Victory in Melbourne 

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.

Last night saw the dawning of a new era for Melbourne Victory with Mehmet Durakovic becoming only the second manager to be in charge of the club during its relatively short history albeit only in a caretaker role. However, the changing of the guard did little to change our fortunes in Asia as we again lost, this time 2-1 to Jeju United. Not that there were many people there to actually see it take place.

The loss was a familiar tale, with a goal conceded from a set piece and the other late on. Although to be fair to our opponents they were the better side on the night and probably deserved to take all three points and thus condemning to an uphill battle to get out of the group stages of the competition for the first time in our history.

Considering that he had little more than three days in the job it was always going to be difficult for Durakovic to actually have any impact on our playing style or tactics. He did however give Isaka Cernak his first game for the Victory and the former North Queensland Fury player did more than enough to indicate that he will be a worthy addition to the team and with time his combinations with the likes of Archie Thompson will definitely improve.

Last night also saw a much slimmer looking Carlos Hernandez take to the field in the second half and unlike for most of last season his appearance on the field gave us the impetus in the midfield that we were lacking up until that stage. He came on as a replacement for fellow Costa Rican, Marvin Angulo but from my point of view it would be better for the team if both were out on the pitch together. I would have Tom Pondeljak make way for both of them to take their place in the Victory midfield.

Much of where it went wrong last night was when we actually got the possession we didn’t do that much with it. This was down to the fact that too often players were left isolated allowing two or three Jeju United players to quickly dispossess them and end any attacking foray. One prime example was when Danny Allsopp won the ball in midfield through his own industry and was then forced to head for the touchline because he was getting no support from his teammates.

Next up for the Victory is a visit to our sister city Tianjin to take on group leaders Tianjin Teda in what is now shaping up as a must win game. We of course have history with our opponents formerly meeting twice in what would appear to be the now defunct Lord Mayor’s Cup. Our last meeting resulted in a win on penalties. Let’s hope we can repeat that result come our next encounter.

I originally had penned this piece for Australian FourFourTwo, but due to the FFA’s wisdom in axing the North Queensland Fury it didn’t up getting up on the site on the day it was intended. And after last night’s debacle it really wasn’t worth putting up anyway but you can read it here anyway, remembering it was written before our first ACL. Enjoy. Sort of.

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Three’s a charm. Third time lucky. Two sayings that will hopefully apply to the one competition in which Melbourne Victory has not been unsuccessful - the Asian Champions League.

With a sixth A-League campaign out of the way our attention now turns to the ACL and after two campaigns that many including myself would consider failures, this third campaign provides them with an unequalled opportunity to really make their mark on the competition.

Looking back at our first foray into Asia, the one word that would describe would surely have to be naivety. Considering that it was their first time in such a competition and given the history of Australian teams’ initial forays into Asia it is hardly surprising. Despite it being the best game I have seen the Victory involved in, the 4-3 loss to eventual champions Gamba Osaka highlighted that aforementioned naivety.

Second time around the combination of trying to participate in a finals campaign at the same time as the initial stages of the ACL proved all too much for an injury riddled Victory side. It basically ended before it actually got off the ground and was an effort that we as fans would rather forget. Apart from the efforts of Mitchell Langerak it was a campaign of few memories.

This time there are no excuses. There are no major injuries to key players. There isn’t a final campaign to provide a distraction of the mental and physical kind. We are now experienced in the ways of Asia so that is another excuses that can also be discarded. This time it’s all about grabbing the opportunity that we worked so hard for last year. It’s time to get the monkey off the back.

This ACL campaign also provides an equalled opportunity to send off our inaugural captain off in the style that he so richly deserves. Nobody embodies Melbourne Victory like Kevin Muscat and getting out of the group stage for the first time would be the ideal way to send him off in style. Gamba Osaka aside, both Jeju United and Tianjin Teda are both teams against which the Victory can readily compete and of the two Australian teams it is definitely the easier group. If you can really say such a thing.

It is also important to show that we have learnt from our past experiences because at the moment our ACL efforts are the only blot on Ernie Merrick’s copybook. A blot that we need to erase.

