were more often than thwarted by his teamates much to his frustration.

Not much else to write about the game in general but after playing every team once its great to be sitting solely on top of the table with things looking promising heading into the international break. Hopefully it can continue for the rest of the season.

Usually when Melbourne lose I take the result pretty philosophically, but some reason on Sunday I was pretty grumpy after our 2-0 loss to Queensland. Grumpy because of the way we played and tactics used. Grumpy because of the poor refereeing. Grumpy because one of my favourite players got sent off. And grumpy because I knew I would cop a lot of crap from the number of Roar fans that I know.

I went into the game in a pretty good, especially with the news that Wellington had beaten Sydney. But as I got to the ground and took my seat, it just didn’t feel like it would be our day. Maybe it was because I wasn’t wearing my “lucky hat” from the previous two home games. Who knows.

Tactically I think we got it wrong from the start. Last night’s game clearly showed that Brebner and Lopez can’t play in the same starting line-up. Brebner looked woeful and often got the balls that we have seen Lopez distribute with such efficiency in the previous five rounds. Also the relegation of Berger to the bench seemed a bit odd has been providing plenty of drive on the left.

And then there is Ben Williams, Sydney FC’s favourite referee. Missed a blatant handball in the area and should have carded Tiatto early on for one of his numerous late challenges. It set the tone for the rest of the match. And the Carlos Hernandez send off for a second bookable offence. Player gets his run checked and gets carded for simulation. What about the numerous body checks by Craig Moore all night? For once, I agree with Eamonn’s comments, we don’t need him in the Socceroos lineup.

In my grumpiness I almost forget to mention that it was great to see the Northern Terrace back in almost full voice. They have been missed. They are part of what makes Melbourne the best supported team in the land and hopefully the FFA sees the error of their HEM ways with a show of support such as this. Instead of sitting by myself in future I might actually join them.

I’m not really blaming the ref for the loss (just asking for the removal of the double standards) as in reality we didn’t deserve to win and some credit must go to Queensland for their efforts. I am thinking maybe we should start the game next week with ten men and save the referee the trouble of picking someone to send off because no one likes a grumpy Neil.

So Ney Fabiano gets nine weeks for spitting at Robert Cornthwaite, whilst Dino Djulbic only gets five for spitting in the direction of a referee. Obviously the decision by Matthew Breeze cannot be questioned, as the referees never get it wrong do they. It also seems a little odd that the decision seems to be have been made without the input of the Adelaide players involved, namely Cornthwaite and Travis Dodd, who noted in the media earlier this week that he didn’t notice Fabiano deliberately spit at his teammate. Watch out for the appeal and a possible trip to the Court of Arbitration. The FFA needs to take a good hard look at its tribunal - its slowly becoming a bit of a farce.