Entries from February 2009 ↓

Call me crazy, but I think the only thing that could undo the Melbourne Victory tomorrow night is complacency.

Melbourne faltered at times during season 4 of the A-League – especially against teams propping up the ladder. For the latter half of the season, this became the pattern: solid wins against top of the table sides, disappointing losses against struggling sides.

Other factors may have played a part, but I think part of the reason why Melbourne lost the ‘easy’ games and won the ‘hard’ ones comes down to complacency.

All year, Melbourne has had the edge over Adelaide United. But Adelaide has always been considered a tough opponent, a side to be wary of. After the demolition two weeks ago, you’d be forgiven for thinking of Adelaide as an easy beat.

But underdogs can spring big surprises. Confidence won’t hurt Melbourne tomorrow night, but it cannot afford to be complacent.

I didn’t get a chance to watch the Adelaide vs Queensland game last week, but from what I’ve heard it was a stubbornly defensive Adelaide United that managed to bury the Roar. The reintroduction of Jonas Salley to the side seems to have had the desired effect, shoring up the midfield. But will it be enough?

Once again, Ernie Merrick has a full squad to pick from. The Victory have had two weeks to rest and prepare. They’re fit. They’re ready. And as long as they don’t grow complacent, I believe they’re going to be lifting the trophy tomorrow night.

Adelaide put some demons to rest on Saturday night as it beat Queensland Roar 1-0. Disappointing for Queensland fans, and a surprising finish for many who wrote off Adelaide after the hiding in Melbourne and Aurelio Vidmar’s rant. Adelaide now get a chance for redemption.

I thought I’d take the occasion to compile a bunch of interesting/meaningless statistics.

• Only one team has ever reached the Grand Final after finishing outside the top 2. That was Central Coast Mariners in season one of the A-League.
• No team finishing outside the top 2 has ever won the Grand Final.
• Adelaide United has qualified for the Asian Champions League three times in four years.
• Two out of three times, the team with the home ground advantage in the Grand Final has won. The one time this wasn’t the case was last year, when the Mariners “hosted” Newcastle in Sydney.
• No team has ever won the Pre-season Cup, topped the ladder and won the Grand Final in the same season.
• Melbourne Victory is the only team to ever win the Pre-season Cup and then top the ladder.
• Only one current Melbourne Victory player has scored in a Grand Final (Archie Thompson x 5)
• Only one current Adelaide United player has scored in a Grand Final (Kristian Sarkies x 1, when he played for Melbourne against Adelaide)
• Since the start of season 4, Adelaide and Melbourne have played each other 5 times. The score is 11-2 in Melbourne’s favour.
• Of the eight goals ever scored in a Grand Final, Melbourne scored six. Archie Thompson scored five.

Another embarrassing thrashing of Adelaide United in a finals series, another coach’s outburst. No evil forces conspiring, just the city of Adelaide, a “piss-ant” according to Aurelio Vidmar.

After Vidmar’s hissy-fit, it’s hard to see how Adelaide are going to regroup for their semi-final against the Queensland Roar, who put the Central Coast Mariners away 4-1 on aggregate.

But, to think back to Saturday night. The biggest question mark before the game was what part Carlos Hernández would play. I’d anticipated a second-half appearance from the Costa Rican, but Ernie Merrick had different plans. Within ten minutes it paid dividends, Hernández threading a ball through to Archie Thompson to set up the first goal. Fifteen minutes later, Carlos got his own chance and fired it into the roof of the Adelaide goal. 2-0, 30 minutes gone, game over.

Hernández then set up two more, first for Danny Allsopp, then for Tom Pondeljak in the second half (what a fine volley from Tommy P that was). After years of being compared to his predecessor, Fred, Hernández pulled off a display on Saturday night that was on par with Fred’s Grand Final performance. Ernie Merrick, Gary Cole, et al.: Please do everything within your power to retain Carlos.

This was no one-man show, of course. Archie, Allsopp and Pondeljak all had great games going forward, while Roddy Vargas in his new hair-cut kept the backline solid. Kevin Muscat has given two outstanding performances in the finals this year. Michael Theoklitos had little to do for most of the 90 minutes but pulled off two phenomenal saves to keep a clean sheet.

In case you missed the game, or to relive the glory, you can watch it on YouTube here.

Are you looking for the preview of the A-League Grand Final, to be played between the Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United on February 28, 2009?

If statistics are anything to go by, things aren’t looking good for Adelaide United. They haven’t beaten Melbourne since the Pre-Season Cup. Melbourne has won all of its last 6 games at home. And Adelaide has a 2 goal deficit to make up for; meaning, in short, that it must score at least three times at the Telstra Dome to book a home Grand Final.

