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.

Welcome to Victory In Melbourne’s minute by minute analysis of Melbourne Victory’s clash against the Newcastle Jets at Energy Australia Stadium, kickoff at 5pm AEST.

(Note: This page does not automatically update so you are going have to keep hitting that refresh button to see what’s going on.)

Angulo gets a start in his debut: Mitchell Langerak (gk), Kevin Muscat, Leigh Broxham, Matthew Kemp (c), Archie Thompson, Rodrigo Vargas, Carlos Hernandez, Robbie Kruse, Nick Ward, Adrian Leijer, Marvin Angulo. On the bench: Glenn Moss, Grant Brebner, Tom Pondeljak, Mate Dugandzic

Newcastle Starting XI: Neil Young (gk), Adam D’Apuzzo, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Ljubo Milicevic, Ben Kantarovski, Jin-Hyung Song, Matt Thompson (c), Tarek Elrich, Jobe Wheelhouse, Michael Bridges, Labinot Haliti. On the bench: Ben Kennedy, Sasho Petrovski, Sean Rooney, Ali Abbas. Look for plenty of puns with Neil Young in goals for the Jets. Hopefully he has a heart of gold towards the Victory and lets in a few goals.

2 mins: In the week leading up to this game, Jobe Wheelhouse reckons that South Americans (sic) don’t like to get kicked so he’s going to give Hernandez a few.

5 mins: Langerak pulls off a brilliant save to deny Michael Bridges. An early warning for the Victory.

10 mins: Sloppy opening from both teams early on. No one able to really assert themselves on the game.

13 mins: Can anybody explain to me why the Energy Australia Stadium pitch is in such bad condition? Looks like they have been holding tractor demonstrations.

14 mins: Angulo gets wrongly called offside on the edge of the penalty area denying Melbourne are scoring opportunity. Wheelhouse still yet to get near Hernandez to carry out his promise.

18 mins: Kevin Muscat gets the first yellow card of the game for a flying kick on opposing captain, Matthew Thompson. Probably a tad lucky to still remain on the pitch, it was fairly blatant.

19 mins: How about a bit of variety of the free-kicks, sometimes it pays not to take them quickly. Although looking at Broxham’s delivery they be the best option. Earlier the linesman on the opposite side of the pitch also forgets the rule book and calls Newcastle offside from a throw-in.

22 mins: Kantarovski picks up Newcastle’s first yellow card for an act of petulance.

26 mins: Matt Thompson puts the Jets in front after being set up nicely by Michael Bridges. It begs the question why he was left unmarked that close to goal. Maybe the goal will bring some composure into the Victory game, have been looking a little sloppy so far.

28 mins: Langerak denies Haliti from close range. Another example of some poor defending from the Victory as the Jet’s striker was allowed to much space in the front third.

31 mins: Maybe the Jets have Kruse confused with Hernandez, as the former Roar player has been getting kicked left, right and centre.

33 mins: PENALTY to Melbourne Victory for a blatant shirt tug by Kantarovski on Robbie Kruse in the area. Second yellow for Kantarovski sees him take an early shower and the Jets are down to ten men. Kevin Muscat duly converts the resulting penalty to bring the scores back to level pegging.

36 mins: Yellow card to Michael Bridges for a foul on Leijer. One has to think that Wheelhouse must be giving the team talks instead of Culina.

41 mins: Nick Ward gives us a fine example of the Maradona spin on the edge of the area, unfortunately it comes to nothing. Kruse looking the most dangerous of the Melbourne forwards, with Archie Thompson being rarely sighted.

44 mins: Goal to the Jets as Michael Bridges slips in unmarked at the back post. Another example of some poor defending sees Newcastle take a 2-1 lead. Poor effort by the Victory considering they have the man advantage.

45+2 mins: Matthew Breeze blows the whistle for half-time. Some seriously poor defending has seen the Victory give up to easy goals to the Newcastle Jets. Hopefully, Merrick will give them a good talking to in the half time interval and the second half will see the Victory make the most of their man advantage. The debutant, Marvin Angulo has rarely been in the play so far.

