I would have used a photo of Victory players celebrating but, you know…

On Sunday night the floodgates were opened….and completely ripped off their hinges. Melbourne Victory have put us through quite a lot of pain already this season but it reached beyond ridiculous in Perth. 4-1 on the night and it could have been much worse.

The defence was completely disjointed. The two centre-halves in Leijer and Vargas were nothing like their usual selves, and don’t even get me started on the full backs. As I said on Twitter, Matthew Foschini doesn’t know how to defend. He’s been pretty average all season and is only getting worse now. I know Kemp hasn’t played a game for a while but he was completely off the pace. Yes, we didn’t really have many options with Fabio being suspended, but thats just the point isn’t it? The Club were all too happy to scrape by with minimal defenders (of minimal quality) and now they’re paying the price. It was only a matter of time before another side would truly punish us like the Glory did.

As for the rest of the team, we may as well have not had any attacking players on the pitch. For much of the game we could barely get the ball past the half way line, let alone our attacking third. I also want to say how disappointed I was to see Harry Kewell dive – not once but twice! Especially when he was already on a yellow card.

Some people say you should do whatever it takes to help your team but I’d prefer it if the Club and the players took a stance against diving. Its just a matter of good sportsmanship. And players as good as Harry don’t need to dive. I’d prefer the ref not award a legitimate penalty than have one of our players sent off for such a stupid act.

Moving forward, a quick turn around is required with a huge game on Thursday against Sydney. Its hard to say how this game will go but hopefully a big home crowd can inspire the boys to put in a more positive performance. Speaking of the Australia Day clash it was confirmed today that its set to become an annual tradition – Melbourne v Sydney at AAMI Park every year. I don’t know about you but I’m thrilled with this. What a fixture to look forward to every season!

In other news today, Mark Milligan has joined the Club on loan until the end of the season. To be honest I never liked him when he played for Sydney and Newcastle but we’re desperate for defenders so well done to Jim Magilton for securing his services. Fingers crossed he can play a key role for us and bring some stability to the defence. We also learnt today that Julius Davies is on the verge of signing a short term contract as well. Having been training with the squad for the last couple of weeks he’s obviously done enough to impress the coaches so all the best to him. Its good to see us take a chance on a promising youngster too and by all reports he’s got some talent. Plus, if it signals the end for Pondeljak I’ll be happy!

Well thats all for now. To be honest with you I have a thumping headache so we’ll leave it right there. I’ll be back tomorrow with a preview of the Sydney game. Cheers!