A fighting effort in Wanderland saw 10-man Melbourne Victory score a vital win over Western Sydney Wanderers in their first ever meeting. An own goal from Michael Beauchamp and a superb counter-attacking move finished by Archie Thompson earned Victory all three points.

Victory

Compact and confident
Despite being down to 10, Victory never looked in too much trouble against the Wanderers. As the 60-40 possession count explains in some part, the visitors were happy to allow Wanderers the ball and opted to sit tight deep in defence. Despite (or because of?) Ange putting the heat on his defence earlier in the week, the back four were able to regroup and keep the first clean sheet of the season.

Counter attacks
Marco Rojas is quickly shaping up to be one of the stars of the A-League with another superb performance, linking up with Thompson to lead the Victory attack. They delivered under pressure, catching the Wanderers high up on occasion and sealing the match with a perfect counter-attack that left Thompson able to slide a shot past Ante Covic.

Tactical shift after the send off
After a team goes down to 10, there is always going to a reshuffle and there were no exceptions here. After Sam Gallagher saw red, Mark Milligan shifted next to Adrian Leijer in defence, while Andrew Nabbout was the unlucky change for holding midfielder Jonathan Bru. Switching to two rows of four played a hand in a more resolute defence for Victory, as all intentions early looked to be settling into a compact shape and readjusting after the sending off.

It all evens out
Ben Williams, as is becoming the norm when he is in charge of Victory games, was a talking point after this game. It could be argued that Dino Kresinger should have been called for a foul on Sam Gallagher before the young Victory defender was forced into a challenge that got him sent off. But it got even more controversial when Adama Traore could quite easily have been called for a handball and penalty. Mistakes happen, that’s the nature of the game and it works in funny ways.

Some changes next week

It what is a blow to the Victory, Milligan and Thompson will depart for Socceroo duties for the next few weeks, leaving the midfield especially a little weaker in upcoming fixtures against Perth and Adelaide. Fans will be giddy after a relatively successful month, but it will get tougher as Victory sits in the top half of the ladder as expectations rise and Ange is forced to make changes, as will all A-League coaches in the next weeks.

Wanderers

All the play, territory but inconsistent
One thing that has impressed in the short time the Wanderers have been around is their ability to distribute and hang on to the ball. Much of that has been through Aaron Mooy. In this game, they looked to lose focus and go away from what has served them well over recent weeks, despite having opportunities and majority of play their way. The Red and Black looked better playing against 11 men rather than 10.

Couldn’t break Victory down
For the all the possession and the 18 shots at goal, the hosts couldn’t make it count and that matters as much as, if not more, than retaining the ball.  It was an open, bright start to the game but after the red card the Wanderers seemed to over think things and got one dimensional.  It was a difference maker, and with all their possession and sitting high it left Wanderers vulnerable to a counter-attack.

Not enough from the strikers
Kresinger started up front with Ono in behind, with Bridge and Polenz on the left and right. They couldn’t get the job done.  Kresinger hasn’t been an effective target-man, not providing anything other than a head to put the ball on to but he hasn’t been winning aerial contests either. Faster mobile options in Joey Gibbs and Jason Trifiro should be the first choices.

Second goal: Defence caught high
Desperately edging forward pushing for a goal, the Wanderers defence was caught out high by a turnover and run from Billy Celeski, who threaded it through to Rojas running forward. It could be argued that sides are always in danger of mistakes when playing high. If a team opts for that, they need to be prepared for whatever is thrown at them, especially quick counter-attacks.

Where to next?
They had to deal with the suspension of Hersi (who had been in good form prior to his brainfade in Perth) this game, but the biggest issue from this game for Wanderers was in attack. That needs to be rectified. I don’t think the lumbering targetman works for Poppa’s men. Your blogger’s pre-season prediction had the Wanderers struggling this season, they won’t be pushovers but they are going to find the going tough as the season goes on coming up against sides that have been together for a while, like Central Coast Mariners.