The recent news in the build up to our clash with the Roar at Suncorp on Saturday includes:

Injury replacment Marvin Angulo was denied an International Transfer Certificate by FIFA’s Player Status Committee. That means he wont be able to play for the club until the next transfer window (January 1st). (MVFC)

Nicky Ward finally returns from his staphylococcus infection, from his interview it sounded awful. (MVFC)

Glen Moss will be ‘rested’ against Brisbane giving Mitch Langerak his first start of the season. (442)

On the other side of the spectrum, Melbourne’s Woman keeper Melissa Barbieri is keeping her side in the hunt for finals football. (Goal.com)

For more info.

And finally the preview for our clash against Brisbane can be found here, with Kruse, Ward and Berger amongst the names returning from injury.

Sutee lead Thailand to Victory in there Asian Cup Qualifier against Singapore with a brace. (Above, Goal.com)

Billy Ceeski’s injury replacement Mavin Angulo is on the way…we just don’t know when he will arrive. (MVFC)

Melbourne’s ladies managed to draw with high flying Sydney FC and reigning champs Brisbane Roar. (MVFC)

Our youth team managed to beat CCM 4-1 courtesy of a hattrick by Elasi, and backed it up by scoring another goal along with a brace by Kruse to see off Perth 3-0. (MVFC)

Youth boys Petar Franjic and Kliment Taseski have been selected to play for Australia U-19 in the AFC U-19 Championship 2010 qualifiers. (MVFC)

Adrian Leijer tours the Bubble Dome. (442)

See some vintage Victory. (MVFC Facebook)

And finally Grant Brebner can’t put his finger on why our form fluctuates so much, but he can however clarify the only match he bets on is Melbourne Vs. Adelaide. (MVFC)

There are obviously some disgruntled supporters out there, great way to get the point across.
I love all three Adeliade reference’s especially the last one, ‘Its’ OK, we verse Adelaide three times this season’. I was nearly in tears. (for those who don’t know we have beaten Adelaide eight times straight.)

Melbourne Victory: 0
Central Coast Mariners: 4 (Kwasnik 15, Simon 75, Heffernan 80, Mrdja 84)
Crowd: 18,531 at Etihad Stadium

Melbourne started the match with a 3-4-3 with Surat Sukha returning from injury but left on the bench. This was the same formation that was used in our last defeat out the hands of Sydney and the formation held the same consequences.

It only took the Mariner’s 15 minutes to figure out Melbourne and get on the score sheet, the boys were playing far to narrow. Central Coast started from the back and pushed towards the left wing which was vacant due to the formation. Broxham pulled back and attempted to clear the danger but only made it worse, his miss kick wasn’t cleared by the Melbourne defence and eventually it found its way to Nicky Travis who was allowed to to much space and managed to get a shot away. The shot was parried by Moss but fell to Kwasnik who made no mistakes and made it 1-0.

Melbourne hit he target twice, unfortunately it wasn’t the goal. Melbourne were awarded a free kick in defence and Muscat tried to get the ball moving quick, he belted the ball and it hit the ref from point blank range. Later in the half Hernandez attempted to kick the ball, unfortunately for John Hutchinson Carlos got him fair and square in the ball, OUCH. (funny how Carlos also went down injured)

In the second half Sutee had a golden opportunity to make scores level as the ball fell to him at the back of a scrap inside the box, but his poor first touch cost him the goal as CCM custodian Vukovic reacted quickly to quell the danger.

From the 75th minute onwards was horrific for all Victory fans as a shambolic backline and some dreadful keeping saw Melbourne turn a 1-0 deficit to our worst defeat in our history, as the Mariner’s helped themselves to the goals.

On 75 minutes Matt Simon rose at the far post and nodded the corner goal wards. Moss was flat footed as per usual and CCM went 2-0 up.

5 minutes later Heffernan’s low drive went under Moss to make it 3-0, and on on 84 minutes Mrdja ended the rout with another goal from a corner.

It was a dreadful match. Central Coast stuck to there game plan extremely well and deserved all 3 points, should not have scored 4 goals though. For Melbourne in my mind this match highlighted that we must play with a back four, and Kemp and Surat must be the wing backs. Whenever Muscat, Leijer and Vargas all play we seem very lucky to get a point let alone 3, one of them has to be benched, I think it should be Vargas as Muscat and Leijer are both very solid and are good passers. Archie is also driving me insane, I mean he plays like he think his Messi and it doesn’t work, he’s a shadow of his former self and is far to inconsistent. This result cannot be ignored as it is our worst defeat in our history.
Merrick got rewarded with a 2 year contract before this match, now he has to show why he got it.