Stranger things have happened. Tom Pondeljak this week talked about the Mariners’ come-back last year against the Newcastle Jets, who had won the first game 2-0. Tommy P and the rest of the Mariners dug in and pulled off a 3-0 win to book themselves a spot in the Grand Final (not a home Grand Final of course, because the FFA determined that neither Gosford nor Newcastle were worthy of hosting such an auspicious occasion).

But the Mariners pulled off that feat at home. Adelaide need to do it in front of forty thousand expectant Victory fans.

For Merrick, the task is simple. Keep doing what we’re doing. Take the game to Adelaide. If we produce the kind of football we produced last week, we’ll be right.

Carlos Hernández played for the Costa Rican national team yesterday and is expected to arrive back in Melbourne sometime today. If I were Merrick, I’d keep him on the bench. Wait till Adelaide start getting desperate and committing more men forward, then bring Carlos on to kill them off. That’s how it plays out in my head in any case.

Meanwhile, the Mariners are in the same predicament as Adelaide (though Adelaide gets a second chance if they stuff up). Queensland need only to hold the Central Coast at bay and protect their 2-0 lead, and they’ll have themselves a semifinal berth against the loser of Melbourne vs Adelaide.

First of all, I hope that you and your friends and family have all remained safe this weekend. My deepest sympathies go out to anyone who has lost a loved one in the bush fires. It didn’t feel quite right to start this blog post without pausing to acknowledge what’s currently happening in our fine state. May God be with all those men and women fighting fires.

***

Melbourne all but booked its second home Grand Final with a 2-0 win over Adelaide United on Saturday night. After Queensland pulled off a similar upset the night before, beating the Mariners 2-0 in Gosford, this coming weekend’s round is simply a matter of Melbourne and Queensland holding off what will undoubtedly be the desperate efforts of their respective opponents.

Melbourne came out with the right attitude, attacking vivaciously and getting a deserved opener after 13 minutes. The goal, from the boot of Carlos Hernández, was an indication of the kind of form Melbourne was in. For one, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Carlos run that fast; and 9 times out of 10, shots like that are fired well over the bar. Not this time. This was Melbourne’s night.

I was surprised to see Aurelio Vidmar wait so long before bringing on Cristiano. Certainly, to start with Paul Agostino, a striker who hasn’t scored in his last seven appearances, was a brave/odd/foolish move – and it didn’t pay off. From what I’ve seen of Adelaide this year, they look far more dangerous with Cristiano on – if only because the Brazilian is such a superb cheater and able to conjure penalties like an evil David Copperfield.

Both keepers had excellent games. Galekovic may have been beaten twice, but he pulled off one of the most impressive saves I’ve seen all year, stopping a sure-fire goal from Hernández with a lunge and one-handed save. Theo also made an important save in the first half, blocking a sneaky shot from Kristian Sarkies with his legs.

I was supremely impressed with Melbourne’s performance. We defended well, attacked even better, and looked far more dangerous than Adelaide. Carlos Hernández, Danny Allsopp, Sebastian Ryall, Rodrigo Vargas, Archie Thompson – all had excellent games, while there were very few weak links among the rest of the eleven.

YouTube videos don’t appear to be working on MVFC Blog at the moment, so for your viewing pleasure I will direct you here.

Are you looking for the preview of the A-League Grand Final, to be played between the Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United on February 28, 2009?

And so it begins. The Queensland Roar got the ball rolling last night with an all-important 2-0 away-from-home win against the Central Coast Mariners (report). Attention now turns to tonight’s affair in Adelaide.

Melbourne have had the edge over Adelaide all year, with three wins from three. That may, as Kevin Muscat suggests, give us a mental edge as we go into the finals. Certainly, Adelaide have to get the monkey off their back. Memories of the 2006 finals series will undoubtedly add to their psychological disadvantage.

Two years ago, when Adelaide hosted Melbourne in the semi-finals, Merrick opted for a defensive approach and got a 0-0 draw. There’s some sense in that, of course, but I think, given our dominance over Adelaide this year, we need to go for the win. We’ve beaten them every time and there’s nothing to suggest we can’t do it again.

Melbourne have a full squad to pick from, with Evan Berger expected to be the only change to the squad that faced Wellington two weeks ago. Adelaide will miss Robert Cornthwaite but took advantage of the short-term injury replacement rule to bring in Rostyn Griffiths, a 20-year old midfielder who just signed a one-year deal with Blackburn.

My tip: Melbourne to grab a 1-0 lead, then park in defence.