We recieved a footballing lesson by the lads from Osaka. Lets hope the MVFC board has the balls to do what is required and replace Ernie.

so dont expect any changes…same old garbage to come

I think Merrick needs a little slap with the reality stick. As Michael Lynch of The Age simply put it MVFC were “OUTCLASSED and, for the most part, outthought and outgunned by Gamba Osaka”. For the outclassed part, well we cant do much about that at the moment as the salary cap is a restriction, although it is not the excuse, with some creative and intelligent and ‘experienced’ international recruiting we could certainly find some gems in Asia, Africa or Sth&Central America. If we want to seriously dominate the a-league and future ACL this is what we need to do as well develop and give the young guns a fair go – Zullo, Kruse and Minnecon and clear examples of this.

Regarding the point of being outgunned – we need some serious strikers. Danny’s OK if he is on song, which is usually every 5/6 games or so but it is never week in week out, but when he is not on song he is not even a good target man who can control and hold up the ball. Another problem is that our striker recruitment process is all about ‘finding back up strikers’ – this is the wrong approach. What we have to do is find strikers that keep the likes of archie and danny nervous and on their toes so that if they are not performing they get dragged and on comes a striker who should basically be in the first XI, not a Love or whoever that play 100 mins for a whole season. Thank goodness for the youth league next season otherwise Elasi would not even get his boots dirty.

Regarding the point about being outthought well this simply sums up Merrick and his tactics, although not totally true about the squad though. We have a decent squad, which unfortunately, are never played in a decent formation or tactical approach that compliments that players or the game situation at hand. Merrick’s single approach to team formation, tactical approach and match adaptability has achieved the following results over the 4 competitions:

v1 – 7th position (last Aust team) w7; D5; L9 and 26 of possible 63 points (41%)
v2 – premiers (we miss you Fred) w14; D3; L4 and 45 of possible 63 points (71%)
v3 – 5th; w6; D9; L6 and 27 of possible 63 points (43%)
ACL 2008 Group G – (last position) W1; D0; L3 and 3 of possible 12 points (25%).
Overall MVFC have achieved approx 50% of total competition points over 4 competitions.

Now apart from v2 when Fred controlled the play and made us play on the ground, not mention getting out on the wings to provide width and penetration, we simply have been pedestrian and ineffective. Now I do not want to be seen as taking a negative viewpoint each time, instead I am just trying to take the ‘rose coloured glasses’ off after season v2 to analyse how we are really performing. In regards to the ACL, I think it was great to be a part of it, and I never expected we could win the group but a convincing second should have been achieveable. It is just that we play the same way, regardless of the competition or the match scoreline and the it stinks or ineffective and inexperienced (at first division and International) coaching and team management.

If MVFC are to seriously begin the process of dissecting the fallout from ANOTHER DISAPPOINTING campaign and start rebuilding a side capable of challenging for the A-League championship next season in hope of future ACL opportunities than lets start with considering a new coaching team. Preferably, someone with ‘real’ international experience -maybe even one from Asia!

What I saw in the second half seemed really lacklustre. Not much intensity and the long-ball just resulted in lots of offsides, I think it was 12-0 in the stats near the end. The midfield seemed to lack the confidence to run at them, and too many poor touches meant few attempts on goal, and set pieces seemed to go straight to their ‘keeper. I think tactically ther needed to be a different plan.

Once the second goal went in there seemed to be a resignation about the result and not quite the same passion as the home match a fortnight ago. Although technically and tactically they may have been better and more organised I was just expecting a bit more passion and fight. In the end it looked like a fatigued and frustrated team that were out of their depth playing against a confident home side who were cruising.

I agree with the comments above regarding the remaining ACL matches, if progress is impossible, use the matches to start planning for the upcoming season, forget playing anybody that’s not going to be here, and start giving game time to the younger players who need it. Bottom of the group is not where I expected Melbourne to be at this point and it’s looking like Ernie Merrick had better start planning for next season now, before it becomes his last.

Yes we weren’t overrun but we never looked like winning.

Fair point about seeing domestic teams playing in Asian competitions, but we don’t just want to make up the numbers, we want to be competative. I mean compared to Sydney last year or Adelaide this year – who addmittedly seem to have an easier group – we have performed dismally. Especially given all the hype about how we’ve learned from Sydney and Adelaide in the first season and all the preperation that was supposedly put in place. I just don’t think Merrick has the tactical awareness to create a game plan which will allow us to challenge these types of team, let’s face it he struggles in the A-league.

I hate to agree with andy harper during the game put panto in the back three and put muscat in the midfield…

so in essence he has no confidence in his back three, and his midfield and lacks a game plan to utilise allsopp…

time to bench love, caceres and anyone else who is not playing with us next year and blood berger, elasi and any others.

Patafta could just not get into the game… at all… he kept running to the wrong spots or to a crowded area.. Pondeljak (how ever u spell it) comes on and within a few minutes has a set shot on goal… Patafta needs game time but i dont think the ACL is for him, let him captain the youth squad

I personally dont think Kaz is up to it but maybe its a confidence thing given his obvious lack of opportunities during the season. I think he was stiff not being given another 10 or 15 minutes in the second half.

I agree with you though that the next 2 games should be used to give Kaz a fair run and probabaly Elasi also (at least for more than 5 minutes off the bench). Caceras should be dropped now as he is leaving anyway so that frees up a spot.

I though Ward was very ordinary and really struggled to get into the game and i have been less than impressed with his passing in particular since he arrived. I dont know if he is still carrying his injury but he just doesnt look up to the job of controlling midfield.

We were never overrun but there was certainly a class difference between us and them over the two games.

I am gutted with the recent results but on a positive note a few years ago we wouldnt have contemplated Australian domestic teams playing football matches in Asian competitions … now we are … and we can see the improvement we need to make to go further … things we can only get better.