Melbourne Victory: 2 (C Coyne own goal 6, Hernandez 67)
Perth Glory: 1 (Sterjovski 19)
Crowd: 10,035 at Members Equity Stadium

Melbourne just managed to edge a victory against Perth in front of a strong crowd.

Hernandez’s shot on 5 minutes took a wicked deflection as it hit Coyne and there was no way Velaphi was going to get to it.

Sterjovski scored an equalizer on 19 minutes with a brilliant strike from outside the box that gave Glen Moss no chance.

Melbourne scored the match winner when Archie (who played a brilliant second half) found Elasi in space on the right, he then played a perfect cross to Carlos who scored the turned the ball in to give Melbourne there first win in Perth since 2006.

A full match report can be read here or on the Perth Offside here.

(Fox shorter highlights here)

Melbourne Victory: 3 (Dugandzic 17, 56, Leijer 89)
Adelaide United: 1 (Hughes 64)
Crowd: 21,182 at Etihad Stadium

Melbourne were hoping to continue there impressive form against Adelaide as they had won every game in there past 7 meetings. With the 3-1 victory against the Jet’s last week the match was more than just about a streak, it was about getting all 3 points and continuing there red hot form.

The boys wasted no time in putting pressure onto the Red’s defence. After 12 minutes Archie connected with the ball from a corner but looped it just over the bar.

Adelaide attempted to hit back on the counter as Kemp let Alemao through but his perfect cross wasn’t met by Crisitano. Kristian Sarkies decided to have a long range crack but just like him, it was a wasted opportunity. Melbourne born Matt Leckie squandered a brilliant opportunity as he twisted his way through the Victory defence, then turning Adrian Leijer inside out before shooting straight into Moss.

Melbourne stumbled forward on 17 minutes as Archie fell on the ball, it some how made its way out to Sutee who danced past a defender, most of who were ball watching and laid it off to Dugandzic who placed it perfectly into the bottom left corner to beat Galekovic. 1-0. A great way to celebrate your 20th birthday and senior starting debut.

On 30 minutes Hernandez’s took a cheeky free kick which Galekovic just managed to tip over the bar.

Adelaide started the second half much better and piled forward. Kemp managed to win the ball, then lose it as per usual but to his credit he got back up and won it back and played a terrific through ball which ripped a massive hole in the United defence. Archie let the bal roll on as he was offside, allowing Carlos to run onto it with only Eugnene in front of him. Carlos sprinted into the box and played Mate Dugandzic through, the defence was closing in but Mate just got there and tapped it in for his double and a 2-0 to Melbourne. Great play from Kemp and Hernandez, Hernandez could have gone for it but he unselfishly passed it to Mate to tap it in (I hope you were watching Archie).

Aurelio Vidmar new something had to be done so he switched things around by bring Owusu and Cassio on. The move paid dividends as Owusu rised to meet Fyfe’s cross, he headed it back to Hughes who controlled it beautifully, pivoted around and smashed it past a flat footed Moss, who was having a terrific game keeping a clean sheet for 64 minutes!

The match livened up as both teams attacked. Melbourne had the better chances the first being Archie’s flick which was saved by Galekovic who didn’t know much about it. Substitute Nathan Elasi broke free late on and was one on one with Galekovic but the former Melbourne keeper closed down all angles ensuring it would have to go to the corner.

Hernandez took the corner. His cross was aimed at the back post, it was Leijer against 5 Red’s defenders, Leijer rised highest and Galekovic’s defence left him high and dry again.

(better highlights here, I can’t get it embedded properly)

Great display from the boys, it was great to see Dugandzic and Sutee start. Sutee played quite well and looks like a player that can compliment Archie and fit into the way the team plays. He was treated a bir harshly by he ref as he was fouled a few times but it was ignored. Mate is great. Not only can he play in attacking midfield and score like he showed today but he can go back and defend! Robbie Kruse would have shit himself watching the match. Kemp had one of his better matches, lucky to escape sanctioning for his ridiculous Giladino like dive. For those who didn’t see the match he had the ball, passed it, got nudged, took a few more paces then went down like a sack of potatoes! Good old Kemp!
The defence was great, the 4-4-2 was much more solid and heart attack free.
The only downside is Archie, doesn’t pass when he should, passes when he shouldn’t ARGH! He’s been terrible at home this season, I think he’s missing Danny.

In this 5th round match Melbourne were tied at the bottom end with there opponents Newcastle on 3 points, AIS being bottom.
The first goal came from an unlucky source as young center back Matt Foschini poked the bakk home from a goal mouth scrabble after 14 minutes.
Youth captain Aziz Behich continued his good form scoring Melbourne’s second from the spot after 29 minutes, the scoreline didn’t change in the first half, Melbourne 2-0 up.
In the second half Newcastle made a late challenge when Jason Niadovski scored on 70 minutes, but the jets failed to to any oppourtunities in the dying stages and Melbourne Youth secured there first win of the season.