Half-time: A-League website has Melbourne having 71% of the possession. Slight exaggeration of Melbourne’s possession there don’t you think, probably more like 60%. Now to make that possession count. The lovely Mel McLaughlin tells us that Brebner is coming on for Angulo and Sean Rooney will be coming on for Bridges for the Jets. If I was a betting man, I would take Sportsbet up on that $3.25 for the Victory to win.

49 mins: Hernandez gets his first shot on target for the match. Unfortunately its straight at the Jets’ keeper.

51 mins: Melbourne defence again gets caught napping by a beautiful Song cross, fortunately for the Victory Rooney blazes it well over.

54 mins: Kemp robs Song blind and then makes a run into the penalty area that comes to nothing.

55 mins: Goal to Haliti (this guys sure likes to score against the Victory, his third in as many matches). Beautiful volley but again the defending leaves a lot to be desired. Also cops a yellow card for removing his shirt.

58 mins: Andy Harper is blaming Melbourne’s poor form in this match on lethargy from possible intensive training. No excuse really, considering they are a man up.

61 mins: Keep your arms by your side Vargas, that should have been a penalty to the Jets. Melbourne’s chance of taking the premiership could very well hinge on Perth’s performance against Sydney FC in the match following this one.

64 mins: Langerak saves a free Sean Rooney header. If that had gone in, it would have definitely been curtains for the Victory.

65 mins: Yellow card to Leijer for pulling on Matt Thompson’s shirt. Can’t see why he’s complaining about that one really.

72 mins: Simon Hill describes it as a most un-Melbourne like performance. It’s looking very much like Melbourne’s last start performance against the Fury so I guess that makes it two un-Melbourne like performances in a row. Whilst a lot of the blame could be placed at the feet of the defence for the result so far the front third is looking extremely unimaginative. Would have liked to see Nathan Elasi get a game in this one as he provides a different option going forward.

78 mins: Langerak gets down low to deny a Song free-kick that was bent nicely around the wall.

81 mins: Socceroo Matthew Kemp makes way for Mate Dugandzic. Who would have thought that after his relatively poor start for the Victory three seasons again that he would get a Socceroos starting spot.

82 mins: I give Abbas a 2 out of 10 for a dive that took place about fifteen minutes after being fouled.

86 mins: A crowd of 6,979 announced. Most of them who would be pretty happy with what they are seeing. Although there is a good Victory travelling contingent and they definitely wouldn’t be happy with they are seeing.

90+1 mins: GOAL to Hernandez! Probably a little too late you would have to think as Hernandez curls his shot around a despairing Neil Young.

90+3 mins: Matthew Breeze blows the final whistle just as Ali Abbas takes another theatrical dive after clashing with Kevin Muscat. A poor performance from the Victory, especially considering that they had a man advantage for almost an hour. Uninspiring in attack and sloppy in defence and as Simon Hill correctly stated, hands the advantage to Sydney FC in the race for the premiership. Two ordinary performances in a row on the road by the Victory, the home fans will surely be expecting a better home performance next week against Perth Glory.

Welcome to Victory In Melbourne’s first ever minute by minute analysis of a Melbourne Victory match as they take on the Newcastle Jets at Energy Australia Stadium.

Brebner in for Broxham and Pondeljak in for Kruse. Moss (gk), Sukha, Vargas, Muscat (c), Leijer, Kemp, Brebner, Carlos, Ney Fabiano, Pondeljak, Thompson.

Boo-boy Ljubo out for the Jets. Kennedy (gk), Topor-Stanley, Song, Thompson (c), Elrich, Bridges, Kantarovski, Vignarolli, Patafta, Haliti.

4 min: Great save by Moss from former Melbourne old boy, Patafta followed quickly by a yellow card for Thompson for a foul on Hernandez. Ben Williams stamps his authority early on.

7 min: Close call for the Victory as confusion reigns in the penalty box. Fortunately the offside flag was up.

8min: Hernandez has Melbourne’s first shot on goal. Well wide of the mark. Good to hear the Melbourne fans in full voice.

11min: Yellow card for Kemp for a robust challenge on Song.

