Kevin Muscat steps down as Melbourne Victory coach

That should read.. Match 2: Score was 1-1 with 18 minutes to play.

"First 2 games for Melbourne in the ACL they were not in either game." That's an ALT-Fact. Match 1: MVFC dominated the opening 30 minutes and went 1-0 up. Sloppy mistake allowed Daegu to equalise soon after. Just before HT, Honda missed a virtual tap-in. 2nd half MV were outplayed. Match 2: Score was 11 with 18 minutes to play.

First 2 games for Melbourne in the ACL they were not in either game. First 2 games for SFC, they had a draw (was the better team) & a lost in the last minute. I was comparing Muscat this year to Corica this year, with their personnel.

After 2 ACL matches, MVFC had 0 points; Syd FC had 1 point. If you think a 6 match Group with Top 2 qualifying is over after 2 losses, you don't have basic maths skills & you haven't watched much tournament group football. I his first full season coaching MVFC, Muscat won the Double, including smashing Graham Arnold's team 3-0 in the Grand Final. In his first ACL, Muscat finished equal 2nd in the Group, missing 2nd spot by 1 goal difference. He finished above the J-League team. His team was unbeaten at home.

Muscat ACL campaign was over after 2 games, Corica was in it until the 5th game. Huge difference. Muscat had best team in the competition on paper & ended 3rd & lost semis 6-1. Corica, in his first year, with SFC in transition, after losing 2 top players from last year to come 2nd & win the GF.

That doesn’t really address my argument...but isn’t it nice to be talking about actual football as opposed to whinging about admin, security, etc etc?

The FFA should do everything in its power to ensure A-League clubs perform well in the ACL. That’s the only existing objective reference point against which sceptics can judge the quality of the A-League. I’m guessing a few seasons where a couple of A-League teams go far in the ACL would do immeasurable good for the A-League.

"This season Victory were notably cleaner than in previous seasons, perhaps explaining their relative lack of success." This season, MVFC were more successful than last season. Fouls Syd/MVFC in 2018/19 Semi Final: 17/15 R24: 16/10 R16: 15/11 R5: 17/13 Total fouls over 4 matches Sydney: 65 MVFC: 50 All 4 matches Sydney FC fouled more times. MV still won 2 matches despite being kicked & fouled more by Sydney. You can have your own opinions. You can't have your own facts.

Much of this subjective, but the stats seem to tell an unkind story about Muscat’s teams. Under Muscat, they’ve recorded 5 of the A-League’s highest ever single game foul counts, and regularly finished top or thereabouts in the full season foul counts. This season Victory were notably cleaner than in previous seasons, perhaps explaining their relative lack of success. As for SFC, they have evolved from foul monsters under early Arnold to foul saints today. In their saintly evolution, Grant is an obvious exception. He has improved enormously but still fouls way too often.

Ignorant folk would not realise the 2015 MVFC that won the Double was Muscat's team. Muscat recruited: Berisha, Valeri, Delpierre, Georgieveski, Ben Kalfallah who were the outstanding players in the team that won the Double & smashed Sydney in the most one sided A-League Grand final since MV's 6-0 win in 2007 Grand Final. Ignorant folk would not realise Ange's signings in 203/14 were duds: Mitch Nichols, Pablo Contreras, Rashid Mahazi. But, what can we do about ignorant folk. They are the foundation of The Roar forum.

Yeah. The reason we kicked Sydney out of the Finals last season because of negative tactics. MVFC were leading 1-2 in stoppage time could've been cynical & negative, instead they tried to keep attacking right to the final moments when Theoharous could've run into the corner to waste time but squares the ball to try to set Kenny Athiu up to score. About 10 players are in the Sydney penalty box. Really negative & cynical. The textbook negative & cynical is how Corica won the Grand Final on Sunday night. Constant cynical fouls on Castro & Ikonomidis by Grant, O'Neill, Brillante, Brosque. Sit back in your own half & hope for Perth to make a mistake. That's the Sydney FC play book, which is why such a successful team can't win hearts and minds in the Sydney football market.

Unkind folk would say Muscat’s first season ACL success was Ange’s legacy, and that the subsequent decline was Muscat’s fault. But I’m not that unkind.

That might be true in regular season against weaker teams but in finals matches or against stronger teams Muscat is relentlessly negative and cynical. It’s why other teams’ fans hate him. And don’t use the recent semi-final debacle as evidence for your claim - Muscat’s hand was forced in the second half because SFC fluked 3 goals in the first half. And none of those first half goals came from open field counter-attacking chances.

In Kevin Muscat's first crack at ACL, Melbourne Victory's Group Stage was: W2 D2 L2 GS: 7 GA:7 Missed knockout stage by 1 goal difference. Unbeaten at home. Corica did not win a single match in the ACL in his first attempt & got smashed 0-4 at home.

That’s a reasonable summary.

"One thing is certain, although Muscat’s teams play some good football, his instinct is to go negative and cynical when under pressure." Comment demonstrates you don't watch Melbourne Victory. The reason Melbourne Victory doesn't win the Premiership is not because of negative football. It's because we are incapable of negative football. MVFC under Muscat tries to play attacking football only. When the ball is lost the team lacks structure & is incapable of keeping a clean sheet. If the coach was negative & cynical then the team would never be caught on the counter-attack because there would be no opportunity for the opposition to counter attack.

Nemesis - it was Corica’s first crack at the big time and his team pushed better resourced opponents to the limit. With any luck SFC would have progressed to the elim rounds. You’d have to have watched the games to see how well SFC performed - results don’t tell the whole story. I would say the same about Victory in several of their ACL games, but they were pretty inconsistent.

I agree MVFC has failed miserably in Asia this season with a squad that looked like the best squad we've ever had in Asia. I think MVFC has been extremely competitive in the 3 other ACL campaigns with Muscat as coach. 2014: Equal 2nd (1 goal difference less). Unbeaten at home 2016: Ro16 finished Group above K-League and J-League; unbeaten at home. 2018: Finished 1 point behind 2nd spot. Unbeaten at home. Finished above the J-League team This season we'll finish bottom of the Group. That is complete failure. But any season when an A-League team finishes above: J-League, or K-League is not a failure because I rate those 2 competitions to be far higher in technical & tactical levels than A-League.

‘last premiership was 14/15’ - that says a lot. During Muscat’s reign Victory has tended to lift for the big games but not sustain good form for a whole season. Maybe that’s down to issues alluded to by both Leroy George and Keisuke Honda. In a league without a finals format Muscat’s credentials would likely look much weaker. One thing is certain, although Muscat’s teams play some good football, his instinct is to go negative and cynical when under pressure. Graham Arnold was the same early on at SFC but had pretty much grown out of it by the time he left (with the glaring exception of his enduring love for a 15 minute mayhem cameo from Matt Simon).

So you agree that Muscst underperformed in Asia. That's nice. I hope you also agree that a new coach forging some ACL capacity for Victory would also be a good thing. Isn't it nice when we all agree :)