Victory in Melbourne 

If you have a read of my minute by minute analysis of Sunday’s game against Newcastle Jets you will probably notice the growing despairs in my writing. Following on from Melbourne’s poor performance against the Fury, two weeks before, you would have expected a much improved performance. However, it wasn’t to be as the Jets classier finishing capitalised on some poor defending and our attacking third looked toothless. For all my thoughts on the game, take out a look at my latest 442 blog, titled “What Is UnMelbourne-Like?”.

In other news, the possible return of Danny Allsopp has many fans salivating at a possible reunion with Archie Thompson and driving Melbourne back to the top of the table. Whilst nothing has been confirmed as yet, it remains an exciting prospect as the current Kruse-Thompson partnership really isn’t working and has been exposed in the last couple of rounds. While it is tad disappointing to see Allsopp quitting Al-Rayyan after only twelve minutes, as Michael Cockerill points out:

It’s not that Allsopp has been a disaster in Qatar - he scored six goals in 12 appearances - it’s just business. Al Rayyan have re-signed Oman international Imad Al Hosni on loan after his failed venture in Belgium, and Allsopp has to make way.

I guess we now have to just sit and wait and see what happens next.

Don’t forget that Victory In Melbourne can now be found on Facebook and you can become a fan. It’s only just started and there is not much to look at, but you can check it out here and more importantly become a fan.

Earlier this week I wrote in my latest blog for 442 that the loss of Billy Celeski for the season would have a significant impact on Melbourne’s already stuttering title defence. And now to top it all off in a less than memorable week for the Victory, the worst kept secret was confirmed today that Danny Allsopp has signed for Qatari side, Al-Rayyan Sports Club.

To add to this, FoxSports FC was also reporting strong interest from teams in West Asia for Allsopp’s strike partner, Archie Thompson. Why don’t they just take Ney Fabiano and take all out strike force and be done with it!

In all seriousness, the departure of Allsopp couldn’t come at a worst time for Melbourne. With five points from five rounds and a serious need to get some sort of streak on in order to keep in touch with Gold Coast and Sydney at the top of the table. Also with the transfer window now closed there is no real opportunity for the Victory to sign a striker of Allsopp’s equivalent.

Allsopp’s departure also raises one another serious question – who will the fans now blame when everything is going wrong?