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Melbourne Victory vs. Adelaide United 2 – 2 (match report)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVU_cOk_WUI[/youtube]

Another “must win” match, ending in another seemingly inevitable draw. Although, after being behind most of the match, the draw ended up seeming like another lucky escape. How many draws have we had like that this season? If only a few of those could have been wins, we’d be in a much better situation.

Sweeping changes were made to the line-up, most notably introducing Patafta into the starting 11, much to the delight of the fans. Muscat moved into defence, Ryall joined him and Vasilevski moved into midfield alongside Caceres, Broxham and Patafta. For me, this is a much more useful position for Vasilevski, whose crosses into the box have created some of the more promising chances that Melbourne has had. Hernandez took up a more attacking position, alongside Archie of course. Brebner and Keenan had to take make way for the new blood and took their places on the bench.

The new line-up didn’t disappoint either, moving the ball around with much more purpose. Several dangerous chances eventuated, with Archie missing narrowly on several occasions and Hernandez just barely not connecting with a brilliant cross into the penalty area from Patafta. It was one of the season’s most attractive performances from the Victory. Continue reading →

The Melbourne Victory hosts Adelaide United at the Telstra Dome on Saturday for the first time since last year’s Grand Final.

Adelaide have the perfect chance for revenge: if they beat the Victory on Saturday night, the defending champions can kiss their season goodbye.

Victory players met with club psychologist Patrick Farrell yesterday – a good move, in my opinion. Melbourne’s continuing bad run seems to be self-perpetuating: disappointing losses have caused players to lose their confidence, and this loss of confidence is very crippling. Danny Allsopp and Grant Brebner are two players who I believe need to come into the game with a more positive mindset. Continue reading →

With the A-League starting its final 7 rounds this week, it’s a good time to take a look at how Melbourne’s fate is panning out alongside its competitors. I’ve heard plenty of pessimistic talk from Melbourne fans recently, but a cursory look at how other teams are performing should give Victory supporters plenty of cause for hope.

It’s a very tight league.

1. Central Coast Mariners
Four points separate Central Coast from the Queensland Roar. It’s a strong, but breakable, lead. From a strictly statistical point of view, the Mariners’ strength has been their defense, which has let through only 9 goals this season. But with strikers like John Aloisi and Sasho Petrovski, and scoring midfielders like Tom Pondeljak, Adam Kwasnik and John Hutchinson, opposition teams will have their work cut for them all across the park. The Mariners are a lethal team at the moment and I would not bet against them finishing top of the ladder. Continue reading →

The Melbourne Victory has added Steven Pace to its ranks as a replacement for the injured Daniel Piorkowski.

The 24-year old defender signs over from the Preston Lions. In a 2-week trail with the Victory did, he obviously did enough to warrant his inclusion on the Victory payroll:

“Steven reads the game well, has excellent speed, good distribution and possesses great maturity.” (Ernie Merrick)

Continue reading →

Ljubo Milicevic has been invited back to training, but his future with the Melbourne Victory is still looking doubtful.

An article in The Advertiser today, titled “Ljubo up for grabs”, once again suggests that Ljubo could join Adelaide United in November, as a replacement for Angelo Costanzo, who picked up an injury in the clash with the Victory two weeks ago. It doesn’t look like it would be a long-term affair, as Milicevic seems to be eyeing a return to Europe in January.

The Melbourne Victory meets Adelaide United tonight, in what has been dubbed a “grand final rematch” (just how many times will these two teams play each other before it stops being a grand final rematch?).

Adelaide have a tough game ahead of them. Certainly, they have looked like one of this season’s better prospects so far; but injury and national team duty is forcing coach Aurelio Vidmar to field players who have had little to no game time. The Reds will have to do without strike pair Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns, as well as Paul Agostino, Bobby Petta and Kristian Sarkies.

Adelaide will be particularly hurt by the absence of Djite and Burns, who have looked like the A-League’s most exciting duo this season. The fact that the “back-up” striker, marquee Paul Agostino, is out due to a calf injury, only adds to the frustration. In the absence of these three, striker Dez Giraldi has an opportunity to impress – and with only 93 minutes of game time in two years, Girladi will have plenty of motivation to impress.

The Melbourne Victory, of course, have their own injury problems, after it was confirmed last week that Daniel Piorkowski will be out for up to 12 weeks. Leigh Broxham’s thigh injury keeps him out of the squad for another week as well. And Melbourne will have to do without Grant Brebner, who has picked up a one week suspension thanks to four yellow cards. Reports from the Melbourne camp suggest that Kevin Muscat may miss tonight, but Aurelio Vidmar and myself don’t think this is particularly likely.

