Melbourne were sluggish and ordinary, if Hernandez was in form it would have been a different result.

On a good pitch I cant imagine them keeping Cullina, Smeltz and Porter to nil…. but Melbourne with an out of sorts playmaker and two 30 year old strikers in round 1 on a bumpy pitch, different story.

It worked 2 seasons ago because

Newcastle Jets – Were the best by far
Roar – unlucky and a bit to young

Sydney FC – coaching dramas
Adelaide – quite defensive, Vidmars first year and the 6 goal loss hangover
Melbourne – shocking year
Perth – shocking 4 years
Nix- enough said

Australian , 1/2 page spread on the game back page…..

Dont tell me that the Courier Mail doesnt hate football

that aside well done CCM!!!!! cost me a tip

Muscat will have to take the blame for that goal. He missed his interception and Simon made him pay.

I’m surprised the Mariners were able to win this one. The two teams are quite similar and I think the loss will have hurt Melbourne.

But I’m saying that’s precisely what happened two years ago!!

You’re sounding like FM!!!

Except in patches, Victory were rubbish whilst CCM, in doing just enogh of what they had to do were only slightly less rubbish.

It works now while teams are still geling and the fields are still chopped up because the AFL and League are ongoing. But come January the roar will score 6 against any team that gives away 67% possession and you wont be scoring passed Moore and Co….ok maybe Reddy will give you 1.

Keep up the good work Tony. Great to read someone’s analysis with a tactical touch.

Hasn’t been enough of that to my mind..

I agree it wasn’t pretty and not something we want to see on a weekly basis (heaven forbid if that’s the quality they dish up all season), but for a team that hasn’t being doing much right lately, one has to pay credit.

I wouldn’t exactly call Central Coast’s football ugly in comparision to the general A-league standard (excluding Heffernan who is like a newborn foal). Besides thy only had about 1/3rd possession, not enough to even display ugly or pretty.

I would call their performance neccessary. Sure if it was a home game or midway through the season then I think the criticism fair, but the level of discipline, fitness and off the ball work that CCM put in was heartening considering the high levels of ball watching that usually proliferate an a-league match.

Anyway as a neutral I think Victory were unlucky not to grab a goal but that is football. CCM worked hard and took their chances. Congrats to them and their supporters

Maybe – but I think we are attributing far too much tactical nous to the Mariners than they deserve. When a team has only 36% of possession (and much of that of extremely low quality), we can hardly be talking about technical brilliance of any description.

It’s all about lots of bodies behind the ball, and plenty of fouls to slow down the opposition via robust play (to put it mildly).

It’s got nothing to do with Asia, and everything to do with what won the Mariners a premiership two years ago.

There’s nothing new happening here.

I think we should give some credit to the Mariners, it seems that they might have learnt something from playing in Asia – Australian teams need a lot of space to play in.
Cut the space and you have won the game.

I don’t think it is only an away game strategy for the Mariners – i think they will play higher up the park when at home, but will use a similar tactic of cutting space to the opposition defence so they can’t start adequate build-up play from midfield.

I think this is a sign that the A-league standard is progressing.

That’s an understatement.

Here is another question for everyone – can the league truly afford the Mariners being a top two proposition on the back of horrible, ugly football like last night’s effort??

Merrick is the worst manager to ever win 2 championships. If Merrick persists with Brebner and Broxham in midfield again I will personally take my 5 year membership card and make him swallow it whole.

There is no template to beat Melbourne. Victory can beat themselves. They did it last night. I saw Season 3 flash before my eyes last night. The Mariners are still a rubbish team and they will not make the finals.

The worrying sign is that most squads have improved and we have remained static. We have no defensive cover and it will be interesting to see how the team plays without Muscat for the next month.

Merrick better pull his finger out because a repeat of season 3 will be the best thing that can happen to the 2nd melbourne team in regards to attracting fans who want to see good football.

Very interested too see how he goes.

I think the defending deep tactic is most effective at the start of the season, once the teams get into their grove they should be able to punish you for giving them that possession

All I know for sure is that the league has become just a little more interesting.