Personally, I don't like the use of the terms such as un-Australian, but Simon Hill's use of the term un-Melbourne-like to describe Victory's rather insipid performance against the Newcastle Jets really got me thinking as to what it might mean.
Footballing matters aside just for the moment, for me some examples of being un-Melbourne-like would probably involve the following:
- The inability to tell good coffee from bad (ie. you are a fan of Starbucks on Facebook);
- You have no complaints about Melbourne's public transport system;
- You wish that Melbourne was more like Sydney and had a bridge, a harbour and an opera house and not much else;
- You have never been to the Esplanade Hotel;
- Riding on a tram is a completely foreign concept; and
- You wish the Yarra River were blue.
It is probably a slightly more difficult term to dissect when you relate it to the Victory but I am going to have a crack at it anyway, particularly in light of Melbourne's poor performances in it's last two matches. Two matches in which we have passed up great opportunities to put immense pressure on Sydney in the premiership title race.
First up, being that Melbourne's last two matches were away from home the performances were definitely un-Melbourne-like. In a season where our away form has been in stark contrast to our relatively poor home form, our efforts against both North Queensland and Newcastle were of team lacking ideas.
Instead of taking the game to the opposition as we have done in previous away matches, we looked bereft of any kind of imagination. To put it simply, we haven't been that good to look at - a distinctly un-Melbourne-like trait (that applies to Melburnians in general, not just the way we like to play our football - just look at my profile picture as an example).
What is also particularly un-Melbourne-like is poor defending. Stingy, nasty defending and not letting in many goals is something we pride ourselves on. However, in our last two away games, the defending has been abysmal. Too often, opposition players were left unmarked in the penalty area or allowed to out muscle defenders.
Against North Queensland due to a combination of poor finishing and the heroics of Mitchell Langerak, we were lucky it was only one goal but against Newcastle our young goalkeeper had a rare off day and wasn't able to save the blushes of the defenders in front of him.
All three central defenders in both games had poor games, and yes I will readily admit that Muscat was probably a little lucky to stay on the field after his Bruce Lee impersonation on Matt Thompson (Melbourne Victory 1 Melbourne Heart 0).
Not putting in the effort required for the full 90 minutes is also distinctly un-Melbourne-like. In our two most recent matches, the word sporadic would most definitely be best the way to describe our efforts. Playing really well for about a third of the match does not constitute the effort required to win a football match.
Particularly against Newcastle, you would think that getting back on level terms and having the man advantage would be enough motivation to go on and finish off the opposition. But no, let's sit back and let them hit us on the break with some poor man-marking only minutes later. Very un-Melbourne-like to not finish a team off when the chance beckons.
Next week is shaping as must-win match against Perth especially if we want to be very Melbourne-like and win a trophy come seasons end because there is nothing like sipping on your long macchiato with soy and reading the latest Melbourne triumph.
