Blog: Defending The Fall Guy?

ONE thing that really gets my goat is when Melbourne Victory fans start turning on their own players during a game when the chips are down.

During our disastrous title defence of Season Three there was one player that seemed to be always the butt of fans' frustrations and that was Matthew Kemp.

When everything was going wrong, the first finger of blame was pointed at Kemp and for the most part it was well wide of the mark. Part of the problem for many fans was also the fact that he was an Adelaide United alumni, which just added to the ridicule.

So fast forward to Season Five and with only one point on the board after two home games, the fans have now turned on new ‘keeper, Glenn Moss. On Saturday night, it was downright embarrassing to hear the fans give a bronx cheer every time the former Wellington Phoenix custodian handled the ball.

Even chants of "Theo! Theo! Theo!" could be heard at some point during the game and even a Mitchell Langerak chant. The team may very well have conceded five goals during our first two games and Moss hasn't always looked totally assured in between the posts you can hardly point the finger of blame at Moss for any one of them.

The two goals against Central Coast Mariners were down to poor defending and a wicked deflection that most ‘keepers would have been struggling to do anything about.

Against Roar on Saturday night, two of Roar's goals were of the highest quality but they were also prime examples of the defence giving the ball away cheaply and then allowing their opponents too much time and space in which to unleash their fearsome shots.

So while he hasn't the greatest of starts to his Melbourne Victory career, you can hardly lump all the blame solely in the hands of Glenn Moss. He has only played two competitive games with the club and has yet to develop the understanding that Theoklitos had developed over three years and the fact that it was a makeshift defence on Saturday night hardly helped matters.

And when we complain about poor distribution and the indecision when coming out for corners I would like to remind fans that Theoklitos was hardly a shining light in these areas as well and thus we should give Moss some time to make the position his own.

Or in the similar vein of the Matthew Kemp taunts is the fact that he played for another club, the real problem? Although, then, how do you explain all the Danny Allsopp knockers . . . hmmm??