Victory in Melbourne 

After what seemed like an interminably long off-season the A-League finally got back underway last weekend as the Victory took on Sydney FC in what seems to be some sort of start of season tradition. And like many before them it ended in a draw but as far as 0-0 draws go it was pretty exciting with the respective goalkeepers stealing the limelight from Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton, who were making their A-League debuts.

From a Melbourne Victory point of view there were a few fresh faces making their debuts, none so more than new manager/coach Mehmet Durakovic, who had his first official game in charge and whilst it wasn’t a perfect performance there was some good pointers that if worked on could make for an exciting year. With the absence of Carlos Hernandez due to international duty, Durakovic set the midfield up with two holding midfielders in the form of Billy Celeski and Grant Brebner with Harry Kewell playing a roaming role behind Danny Allsopp with Archie Thompson and debutant Marco Rojas providing the width and pace. At the back were Vargas and Leijer centrally with another debutant Fabio and Matthew Foschini playing as full backs.

Without Hernandez absent it was a somewhat lopsided formation and in many respects the midfield lacked a bit of focus as the gap between Brebner and Celeski and the front three gave Sydney a little too much space, something which they exploited early on and it was only some heroics from new goalkeeper Ante Čović that kept Sydney FC from scoring early on. He further improved on his performance with that penalty save from Brett Emerton and one can see Tando Velaphi struggling to return to the starting XI once he returns from injury.

All three starting debutantes made good debuts with the most high profile, Harry Kewell having one of the best opportunities to break the deadlock midway through the first half. Despite having gone almost five months without competitive football, Kewell looked very much at home in free roaming role and some of his combinations with Archie Thompson were a sight to behold. One criticism that could be levelled at Kewell is that at times he seemed a little desperate to get on the scoresheet, particularly as the deadlock dragged on. When Hernandez returns next week against Adelaide week it will be interesting to see how Durakovic can fit both into the team, especially on the road.

Marco Rojas, the young New Zealander formerly of Wellington Phoenix, showed plenty of signs that he will be a useful addition this season providing the width that Melbourne Victory fans always seemed so much to crave during the reign of Ernie Merrick. What was especially pleasing was that at the end of some pulsating runs he was able to put in some quality final balls with ones for Kewell and Allsopp that forced great saves from Sydney goalkeeper, Liam Reddy.

Fabio, the latest in a string of Brazilians to play for the Victory, showed that he could be a good acquisition at full back despite giving away the penalty through a somewhat clumsy challenge on Mark Bridge. What caught the eye was his work rate providing an attacking outlet but also making sure to get back in defence and making a number of crucial interceptions. Both Jean-Carlos Solorzano and Isaka Cernak also saw pitch time but it was limited so a proper assessment would be a little unfair.

Next up is Adelaide in Adelaide and after our run of ten consecutive wins, the South Australians have won the last two with the last one coming in the final round last season. Adelaide will be coming off a poor performance against Perth Glory and will be looking to turn it around in front of their home fans. Like many such matches between the two teams it should be a cracker.

So after almost three months of speculation Melbourne Victory finally got around to announcing what Anthony Di Pietro described as the biggest signing in Australian sport as he confirmed the signing of Harry Kewell on a three-year deal.

The signing of Kewell means that fans of Australian football will for the first time get to see this country’s most high-profile football player playing club football but for a time there it seemed it wasn’t going to be worth the effort. All the constant to and froing and media speculation about supposed deals and counter-deals left a sour taste in many a fans’ mouth as Melbourne Victory and SydneyFC fought for Kewell’s signature (although to be fair I don’t think Sydney were actually ever in the hunt). Even this little blogger had enough at one stage when it looked like any deal to see Kewell to return to Australia had fallen through as I made the following (in hindsight) rather rash statements on twitter:

“So is Harry Kewelll not returning to the #aleague because Bernie #Mandic is basically a greedy fucker?”

“It was a perfect opportunity for #Kewell to give something back to Australian football, but greed sadly got in the way”

So now that is everything is fine and dandy and Kewell has been signed up and I’m even considering getting his name put on one of those fancy Melbourne Victory shirts it will definitely be interesting what sort of effect he will have both on and off the field. Kewell’s class on the pitch has never been questioned and with much less rigorous nature of an A-League season the threat of injury one would think would be mitigated to some extent. One does wonder though how Mehmet Durakovic is actually going to fit him into the starting XI with the likes of Marco Rojas and Isaka Cernak already signed up.

But is off the field where Kewell will probably have the most impact with his signing surely signalling an upswing in crowds both here in Melbourne and on the road. Already there are signs that he is having an effect with the Melbourne Victory membership hotline running hot since his signing and the club announced a membership cap of 18,000 people. But it will be his ability to pull in the non A-League punter that could very well set the A-League on a new and exciting course.

If you remember just over year ago I shared my burgeoning obsession of trying to complete my 2011 World Cup sticker book. At the time I did think why I hadn’t the A-League got around to doing something similar. Well almost a year on I finally got around to writing something about it for my latest effort for Australian FourFourTwo.