12min: Brebner gives away a free kick in a dangerous position, fouling Vignarolli. Free kick straight into the wall.

18 min: Mark Bosnich in commentary continues to state the bleeding obvious.

22 min: GOAL! Haliti scores for the Jets. Put through by a brilliant through ball by Elrich. Extremely soft goal. Haliti sure likes to score against the Victory. 1-0 to the Jets.

27 min: Newcastle goal ruled out for offside. Moss caught well out of position. Melbourne defence again looking very shaky. After dominating the early stages, Melbourne now on the back foot.

32 min: Kemp thwarts a promising move for the Victory with a bad first touch.

36 min: Melbourne again lucky to be only 1-0 down as they scramble the ball away for a corner.

42 min: Ljubo spotted in the crowd with a blonde. Very reminiscent of his year at the Victory.

45 min: Now that Ben Kennedy has got himself a contract extension maybe he can afford to get himself a decent haircut.

45+1 min: Yellow card for Brebner for a cynical foul on Vignarolli.

45+2 min: And Ben Williams blows his whistle for the end of the first half. After what was a promising start for the Victory, Newcastle dominated the remainder of the half. Melbourne’s defence has been looking at sixes and sevens for the second week in a row and will need to improve in the second half if Melbourne is to get back into this one as Newcastle look dangerous every time they go into attack. In contrast, Melbourne has rarely threatened the Newcastle defence.

Melbourne make their move. Ney Fabiano off for Mate Dugandzic. Melbourne definitely looking for a more mobile attack to test the Jets defence. Hopefully it has the same effect as it did against Adelaide a few weeks back. Melbourne switching to a 3-5-2 formation.

45 min: Second half underway.

49 min: Thompson shoots over the crossbar after some good lead up play from Dugandzic. First decent attempt for the match.

55 min: Free kick to Melbourne right on the edge of the penalty box. Extremely close to being a penalty. Hernandez’s free kick goes straight into the wall. Things looking a lot more promising for the Victory in the second half.

59 min: Patafta off for Ali Abbas.

62 min: GOALLLLLLLLLLLL! to the Victory. Archie Thompson brilliantly lobs Kennedy after getting onto a great long ball from Hernandez. 1-1.

65 min: Moss pulls off a fantastic save to deny Haliti. Looked like a handball by Bridges there in the earlier play.

66 min: Broxham on for Sukha and almost straight away gives away a penalty for a handball of his own from the resulting corner. Fortunately for the Victory, both the referee and linesman failed to spot it.

72 min: Broxham hits the side netting looking to score from the impossible angle. Just as Melbourne were looking much more assured at the back, Haliti hits the crossbar with header.

74 min: Handbags at ten paces between Bridges and Leijer. Bridges somehow gets the free kick. Abbas goes near post and fails to put Moss under pressure.

78 min: Yellow card for D’Appuzzo for a foul on Brebner.

80 min: GOALLLLLLLLLLLL! Pondeljak gets on the end of a rebound after a long range effort from Hernandez comes crashing back off the crossbar after beating Kennedy to put Melbourne ahead 2-1.

81 min: Moments after scoring, Pondeljak comes off limping to be replaced by Nathan Elasi making his A-League debut. Not his first game for the Victory as he did make some appearances during our first ACL campaign.

84 min: GOALLLLLLLLLLLL! Hernandez makes it three for the Victory after tucking one between the legs of Kennedy. Hernandez has been on fire in this second half being involved in all three Melbourne goals.

90 min: Crowd figure of 6,029. Where have all the Newcastle fans gone? It’s not like their team plays shit football.

90+4 min: And Ben Williams blows the final whistle and Melbourne comes away with a 3-1 victory over their bogey team. Nice way to bounce back from last week’s disappointing loss against Sydney. You would have to say the introduction of Mate Dugandzic for the second half was an inspired substitution from Ernie Merrick. The Victory attack looked much more potent in the second half with his presence. Here’s hoping that Merrick persists with the 3-5-2 formation against Adelaide next week.