Newcastle Jets: 1 (Naidovski 70)
Melbourne Victory: 2 (Foschini 14, Behich 29p)
EnergyAustralia Stadium

Melbourne Women

After being beaten last week by reigning champions Brisbane, Melbourne’s woman team, like there brothers were able to bounce back against Adelaide.
17 year old Katrina Gorry gave the girls the lead with her shot from outside the box on 29 minutes, to the embarrassment of the Adeliade defence, as it was not particularly powerful and somehow got through the defence and evaded the keeper.
Second-half substitute Selin Kurulay proved to be a good inclusion as she put the game in doubt with her shot just of or reach for the Adeliade keeper.

Adelaide United: 0
Melbourne Victory: 2 (Gorry 29, Kurulay 81)

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In Other News:
Roddy Vargas will miss 2 weeks after failing to shrug off his quad strain.
Sutee is set to make his debut against Adelaide this weekend, Angulo’s registration is still pending. For all that info and a pre-view of the match click here.
Mate celebrated his 20th birthday this week.
Leijer recons the defence will be a lot tighter this week.

Newcastle Jets: 1 (Haliti 22)
Melbourne Victory: 3 (Thompson 61, Pondeljak 78, Hernandez 84)
Sunday, October 18, 2009
EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle

Melbourne went into this match failing to win at EnergyAustralia Stadium since 2006 and Newcastle were on a 5 match winless streak. A crowd of just over 6,000 witness Labinot Haliti score his second goal of the season against Melbourne to open the scoring. Elrich played him through with a nice ball from right midfield, Haliti spotted Moss coming off his line and pounced, he slotted it into the net coolly for the first goal. Newcastle dominated the first half and had several golden opportunities against a lackluster Victory defence, which almost conceded another goal through confusion.

In the second half Merrick changed things up as he swapped Dugandzic for Fabiano, who was having little impact. In the 62nd minute Melbourne equalized. Hernandez hit on the counter attack supplying a long ball to Archie, who evaded 3 defenders and chipped Jets keeper Kennedy.

With the youthful Dugandzic and Pondeljak pushing Melbourne forward they soon found the lead. It was Hernandez again who provided the goal, his long range effort was denied by the post but bounced in favor of Jak who made no mistake, putting a plucky Melbourne in front.

With 5 minutes remaining it was Hernandez again, but this time he put the ball into the back of the net. His run down the left flank and into the box was met by Kennedy who did well to close all the angles, but Hernandez put the ball past him the only way he could as he slid the ball under Kennedy to give Melbourne a 3-1 win.

I was happy that Melbourne were able to recover from the defeat to Sydney last week and get all 3 points at Newcastle. It was great to see Elasi get a go as he came on late in the match and Dugandzic looks like a very solid player who could become very important, its amazing that he has only played 3 matches. On a low note though Pondeljak who was very good in this match has torn his calf and will miss around 6 weeks and Vargas received a knock to his quad and will be assessed ahead of the match against Adeliade this week.

Melbourne Victory: 0
Sydney FC: 3 (Brosque 14, Bridge 15, 19)
Crowd: 30,668 at Etihad Stadium

I’m not going to write about the match highlights, I think I might just stick to a postmortem, mainly do to the fact that other than Sydney’s 3 goals in that 5 minute period there was nothing else really to note as a positive for the game. For all the Sydney fans goals below.

Let’s start this postmortem!

Goalkeeper: I personally felt as though there wasn’t a lot Moss could have done with any of the goals, the defence left him high and dry on all three occasions.

Defence: This is the problem of the team. It’s simple a solid defence wins you games, for example, look at Australia Vs. Oman or the Netherlander’s, in both match’s the Aussie defence not only keep a clean sheet but provided much of the attacking drive. The Melbourne defence does neither. I’m not saying that our defence has to be world class but they should at least do there job and hold there position (I’m looking at you Kemp).

We have the equal second worst defensive record in the league conceding 15 goals in 10 match’s, the only team that have conceded more are North Queensland with 18. We are the only team in the top half of the league to have a negative goal difference, and we have only kept 2 clean sheets this season.

