Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to Jeju United all but shuts the door on Melbourne Victory’s Asian Champions League hopes and with four games still remaining the Victory will be looking to at least finish third in their group.
It’s not the start interim coach Mehmet Durakovic would have been hoping for after his side went up thanks to a Danny Allsopp goal in the 37th minute only to lose the lead in the 41st minute when Park Hyun-Beom scored off a set piece.
The match was lost when Lee Hyun-Ho scored the winner in the 84th minute thanks to some trademark sloppy Melbourne defending.
It may be unfair to judge Durakovic off one game in charge, and it was always going to be hard to make an impact after the side’s humiliating 5-1 loss to Gamba in match-day one, but if Melbourne is looking for a coach who can lead the club to Asian glory then they have to concentrate their search overseas.
Durakovic did what he could with what little he had but there were some questionable substitutions made which were almost Merrick-like. For instance it would have made more sense taking off Tommy Pondeljak instead of Marvin Angulo in the 58th minute, with the Costa Rican providing Melbourne with a creative presence in the midfield whilst the older Pondeljak seemed to give the ball away.
Having said that Carlos Hernandez made an immediate impact when he came on for Angulo, even if that impact lasted 10 minutes before the burly Costa Rican ran out of steam.
After the team’s capitulation on match-day one you would have thought that the coaching staff would have implemented new strategies to at least make the side look competitive in their remaining ACL games.
If you thought that then you were wrong.
Poor passing, long balls to no-one, back play, shabby goal-keeping were amongst the common characteristics of a Melbourne ACL meltdown.
Melbourne’s new look three-pronged attack of Archie Thompson, Allsopp and new signing Isaka Cernak offered little to no offensive pressure when Jeju had the ball in their defensive half, with the Jeju defenders allowed to walk the ball up to the half way line and create plays, while the Melbourne defence was constantly under pressure and at times made to look amateurish in their clearance attempts.
Matthew Kemp gave his opponent absolutely no respect and for large parts of the game Lee Hyon-Ho was given yards of space by Kemp and in the end the Korean took advantage of the right back’s generosity when he charged into the box to smash the ball past Michael Petkovic to earn his side all three points late in the game.
The 2-1 score-line and the statistics lie. They flatter Melbourne. They do little to explain the gap between these two sides. Jeju were dominant for the whole game, don’t worry about how the stat sheet reads, the Koreans had quality all over the park and if they could actually finish then we would have seen another 5-1 thrashing.
It would be insulting and highly ignorant to suggest that the difference between these two sides is money related because it it runs much deeper than that. Yes Jeju’s budget is probably four times that of Melbourne but the Korean side play with an air of professionalism which is noticeably absent in Melbourne’s style of play.
Take for instance half time; the Jeju bench performed a high intensity drill of keepings-off whilst the Victory bench casually kicked balls to each other, with most balls being off target. While the second half started the Jeju bench did running drills in between cones while the Victory bench sat down for the game.
See the pattern here?
It may not seem like much but precision short passing and quick movement are hallmarks of Korean club football and it’s by honing these skills and encouraging this level of professionalism that eventually leads to these clubs being so dominant and successful in the region.
With another ACL campaign ending early, the loss will ring home some hard truths for the Melbourne Victory and its board. The club’s actions in the past month, both on field and off, speak volumes about the lack of professionalism which has been shown by a club touted as being the ‘biggest’ in Australia, and if Melbourne is to again climb to the summit of Australian football and become a threat in Asia then a lot more respect has to be shown to Asian clubs and the ACL as a competition.
John
Guest
LOOOL @ FI U L
Roarchild
Roar Guru
He's coming back from a serious knee injury. It takes time. Archie being able to come in and fire straight away is the exception not the norm. I'm fully aware Ward has left because he wasn't good enough but he hasn't been replaced/
Daniel_Iaconis
Roar Rookie
Bunnings!!!
Realfootball
Guest
I'm not arguing with that at all - I'm an ardent Roar supporter. I'm just observing that when their strike force was faster and younger, they could get away with it. Not any more. The game has changed, and their strikers are both looking down the barrel of their mid 30s.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
The 27,000 at Tianjin may beg to differ, as would any fan of Adelaide United
Stevo
Guest
Maybe but my point is that the long kickout is a poor way to progress up the field. If ability to run was an issue then Petko should understand this and MV could have modified their game plan to suit. I think that MV have conditioned themselves into this style of player while other A-league teams have moved on to a more possession focus similar to Asian teams that beat the living daylights out of MV.
