- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It’s derby week in Melbourne, with the now traditional Christmas fixture between expansion outfit Melbourne Heart and its cross-town rival Melbourne Victory.
The red and whites held bragging rights in their opening day match-up this season – prevailing 2-1 in front of 42,000 spectators at Etihad Stadium – ensuring a debut victory for rookie coach John Aloisi.
While the win was a dream start for Aloisi’s team, his troops have struggled since to mirror any resemblance to the side which overhauled its city rival.
In an ironic twist, Heart’s floundering form has seen it spiral down the table in eighth position, while the Victory – under the tutorship of dual-championship coach Ange Postecoglou – are continuing to exhibit improvement as the season progresses.
They are third on the table, and warming to the coach’s football ethos.
In their round one meeting, Victory found it difficult to execute Postecoglou’s way of playing. On numerous occasions, goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, in tandem with his defenders, struggled to play the ball competently out from the back, and often turned the ball over needlessly – ultimately resulting in the navy blues’ downfall.
To the Heart’s credit, their game-plan was executed brilliantly. Knowing Postecoglou’s possession-based game from the back – and with the notion of it being a work-in-progress – Heart pressed up high on the park from the onset, allowing as little time as possible for their opponents to be composed on the ball.
Evidently, this unsettled the Victory early in the piece, often causing players to hesitate and think twice when in tight spaces.
To the naked eye, the Victory defence didn’t look comfortable under its new playing system, and on many occasions, had the temptation to quell its coach’s orders and hoof the ball long when in danger.
Now, if we fast-forward to this present day, Postecoglou’s men appear to be an outfit with a grand-sense of optimism. The philosophy is coming together nicely; and while there’s still room for much improvement, players are beginning to instinctively believe in the system adopted by the club.
Despite the buoyancy flowing through the club’s coaching staff, players and fans, the Victory has seemingly struggled against its arch-rival.
As it stands, the red side of Melbourne has had the wood over the blue. From the seven derbies to date, Heart leads 3-1 in head-to-head outings, with Victory’s last triumph coming in December, 2010.
“They’ve had the wood over us,” Victory captain Adrian Leijer said.
“And that’s not nice because we’re the established club and we want to stamp our name on Victoria in a derby sense as well. We’ve done that in a general football sense, but now we need to do that in terms of the derby.
“So from that point of view we want to get the right result. More so for our fans because from day one since the A-League started they’ve been sensational.”
While the derby is, effectively another fixture playing for the three points, it means much more to the players, as well as to fans. The skipper drew resemblance from the opening day loss to Heart, to the club’s heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to city-rival Sydney FC in the 2009-10 grand final.
“Round one hit us pretty hard,” he admitted.
“We had a big build-up to it and it felt like we lost a grand final that day.
“A lot of the boys were very dejected.
“But to the boys’ credit we’ve worked hard, turned things around and are starting to play the brand of football that Ange (Postecoglou) wants us to play. And we know we can get better.”
Meanwhile, Heart forward David Williams believes triumph in this weekend’s derby could be the catalyst for a resurgence in form, and push up the table.
“There’s a big build-up and there’s a lot of talk about it, but this could kick off our season,” he said.
The enmity between the inner-city rivals is growing each season, both on and off the pitch. Publicity through the media is gaining more and more exposure, while fans are beginning to acquire a strong sense of tribalism for their club’s city.
These constituents are all part and parcel of a unique derby culture.
Saturday night’s encounter is sure to be welcomed by a fervent atmosphere, one which will be a fantastic advert for the A-League. If form is anything to go by, one would anticipate Victory to claim an early Christmas present for its fans, however as we’ve witnessed on countless occasions, football can be unpredictable at the best of times.
May the best team win!
Courtesy of Goal Weekly
Follow Robbie on Twitter @RobertDiFabio
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.