El Zorro returns
Good afternoon. Well, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet but amazingly we managed to beat the league leaders last night and in brilliant fashion. Two fantastic goals – a belter from Hernandez and a skilful volley from Kewell was enough to secure the win. It was an unlikely result but to be honest, we really deserved it.
The match wasn’t without its moments but overall the effort from the players went up a notch and we played some of our best football in a long time. The manager chose to change things up a bit and it payed off. Jimmy Jeggo was given his first start of the season and he repaid the faith shown in him. I was very impressed with his performance and he seems to offer a lot more in the middle of the park than say Broxham or Brebner. Well done to Magilton for giving him that chance.
Elsewhere, new loan signing Ubay Luzardo started at centre-half alongside Leijer while Milligan shifted into midfield and Petar Franjic was again played at right back. Despite some questionable defending at times the whole team was much more cohesive and played better in transition. For the most part the ball was kept on the deck. We enjoyed some good spells of possession and our build up play was much improved as well with Kewell slowing down the tempo on several occasions. At last we may actually have something real to build on here.
In the post-match press conference Magilton said:
“A lot of this is how I want us to play. We’ve picked the bones out of how I don’t want us to play. We go a goal behind, we show great character, again, building on last week. We’re still very much a work in progress but training has been lively, there has been a good feeling, we talked about the positives we took from last week and the players built on that. I think we made a lot of right decisions tonight and that is through consistent messages at training.”
“I hope I’m standing here in five or six games and we’ve won all of them. While I am absolutely delighted, there is no rest up, there is no let up. We’ve got to go again and produce another performance like that at Brisbane. They are flying, but we’ve got in the team, I hope a belief flowing through it, and a confidence flowing through at the moment.”
A lack of confidence has been a major factor for us this season but last nights performance will no doubt be a huge boost for the players. A positive mentality and belief is important of course but you can’t ignore the impact that a few key personell changes has made to this team. It makes you wonder where we’d be had we started the season with the right quality in place. Its still too early to tell whether Magilton is the right man for us going forward but there are some signs now that if he was given the time to build his own team he could make it work.
So, is this the turning point? Maybe and maybe not. Either way I don’t care. I’m just going to enjoy this win for what it is. A rare highlight in a disappointing season. Savour it folks.
What did you think of the match? Leave your comments below.
Melbourne Victory News 24/7
I placed a bet with my cousins over the previous weeks that Victory would make two consecutive draws and then win against Central Coast by two goals to one. aybe I’m an oracle? Perhaps desended from the heights of Olympia? Hahaha!
‘
I won myself 30 bucks and watched Melbourne finally get a grip on the season; hopefully not the best has come.
‘
As you had pointed out, we had finally decided to keep the ball on the ground. What I want to know is why it took us over 18 months to realise that playing a long-ball game will not work for a team composed of short footballers – Archie especially. How could he possible win a physical and height battle against defenders in their mid-twenties, fit and over six feet in height. Is it really that hard to use simple logic?
‘
OPTION ONE: try and make a 50 yard, pin-point precision pass and only 5% error will result in a turn-over of possession to physically overwhelmed strikers.
‘
OPTION TWO: Play the ball no longer than 15 yards inside the opposition half which allows for up to 25% error and we will still have possession, equiped with some of the top footballers (midfielders) in Australia’s history including Kewell and Carlos.
‘
Simple.
‘
Stating that playing Jeggo was correct is a wise observation. Justifiably, Magilton left Broxham and Brebner (on a red) out of the squad and played the younger footballers. Our future. We have to play them sometime, or we will have a team of 35+ year olds that can barely walk, then when we want to bring on the fresh new talent, we have completely no experience to build on.
‘
Well, it ended in a great night, winning myself a pityful sum of cash and Melbouren Victory finally showing some class. I’m hoping this can be the first stepping stone into a long-term run of success and we once again enjoy looking down upon the other nine clubs below us as we sit defiantly at the peak of the table (within the next 12-18 months).
‘
Great read aswell, Victryblogger, I’d like to add. Keep up the great work. It’s much appreciated.