The saying “worst kept secret” is very much overused and at time I have been guilty of using it repeatedly on this blog. With the advent of social media, especially Twitter, it is very difficult for clubs to make a big announcement without the majority of fans already knowing about it. Therefore today’s announcement of the appointment of Mehmet Durakovic as manager and Francis Awaritefe as Director of Football was just a confirmation of what we already knew.

Durakovic has been signed on a two year contract and after Anthony Di Pietro reasons for sacking Ernie Merrick, one would assume a top four finish is the minimum requirement expected of the new man in charge. During his brief stint in charge during our failed ACL campaign, Durakovic showed enough that he could make a good fist of his new job. There was however a touch of a naivety about some of his decision making especially when it came to making crucial substitutions but one would hope come the new season of the A-League that has disappeared.

Whilst many Victory supporters were hoping some kind of big name to lead them into next season but in all honesty who actually thought that this would be the case. It was always going to more likely that Di Pietro and his board would go for the relatively safe option, although untested option of Durakovic. Let’s give him some time and let’s see how he goes.

Even though it was mooted for some time, it was surprising to see now former SBS analyst Francis Awaritefe appointed to the newly created Director of Football position. It is both a bold and pleasing decision by the club as they look in a direction following the end the of the Ernie Merrick/Geoff Lord era. A few months when Di Pietro sacked Merrick I made the comment that in one of blogs for FourFourTwo Australia that he better not fuck it up and to be honest I don’t think he has at this stage. The double signing of Durakovic and Awaritefe also provides a tangible link to the NSL, something that the former regime was at pains to avoid.

The four months until the start of the season can’t come soon enough to truly see how the era of Melbourne Victory will unfold.

With the news this week that Melbourne Heart have been sniffing around Season 2 Grand Final hero and current DC United player, Fred and already having former Victory players Mate Dugandzic and Aziz Behich on their books I thought I would help the red and white boys out. I’ve compiled a list of former Victory players and the clubs (not including those at A-League clubs) they currently play for in the off chance that may be available for them for the upcoming season. I mean you wouldn’t want to think outside the box would you.

Mark Byrnes (APIA Leichhardt)
Geoffrey Claeys (retired)
Steve Pantelidis (Bintang Medan)
Michael Ferrante (Richmond)
Andy Vlahos (Hume City)
Carl Recchia (South Melbourne)
Simon Storey (Green Gully)
Richard Kitzbichler (retired)
Chris Tadrosse (Bonnyrigg White Eagles)
Ricky Diaco (Oakleigh Cannons)
Ramazan Tavanscioglu (Oakleigh Cannons)
Fred (DC United)
Adrian Caceres (Heidelberg United)
James Robinson (Oakleigh Cannons)
Antun Kovacic (Richmond)
Peter Gavalas (Heidelberg United)
Claudinho (Funorte Esporte Clube)
Alessandro (Neftçi)
Steven Pace (Hume City)
Ney Fabiano (Chonburi FC)
Marvin Angulo (CS Herediano)
Daniel Vasilevski (South Melbourne)
Geoff Kellaway (uncontracted)
Nathan Elasi (Bonnyrigg White Eagles)
Jose Luis Lopez (Deportivo Saprissa)
Mathew Theodore (Dandenong Thunder)
Sutee Suksomkit (Bangkok Glass)
Leandro Love (Portuguesa)
Mitchell Langerak (Borussia Dortmund)
Robbie Kruse (Fortuna Dusseldorf)

The cheque for my services is in the mail.

With the start of the next A-League still just over four months away it was with much excitement that fans greeted the release of the draw for the upcoming season this week. In an off-season that all up will end up being about seven or eight months long it’s the little things that we as fans have to look forward in this football starved climate. If you think the excitement for the draw was big, just wait until teams start releasing their new kits. Anyway putting that aside it’s time for my annual look at the highlights/lowlights of the draw from a Melbourne Victory point of view.

• Melbourne Heart will again host two of the three Melbourne derbies at AAMI Park. However the Victory will host the first derby in Round Three at Etihad Stadium. Unfortunately for me I will again miss one the derby in Round 18 as I will be winging my way to Spain at that time.
• Our first four home games are to be played at the much maligned Etihad Stadium. One pleasing aspect of this is that only one of the remaining nine home games is to be played there. I’m particularly looking forward to clashes against both Adelaide and Sydney FC at AAMI Park.
• For the fourth season in a row the Victory will host Adelaide United twice on home turf. Whilst as a Victory fan this is a good thing it restricts the chances of an away trip that I very much would like to undertake.
• The season comes to an end against Perth Glory in Perth. Not usually a happy hunting ground for the Victory so here’s hoping it’s not a must win game.
• Victory has a tough run over the Christmas/New Year break playing three consecutive away games. Although to be honest one of those games is against the Heart so it is an away game in name only.

Seeing that this is the first time (apart from the very beginning of the club) that we are looking for a new manager I thought we would have a bit of fun and compile a list of those who have been linked to the top job at Melbourne Victory, no matter how tenuous the link.

