Whether it be through tactical ineptitude or players not following instructions, Melbourne Victory play their football with not enough emphasis on the most dangerous position on the park.
The central attacking midfield position has been criminally ignored all season by the A League’s most disappointing team.
Carlos Hernandez and before him Fred played this role to perfection under Ernie Merrick but the former has been out of form this season.
Coupled with this, Mehmet Durakovic was unable to get the team playing in a cohesive manner and problems persist with northern Irishman Jim Magilton now in charge.
During Saturday night’s nil all draw with Melbourne Heart the issue was glaringly prevalent. The numbingly defense minded central midfield combination of Leigh Broxham and Grant Brebner simply sat too close to their defence.
Further to this, Harry Kewell and Marco Rojas positioned themselves in wide positions whilst the strike partnership of Archie Thompson and Jean Carlos Solorzano opted to hang onto the last man of Heart’s defense.
A cavernous hole was present in the middle of the Victory’s formation. Rojas received the ball countless times from the back. He would set off on a marauding run, sometimes beat players but most of the time draw at least two.
What he needed was a player inside of him, manning the central attacking hole, to play the ball too. However he was forced to attempt miraculous crosses or simply keep bounding forward to no avail.
Kewell, who admittedly had a poor game, suffers from the same issue. He has developed a decent relationship on the left flank with full back Fabio and Melbourne look most potent when they are able to overlap each other and either one of them distribute the ball into the box.
Fabio also is skilled at intercepting and his timing allows him to occasionally sling shot into deep central attacking positions.
However when either of these two get into those spaces they have no other option than to attempt to play the strikers through. They would be better off having a player in the central attacking the position to bounce the ball of and create more unpredictable passes for the defense to try and deal with.
Victory’s main attacking arterial’s whilst being plundered by the Heart on Saturday night were to attempt chips over the top of the defense for Thompson and Solorzano to run onto or break through on the counter attack.
Both of these ploys are the polar opposite to current world footballing trends which focus on dynamic patient build up play and technical superiority of players in deep attacking positions.
Is the answer to deploy Kewell into such a position? I think it would be a good move. The Victory are now desperate and must try something different. But first and foremost they must actually show they can play the passing brand of football Magilton said he prefers when he came here.
Moreover they cannot play with Brebner and Broxham in the same team. Whilst the dynamic duo of Celeski and Ferreira are unavailable and Hernandez is out of form, Kewell should have his chance as Melbourne’s central attacking pivot.
Bondy
Guest
Football has moved forward in Australia and without the M.V.F.C and S. F.C. in a nutshell , I think the jist of this article is that nobody can run the middle of the park for Melbourne . Although it was good to Marcos Rojas gain a little bit of confidence back last week "effective dribbles" wanting to beat his man. To look at Brisbane vs Central Coast it's not a football match it's a technical battle and more of it from all the H.A.L. clubs. I may be incorrect but if Sydney and Melbourne miss the top six it will be the first time in H.A.L. history . Personally I think it's great that the likes of Wellington and Perth are leading a sprited charge towards the H.A.L. finals 'although predominately playing very direct", whats the point of having them in the comp if they are going to fail every year .
trent
Guest
I have no idea what he said afterwards, he lost me at the ok/okay bit.
Roger
Guest
Eh?
Roger
Guest
Realfootball - what a load of garbage. Victory were not shreded bar one or two isolated moments. It is true Heart dominated for the first 30 minutes, and the last 15 minutes. That totals 45 minutes. The other 45 minutes were largely Victory's, with Heart struggling to keep the momentum of the first 30 minutes going.
Michael
Guest
2 points here. No, actually 4 points. 1. By playing to a style, not for a result, results usually follow. This is a truism I was taught in art school believe it or not. When you are too focussed on the "result", you lose the magic, the creation, the beauty. When you give up on the result and focus on the style, the result emerges organically. I might sound like a prat but I think that's true with football. 2. It is true, Fuss, that the only thing that matters is the result at the end of the game. Unfortunately, neither team got the result they wanted, and Victory will continue to flounder around the bottom of the table unless they play to a style that the players can achieve and succeed at. Magilton hasn't found it yet but he hasn't had much time. 3. All this Merrick criticism! I can clearly remember when Victory were revered in the A-League for playing sparkling, exciting passing football. Now in retrospect the bloke is reviled. The most exciting games in seasons past often involved Merrick's Victory. 4. Harry Kewell is still class. In a truly functioning team he would be spectacular.
Roarchild
Roar Guru
I'm a fan of pretty football and want to watch entertaining football. I still find Victory entertaining to watch and I understand many Melbourne fans were sick of or frustrated with Merrick but I always liked him and the teams he put out. Probably his biggest "fault" was loyalty but that is something I admire. I don't mind seeing players stay for an extra season and much prefer it over the Rugby League way of getting rid of them early.
jmac
Guest
a type of bread
Clayts
Guest
spelt?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Just tweeted by Ubay Luzardo: Its official Im new player of Melbourne Victory the remainder of the season. Im very happy and hopefully help the team in these last games.
anthcol
Roar Pro
Watch the game back Peter and then watch footage of Victory's previous games when you say they, 'have dont ok holding onto the ball' (btw it's 'okay' not 'ok'). Compared to Heart, Roar, The Mariners, The Jets, hell every other A League team their possesion play is woeful. Broxham and Brebner sit too close to the defenCE and the only way they contribute to the attack is too ping balls over the top or play impatient and over ambitious balls through. One player should sit in front of the central pairing with both full backs pushing high up the park similar to the Roar. Therefore the hole in the middle of the field can be occupied by a CAM (Hernandez) a LM (Kewell) and a RM (Ferreira,Celeski, Pondeljak,Rojas,Cernak) with wind backs overlapping into the space near the corner flags. If this formation is used in the midfield and Melbourne control the space in front of the opposition back four instead of streaming forward on the break it is much easier for the midfield to push back to defend. You can even operate, like we did with Merrick, to allow Carlos to play without having to do too much running!