Some may blame Moss, but I don’t. The serial offender is Matthew Kemp. He is constantly getting out of position giving away cheap balls and not closing down players when he should be. Think back to Newcastle, his sloppy defending let Elrich through who set up the equalizer, for those of you who watched the Sydney match, you would have seen at the start of the match he decided to play in left midfield leaving this fellow defenders with a mountain to climb. Make no mistake, the 3-0 defeat to Sydney was not all his fault, Surat was also playing higher than usual (but I think that was his role for the match) and Vargas didn’t have his best match (note his marking for the second goal). The problem with Kemp playing out of position is when he goes forward it leaves a massive hole in the back line, once that hole is covered another one is created, usually by a central defender which leaves the middle open. Surat should not have been playing as high as he was but that was due to midfield issues.

Midfield: The midfield is shocking, there either too defensive or too attacking. Against Sydney we only played with 2 real midfielders, Hernandez and Broxham. I know some people think Leigh is useless, but he isn’t, he’s a great young player who has to take on all midfield duties by himself. On the weekend he was being overrun by Sydney’s midfield, none of his fellow team members helped him out. Everyone knows Carlos is quality, he is creative and is capable of scoring goals. other than this our midfield is rubbish, that is excluding Nicky Ward and Celeski. On the weekend Kruse and Surat were deployed along side Broxham. Surat was clearly uncomfortable as he was out of position, and Kruse is a winger, he can’t track back. So Broxham is left in a 4 on 1. Brebner is Brebner, he can’t play with Brox, Pondeljak is getting old (he’s 33 now), against Sydney he came on as a sub and made some terrible errors.

Forwards: Both great players but I don’t think they can co-exist. Archie and Allsopp’s partnership worked so well because Archie would get the ball and Danny would create the space, he would move around and make himself available. Archie and Fabiano’s partnership doesn’t work because Fabiano can’t complement Archie. Fabiano is a target man, get him in the box and give him the ball, that is not how Melbourne play though.

What are the possible solutions I hear you ask!

Goalkeepers: You can put Langerak on but I don’t think it will make much difference, the defence doesn’t protect the goal well enough.

Defence: Well what can you do? The closest things that resembles a defender on the bench/reserves are Berger and Fochini, Pace is pub football quality. Merrick has to re-jig the defence, I’m not sure how though. Does he leave it with 3 centre backs or take one of them out and play with a back 4? I don’t know but I’d prefer to see Berger start over Kemp. It’s a pity all our squad spots are taken so we can’t add some defensive steel.

Midfield: Should be built around Broxham and Hernandez until Ward and Celeski return. Kruse can’t play in the centre, Pondeljak is not influential enough. Maybe Mate Dugandzic should get some more game time, he has looked half decent when he’s been on the park. I would also really like to see what Matthew Theodore can do, he was the captain of the youth team, played well last year and he plays centrally. Should also be interesting to see what Sutee and Angulo can do once they get there VISA’s.

Forward: In the media Sutee has been touted as a striker so he might be given a shot as Archie’s partner. I really want Nathan Elasi to get some time on the pitch. He’s just come back from the Under 20’s World Cup where he played a bit, he plays along the like of Mooy and Danning so he’d have to be half decent. Maybe Archie will be pushed back and Fabiano played as a lone striker.

If I were coach I would do: 4-1-2-1-2

————–Moss————
–Surat–Muscat–Vargas–Leijer–
—————Brox————
——Kruse/Mate—Berger———-
—————-Carlos————-
———Archie—-Sutee/Fab/Elasi—

That way everyone in defence stays in there position, Berger can help out Brox when needed and Mate/Kruse can go a bit more centrally when needed as well, though Kruse would be more dangerous roaming forward.

Whats everyone’s thoughts on all this ey?

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In other news its been misery all round for Melbourne. The girls and Youth both lost all 3 points towards the death.
The woman’s team pushed defending champions Brisbane all the way before the conceded in the 83rd minute.
The youth team dominated the match against Sydney’s youth with Berger, Dugandzic and Langerak all featuring, but in the 87th the cruelly conceded and lost all 3 points. (reports here and here)

The first match is ancient. Back when Dwight Yorke was plying his trade for the Sky Blue’s, Melbourne stilled played in the old Olympic Park and Kevin Muscat and Archie Thompson had hair!
Yes, I am of course talking about Melbourne’s 5-0 demolition of Sydney at Olympic Park. Archie and Kev both scored braces while Richard Kitzbichler.

The second match I chose was last season’s encounter which produced a classic as Sydney scored 2 goals in the opening 4 minutes of play before going down 3-2 in 5 goal thriller. Nicky Ward came off the bench and scored a screamer with his first touch, before Fabiano gave Melbourne all 3 points.

I can’t wait for this match should be great and whatever happens I’m sure it will be a great spectacle with not only pride for stake but the the top position of the league as it is 1st vs 2nd.

Here is a link to an interview Channel 9 of all channels did with Carlos, Fabiano, Roddy and Sukha. Mr. Yes