Entries from October 2008 ↓

The Melbourne Victory have their backs up against the wall as they prepare to play current front-runner Adelaide United in Hindmarsh Stadium tomorrow night.

The last time these two met, Melbourne went to 10 men but still managed to come away with a win. In the five matches after that, however, the Victory’s fortunes have dropped. After teetering at the top of the table for the last few weeks, Melbourne finally dropped from first last week.

In contrast, Adelaide United are riding high after topping the A-League and reaching the final of the Asian Champions League. Despite the extra matches, they’ve only sacrificed two points in the last four rounds.

We already knew Melbourne would miss Archie Thompson and Ney Fabiano tomorrow, but Carlos Hernández’ injury (which could keep him out for a month) further diminishes Ernie Merrick’s attacking options. Now would be a perfect time for Nathan Elasi to make his A-League debut… but he’s away on Young Socceroos duty. Instead, Matthew Theodore has been called up from the youth team to potentially make an appearance off the bench.

Adelaide aren’t without their injury problems, with both Eugene Galekovic and Paul Reid unavailable. But they have a squad with depth which has been tried and tested over the past month. And so far, weariness has not made them skip a beat.

My tips for the weekend:

• Adelaide United to lose to Melbourne Victory. Backs against the wall or not, I still feel obliged to believe we can do it. And we certainly can. Perth Glory almost beat Adelaide last week, but gave it away in the last ten minutes.
• Sydney FC to draw with Central Coast Mariners. Two sides coming off a win, I can’t pick a winner between these two.
• Newcastle Jets to beat Queensland Roar. This is an important game for both sides, with Queensland perched on the edge of the top 4 and Newcastle fighting to stay in the race. Newcastle need the win, and I think they’ll get it.
• Perth Glory to beat Wellington Phoenix. They’re 7th and 8th, both beaten last week, but recent form has seen an improvement for both sides. I’m picking a Perth win.

Melbourne Victory fans at the Melbourne vs Sydney blockbuster. The Eureka Flag is dead centre. Photo: Brett Robson.

The reputation of Football Federation Australia was hurt again over the weekend by another embarrassing debacle. At the Melbourne Victory – Sydney FC match on Saturday night, which drew the season’s largest attendance so far, Victory supporters were told they would be kicked out of the Telstra Dome if they flew the Eureka Flag.

Melbourne fans have been flying the Eureka Flag since the inception of the A-League in 2005. Why the sudden crack-down on a flag that is considered an “object of state heritage” by the Victorian Heritage Register (Wikipedia)?

Fans were told that the flag was considered inappropriate for its political symbolism. This, a flag used by the University of Ballarat in its official logo, banned for political symbolism?

Come off it, FFA.

The FFA apparently decided that the flag should be banned prior to the season. According to Victory spokesman Trent Jacobs:

“We were advised by the FFA earlier this season that it was to be banned and constituted a political flag.”We at the time expressed our concern about that and to our knowledge it hadn’t been looked at.”Source: The Age

So the FFA chose the Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC match, traditionally the biggest game in the A-League season, to crack down on supporters flying a flag they’ve flown since the start of the A-League. Bad move.

They seem to have realised it too. Today the FFA denied that it ever meant to ban the flag. Ben Buckley, the FFA chief executive, said:

“It had been caught up in a wider review undertaken prior to the start of the A-League to ensure that national or political flags are not brought into games inappropriately.”In this instance, I believe it’s a case of the interpretation of `political’ going too far and the ban has been an unintended consequence of our spectator code of behaviour.”

And yet, the statement from the Victory indicates that the FFA made a clear decision regarding the flag, and had ignored the club’s concern about the banning. Today’s statement by Ben Buckley appears to be nothing more than a quick band-aid designed to avoid further embarrassment for the FFA, which already alienated fans earlier this season by announcing a restrictive seating policy.

The Melbourne Victory Women’s team had a better result on the weekend, with a 2-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners.

I didn’t have the chance to see the game, but it sounds like the women put on a strong, dominant performance. Two second-half goals from Brittany Timko and Rebecca Tegg ensured the win for Melbourne.

Did any of you manage to catch the game? I’d love to hear what you thought!

The Melbourne Victory have dropped to third after losing 2-0 at home to Sydney FC on Saturday night. Adelaide United scored a 2-1 win over the Perth Glory to take the lead at the top of the table, two points above Sydney and three above Melbourne.

