Victory in Melbourne 

About a month ago I asked for suggestions I asked for questions that I could ask former Melbourne Victory player, Simon Storey for an upcoming article. I didn’t get much response but did manage to come up with a number of questions myself and put them to Simon. If you want to read the finished product from those questions just head over to au.fourfourtwo.com to read my latest blog post.

On another note its disappointing to see that Kaz Patafta may not get a contract renewal at the Newcastle Jets. He seems to be one of the enigmas of Australian football, a player who seemed to have it all when he signed with Benfica not long after captain the U17s in Peru, but now can’t get any game time in Australia. Maybe it was the wrong decision to return back home when he did.

With the news that Kaz Patafta will be playing for the Newcastle Jets next season I should seriously consider which player’s name I’ll be putting on the back of a Melbourne Victory shirt for the upcoming season. With Patafta’s departure it makes it the second season in a row where the person who appears on the back of my shirt has left the club. You could probably guess that I had put Fred on the back of my shirt during Season Two.

After impressing myself and a number of others during a pre-season game against Sydney I made the decision to put his name and number on my shirt for the 2007/08 season knowing full well that he was only on a one year loan deal but hoping that he would stay longer.

In the end we never got to see what Patafta was truly capable of through the combination of lack of game time and not fitting into Ernie Merrick’s game plan which resulted in a subsequent drop in confidence. In the latter stages of the campaign we did again see a glimpse of what he is capable of with a well taken goal against Wellington Phoenix.

The lack of opportunities for regular game time is most probably the reason why we have seen Kaz move on and we can hardly blame him for that fact. A player of his age needs regular game time and hopefully he gets more at Newcastle and shows us that there is reason behind the hype.

Farewell Kaz and thanks for the all too brief memories. I hope you score many goals in the upcoming season, just as long as they are not against Melbourne.

Last night both myself and my fellow supporters finally got to see the Melbourne Victory play football the way we had wanted them to play all season. Well, expect for me couple of people who were sitting to my front and rear who find reason to criticise at every opportunity. Goals to Hernandez, Ward and Patafta saw the Victory record a 3-0 win over the Wellington Phoenix. For the first time since mid-October the Victory theme song rang out around the Telstra Dome. The win kept us in finals contention for at least another 24 hours until unfortunately the Jets beat the Mariners and ended our chances.

Last night I also got my wish from last week in seeing both Ward and Hernandez start on the pitch together, although Carlos was playing in a much more forward role due to the absences of Allsopp through a virus. The combination worked well and complimented each other effectively. This combination bodes well for our ACL campaign.

Special mention should go to Sebastian Ryall, who at only 18 years of age is making a name for himself in the Victory defence. Time and time again he made crucial tackles and never looked panicked. As the weeks go by he is looking more and more comfortable on the ball. Playing in a backline that has both Muscat and Vargas in it has probably helped his development.

Kaz Patafta has been one of my favourites for the year almost to the point of stalking and it looks like my fellow supporters are also becoming fans as a huge roar erupted around the stadium when he came on as substitute in the 75th minute. He responded in kind with his first goal for the club and our third for the night, a well taken goal from a tight angle after Thompson scuffed a shot. I don’t think I would get any disagreement by saying that he has been under utilised throughout the season and Merrick and his coaching staff have to take some blame for that. Its unlikely that he will stay beyond his loan period but I will probably maintain my “stalking” although from a much greater distance. It looks like our good run of form came to nothing and we only have ourselves to blame, our style of football for the majority of the season has been poor and we didn’t really deserve a position in the finals. I am off to Sydney next week for our final game of the season and my first away game where I sit/stand in the “away” end. I am looking forward to it even though there is nothing to play for. But I hope the boys put one last final effort and stop those boys in baby blue from taking out the minor premiership.

Bottom image “borrowed” from The Age.