2012/13 Season – Do not resuscitate
dis·ap·point·ment
1. the act or fact of disappointing: All of his efforts only led to the disappointment of his supporters.
2. the state or feeling of being disappointed: Her disappointment was very great when she didn’t get the job.
3. a person or thing that disappoints: The play was a disappointment.
4. being a Melbourne Heart fan for season 2012/13
Last night many Heart fans witnessed their season go by without so much as a whimper as Adelaide United outplayed them in every facet of the game. Sure there may have been a ‘soft’ penalty awarded to Adelaide midway through the first half, but the reaction (or lack of it) was the thing most concerning to Melbourne Heart fans.
Poor selection?
Heart fans should have been alarmed before walking into the ground when Germano and Gerhardt were not only left out of the starting XI but were not even named on the bench. We are talking about two of our regular starters playing in the clubs most important match of the year, yes Gerhardt was poor against Wellington last week but who wasn’t. Germano was replaced by our Dutch defensive midfielder Marcel Meeuwis, an unusual decision from John Aloisi considering Meeuwis had shown nothing in the last few games since flying out from Europe.
The match started off well enough with three genuine chances inside the first ten minutes, coincidentally all falling to Nick Kalmar. All three chances were wasted and within the first 15 minutes of the first whistle Heart players must have thought they were playing away with their lack of want and inept performance.
Little impact
Half time came and went; Adelaide increased their lead to two. After that any atmosphere went out of the game and that was reflected on the pitch. Second half substitute Fred came on full of life but was unable to stamp any authority on the game. When the final whistle blew 200th gamer Matt Thompson’s reaction summed it up best for me, he just sat there slumped over alone and devastated.
The last 25 minutes of the match was simply painful to watch, we created nothing of interest, Adelaide didn’t allow us too and it was akin to attending the season wake.
Everyone in the stands knew our time was over, another season of lost opportunities but 2012/13 had been different from other seasons. In our first two seasons I felt the club and supporter base had moved forward, this season we have gone backwards and are currently in freefall. On and off the field changes need to be made if Melbourne Heart are to be successful in the league. How long can we continue to tread water for in the competitive Melbourne sporting market?
The Melbourne Heart season can be summed up with these three statistics.
- No points earned from losing positions
- One point won away from Melbourne this season
- Worst performing team in second halves in the league
Over the next few weeks I will be looking at how Melbourne Heart can move forward and become the club that I believe we can be.
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The end of your post is really important. Hearts performance last night was insipid but not entirely unexpected. The last two months we have lived on the edge at home, without even looking like a football team away.
I think heart have some serious thinking now. It must be remembered when they started they were the anti victory – so many fans I know are heart fans because heart wasn’t merrick and muscat. Now with ange victory have both the crowds and the football. What does heart mean – there is a solid core supporter base but it is small and the efforts to expand it from the club are so slow – and that is without the counter productive decisions to sell all the youngsters.
I am pretty worried about where it is all headed tbh. Heart can’t rely on selling players every year to balance the books, and if they do the club is forced into signing the meeuwis or coyne type. That makes them struggle on the pitch.