Last time we played Adelaide, I was doubtful of a win, tipping a 1-1 draw. Melbourne went into that game without Broxham, Joe Keenan and Archie Thompson, while Adelaide were only missing Djite. After a rather eclectic 2 minutes from Rodrigo Vargas, my tip turned out to be correct.

Tonight, both teams are again hurt by injury and national team duty, but I think Adelaide would be hurting more. Of course, experience has shown that fielding players who haven’t had much opportunity can pay off. I expect Adelaide to come out with an attacking mentality; but in all fairness, this is another game Melbourne can and should win.

My tip: Melbourne 3, Adelaide 1

Your tip?

Adelaide United 1, Melbourne Victory 1 (our report)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzIFVvpN5jc[/youtube]

Melbourne played out a scrappy 1-1 draw against Adelaide United last night. Away from home, this is not a result to be unhappy with, although we can come away feeling somewhat unlucky to have not held on for the win.

After 80 minutes of scoreless play it was the most unlikely of heroes that stepped up to head home a goal for the Victory; Roddy Vargas. My foxsports fantasy league captain was looking like the best pick ever! His mind was likely still spinning with excitement when less than a minute later he left his arm outstretched to block an Adelaide shot on goal in our penalty area. Hero to villain in less than a minute. Theoklitos managed to get a touch on the Travis Dodd penalty, but it wasn’t enough to stop the goal. 1-1 it was and 1-1 it would remain, despite some late pressure by Adelaide.

The disappointment of yet another draw aside, this match did provide some good entertainment. Muscat flirted with the red card for much of the game, Costanzo faked a head butt to try to get Brebner sent off and in the end the drama of the 80th minute was enough to make this an intriguing contest, as Adelaide – Melbourne matches always are.

Positives we can take from this match were the solid performances by some of the newer additions. Sebastian Ryall in particular was very impressive as a right back, certainly staking a claim for a starting spot. Leandro Love was once again an absolute live-wire, although he never looked particularly dangerous in front of goal. But perhaps the most impressive performance for me last night was that of Adrian Caceres. Aside from providing the assist for Vargas’ goal, he was also responsible for what was probably Melbourne’s best chance of the match – a meandering run towards goal, passing numerous defenders and then eventually shooting just wide. It surprised me to see him taken off the pitch late in the game, moments after providing the goal assist. To me, he was a key performer for Melbourne last night and should be considered far more seriously for starting positions ahead of the likes of Milicevic, who to date has not really shown what he may be capable of.

The other players getting their debut last night, Daniel Vasilevski and Evan Berger, didn’t get much time to show what contribution they might provide to the team. We’ll have to wait to see more of them before drawing any conclusions.

Prior to the season, we looked at Melbourne’s roster of players and one word came to mind: depth.

Ernie Merrick is a man with options this year. And boy doesn’t he need them?

Five of our players are injured. Two others have been called up for international duty. The team we’ll see lining up against Adelaide United tonight is far from the first-choice squad. Nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to the game.

In Archie’s absence, Leandro Love steps up for his first start of the season. His 25 minutes against the Perth Glory were enough to endear him to Telstra Dome. Given a chance to play a solid game tonight, I wonder if he’ll be able to endear himself to Ernie Merrick. Perhaps his supposed role as “back-up” striker might be worth reconsidering, especially if Danny Allsopp and Archie perform under par.

Besides Leandro, we can also expect to see more of Kaz Patafta, Adrian Caceres and Carlos Hernández. Daniel Vasilevski, Evan Berger and Sebastian Ryall are also along for the trip, each of them hoping to get their A-League début.

Adelaide will also be seeing some changes to the squad, as Bruce Djite and Kristian Sarkies are both of to play for the Under-23s. Nathan Burns is suspended from the Under-23s match, which means he’s still around to make life tough for the Victory. He’ll be joined by former Socceroo Paul Agostino, who was resigned to bench warming for rounds 1 and 2, making way for the Burns and Djite combo up front. Bobby Petta is also an uncertainty for United, after he didn’t complete training yesterday.

To be honest, Adelaide United looks better on paper than Melbourne for this match. The Victory will be missing some of its finest talent. But let’s not forget that this is a Melbourne side still struggling to find its feet. A dramatic shake-up of personnel may not be such a bad thing after all.

My prediction: Adelaide United 1, Melbourne Victory 1

What’s your tip?