It's time for the Heart to sack Aloisi

After six games, the Melbourne Heart are on two points from a possible 18. Under-fire coach John Aloisi has the same amount of goals in his 20 games for the Heart as the Heart have wins under his 33 game reign – eight.

Aloisi’s team have gone backwards since he took over from Van’t Schip, with a 22 percent win percentage since he’s been in charge.

In his first year, he took the team that finished sixth the previous season – and were top three for most of December – to ninth, and has continued his form with them currently resting at 10th.

Yes, it is early days of this season, but Aloisi has had two pre-seasons to implement a style and game plan. At this point, the Heart look further behind the pack than Gary van Egmond at Newcastle, Alistair Edwards at Perth and Ernie Merrick at Wellington.

It’s quite an achievement to have made almost n0 progress since his appointment.

Implementation of youth? His first season brought in the bright legs of Dylan Macallister and Steven Gray. This season we’ve got Andrea Migliorini (25) from Italy and Harry Kewell as captain.

Michael Marrone and Aziz Behich were sold, which led to berths for Sam Mitchinson and Jeremy Walker, who this season have been replaced by Behich (and Holman?).

Walker has got a look in over the last few games because of injuries, but it hardly inspires confidence and hope for the supporters when two young guns are seemingly replaced by – dare I say it – has-beens.

Not that Behich is past it, but with his pace and footwork he needs to be on the left wing; the full back position should be reserved for young upcoming players.

Melbourne’s newest team seem to have spent their first few seasons building a team, and are now rebuilding. The result of the first attempt was one finals appearance at sixth.

Heart fans are being hammered all the time, but only Newcastle and Sydney have been through such a lean period – and they’ve at least got Heskey and Del Piero, respectively.

The Heart started this season reasonably – two points each from the derby and the premiers was a solid effort.

But the coach the team relied on was the one they parked in front of Redmayne. The tactics were deplored by Heart fans, considering Heart had one of the weaker squads with now boring tactics.

Some fans (myself included) believed that it would be okay to play bad football if it meant results – much like the Wanderers.

After four losses, it’s clear that the tactics aren’t eking out results and we’re just a mediocre team playing mediocre football.

Aloisi’s had all the cliche trappings of an about-to-be sacked coach. First there was blaming the refs, then the deplorable “I thought we played well” after getting whacked 3-0, then the CEO’s public backing, followed by the ‘results will come’ line.

To be brutally honest, the Heart’s prosaic tactics are at times backward and other times erratic, the squad is cluttered with mediocrity, and they don’t score goals.

Now is that the match officials’ fault or the manager’s?

When you look at Melbourne Heart without our A-League tinted glasses, they’re actually pretty viable and cool.

They have a boutique stadium, a solid supporter base and play in a sustainable league. More importantly, they play in one of the best cities in the world in terms culture, climate and media focus.

Also, they can be bought for under $15million. Well, they’ve knocked back consecutive bids around the seven to nine million dollar mark, so I assume 15 would be around the right price.

All things considered, they’re a lot like Paris Saint Germain, Manchester City and the New York Red Bulls.

All three were mediocre teams with a solid base. They were bought by millionaires and became ‘glamour’ clubs.

I’m not suggesting the Heart should be bought out, but with the right results they have the potential to be one of the biggest clubs in the league.

So the Heart should become more ruthless – no more hacks from the Irish league or second division in Brazil.

Melbourne Heart should stop accepting their minority status and become more dominant in the league – firstly, by appointing an experienced coach with a good playing style.

Then in January, they should buy/loan a marquee – MLS stars need game time before the World Cup – and not accept that Harry Kewell is a marquee. Del Piero and William Gallas are the sort of players they should aim to bring here.

For the moment, John Aloisi represents the stagnant Melbourne Heart – the team simply surviving, not being alive.

Aloisi should have stayed as the youth team coach, especially considering his win percentage there was only 38 percent. He’ll make a great manager eventually, but is simply inexperienced and needs to come into his own in regards to style – not attempting to be Dr Frankenstien with the random limbs that Van’t Schip left behind.

He needs to be under the stewardship of a seasoned manager, either at Melbourne Heart or at a European club, similar to what Popovic did at Crystal Palace.

Sadly, I do not think he will simply step backwards into a youth or assistant position when a new manager steps in.

For A-League fans, sacking a coach mid-season is somewhat foreign. For us Eurosnobs, it is common practice.

In the English Championship I support Middlesbrough, who recently sacked Tony Mowbray – like Aloisi, a fan favourite at the club in his playing days who simply couldn’t get results as a manager.

They appointed Aitor Karanka, Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid, in a bold move. However, they are what Melbourne Heart should be looking to be – bold, aiming for promotion, developing a style and an identity to reach further success.

Will Heart CEO Scott Munn be as adventurous as Steve Gibson was at Middlesbrough? For now, he seems content with mediocrity, but the fans aren’t.

Melbourne Heart need to become arrogant, brash and successful. Nice guys always finish last.

Follow Patrick on Twitter @Pathargreaves1