Melbourne Victory will begin life without Ange Postecoglou when they take on the Wellington Phoenix in a rare Monday night game at the Etihad Stadium. Join us for live scores, team news and commentary from 7.30pm AEDT.
New Victory coach Kevin Muscat will no doubt be looking for a strong performance to start his reign at the helm of the club.
Given the type of assertion he showed as a player, there’s little doubt that he will get the best out of his players here.
Melbourne have been strong (without being entirely convincing) in their first few games, and he’ll be looking for their counterattacking strength to continue here.
As for the Phoenix, well, to say it’s been a sluggish start would be putting it mildly.
They’ve not yet recorded a win this season, and come into this fixture with a poor record against Melbourne.
Wellington have won have just two of their past 12 games against the Victory, and away from home—with a new manager set to be unveiled—it seems that that record will only get worse this weekend.
Ange is going to be missed, but Muscat will be quick to stamp his own style on this squad and keep their strong start to the season going.
As such, with the home crowd behind them, it’s hard to see the Victory not walking away with a win here, and a fixture that you definitely don’t want to miss.
Join us for live commentary and analysis starting from 7.30pm AEDT.
Prediction: Melbourne Victory 2-0 Wellington Phoenix
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Victory providng great crowds as usual.Adelaide and Perth are improvers so far this season,i think Adelaide should get above 10k this weekend and Glory's next home game will be the debut of Gallas and a 10k plus crowd is on the cards.I wonder when was the last time both these clubs have reached 5 figures for three games in a row at home.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Nix with another great second half. But as the commentators alluded to about 50 times during the game, they have an incredibly difficult few weeks ahead with the NZ v Mexico games forcing half the team to travel enormous distances. Will really test Ernie Merrick and his abilities.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
jb On the crowds, you'll be pleased to know - after nearly 1/4 of home matches - MVFC is tracking towards an all-time record attendance. And with 2 more games at the high-capacity Docklands against AUFC (in 3 weeks) & ADP's SydFc on Australia Day, we should attain this. Currently, MVFC has 30,040 average attendance and a total of 90,121 people have attended our 3 home games so far. It's very likely that, after the AUFC match, more people will have watched MVFC at home during 4 matches this season than watched CCM, MHT, PER or NIX over a total of 13 games last season!
j binnie
Guest
AZ - at the 20 game mark out total attendance to all games is standing at 349.691,a figure which compared with the same number of games played last year (309,145) is showing a healthy 13% increase.Last year in this period we had 6 games attended by 4 figure crowds, this year so far that has been reduced to 4.The 20 match average last year was 15,457,this year to date that has risen to 17,484. All good signs but we should not rest on our laurels for over the length of the full season last year that average gate figure dropped from 15,457 to 12,343 after 135 matches.Hope this is of interest. jb
Jukes
Guest
That was a pretty entertaining game. I am not sure where Melbourne Victory were in the 2nd half because they definitely switched off a little. Having said that I still think Wellington played a pretty good game, especially in the second half. It wasn't all Melbourne Victory. Full credit to Phoenix for having a good crack and making a game of it right until the end.
Stevo
Guest
I think Merrick will turn the Nux from a hoofball side to one that genuinely can play some decent passing and possession. Some of his old school players like Muscat and Sigmund might take a bit longer to adjust though. But they have been entertaining so far and not afraid to play. Some good signs. Like the look of Troisi for MV. Definitely Socceroo material.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Round 4's lowest crowd was 10,613 - highest lowest crowd since the league expanded to 10 teams in 2009
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
FULL-TIME —— MELBOURNE VICTORY 3-2 WELLINGTON PHOENIX Well, that's it from me! Hope you enjoyed tonight—turned out to be a very good match in the end as both teams could have walked away with the win! Make sure you keep it on The Roar for all the latest news, reaction and analysis from the A-League this week, and I look forward to doing this again sometime! Would love to hear your thoughts on the match below!
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
FULL-TIME —— MELBOURNE VICTORY 3-2 WELLINGTON PHOENIX GOALS Victory (Thompson—9', Troisi—'23, '32); Phoenix (Brockie—38', Ifill—85') POSSESSION Victory (53%) led Phoenix (47%) SHOTS ON GOAL Victory (10) led Phoenix (6) FOULS CONCEDED Phoenix (20) led Victory (14) CORNERS Victory (10) led Phoenix (4)
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
FULL-TIME —— MELBOURNE VICTORY 3-2 WELLINGTON PHOENIX And Kevin Muscat's first match is a victory!! It certainly didn't appear that it would finish as close as it did when the Phoenix went down 3-0 after just 30 mins, but in the end, the Victory hung on for a 3-2 win! Great game of football from a rare Monday night game. FT stats to come.
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
90+3'—IFILL FOR BROCKIE BUT JUST WIDE OF THE GOAL!!! OH MY GOODNESS!! Almost a goal there for the Phoenix but wide from Brockie!! Ifill creates something out of nothing down the left flank. Cuts inside a defender and then crosses across the six-yard box. Brockie dives and his outstretched shot flies high and wide of the bar! Almost!!
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
90+1'—Victory with counterattack, shot from Thompson but saved!! Good counterattack from Barbarouses keeps the ball in play. He crosses into the middle where Thompson manages to get contact but Moss saves the shot straight at him. Melbourne back in control now.
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
90'—Victory win a foul in Wellington's half, controlling possession. Phoenix can't get the ball at the moment, pressing for final goal. Into added time—four minutes remaining.
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
89'—Wellington with possession but at the wrong end of the field. Good pressure from Thompson sees the Phoenix retreat 20-30 yards. Deep in their own half now, forced to clear and the Victory win possession back inside their own half now. Quick sub from the home team.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
NNNNOOOOO I need MVFC to win to help my woeful tipping
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
86'—Ifill with some space down the right, crosses in, but cleared by Victory. Danger signs at the moment—somehow cleared by the Victory. Paine with a quick counterattack wins a corner for the Victory, but watch for the break from the Phoenix here if they get a good clearance.
Andi
Guest
Time for a draw
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
84'—GOAL!! IFILL!! VICTORY LEAD PHOENIX 3-2!! THE SUPER SUB WITH A BIG GOAL FOR THE AWAY TEAM!! Wonderful individual goal. Waltzes into the box after a swift counterattack, beats two defenders and then toe-pokes it under Coe to get a goal. What a wonderful final five minutes we're going to be in for now!
Stevo
Guest
Ifill you little ripper!!!! Gooooool. I said this could be interesting
Dan Talintyre
Roar Guru
83'—Thompson into the box, chance, but it misses everyone!! Somehow manages to miss everyone after a dangerous cross. Huge let-off.