Melbourne Heart’s Michel Beauchamp tackles Daniel McBreen from the Central Coast Mariners. AAP Image/ Joe Castro
So now Melbournians have a choice. Or at least another choice. For five years, the Victory has been the only option for football fans in Melbourne who want to follow a top-flight domestic side. Beyond that, fans were forced out to the Victorian Premier League or home to their TV sets to watch European football.
Ironically, against the Central Coast Mariners on Thursday night, all those elements came together to form the Heart.
There were A-League veterans, Victorian Premier League stars and players with a European pedigree in their starting 11.
Mid-week football is still an uncomfortable prospect for the self-proclaimed sporting capital of Australia (and sometimes the world) so a crowd of 11,050 for a brand new club is a reasonable affair. Even compared with the Victory’s inaugural attendance of just over 17,960 five years ago and their season opener last year of 18,855 also on a Thursday night.
According to Heart backroom staff, the crowd figure was their first victory. A key question now is if they can sustain and then build on that.
Heart’s “brand” of football, a style and point they’ve been keen to make at every opportunity over the last few months, will play a large part in that.
Last night, after a strong start where Heart were able to keep possession easily for the first ten minutes, the Mariners began to press tighter and John Van’t Schip’s men failed to find penetration.
The Mariners were well organised defensively and it was telling that most of the debutants’ best chances came from turnovers rather then build up play.
Despite an increased intensity, and desperation, the Heart failed to find that crucial first goal, with the game ending in a 1-0 win for the Mariners, thanks to a first half header from captain Alex Wilkinson.
As Van’t Schip said in the build up to the game, after only having his full squad together for three weeks, it will take time for the Dutch tactician to imprint his game plan on his players.
A big question will be whether the as yet undecided Melbourne public will be willing to wait.
Worryingly for those who have adopted the A-League’s newest club already, the Heart’s most highly rated players, the experienced Josip Skoko and youthful Eli Bablj, failed to deliver. Though there is still plenty of time left for that to change.
There were also some positives for the Heart though. Despite being 36-years-old Gerald Sibon showed why he’ll be crucial to his side’s ambitions this season and Brazilian forward Alex Terra showed some willing glimpses.
After months of build up and hype the Heart has finally made it’s competitive debut. Unfortunately it only provided teasers, rather then answers to the questions about the long and short-term future of Melbourne’s “second” club.
andy g
Roar Rookie
I went to the Heart game.......................what a stadium...............that place will rock when Victory play there.
Farqwar
Guest
If they were novelty fans why was the atmosphere so good?
Karlos
Guest
Gee guys, I would imagine there were quite a few novelty fans and usually a teams opening game gives one of their biggest crowds for the season. See how it goes.
Midfielder
Guest
Actually its the local community station that broadcast all our matches and pay for the guys flights ... thus is the station link www.coastfm.org.au... they may have some back copies...
Davidde Corran
Roar Guru
Good stuff mate. What's your link with all the video?
Davidde Corran
Roar Guru
Those who have watched him at training and in trial matches over the last few weeks. Just their opinion.
Midfielder
Guest
We started last season doing a a little video clip of the match .. have a look at last nights review.. http://www.coastfm.org.au/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=258:coast-fm-review-rd-01-mariners-vs-heart&catid=3:central-coast-mariners&Itemid=4
Rellum
Roar Guru
"a number of others in the press box think he’ll be one of the worse recruits in A-League history so…" Based on what exactly, his hair cut?
Davidde Corran
Roar Guru
It hasn't been reported much but Worm spent most of the week unwell and lost a number of kilos. Wednesday was his first day back training. I'd blame that for his poor performance though a number of others in the press box think he'll be one of the worse recruits in A-League history so...
Davidde Corran
Roar Guru
It was negative in that it was a move designed to negate rather then create. You can't get much more defensive then taking the no10 position, a role that is creative, attacking and exciting, and turn it into a man marking role. However I understand what you're saying.
jimbo
Roar Guru
And Behich (ex-Victory) was boooed by them when he came on.
Aka
Guest
I thought Kalmar looked ok. And not too sure about Sibon looked a bit lazy and disinterested in the first half.
Farqwar
Guest
I enjoyed the game, great stadium, great atmosphere! Heart will come good, Sibon, Terra, Skoko even Worm will all find their feet eventually and be very good. Heff whipped in some tasty crosses and their young guys looked good, defense was a little dissapointing. CC looked improved but still more effective than pretty, Perez should make them good to watch. The main problem with the standard was the lack of chances and yes when I put on Man City v Frankfurt afterwards the difference was apparent but nothing beats supporting the local game and I didn't feel let down at all, things will only get better.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
It is actually a smart way to keep yourself open to anybody, more people will associate with the club if it isn't regional specific. NQ Fury are a prime example of this, they pretty much cover everything North of Brisbane, but if they were Townsville, they would isolate a number of football areas (Cairns is particularly strong) in that area. Sounds silly, but it is actually true. There is nothing to stop the heart pushing into the geelong market (and with skoko i would be very surprised if they didn't) but labelling them as a Geelong team would restrict them from picking up fans outside of that area, and i think they will be targeting disillusioned victory fans as much as new-comers...
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
I dont know if negative is the right way to describe the tactic, it is more damaging to their aspirations to change that "nobody rates us" line (Banner is classic btw!). Its what i like to call bolton syndrome. stifle the opposition's key man and you can dictate the terms of the match. its not pretty, but any david coming up against a goliath has been doing it since greece won Euro 2004. Its not pretty to watch, but it works. The 2010 WC has been something of a vindication of "good, propper" football, but if Robben had have tied his laces properly, then the same tactics would have won again. not that im suggesting that the Melbourne Heart are a goliath. I'm having a real case of Deja Vu from last season with Gold Coast United. Both teams recruited well, but rely on a few key players and the depth isn't there. The front trio looked okay, but will take a bit of time to gel, that is to be expected. I think that the real concerning thing is that Arnold identified Skoko as the lynchpin and shut him down, and in so doing shut down the only link from defence to attack.
General Ashnak
Guest
Not his strength at all, he looks OK as a RB (Mullen is better), looks good as a RW (though Leckie is better), looks bloody brilliant as a transitional CM. He can move the ball out of defence into offense very well, should have been used to link with Skoko and take advantage of Simon being told to get intimate with Skoko.
Realfootball
Guest
Brilliant stadium. Best in the country for football, no question.
Moonface
Roar Guru
I watched it and thought it was a better game than the WC Final at Soccer City. The world's best game. There was plenty of skill and passing from what I could see and the newcomers looked a little nervous and made some bad passes now and then. That's understandable. I think they'll do well and the Mariners seem to be a tough team to beat, especially at the start of every season. Both teams could make the finals.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
It always picks up after they all have 5 or 6 games under their belt. It was a much better game than last years opener I would be interested how Sydney perform because they have had the best preparation of the lot.
Ken Bailey's Probation Officer
Guest
It's got nothing to do with being a heter - if you think the level of football on display last night was acceptable, then good luck to you. Melbourne Heart were very much more disappointing than the Mariners, who aren't really a footballing side and came with a spoiling game plan which they executed very well, and very professionally. But that's about as much positivity as I can muster. A game played for large periods of time at only a little above walking pace, and yet still strewn with basic errors, leaden first touches and terrible passing, is not much of an advert for the game in this country. Early days yet yes, but really if this is indicative of the standard we'll be seeing for the rest of the season then I think the FFA is going to see another drop in crowd figures overall this season.