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"The scoreline was of less importance than the respective performances." ... and, I nearly fell off my chair laughing. We are talking about professional sport aren't we? Or are we talking about u7s playing SSG at the local park? Regardless, I come from the "grumpy school of football" and, in professional sport, when my team is playing only one thing matters to me. The score. The result. How the result is achieved ... well, if it's a good result I couldn't care less if it was a dodgy penalty or an own goal. I've found - be it at school, in the workplace on on the sports field - the only people, who wax lyrical about "the performance is more important than the result" are those, who underachieve when it comes to getting results. PS: H had an off night. Someone mentioned on another forum that, after 17 rounds, H is currently equal 2nd in votes for the Johnny Warren Medal. Not bad for an aging hack?
Realfootball
Guest
Victory was absolutely shredded bar one or two isolated moments. The scoreline was of less importance than the respective performances. One side hopelessly on the slide down, packed full of players well past their prime - the other chock full of young talent on the way up. Guess who was who? This wasn't so much a game as a station, passed by two trains travelling at speed in opposite directions. I love watching Heart play. Victory I always watch too, but I've given up hope of Harry Kewell ever dominating a game. Not the first ageing player to find the A League tougher than he thought. Marone, frankly, embarrassed H. He won't find the going any easier against Ped B, either, but hopefully Magilton will see the light and play him in the centre as a playmaker.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
The other problem with MVFC this season is the lack of confidence in their decision making. It is happening every week. Watch how many times a player has the ball, looks to pass it, hesitates a moment, then makes the pass that they saw in the first place. The problem is that because of the half second to two second hesitation the opposition players have all moved two or three meters and are now marking much closer the player who is receiving the ball. More often than not, the first ball is the right ball and they should just play it without looking to other options.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
The other problem with MVFC this season is the lack of confidence in their decision making. It is happening every week. Watch how many times a player has the ball, looks to pass it, hesitates a moment, then makes the pass that they saw in the first place. The problem is that because of the half second to two second hesitation the opposition players have all moved two or three meters and are now marking much closer the player who is receiving the ball. More often than not, the first ball is the right ball and they should just play it without looking to other options.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
Anthcol, your analysis of Saturday's match is spot on. Breb and Brox were often sitting on the defenders, Archie and Sol staying way high and Harry and Rojas hugging the wings. You could have played a second game in the middle of the park sometimes the space was so large. I have called before for Harry to be given a run in the middle and be a link between the defence and attack. He's done more running than most over recent weeks and looks fit enough to last most of the game. Carlos is too slow and lazy for the role. On Sat'day Harry was wasted out wide and didn't get into the game. Apart from the poor set-up on Sat, the two major frustrations were Brox who turned the ball over at least 50% of the time and Rojas who should be taught (a) to look up, (b) it's ok to PASS sometimes and (c) how to cross the ball! Often he's all alone when receiving the ball but many times he has players nearby and he just puts his head down and runs at two or three defenders and always loses possession. Rojas looks like a kid determined to break through the line but running into men and constantly dispossessed and if he ever does get a cross in they are usually woeful. A major disappointment.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
If Archie is tearing his hair out it's because he has butchered 4 one-on-one's with the goalie in the last two games. He may not be getting great supply but he has failed to take some golden chances in recent weeks.
Peter Care
Guest
Anthcol, just a couple of points with your article, it is spelt defence, not defense. If you look at previous matches, Victory have done ok holding on to the ball when Carlos Hernandez is in the hole. The problem is that Carlos is not fit enough this season and he tires at the 50-60 minute mark of matches, or is replaced at that time. With Carlos tired, or not there, Victory lose control of the midfield, which is why the defence then gets besieged causing Victory to concede late goals. Carlos in the first half of games has played well, it's later on that the damage occurs. Rojas is not strong enough and lacks confidence, Cernak not good enough in this role and Celeski is not the same player since doing his ACL. This is why Brebner is out helping his defence so much and not contributing to the attack.
Clayts
Guest
Well I had been saying he had been playing awith a sore shoulder for weeks now. Think he hurt it against Sydney. When he scored against GC, you could see him telling teammates to watch his shoulder during the celebrations. Saw him clutching at it for the rest of the game. I thought he might have been in doubt for the derby. Could be that?
Bearfax
Guest
Too many cooks. Their problem is too many champions and not enough workers. Archie Thompson cant have become so goal phobic so quickly. He's not geting the supply of good set ups he was a season or two ago. He must be tearing his hair out at the dearth of opportunities.
tom
Guest
saw some of victory's training session this morning. noticed kewell wasn't in attendance. does any body know if there is anything in this.