So, whats the excuse this week? There were no red cards, no forced changes due to injury, no dodgy refereeing decisions…..oh wait. How could I forget the now mandatory shocking decision? Can we not go one week in the A-League without a referee getting a call completely wrong?
Archie Thompson, through on goal, clearly brought down in the box by Topor-Stanley who flew in from behind, making no contact with the ball whatsoever. These are the type of clear-cut situations which referees should have no problem with – and if he doesn’t see it himself his linesman should.
I understand that everyone makes mistakes and at the end of the day referees are still human, but when their poor decisions are having a direct influence on the result, thats when it becomes a real problem. Had we won the penalty and converted it, it could have been a completely different story.
I’m not making excuses for the teams performance though. We seem to have this new thing where we start games really well and then just fade in the second half. Again this week we looked pretty lively, controlling the game and creating a number of chances. Newcastle weren’t threatening at all. When Carlos Hernandez put us in front with a superb curling shot from outside the box it looked like things were going to fall in our favour but from then on it progressively got worse.
The Carlos Hernandez of old returns.
Ryan Griffiths haunting us like he always does, milked a penalty out of a clumsy mistake by Rojas. Haliti took advantage of some routinely poor defending right after half time to give Newcastle the lead before Victory were robbed of the chance to draw level on 78 minutes. Then right at the end Griffiths made sure of the win, grabbing his second of the game. My hatred of him had definitely increased dramatically by this point.
Although we continually get screwed over by referees there is no escaping the fact that we’re still not playing at 100% for 90 minutes. I was almost wishing for a red card last night, just to give the team some sort of boost in the second half. Durakovic didn’t help the cause either by taking off Kewell on 70 minutes. I know its a fitness thing with Harry but don’t take off the one player who actually looked like creating something.
The next three games at home are absolutely crucial before we see in the New Year in Brisbane. If we can get back to playing like we did against Gold Coast and put the effort in for the entire match we can put ourselves in a position to win all three. Adelaide are just as bad as us at the moment so that one is definitely up for grabs. Wellington are a different side away from home and if we’re heading into that game off a win over United then we should be able to take care of them. Then the Melbourne Derby looms as a huge test, no matter what happens in the two games prior. Lets just take it one game at a time though, shall we? We still have a pointless exhibition game to get through first.
Melbourne Victory News 24/7
Just like Robbie Slatter said last night on the Fox Sports post-game show, “Victory were ripped-off”
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I am not the one to complain about refereeing descisions, but that “small” mistake cost us the match, a possibility of winning, staying in the top four and caused us to drop three positions on the table.
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If Archie was awarded his clear penalty, the match would have been levelled at 2-2 with ten minutes left on the clock. Victory also would have been 1 man up as the rule book states that a last man challenge is a straight red card, and Topor-Stanley should have been watching from the changing room television. We would have had a very good chance of taking maximum points had this obvious descision gone our way.
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It may be a little premature to say, but our hopes of a high A-League table finish are wearing thin. We have already played a third of the 27 match season and we have not yet reached any acceptable standard of football.
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We have also had a decent amount of matches played at home (5 games) and most of the matches that will be played during the most important period of the season, Feburary and March will be played away. These months are when the teams are trying their hardest, whether for a top position finish, making it into the finals or simply to stay off the bottom. As we all know, Victory somewhat struggle away from home and this added pressure and intensity will make it very tough for us latter on.
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I think that we are just going to have to accept that this new team we have created will take another 12 months to be a fully functioning unit. Players like Kewell, Rojas, Solorzano, Cernak and Fabio (I wan’t him out) will need time to gel with MVFC. Heck, Barcelona F.C have been playing together for 10-15 years so I can’t see how the idea of winning a championship/title could arise three months after the formation of a team.
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If any spark of team progression that we have been waiting for will happen, it will be too late in the season. Personally, my prospects for success with the Victory lie in the seasons to come. I think for now we, as fans, are going to have to ride it out tough for the a second season running and then hit the ground running for the next.