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 →

Early in November, Ernie Merrick promised Melbourne Victory fans that the club would sign some new talent in the November transfer window. As the month reached its end last week, Merrick explained the type of player he was looking for:

“I am looking for a Paul Wade type of character, a real hard grafter, a box-to-box midfielder, someone who is capable of getting forward”

Now, one week into December, Merrick has finally found the player he’s looking for: Nick Ward, a 22 year old attacking midfielder who was the Hyundai A-League Young Player of the year in 2005-06. After that successful year with Perth, in which he scored five times, Ward made a move to England in August last year, signing with English Championship side the Queens Park Rangers. He found goals harder to come by in England, picking up just one for the Q.P.R., and scoring another during his short loan to Brighton. Continue reading →

The Melbourne Victory signed Nick Ward today, a 22-year old Olyroo who has been playing in England for the Queens Park Rangers. Some of you may remember him from the inaugural A-League season, when he played for the Perth Glory.

Ward is a midfielder, and an attacking one at that. Sounds like just what Melbourne needs to reinvigorate a tired, overly defensive midfield.

He joins Melbourne on a six-month contract – enough to see out the rest of this A-League season and the group stage of the AFC Champions League.

Perhaps the bright spark Melbourne needs to kick into gear?

Are the Melbourne Victory’s final aspirations dead?

I tuned in to SEN 1116 after the game on Sunday and became gradually more depressed as the commentators stated, quite matter of factly, that the Victory are out of the A-League finals.

Out. With six games to go.

Melbourne are six points outside the top four, but it’s statistically quite possible to reach the top four.

Opposition coaches are less keen to make premature judgments. In the words of Aurelio Vidmar:

You’d be foolish to write them off. They certainly can still make the top four and once they are in the finals anything can happen. They have far too much quality to be written off.

(The Australian)

Over to you: Can Melbourne still make the finals?

Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.

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. Continue reading →

Perth Glory 3, Melbourne Victory 1

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZqMvF–AzY[/youtube]

If the Melbourne Victory reach the finals of the A-League, they might be in the running for a spot at the first-ever Pan-Pacific Championship in February. Four teams will compete in the tournament, to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii.

One Australian team will play the MLS Cup Champion, the Houston Dynamo, while David Beckham and the LA Galaxy will face the J-League’s Gamba Osaka.

Details on how the Australian team is selected are somewhat vague. The A-League website states that “an Australian side that will qualify on the basis of results from the Hyundai A-League finals series.” You’d assume the Grand Final winner gets through, right?

But the A-League Grand Final is to be played on the 24th of February – a day after the Pan-Pacific Championship kicks off. As a result, the loser of the preliminary final will get to compete in Hawaii.

Pretty sweet consolation prize, if you ask me.

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. Continue reading →