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.

In my previous post I made the comment as to whether Craig Foster had actually seen Sukha play before he joined the Victory. And to his credit, Foster did get around to responding to my comment on Twitter and we had brief conversation as to the merit of his assertions. For those who don’t follow me or Craig Foster on Twitter I have included it here for the record.

Victory In Melbourne: So @Craig_Foster how many times did you see Surat Sukha play before he joined the Victory? http://t.co/O3PUt6t

Craig Foster: Comment re Sukha was saw him when he arrived, saw no such tackles, no need to see him before. Players change according to team culture

ViM: @Craig_Foster So therefore based on 1 bad tackle in 2 seasons you make the assumption that #mvfc’s so called ‘culture of violence’ has influenced the way #Sukha now plays. Talk about drawing a long bow to suit your own means

CF: @victoryinmelb Any player/particularly those coming from abroad, are influenced by team/club culture. Happens to Aussies in Uk all the time

ViM: @Craig_Foster Agree. But your example is a poor one. For the record in 34 games #Sukha has committed 34 fouls and received 3 yellow cards. Those are hardly the stats of a player that has become overly aggressive due to the environment he plays in

CF: @victoryinmelb Fair point, however the number of cards given in HAL is not a great indicator as many are missed, which is issue for league. My point, though, is not that Sukha is a dirty player, but to question whether he would have made the same tackle before

ViM: @Craig_Foster that is something we will never know & therefore it is wrong to assume what was a clumsy & not a violent tackle is the fault of a ‘culture’ you assume to exist at #mvfc

Whilst I will readily admit that I am one of Craig Foster’s harshest critics it was good to see him respond to some of my ascerbic comments.

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.

The title pretty much says it all and I’m not just talking about the performance against Adelaide. It also applies to their performance against the Wellington Phoenix on the preceding Wednesday as well. Never have I seen the Victory play such ordinary football in consecutive matches.

And the common denominator in both matches was Melbourne’s inability to get control in the all important midfield battle. This meant the defensive was always under constant pressure and the strikers weren’t getting enough of the ball. The Victory always plays well when they get can serious amount of midfield possession but both Adelaide and Wellington didn’t allow this to happen and when they did get possession it was often coughed up too quickly. Chief amongst the culprits was Billy Celeski, who hasn’t looked the player that he was before his knee construction. Whilst he hasn’t suffered the recurring injuries of both Thompson and Kemp, his form has definitely suffered and it would wise for Merrick to give him a couple of weeks break.

That all being said the Victory have certainly missed the presence of both Kruse and Thompson in attack with the combination of Danny Allsopp and Ricardinho yet to hit its straps as one would expect and maybe we as fans are expecting too much. Let’s hope they can both find some form against Sydney this weekend because another loss could spell disaster with teams like Melbourne Heart, Wellington Phoenix and Newcastle Jets all breathing down our neck for a finals position. What was looking like a comfortable finals finish a couple of matches ago has all of a sudden looked a tad precarious. What is of concern is those losses weren’t valiant losses, they were terrible, ugly losses and that more importantly needs to be rectified.

In my last post I stated that I our two matches over the Christmas/New Year period would surely define our season and went as far as to say that two wins would be perfect and the team duly delivered. Those two wins against both Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners made it four wins in a row and seven games unbeaten for the Victory. With a match tonight against the Wellington Phoenix there is every opportunity to make it five in a row.

With Robbie Kruse being absent for the next month with the Socceroos Asian Cup squad and Archie Thompson still out through injury it will be interesting to see if we contain our recent scoring record. The striking responsibilities now lie with Ricardinho and the returning Danny Allsopp, a combination that has yet to see pitch time together and fans will be hoping that they can gel quickly as the Victory look to maintain their recent momentum. It will be key in the team’s charge to a higher ladder position.

With 2010 coming to an end I have taken the opportunity to undertake my annual review in my latest piece for Australian FourFourTwo, which you can read here. Let’s hope 2011 is a better one for Victory fans than the previous one.