As the Melbourne Victory players and staff prepared for their first of five consecutive games at AAMI Park, coach Kevin Muscat, equipped with new assistant Jean-Paul de Marigny, stressed the importance of taking advantage of such a favourable fixture.
“It’s an opportunity to try and build some momentum”, he said. With four home games during this period, and an ‘away’ derby to crosstown rivals Heart wedged in the middle, Muscat was confident of a strong run of potentially season defining results. “We’re looking for maximum points”, he declared.
Yet, as it was, Victory stumbled at the very first hurdle, going down to the Newcastle Jets 2-1. A brace from Nathan Burns secured the victory for the visitors, who remained compact and soaked up Victory’s dominance in possession, before making the most of their opportunities in attack.
When Muscat spoke of playing at AAMI Park, he said, “Teams come across here and certainly know what to expect and we aim not to disappoint”. If Newcastle flew to Melbourne expecting the win, the hosts certainly didn’t disappoint. Like a rose without thorns, Victory looked pretty on the ball but was not sharp enough to penetrate a team intent on stifling their opponent’s attacking force.
Lack of movement off the ball detrimental
For large periods of the game, Victory lacked urgency, only attacking with real intent in small bursts. When a goal down, the players seemed unable to motivate themselves to force an equaliser. It looked like a lax training drill – full of passes made between midfielders and attackers, but missing the killer blow. Despite the home side’s statistical advantage (greater possession, accurate passes and goal attempts), Newcastle for the most part looked comfortable in defense as Victory struggled to wear them down.
This in part came from the players’ lack of movement off the ball. Especially when playing out from the back, they seemed glued to the spot, marked heavily by their opposite number. The players made very little effort to create space, present for the ball, or use imagination when going forward.
Victory’s other problem was its inability to swiftly move the ball in transition, allowing Newcastle’s players to track back and organise themselves in defense after losing possession. Whereas last season Melbourne looked to play their wide forwards through on goal as quickly as possible, this season, with the same formation, they have struggled to do the same, especially against teams willing to sit back and defend. On Sunday, the inability to find a quick break was detrimental to Victory’s game. The visitors were forced into slow build up play by the Jets, often resulting in attacking moves breaking down before a shot could be attempted.
Does Victory need a striker?
As the natives grew restless the longer the game wore on, the desperate cries of ‘shoot!’ rang louder in the stands. Yet the team continued to poke and prod, carving up half chance after another, to no avail. And, when a shot did eventuate, it was often high and wide or straight at the keeper. Only left back Adama Traore managed a long-range strike on target, which was expertly saved by Jets’ keeper Mark Birighitti.
Victory’s difficulties in converting the numerous chances they create has again led to questions being asked about the need for a proper striker in the line-up. James Troisi, despite his six goals this season, has been patchy at times. The absent Archie Thompson has also struggled to finish off chances presented to him. Neither Kosta Barbarouses, Connor Pain, Mitch Nichols or Guilherme Finkler seemed to have their shooting boots on Sunday. All are talented attacking midfielders, but none have proven to be clinical finishers.
In his analysis of the game, Fox Sports’ Mark Bosnich was unwavering in his assessment that Victory will not win the championship without a striker this season. Is he right? Or is it a matter of hitting the training ground even harder and trying to click the system into place? It is an issue Muscat and the team will have to address.
Defensive errors also costly
When trawling through more of Muscat’s pre-game interviews, another significant quote included, ”The main focus is scoring goals. We have scored the second-highest number of goals in the competition to date and the focus is on scoring goals and creating chances.”
The Newcastle game highlighted two things: the attacking challenge is still proving difficult to unlock, and, with such a strong focus on attack, defense certainly seemed to have been neglected on Sunday. With all the attacking statistics skewed in Victory’s favour, it should not have lost. Yet, all it took was a skilful one-two play, and a muffed clearance, to ensure the Jets left AAMI Park victorious.
It’s not that Victory have necessarily been bad in defense this season. Surprisingly, they have kept the equal most number of clean sheets in the league. Yet the name next to most of these has not been Adrian Leijer or Pablo Contreras, but rather Nick Ansell. Incredibly unlucky to be dropped again after another solid showing against Central Coast, the youngster’s part time role in the first team squad has been the most fruitful. Only in one of the four games Ansell has featured in have Victory conceded goals.
Against the Jets, it was marquee man Contreras’ poor attempted clearance that led to their second goal. He has not had the happiest time in Australia, giving away penalties and stray elbows in various games. Leijer, looking solid in the early part of the season, has also succumbed to giving away needless yellow cards recently. Resorting to playing utility Leigh Broxham in full back, it is clear Melbourne Victory have not yet completely sorted out their defensive formation either.
With a five-day turnaround before the next game, Muscat does not have much time to get his team right before then. Thompson, if fit, will likely slot straight back in to the starting eleven. To ease some of the early pressure on him, Muscat will be looking to get this run of home games back on track with a victory over Perth Glory. Arguably unlucky to not have more wins under his belt, Victory under Muscat have been playing solidly, but will need to learn quickly to take their chances in front of goal, or pay the price.