Melbourne Victory hosted traditional rivals Adelaide United in a fixture that always ignites the passion of the fans. In front of a crowd just over 16,000, the sides played out a 1-1 draw. Archie Thompson put Victory 1-0 up on the hour, Adelaide midfielder Fabian Barbiero equalised for the Reds with under 10 minutes remaining.

Melbourne Victory

1. The team….

Another different side this week, with Victory lining up in a very narrow 4-4-2 diamond system. Diogo Ferreira came in for Marco Rojas and Matt Foschini returned to the A-League after his suspension from the famous Roar clash. Bringing in Ferreira, I thought, was a defensive move which I couldn’t understand against a struggling side. The shape of the diamond was too narrow, and Rojas should have played to give the side pace out wide, rather than playing three defensive midfielders.

2. Still frustrating, confused and inconsistent

This weekend against the Reds was frustrating to watch for most part. For Victory, it was especially frustrating watching a chain of passes from defence/the back half being hoofed long after with no real purpose. There is still confusion and lack of consistency in the Victory game.

Like last week, Victory looked most likely to score on the counter, with Kewell, Hernandez and Thompson looking sharp. Whenever Victory went the short-passing game, the midfield (of Broxham, Celeski, Ferreira) would take too long on the ball and lose it. Perhaps for now, the counter-attacking game is in Victory’s interest. Perhaps.

3. Harry’s game

The Victory marquee man had his best game of the season playing up front and at times drifting out into space to provide width. He probably should have scored twice, but was kept out with great saves from Eugene Galekovic. He was arguably man of the match and looks to be hitting some form. The only negative I took from his game was his body language, looking exasperated when things didn’t go his way.

4. Sloppy defending and sitting back cost three points

If you gave me the amount of time Fabian Barbiero was given to place his shot, even I would’ve scored. Fabio’s half-clearance header was turned over and Adrian Leijer was caught in a bad position and didn’t put pressure on Barbiero. You can harp on about bad luck and “not putting the ball in the back of the net” all you like. But you make your own bad luck, and when you let Adelaide back into it but sitting back near the box after going 1-0 up, you can’t complain, you look at yourself and wonder if you did enough to win.

5. good signs, but pressure is on

There were signs there in parts for Victory, the most promising is the front third of Hernandez, Kewell and Archie are starting to gel and form a good partnership. But there are still midfield issues, particularly with adjusting to a new style. Also, the opening half-hour saw Victory play well. But, most frustratingly, it didn’t continue and that is hurting on the points table, the players need to take responsibility for that. The next two weeks are crucial, with games against Wellington and Heart coming up.  And I don’t think the fans will tolerate anything other than six points from those games.

Adelaide United

1. Vidosic and van Dijk return

Both these two players are hugely important to the Reds and have had their seasons disrupted through injuries. I wasn’t sure that Vidosic would be back this soon after his back injury. I’m not sure if his name would have been on the teamsheet had this not been such a big game for both sides.  He ended up coming on at the start of the second half and will be better for it. Sergio van Dijk also returned to the starting squad and wasn’t at his best, which was expected considering it being his first game back from a calf injury.

2. Lucky to scrape a point?

I’m not completely sold either way here, but to a certain extent they were. However, to take advantage of defensive lapses and making a team pay for not being good enough for long enough turned out to be enough, in this case, to scrap a point. They looked satisfied with the result, Rini Coolen said as much post-match. There are still problems there, particularly in defence. Example being Archie Thompson’s headed goal, which shouldn’t have happened with three defenders in the box with him.

3. Galekovic, man of the match?

He is tied with Harry Kewell here, but the veteran custodian pulled off some great saves against his former club and was a difference between one point or zero for his side. The moment of the match was his save off Harry Kewell’s chipped shot in the first half. I’d argue that Galekovic is their most important player, even more so providing leadership and stability after the departures of Adelaide favourites Paul Reid and Travis Dodd.

4. Djite and van Dijk up front

When these big centre-forwards lined up together in the early parts of the season, I wasn’t a fan of it. Adelaide played too direct and slow when they were together up front. However this changed on the weekend, with Djite playing a different role running at and crashing through defenders and van Dijk the targetman. This may be the way to go up front, we’ll know more when van Dijk hits full fitness.

5. Where to now?

As I wrote earlier, Adelaide’s problem aren’t solved after this match and I’m really not sure what to expect from them for the rest of the season. There are deeper issues off-field, if you heard recent recent comments made by former players Paul Reid and Travis Dodd. Injuries and suspensions haven’t helped them much either and the signings Rini Coolen has made haven’t performed.

There is work to do defensively, with Jon McKain, Milan Susak not having the greatest run of form and Cassio out with injury. The next games ahead (vs Gold Coast, Sydney) are important, if they get the results and decent performances there, they can turn their season around.