It was another poor performance from Melbourne. The short passes weren’t coming off, while the long balls were too predictable and seldom gave rise to genuine opportunities. In one word: stale.

The absence of Archie Thompson certainly played a part. Archie and Carlos Hernández combine effectively up front, helping to solidify the connection between midfield and attack. With Archie suspended and Hernández shifted into a striking role, that link in the chain was broken. Merrick has been keen to use the 4-3-3 this season, but in this case a 4-4-2 – with Hernández sitting behind Tom Pondeljak and Danny Allsopp – may have been more effective.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ZOb50PaEU[/youtube]

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On Friday night, the Central Coast Mariners pulled off a 1-0 win over the Newcastle Jets, while the Queensland Roar picked up a 1-0 win on the road over the Wellington Phoenix.

Two out-of-form sides meet each other tomorrow night at the Telstra Dome, in what is a key match for both of them.

Both the Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC have won one, lost two and drawn one of their last four games. And both will be missing key players tomorrow night. Melbourne are without Archie Thompson and Ney Fabiano (suspended), and will likely miss Nick Ward due to injury. Sydney’s problems are in defence, with Iain Fyfe suspended and Tony Popovic, Simon Colosimo and Jacob Timpano all injured. Alex Brosque is also injured.

So we have a side missing key strikers facing a side missing key defenders. Did I hear someone say a nil-nil draw?

Don’t laugh, it’s quite likely. The last three clashes between these sides have ended in a draw – twice a goal-less draw. Incidentally, all three of those games were during John Kosmina’s reign.

My tips for the weekend:

• Central Coast Mariners to lose to Newcastle Jets. If Newcastle can maintain the form they produced against Melbourne last week, they can certainly beat a Central Coast side that lost at home to the Wellington Phoenix last week.
• Melbourne Victory to finish with 11 men and beat Sydney FC. A draw may be likely, statistically speaking, but if Melbourne can hang on to their 11 men for the duration of the match, I think we can bring this run of draws to an end.
• Adelaide United to beat Perth Glory. Perth produced a good game last week to beat Sydney, but Adelaide are on an incredible roll at the moment. Perth stand a chance if they can take advantage of tired United legs.
• Wellington Phoenix to beat Queensland Roar. This is a critical game for both sides, as they’re perched just below the top four. With home crowd advantage and some good recent form, I think the Phoenix can steal the show.

An impressive Newcastle Jets side scored a 1-0 victory over Melbourne on Saturday night.

The Victory finished the game with ten men after Archie Thompson was shown a straight red for swearing at the ref. Again, Melbourne played its best football when it was down a man; until that point, Newcastle looked to be well in control of the game.

In the end, it was a well deserved win for the Jets, and a well deserved goal for nineteen-year old Marko Jesic, who was pulled up from the Newcastle youth team for the occasion. With Joel Griffiths warming the bench for most of the game, young Jesic looked like the Jets’ most dangerous player.

Luckily, Melbourne retains top spot after Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix both won their matches. But next week, Melbourne has to face Sydney FC without Archie Thompson, as it did in round 1. Without Thompson and Fabiano, Ernie Merrick’s attacking stocks are looking depleted.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAO3MePyEpo[/youtube]

Sydney FC missed its golden opportunity to overtake Melbourne at the top, losing 2-1 to Perth Glory (their second win of the season). Wellington also got their second win, beating the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford by a solitary goal. Adelaide United continued their great form with a win on the road against Queensland Roar, putting them on level points with Melbourne.

Gary van Egmond and the Newcastle Jets have a chance for revenge tomorrow night when they host the Melbourne Victory. In round 3, when these two teams first met, Melbourne did to Newcastle what the Socceroos did to Qatar: thrashed them.

Newcastle are sitting sixth on the ladder, a solid three points away from the fourth-placed Central Coast Mariners. Joel and Adam Griffiths return for the Jets tomorrow, both having recovered from their injuries. Youngsters James Holland and Ben Kantarovski make their comebacks after completing their international duties.

Melbourne also has a number of players returning to the fold: Michael Theoklitos and Carlos Hernández are both back from suspension, while Michael Thwaite appears to have recovered from his injury. Back to the bench for Mitch Langerak, Tom Pondeljak and Steven Pace, all of whom had strong performances against the Perth Glory a fortnight ago.