Realfootball
Guest
Archie and Danny were 27 then, and they had Fred. They could kick it long and still get it, and unlike Carlos, Fred could run.
Realfootball
Guest
Impressive. Sounds like a terrific prospect.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
He would be brilliant for MV
Daniel
Guest
Just to clarify Ward wasn't playing last night, he's been at Wellington for a while now. As for Kemp, it's fair to say his best is behind him. He's not good enough, you'd be wise to watch the Gamba replay to see that last nights effort by kemp wasn't a once off occurrence.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Daniel Garb on SEN Radio just announced the latest rumour doing the rounds about the potential next MVFC coach is: Boško Ǵurovski, who is currently Assistant Coach at Nagoya Grampus, who is the current J-League Champion (and Josh Kennedy's current team). Ǵurovski has been Assistant Coach and Senior Coach at Serbian powerhouse, FK Crvena Zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade) and steered the team to the inaugural (i.e. under an independent Serbian nation) Serbian Championship. Ǵurovski was sacked by Red Star's President, Dragan Stojković ... but, in a strange twist, Stojković , who is the current senior coach at Grampus has hired Ǵurovski as his Assistant Coach. If MVFC chooses an o/s manager, I would hope for someone from the Balkan region - in my opinion, the Balkan-managers have had a major impact on creating technically-gifted and physically strong J-League players. And, let's face it ... our migrants from the Balkan region have historically produced some of the most-gifted Footballers in Australia, too
Stevo
Guest
Good summary and pretty much spot on. Take for instance the kick outs from Petkovic. Why kick out into empty space? A long hopeful ball? You start with 100% possession, that is with the ball in the goalies hands, and turn it into a 50/50 contest at best by kicking out into no-mans land??? Now examine the Roar. More often than not they play out from the back, holding the ball and creating space and opportunities. MV were pace setters in the early days of the A-league but their football style has become stale and outdated.
Realfootball
Guest
I think the deal breaker is whether Ange feels he can operate under FFA's notoriously tight fisted budgets. If he thinks he is going to become Franz Straka Mk11, I am sure he will leave. Who wouldn't? Straka was effectively put into a street fight with one arm tied behind his back.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Rob----the rumour is that the Melb Victory have put $500k on the table for Ange's services.. I can't see the FFA matching it when he or if he decides to use the exit clause..
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
I hope he doesn't, and that the Roar resign him for 5 years on an excellent salary that is nearly the same as what MV might pay him so that he can really build on the success he has brought the Roar this year.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Ange Postecoglou has an out clause in his contract with the Roar. Six months from now he may feel the money that the Melb Victory are prepared to pay for him ($500k) is too good to refuse. I hope he take it and good luck to him if he does..
Roarchild
Roar Guru
Kemp had a bad game but he and Surat are solid players. Just need to get their form back and used in a more comortable system. Victory still have a really good list though a little unbalanced in midfield in that the players are either defensive midfielders or playmakers in the centre. They could do with someone that offers a little bit going forward but can also defend like Nichols and Mckay. The Victory had Ward and Celeski (a dm but quality) to fill those roles but both disapointed. Celeski seems a shadow of his former self. With the new wide men though that should help and give the new coach some more options. The new coach very well may make a lot of wholsale changes but they could also get away with just bringing in one or two players of genuine quality and that side could finish in the top two or be champions if the coach is good enough. There youth development letting them down a bit. Guys like Pondeljak should have been feeling the pressure to keep their spot in the squad this season. Giving guys that have been at the team a while 1 year too many isn't the worst of sins though. Loyatly is something I like about Victory's culture.
whiskeymac
Guest
agreed.
Michael
Guest
I've watched Melbourne slide from a mid to high table team from mid season to a just in the finals team at the end. All form and skill seems to have been forgone for favouritism. Merrick may be out the door but all the changes from last night sounded like someone was reading his tactics book back. The passing was abysmal and the defence held little shape, especially down either side with Jeju running the wings easily. Archie looked out of his depth and the only bright spark was the initial movement and passing from Hernandez. Allsop, apart from the goal looked to be out of his depth with the ball and Archie was not at his best by far. The team needs an Ange, whether him or someone of his ilk to come in and kick start it going again. Merrick's glory days were 08/09 and 06/07 but his style is really looking stagnant now.
Jack
Guest
I don't think the ACL appeals to any supporters throughout asia. The crowds at the clubs from Japan, Korea, China, etc aren't much better.