With both Adelaide United and the Newcastle Jets winning all three points on Friday night, the Melbourne Victory’s Sunday-arvo match against the Perth Glory became all the more critical. A win would keep the Victory within a game of reaching the top 4; anything less would see them recede further away from finals football.
And yet, the Melbourne Victory turned up on Sunday and was utterly outclassed by the Perth Glory, who thoroughly deserved to win their first home game in over a year.
That Joe Keenan came straight back into the team after serving his suspension did not surprise me at all. But that Carlos Hernandez was the player to make way… I didn’t see that coming. For me, Hernandez has been an integral part of the team and has been one player who has kept his cool when the heat is on. While other players are happy to boot the ball as far away as a swing of the legs will allow, Hernandez takes his time and finds better passes.
Granted, if Hernandez had been kept in the line-up, it’s not hard to figure out who would have dropped to the bench: Adrian Caceres. Caceres, a former Perth Glory man, took the opportunity of starting against his old team by firing in Melbourne’s best goal of the season by far. It was a goal that gave us Victory fans some hope to hang onto at half time, but it only took the Glory a minute of the 2nd half to widen the gap, again thanks to a Nikita Rukavytsya goal.
Of course, a 2-goal deficit early in the 2nd half of a match isn’t an insurmountable challenge. Not at all. But Melbourne never really looked like coming back. Perth maintained pressure and kept the Victory in their own half. Long balls to Archie became the preferred mode of attack, but rather than look like anything constructive, these long balls just looked desperate, signs of a team lacking creativity and fortitude.
Grant Brebner is one major culprit for these long balls. In the words of fellow blogger Eamonn:
Grant Brebner is no Fred. Nor is he expected to be, but to me when he lifts his head to play a wonderful 40 metre pass the Victory season goes with it.
Brebner isn’t the sole culprit, of course. Matthew Kemp springs to mind. But when Brebner, a central midfielder – and therefore a critical link to the forwards – cannot find any way to attack other than through wasteful long balls, we have a real problem. And it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with soon.
Very soon.
6 comments ↓
Agreed. If Ernie wants to try something new, drop Brebner to the bench. Put Muscat and Broxham in the middle with Carlos sitting in the hole behind Archie and Danny. Caceras on the left, Vasilevski or Panta on the right and Vargas, Ryall and Pace as a back 3. I would also consider benching Alsopp and giving Leandro a run up front which is what he was recruited for. I think Alsopp needs a kick up the arse to wake him up.
I agree with you Astri about benching Allsop and giving Love a run. I think Allsop is good when there is a creative player in the side but when there isn’t I he does find the going tough just like he did is season 1 and team finished second from the bottom.
With six games to go now, I think its time for some radical changes because Merrick cannot just look and let the season slip by and starting from this weekend he should try different players and combinations and I think Love should start and Allsop on the bench.
I get the feeling that Ernie won’t be investing too much time in Leandro Love unless he is forced to. The player is on loan and we are unlikely to keep him.
Much of Allsopp’s problem seems to come from not just the lack of a creative player – but because Archie is looking to go it alone and largely ignores his strike partner.
Good observation Ian. I think Allsopp has copped a lot of flack unfairly, while Archie has been kept on something of a pedestal. Archie hasn’t been in great scoring form, even if he has been a constant threat for opposition defenses. Too often, he tries to do things alone, without using Danny.
Very disappointed with the result and with the line-up chosen to represent the Victory.
For me, Ryall HAS to be included in the team. In the games he was allowed to play, he was one of our most solid defenders and a natural replacement for our sorely missing Adrian Leijer.
Vasilevski needs to be pushed up into midfield where he gets the chance to push forward more and deliver those dangerous crosses we saw he was capable of in his first couple of matches.
And I agree Hernandez must be a part of the team – perhaps not for the full 90, but at least a starter.
I’d drop Pantelidis (who too often ends up looking sluggish) and maybe Kemp to make way for the new faces as he hasn’t really impressed much in recent times either. Muscat needs to be moved back into defence to shore things up and make way for more attacking players in the midfield.
My line-up would probably end up being something like this:
Theo
Ryall – Muscat – Vargas – Keenan
Brebner
Vasilevski Broxham
Hernandez
Archie Allsopp
Broxham could sub off for Caceres and Hernandez could sub off for Patafta if changes are required.
In contrast to earlier matches where the result wasn’t good but the performance was full of fight, there just wasn’t the effort and the team looked disjointed and demoralised, with no intensity or passion. I couldn’t think of one player who stood out, Archie seemed to do a lot of running and Joe Keenan looked a little lost after three weeks out of the team. In terms of team selection I was surprised that Caceres started for a change, but at the expense of Hernandez, which just made for another midfield permutation unfamiliar with each other, and lack of interplay in the last third of the pitch.
I think the key to Merrick’s team selection is to go with players that will be passionate and work hard, in the ‘Fire in the Belly’ story on the ABC site (would link it but don’t know if you allow html tags) he says he wants the players to show character and determination, which was completely missing for the first twenty minutes against Perth, this is why he rates Muscat so highly. It explains in part why he also plays Broxham consistently but has only given short cameos to Patafta. A thing to remember is that as well as having a good touch, Fred never stopped running, covering a lot of ground and working very hard for the team.
Looks like Nick Ward will be a valuable addition in midfield with his qualities and pedigree, and as Gary Cole noted, “He’s an energetic midfielder who can run from penalty area to penalty area and also scores goals…” sounds like just what’s needed, an attacking midfielder rather than another tenacious defensive midfielder, don’t know if it’s too late for this season but at least he should have gelled a bit by the time of the ACL matches.
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