First home game of the season last time around saw me get dressed up for the occasion. That time around we put five goals past Newcastle and set the scene for what was the most part a pretty successful season. So with tonight’s opening game of the A-League season being also Melbourne’s first home game I thought I would continue the theme for the start of this season. Hopefully we will get a similar result. This season will also see myself become more of an active supporter, so if you see a smartly dressed young man in the southern end tonight, come over and say hello.

Tip for tonight: Melbourne 2 Central Coast 0

Last nights game made me angry. I’m not sure whether I was angry  at Archie Thompson for being so stupid for calling Matthew Breeze what he did and being sent off and thus missing the clash next against Sydney (even if it is possibly true - can’t give me a red card Mr Breeze); angry at Matthew Breeze for reacting angrily to Thompson’s comments and giving the red card; angry that we conceded a late goal again after going to ten men; or angry at the way the team played.

To put it simply, the Victory came across a team that responded to a week of heat from their coach. They were more hungry and for long periods of the game dominated all aspects of the match. The absence of Lopez from the Victory enabled the Jets to dominate this area of the pitch and Hernandez struggled without his fellow countryman, being constantly double and triple teamed.

The red card for Thompson, will surely be the talking point of this match. Clearly frustrated by the lack of opportunities provided to him and the fouling when he did get the ball, he snapped when Breeze failed to call a foul. Breeze, who always seems to be at the centre of controversy, had no hesitation in bringing out the fourth red card in five matches for the Victory. Probably a bit harsh in my opinion, a yellow and a talking to would have sufficed.

Merrick has finally admitted that the team does have an issue with discipline. Constant red cards are slowly bringing down what was a promising start to the season and is costing us in important matches, especially the upcoming match in what will be a top of the table clash against Sydney.

On a brighter note, the Melbourne Youth team picked up their first every win in their inaugral season, with Matthew Theodore (who impressed me in his time with the AIS) scoring the only goal. I wonder if Ernie, will bring in Nathan Elasi from the youth team to replace the suspended Thompson.

As I said in my previous post, I was a little excited about Friday night’s game - first home game of the season and against Newcastle, a team for some reason I despise. Probably something to do with Joel Griffiths I’m sure. The afternoon pre-game was put also to good use, baiting members of my work’s Newcastle office.

Maybe, it was the first game of the season, or the fact there was no way I was going to wear my MV shirt from last year with “Patafta” on the back or most probably the effects of the beer drunk at after work drinks but I decided to dress up for the occasion - tie, vest, jacket, nice shirt, pants and shoes - you know the deal. Only problem, I don’t know how to tie a tie (don’t have to wear one for work) so I quickly learnt.

Anyway I was well rewarded for my dress sense with a 5-0 thumping of Newcastle and some excellent play from the Melbourne boys. The match started off slowly and I thought for a while it was going to be one of those nights where we dominate and then Joel Griffiths pops up in the 80th minute and bangs in the only goal of the game. But with a bit of tactical genius by Ernest Merrick (something you don’t hear me say to often), substituting an injured Thwaite for Archie Thompson, the flood of goals started as the Newcastle defence was made to look very ordinary. The main culprits being North and Covic.

There was a lot to be pleased about on Friday night - especially the way we played, but for me the standout players would have to be Hernandez, Lopez and Berger. An honourable mention goes to Ney Fabiano, who was unlucky not to get amongst the goals despite tireless running all night. I probably noticed his running more than mainly because of his running style. Make sure you have a look next time - its a bit odd. I am really enjoying our style of play at the moment and it makes for much more enjoyable viewing than what we were seeing same last season.

Was a bit disappointed with the crowd of only 22,000 - thought there would have been a few more with it being the first game of the season and all, but I guess everyone wasn’t as excited as I was. Hopefully in a couple of weeks time there will be a crowd of 30,000+ as we take on fellow league leaders, Adelaide.

And finally if you want to see me all dressed up for the game, visit here because it probably won’t happen again.

First home game of the season. A giant team poster in The Age. Hopefully a big crowd - I’m guessing around 26,000. A chance to boo Joel Griffiths. What more could you ask for? I’m a little excited!

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.