Last time we played Newcastle, I tipped “utter destruction”. I’m going to be a little bit more reserved this time and just tip a solid 2 goal win.

My tips for the weekend:

• Queensland Roar to beat Adelaide United narrowly. Both teams are on a roll at the moment, but I think the Roar should make their home advantage count for them.
• Newcastle Jets to suffer a slightly more dignified loss to the mighty Melbourne Victory than last time. Maybe 1-3, perhaps 0-2. I’m not too fussed really.
• Perth Glory to lose to Sydney FC. While I’d love to see Perth inject some life into their season, I’m afraid Sydney are going to swamp them this weekend. Who knows, maybe John Aloisi will get his first goal in Sydney colours.
• Central Coast Mariners to beat Wellington Phoenix. Wellington have pulled four points out of their last two games, but I’d be surprised to see them get anything in Gosford.

It was exactly the game the Melbourne Victory needed. A solid win with plenty of goals to keep the club at the top of A-League after seven rounds.

Perth Glory were truly lacklustre, all across the pitch. Mitch Langerak was tested just once – and produced a wonderful acrobatic save to keep a clean sheet – while you only have to look at how easily Melbourne picked up its fourth goal to see how flimsy the Perth defence was. Things are not looking good for the bottom feeders.

The win adds great credibility to Merrick’s claim that Melbourne has the depth to cover for injuries and suspensions this year. Perth may have been poor, but it still takes a pretty good team to manage four goals. Even without Carlos Hernandez, our first-choice goalkeeper and one of our first-pick defenders, we looked the goods.

Meanwhile, Adelaide United stuffed up a 3-0 lead over the Central Coast Mariners, finishing the match with a draw. Sydney FC also drew at home, though they were lucky to come from behind in injury time. The Newcastle Jets host Wellington Phoenix tomorrow.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKQJdnPpMj0[/youtube]

The first third of the season wraps up this weekend, with the Melbourne Victory clutching a narrow lead at the top of the table.

Melbourne edges Sydney FC out on goal difference, sits a point ahead of Adelaide United, two ahead of the Central Coast Mariners and three points ahead of Queensland Roar, who inflicted Melbourne’s first defeat of the season last week.

This is a critical round. Adelaide hosts the Mariners tonight, while Queensland have another away game, this time in Sydney. The Wellington Phoenix have a chance for back-to-back victories (they’ve never achieved this before), with the Newcastle Jets missing a host of players, including Joel Griffiths.

Suspensions and injuries have whittled Melbourne’s squad down to barely enough to field a full team. Carlos Hernandez, Michael Theoklitos and Ney Fabiano are all out with suspensions; Sebastian Ryall and Nathan Elasi are on international duty; and Michael Thwaite is out with an ankle injury, while Nick Ward may make a reappearance. Steven Pace has been promoted into the squad, as has Matthew Theodore, who impressed me last week in the Youth League.

The Perth Glory aren’t without their problems. With just four points to show from 6 rounds, they’re holding up the bottom of the table. Former Victory player James Robinson has been ruled out for the next ten weeks with a groin injury, while Amaral, Dinjo Djulbic, Hayden Foxe and Josip Magdic are all still unavailable.

My tips for the weekend:

• Adelaide United to draw with Central Coast Mariners. Both these sides had strong wins last week, and they’re sitting in three and four on the ladder. I’m tipping a draw.
• Melbourne Victory to thump three past the Perth Glory. I like to be specific with my Victory tips. But seriously, even with a less-than-stellar squad, Melbourne should be able to beat the Glory emphatically.
• Sydney FC to draw with Queensland Roar. Again, I’m tipping a draw, but this could really go either way. At the end of the season, I would expect both of these sides to be in the final four.
• Newcastle Jets to draw with Wellington Phoenix. What can Newcastle do without Joel Griffiths? A fired up Wellington might be able to grab a win, but I think a draw’s the more likely outcome.

Check out Pippinu’s article Is the A-League a credible competition?

I don’t necessarily agree with his argument that the FFA has an anti-Melbourne agenda which has affected referee decisions, but I certainly think that the inconsistency of referee decisions (and review panel decisions) undermines the A-League’s credibility. A certain level of inconsistency is to be expected – referees are human after all – but some of the blatant refereeing errors leave a lot to be desired.