• Ange Postecoglou - current Brisbane Roar manager
• Mehmet Durakovic - interim coach & Melbourne Victory Youth Team coach
• Bosko Gjurovski - current assistant manager at Nagoya Grampus
• Franz Straka - former North Queensland Fury manager
• Eddie Krncevic - current South Melbourne coach
• Roy Keane - former Ipswich/Sunderland manager
• Pierre Littbarski - former Wolfsburg manager
• Abel Balbo - former Argentinean great
• Ossie Ardiles - see above
• Dwight Yorke
  

Last updated: 27 April 2011

Much like during a match, Melbourne Victory has made a like for like substitution as they replaced the soon-to-be departing Robbie Kruse with now former Brisbane Roar striker, Jean Carlos Solarzano.

Solarzano, who when he joined Brisbane Roar was described by Carlos Hernandez as better than Archie Thompson, brings our contingent of Costa Ricans to three although with some doubt over the future of Marvin Angulo that number could very well change. But they way we are going we should change our name to Melbourne Ticos FC.

Whilst some question the reasoning behind making player signings when we haven’t found a replacement for the Ernie Merrick but with a player like Solarzano becoming available I believe it was a smart move to pick him up when he became available for two reasons. The first being his existing relationship with the aforementioned Carlos Hernandez which was instrumental in the move plus secondly it stopped Melbourne Heart from making a play for him.

As impressive as the Brisbane Roar were last year I was particularly impressed by the efforts of Solarzano who managed not only to score crucial goals against us in two of our encounters but also in many other matches for the Roar. He is more than an adequate replacement for Kruse who will depart the scene for Bundesliga 2 side, Fortuna Dusseldorf at the conclusion of the group stages of our ACL campaign.

Now I would like to see no more signings until a new manager is signed so they are given a chance to finish off the squad exactly to their liking. It’s not like the start of the new season is going to come round in a hurry is it now.

So we have come to the end the sixth season of the Melbourne Victory. A season full of dramas and momentous occasions that didn’t turn exactly how we all hoped and expected. With the somewhat enforced retirement of Kevin Muscat an era within the club has also come to an end.

Amongst all the accusations, persecutions and celebrations there were a number of highlights, including:

• The first Melbourne derby was despite the outcome was one of the momentous occasions of the season with the atmosphere being one that hasn’t been witnessed in the A-League before.
• The form of Marvin Angulo in the last couple of months has been a revelation. In fact one might go as far to say he is now the most important Costa Rican in the team. With the end of his loan period coming to an end it would be paramount that the Victory hierarchy ensure that his stay is a much longer one.
• With concerns over an aging backline it was extremely pleasing to see Petar Franjic come through and show enough to signal that he will be a regular starter come the next A-League season.
• Combining architectural innovation with an impeccable surface AAMI Park truly stamped itself as one of the best purpose built rectangular stadiums in the country.

We now have the Asian Champions League to look forward to but if you want to read some thoughts regarding our final loss, check out my latest blog for Australian FourFourTwo.

If you had asked a lot of Melbourne Victory fans going into Saturday night’s match against Sydney FC whether or not they would have been happy with a draw many would have said yes. With six first team regulars absent this game was always going to be a struggle for the visitors. And for a while there it looked like we would snatch all three points until Juho Makela popped up in stoppage time to deny us the win. Fortunately for the Victory teams around us looking to gain the final two finals positions didn’t manage to gain on us so in the end it wasn’t too bad. What it does highlight is a worrying trend this season of late goals conceded.

In light of this I decided to a bit of lightweight research to see how many points that all these late goals have cost Melbourne Victory over the course of the season using the proviso of goals conceded in the last fifteen minutes of a match. As you can see below I found seven instances where a goal has been conceded in the last fifteen minutes of a game.

Week 1
Opponent: SydneyFC
Goal conceded: 85’
Final Result: D3-3

Week 3
Opponent: North Queensland
Goal conceded: 82’
Final Result: D2-2

Week 11
Opponent: Brisbane
Goal conceded: 77’
Final Result: L2-1

Week 14
Opponent: Central Coast
Goal conceded: 78’
Final Result: D2-2

Week 16
Opponent: Wellington
Goal conceded: 84’
Final Result: D2-2

Week 17
Opponent: Brisbane
Goal conceded: 90’+3
Final Result: D3-3

Week 22
Opponent: Adelaide
Goal conceded: 77’
Final Result: L4-1

Week 23
Opponent: SydneyFC
Goal conceded: 90’+1
Final Result: D1-1

You can discount the loss against Adelaide as the result was already beyond doubt when the goal was scored so it brings the total down to six. Five of those six have resulted in draws when a win was within our grasp correlating to a potential ten points lost. If those wins had been taken we would worrying about a top two position rather than whether we will be around come finals time.

So what do we put this late game fadeout down to? Could it be an aging defence? Two of central defenders are the wrong side of thirty as is our goalkeeper so that could be a factor. I’m not actually sure what it is to be honest as traditionally the Victory have been a team that always finishes a match strongly. Recent wins over Central Coast and Newcastle being a case in point. Anyway here’s hoping that it is a trend that comes to a quick and sudden end especially with finals fast approaching.

For more thoughts on the game feel free to read my latest blog for Australian FourFourTwo.