Victory in Melbourne 

The Melbourne Victory’s Northern Terrace certainly set the tone for last night’s clash against Sydney in what was one very important match for the Victory. Whilst not condoning the use of flares, it certainly looked impressive and was very hellish indeed. The boys certainly responded with a great come from behind win. For a more detailed analysis, you will have to read my latest au.fourfourtwo.com blog post.

The other main talking point for the night was certainly the clash between Danny Allsopp and John Kosmina. For those who haven’t seen it, here it is. Mike Cockerill’s butchering-of-the-english-language response is hilarious.

Allsopp, who has added an aggressive streak to his game of late, set the tone for the rest of his team mates with an aggressive attack both on and off the ball and they duly responded.

Not much going on this week, with Melbourne having the week off due to Adelaide playing in the Club World Championships. I had been trying to organise an interview all week with a Melbourne Victory W-League player for my 442 blog but to no avail, so instead I chose to write about why I can’t support Adelaide in any sort of international competition. In fact, it probably would apply to most other teams in the A-League as well. You can read it here.

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.

For my latest post for au.fourfourtwo.com I have taken a look at what we as fans would like from the club for Christmas this year. You can read what I came up with here.

Well its the 1st of December, which means the end of Movember and the end of my moustache for this year. Thanks to all those that donated to this great cause. If you haven’ donated its not too late, just visit my mospace page.

It also looks like its the end of Michael Thwaite’s short stint at Melbourne Victory according to theworldgame.com.au, who are reporting that he will be on his way to Gold Coast United next season. Its disappointing news to say the least, considering the hard work by Gary Cole and co. to get him here in the first place. It also makes our defensive stocks very thin on the ground, with rumours abounding that Sebastian Ryall will look to head back to his home state of NSW and what you would think would be the imminent retirement of Kevin Muscat.

As for the performance on the weekend, there is not much I can say because yours truly forgot to check the actual time on the A-League website and just assumed it was on at 7:30pm Melbourne time. A disappointing result and our first ever lost to a New Zealand side. It was a number of strange results for the weekend but by all accounts we didn’t really deserve anything more than a loss.

It was a great win by the Victory on Friday night, although not without its fair share of luck to make it three wins on the bounce with a three point cushion on top of the table. For a more detailed analysis on Friday’s events by yours truly check out my latest blog post at au.fourfourtwo.com.

There was also a nice touch from the Northern Terrace as they paid tribute to Johnny Warren circa the anniversary of his death. Unfortunately I was unable to capture it on my camera but I did manage to capture them unveil a giant Eureka flag in a pointed response to the recent controversies regarding this most potent of rebellious icons.

For other photos from the night along with some photos of the new rectangular stadium under construction, check out my Flickr site.

My name is Neil Zimmerman and its been forty-seven days since I last watched the Melbourne Victory play at the Telstra Dome.

Should be a cracking top of the table clash with both teams in excellent form leading up to the match. Whose firepower will reign supreme? And more importantly will the fans boo Adrian Caceres?

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.