With a short turnaround to Thursday's first leg of the major semi-final there is one thing that would to be of major concern to the coaching hierarchy at Melbourne Victory and it isn't the mounting injury toll.
It is that in 270 minutes of football against Sydney FC this season we have failed to breach their defence and find the back of the net. More than that, I can't think of that many times that Clint Bolton has been severely tested. Further to that, with the added absence of Kruse it is going to be a whole lot more difficult.
It is far from pretty, but you have to admit that Lavicka's tactics against the Victory have worked very effectively so far this season and the next four days, Merrick and Co. must get out the old butcher's paper and do some severe brainstorming to find a solution to counter it. It is all well and good to play and say you play good football but if you can't find the back of the net, it sort of defeats the purpose.
And whilst they are at it find the ladder that someone walked under or the black cat that crossed our path or in the words of Randy from My Name is Earl wait until white cat circles us backwards. Because something also needs to be done about wretched run of luck with injuries of late.
But I digress. There must be serious thought put in to a plan to counter Sydney's effective stifling of our most potent weapon, Carlos Hernandez, which has been a key to their success. Also required is for the other midfielders to step up to the mark and take some of the load from our Costa Rican star.
Whilst Ward, Pondeljak, Angulo all played well in patches on Sunday afternoon, for me there wasn't enough consistency there to truly challenge Sydney's stifling defence and that's definitely been the case as well in our previous two encounters.
Another thing that should be worked on during the next four days is the timing of Mrdja's runs. It must be difficult to try to fit into a team's system of play after only being there a week but so many of our chances, especially in the first half, came to nothing because of mistimed runs. Also could someone please find Nick Ward's shooting boots, they seemed to have been misplaced of late, just when we need them the most.
Considering our absentees (most of them injury and one through stupidity) I was extremely proud of the spirit shown by Melbourne Victory and whilst I am loathed to admit it, Sydney were simply the better team on the day. All I ask for now is some revenge this coming Thursday night and most of all some f**king goals because there is nothing I like more than celebrating when Melbourne score against Sydney.
