Muscat's Victory not out of the woods yet

Probed at length pre-match on how exactly he felt having taking zero from a possible six points from his first two fixtures, asked about every rippling detail of his stoic reflection on the losses to Sydney and City, Kevin Muscat was surprisingly jovial.

‘Performance’ was the buzz-word, but it was accompanied by the caveat that, of course, the result is the bottom line, and that these results weren’t good.

Victory haven’t really played badly over these first two games, they’ve just been preyed upon by two organised, defensively superior teams, set-up perfectly to pounce on the Victory’s sluggish spells.

“An own-goal [in the first game], and a cruel deflection [in the second]” is how Muscat put it in his interview, and in that light his team look rather unlucky indeed. “But they’re only subplots, the result’s the main thing”, he added.

Oh, right, well then, never mind. Two games in – one of which was played while significantly undermanned – there is no need to panic, and Muscat wasn’t. But he was keeping the prospect of a third straight defeat to start the season throbbing repellently in view; like Steven Lowy and a democratic congress reshuffle, Muscat wants his team to avoid it at all costs. 

Adelaide United, however, with the equal-second best defensive record in the league so far, would not make this an easy task. Their new Dane Johan Absalonsen cracked a goal in off the bar last week, and seems to have settled nicely, as has their new German manager, Marco Kurz. Memories of their pallid, crumbly attempt at a title defence last season have shimmered out of view, blown away by the warm, fragrant breezes of the new season. 

Melbourne began the game snapping tigrishly into tackles, passing sharply between one another, evidently hoping to greet the home team with a frenetic early tempo. They took firm control of the opening throes, a familiar rhythm.

What punctured the occasion after 12 minutes was familiar too, although not so far this season; Besart Berisha, connecting with a perfectly swooped free kick from Leroy George, headed in the opening goal.

His arresting blue eyes were wide and flashing in the aftermath, like two butane torches; he is a striker who never fails to relish the furious pleasure of scoring, and he was an image of intensity having opened his 2017-18 account. Adelaide were caught pondering at the set piece, with the attackers drifting away from their markers, like snakes slithering out of their shed skins. 

(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

The match began to heat up, with Rhys Williams involved in scuffles with multiple Adelaide players. The Reds were rising to Melbourne’s tempo, and it was a surge capped by an equaliser, a smashing wallop of a strike from Vince Lia.

After 25 minutes, and having enjoyed steady possession inside the Melbourne half for the first time in the match, Adelaide worked the ball down the right. Michael Marrone speared a cross into the box, and the ball was laid back to Lia, whose shot nearly tore a hole through Lawrence Thomas’s net. Suddenly this old A-League rivalry was inflamed, crackling and spitting up into a spicy footballing spectacle. 

The contest was choppy, with both teams vigorous and eager, but neither cutting through with any clarity. Troisi tried a reverse through-ball, but overhit it. Lia bashed in another shot from distance, but it careered high.

A concussive aerial skirmish, involving four players, sandwiched Mark Milligan, and left he and George Blackwood crumpled on the turf. Blackwood later had a fine chance thwarted by the lunging leg of Williams. Berisha was needlessly booked just before the break. The half ended 1-1, with both teams contending well. 

Melbourne’s best attacking sequences were coming down the wings. Very little of their play was purposefully forced down the middle; the midfield pairing of Carl Valeri and Mark Milligan – two players who tend to hold in the more reserved midfield areas – was making little telling penetration down the centre, and the front three of Troisi, George and Kosta Barbarouses were drifting and clumping on the flanks.

Berisha was also roaming, occasionally into the midfield, often out to the wings to link up with his front-line colleagues. It made for a whole lot of activity, but only a few real chances; Melbourne had most of the ball, but just three shots in the first half. 

So, the match had simmered down, and the second half was kept bubbling similarly, punctuated by a number of poor tackles, Berisha, Troisi, and Jordan Elsey all indulging in a bit of stud-raking. Melbourne were suffering visibly from a dearth of creativity in the centre; Adelaide were happy to force them out wide, have Berisha drop into midfield, thereby removing the top of the sabre, rendering it a blade with plenty of cutting power on the sides, but no point to pierce through with. 

(AAP Image/Joe Castro)

It was Adelaide who were lifting. A few minutes after an extended spell of pressure, Johan Absalonsen scampered down the left wing, and hit a lovely, disguised cut-back. The ball rolled along the billiard-table surface and was met by Vince Lia, again. His spanked shot – hit with the outside of his foot – arrowed just inside the post. A second goal, a second Lia howitzer, and Melbourne were looking at a third straight defeat. No one had noticed Lia lurking, except Absalonsen. 

Adelaide, very strong finishers under Kurz, weren’t resting on their laurels now that they had the lead. The Melbourne players were being harried and harassed, with a red shirt adhered to them as soon as the ball arrived at their feet. Mitch Austin was brought on for George, winger for winger. The match was rumbling toward the 80th minute, and Melbourne hadn’t troubled Paul Izzo in the second half. 

Then Melbourne fumbled the ball up the right-hand flank. It was scuffed clear by Adelaide, and then speared back into the box to the feet of Berisha. He turned and shot, but it was blocked immediately by an Adelaide defender. The ball then spun, fortuitously, to Austin, who snapped another shot on goal. It skidded past Izzo and into the bottom-left corner. Parity, gained a little luckily and hardly aesthetically, but parity nonetheless. 

Adelaide pushed hard for a winner. Thomas Deng was seen two feet off the ground, winning a majestic defensive header. A thrashing 2-2 draw it finished. 

Melbourne have their first points of the season, and as relieving as it must be for Muscat not to have lost this match, his teams’ bluntness was apparent again. The Victory fullbacks offered very little in attack; only Troisi passed with less accuracy than Geria, and Broxham had a crossing accuracy percentage of 0.0 per cent.

The Melbourne attack tends to begin well, then stagnate until the pressure – when there’s a scoreboard deficit to make up, or they feel the heat of time ticking away – forces them to raise their intensity, and Muscat has to address this.

Muscat’s team are good enough to challenge for the title, and the manager believes that; “You’ve always got to maintain belief,” Muscat said after the game, “If you haven’t got belief, well, you’re dead, aren’t you?”.

The Victory may well be bottom of the league after this round of fixtures, a position that’s very foreign to them, and is highly ill-fitting. Three games in, there’s no cause for alarm, but the longer the full return of points escapes Melbourne, the more alarming it will be.