Two deflected goals from Marco Rojas and a classy finish from Archie Thompson sent the Victory fans home happy on Australia Day in front of a sold-out AAMI Park. What happened and why?

Melbourne

Broxham and Ferreira: men of the match?
Rojas grabbed the headlines but these two vie for man of the match honours. Broxham pushed into midfield in the place of Spase Dilevski and provided all of the grunt work, helping strike the perfect balance with Mark Milligan and Billy Celeski. Ferreira was tireless up and down the right going head-to-head with Ali Abbas and Fabio. These two are a portrait of the Victory revival. Kicked by all and sundry last season (even by their own fans, Broxham more so), they have won them back.

Playing through
This was missing in action last week in Perth, but this was impressive. Under pressure early on in the Sydney front third, Adrian Leijer and Nick Ansell were able to feed through to midfield, wide positions and was crucial in outnumbering Sydney. It went like clockwork, Milligan’s passing was also key. The confidence to do this after the disaster of the opening rounds and with rookie Nick Ansell in there as well, it is astounding.

Rhythm
The passing and the movement off the ball to make it happen in this game especially points to all the work on the training pitch. Adama Traore’s attacking form of defence provides a springboard for the famed Victory counter-attack; the run of Celeski and Broxham and the roaming of Marcos Flores is so well versed. It is now a rhythm and was proven on the weekend.

Set pieces
This should always be a likely way of scoring and with Gui Finkler standing over a dead ball, Victory looked likely for the first time in a while. It is frustratingly clear, especially on Saturday, that there is no replacement taker. That can prove costly but that can change through Marco Rojas, as Ange said post-game, “Marco constantly working on it and thinks he can get better at it.”

Confident defence
Despite only leading 1-0 until the middle of the second half, Sydney didn’t look like scoring and Victory didn’t look troubled. It was just one of the scorelines to deceive during the last two weekend rounds. Ansell has filled the void in centre-back next to his captain, along with Ferreira, and the back four looks stronger for it. 

Sydney

The ‘consolation’ goal
This is always a funny term to use, because surely one goal surely didn’t console the travelling fans that were there supporting Sydney. However, Sydney FC’s goal gives an insight into what they can be on the counter. Catching the Victory defence high, Joel Griffiths ran at the defence and capped it off with a tidy finish after running on to a long ball. Simply effective and another option that Griffiths provides.

Press
There was an early intent to lock the ball in early on, the forward half and wide players (Abbas, Powell, Culina, Griffiths, Del Piero) attacked early and were helped by Fabio and Grant. The soft underbelly in midfield proved the undoing and once Victory played through the back, the strategy was done. The approach is a welcome one but can’t work to potential unless there is a second holding midfielder.

Overrun in midfield
This is where many of the problems lay for Frank Farina. There is no adequate structure in place, it was proven at the start of the season but isn’t what it needs to be now. What is confounding is the talent and experience is there in Culina, Reid, Antonis and McFlynn but none (apart from McFlynn) have had enough regular football to have an impact. McFlynn’s leadership is important, but was constantly meeting 2 v 1 or 3 v 1.

Strike pairing
Albeit made near redundant by the Victory defence and midfield, there is so much potential in the Griffiths/Del Piero pairing. They are never too far apart from each other, with Griffiths higher up and Del Piero floating around. They were outnumbered and had to pick off optimistic long balls, they weren’t helped by the service. Once the service is there, Sydney will be genuine challengers.

Injury and red cards
Brett Emerton was an early casualty with hamstring troubles, leaving Blake Powell in a position where he is without significant A-League experience for 70 minutes. Silly double yellows to Calvano and Fabio just made it worse. The timing of Calvano’s early shower was disastrous, Victory scored shortly after. Sydney finished tightly and poached a goal, had Calvano not been silly the result could have been very different.