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What is it about the city of Perth that Melbourne Victory hates so much? The Grand Final runners-up may have won in Western Australia towards the end of last season, but they had also lost the four games at nib Stadium before that, a run of results that stretched back as far as 2007.
Yet putting Sunday’s 3-1 shellacking down to a mysterious hoodoo ignores the greater malaise that is haunting the Victory this season.
After finishing last season trophy-less, despite having what was widely considered to be the A-League’s most talented squad, an anti-climatic Asian Champions League campaign followed.
Now those two disappointing results have been backed up by an inconsistent start to the new season.
Remember the calls of disdain over the calamity that was Perth Glory until they finally notched up a win against Melbourne Victory on the weekend?
Well, the Victory is now only two points ahead of Perth in the standings.
In other words Melbourne’s results have been almost as bad as the Glory’s but the two-time A-League champions have mostly got away without too much scrutiny form the media.
So why so few cries of acrimony? Surely this isn’t good enough from the Victory?
Personally I’m of the belief that if there’s any club in the competition that should regularly have the weight of expectation placed upon it, it’s Melbourne.
They have the fans, the stadium, the money and a multi-cultural city brimming with football know-how to be leading the way both on and off the pitch.
Yet instead of exciting the masses, this season is falling into line with what I call “the Victory cycle”: a faltering campaign on the back of a more successful one.
Considering the quality Melbourne has had within its squad throughout the league’s first six seasons, you could argue the Victory have underachieved slightly, particularly in Asia.
Yes, they’ve had two extremely successful seasons where they’ve won all before them but these have been punctuated by two of the most under whelming campaigns imaginable.
Few sides have Melbourne’s ability to scintillate one day and disappoint the next, a trait we see in Merrick’s team when a side comes to the Victorian capital intent on sitting back and clogging up the middle of the park.
The Victory’s current plight is no better summed up then by a poll currently running on the club’s website, asking who has been their best player so far this season. The options consist of three defenders and two holding midfield players.
With city rivals the Heart sitting above them in the standings, and starting to put in some extremely high quality performances, it’s a worrying moment for the A-League’s most successful club.
Yet, I still believe things can turn around for Melbourne. As I’ve already mentioned, the quality is there and the Victory’s fans are more then justified in expecting better then what they’ve got so far this season.
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