Three weeks ago, under the new coaching of David Mitchell, you would have called the Perth Glory a resurgent force. Mitchell replaced the out-of-favour Ron Smith and within days the Glory sealed their first win in a year – a triumphant 4-1 victory away over the Newcastle Jets.
But the glory was short-lived. A loss at home to the Central Coast Mariners and a draw in Adelaide have kept the club at the bottom of the ladder, languishing 3 points behind the Wellington Phoenix and a formidable 9 points outside the top 4.
Still, Glory fans will be hopeful of seeing their team win at home for the first time since November 26 last year. But to do so, they will have to overcome a Melbourne Victory struggling for a spot in the finals.
Perth’s cause will be aided somewhat by the prodigal return of their marquee, Stan Lazaridis. The former Socceroo, who picked up a yearlong ban for drug use, has declared that Perth are still in the running for a spot in the finals. I suppose it’s statistically possible – but it would take nothing short of sheer magic.
The Melbourne Victory are in a much better position to reach the finals. Sitting just 3 points outside the top 4, a win this week would be the ideal start for the sprint to the finals.
Melbourne will have to do without Kevin Muscat, who picked up an automatic 1-week suspension for his red card against Wellington. I don’t subscribe to the theory that Melbourne is unable to win without Muscat. In fact, the Victory’s last win was without Muscat – interestingly enough, that was against Perth.
Joe Keenan returns after serving out a 3-match suspension. Merrick has suggested that he will try Keenan in a midfield role, while retaining last week’s 4-man defense.
Frank Farina suggested earlier this week that Perth will be a crucial factor in determining who makes the finals this year. The Glory’s own hopes for making the finals are tenuous at best, but I have no doubt that Perth can and will steal points.
Let’s just hope it’s not against the Victory.
My prediction: Perth Glory 1, Melbourne Victory 2
Your tip?
5 comments ↓
I am hoping Carlos fires in a few long range bombs to put our season back on track.
You might just have your wish come true… Carlos has a knack for scoring against Perth. He scored once against them in the pre-season, as well as once last time we played them at the Telstra Dome.
Perth had that boost of new-coach-syndrome and beat the Jets but haven’t turned it into a run of wins although they do have the talismanic Laziridis returning. If there was ever a time for Melbourne to go on a winning run to save the season, then this could be it. I think Broxham will cover well for Muscat, he has the tenacity if not the vision and distribution, it’s good that Keenan is back too, he has pace, brings width but needs to get to the byline and cross or cut it back rather than cut inside as he often seems to do, I’d love to see Carlos get a hat-trick, but finishing chances is the key and I think it could go either way, so my tip is…
Perth Glory 1 Melbourne Victory 1
Team: 4-4-2 Diamond
Theoklitos
Kemp Ryall Vargas Keenan
Broxham
Vasilevski Brebner
Hernandez
Thompson Allsopp
Bench: Patafta Love Pantelidis Langerak
im sorry dave, but i think broxham is a player with out a brain cell working. he does not have the experience of muscat yet he has the same undisciplined tackling of muscat, as soon as he makes contact on one of his stupid slide tackles he does every ten seconds, expect the cards to shown!
You can’t defend Merrick any longer.
Tonight’s performance was shocking and Merrick has to go.
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