IN RECENT weeks, it has been pretty hard to get excited about the Melbourne Victory. But despite coming into Saturday night's match with a run of poor performances, a match against Sydney FC is always guaranteed to get me excited.
For me, the Melbourne-Sydney clash is, and always has been the A-League's very own clasico. It's a bit like Real Madrid v. Barcelona – two different cities, two different attitudes and an intense rivalry that stretches back before Federation (in the Australian case at least).My fellow spectators, starved off live football action for over a month and also sensing it was a pretty important match seemed to be up for it as well and the atmosphere was the best it had been in a couple of seasons.
At every opportunity the crowd, booed and whistled at the Sydney team with special attention reserved for the two Johns, Kosmina and Aloisi. The roar that went up when Allsopp clattered into Kosmina and sent him stumbling into his own bench was just as loud as when Ward hit the back the net with his screamer of a goal. The team also seemed to feed off this atmosphere as well.
As I wrote in my previous post the area of major concern in our three losses was in the defensive half and so going into the match it was going to be interesting to see what Merrick would do to rectify the problem.
The media had been speculating during the week that Ryall would come into the backline in place of Muscat, who would push up into a defensive midfield position a la Season 2 and they got it spot on.
Early on it looked like the changes had backfired as Ryall looked extremely nervy early on and some blame could be placed at his feet for the second Sydney goal. But as the game went on, he settled into the role and looked pretty solid. My only concern is that for a central defender he lacks a bit of confidence in the air – something that could be a concern against a more physical side such as Central Coast.
Probably the only good thing about those two early Sydney goals was that they were scored in the opening four minutes of the match, giving Victory plenty of time to get back into the game. Both were the result of poor marking, giving both Cole and Gan too much space to take their shots.
In previous weeks, those two goals would have been the end of the contest. But with the majority of the crowd baying for some Sydney blood, you got the sense that the team would lift and that's exactly what happened and from Archie Thompson's goal onwards they pretty much dominated the rest of the match.
Unlike recent weeks, Merrick also got his substitutions exactly right with the substitutions of Ney Fabiano, Kemp and Ward being perfectly timed and with the right players making way for them. In fact I would go as far as to say that Merrick tactically out-thought his opposite number, who looked to be happy to let his team sit on their lead.
If I had to name a best on ground for Victory it probably would have to be split between Allsopp and Hernandez. Both were outstanding with Allsopp's aggression both on and off the ball setting the tone for the rest of his team. And even though he butchered a golden opportunity that would have levelled the scores midway through the first half his cushioned header for Fabiano's winner more than made up for it.
It was probably Hernandez's best game of the season and his ability to hold the ball up in traffic was superb. He really came into his own once Celeski was substituted and more often than not his opponents had to resort to fouling him to restrict his influence.
With two crucial matches against Queensland and Adelaide coming in quick succession, it's important Victory build on this inspiring win and build the momentum necessary for a championship winning season - and with four out of the next five games at home, and with a fired up crowd behind them, the others must be running scared.
Neil would like to wish all au.fourfourtwo.com readers all the best for the new year and that their teams plays well, except of course when they play the mighty Melbourne Victory.
