Melbourne Heart: Home and Away

“What the flaming heck in going on at Melbourne Heart?” That’s how I see Home and Away icon Alf Stewart talking about the fortunes of the Heart when playing home and away.

What started off as intriguing is now far beyond a joke, it seems frequent flyer points are the kryptonite of the Heart and AAMI Park; A Fortress.  The last time Melbourne Heart won out of Victoria was in 2011, since then David Carney has had three new clubs and we have had three different Prime Ministers.

Under the tutelage of John Aloisi Melbourne Heart have never won out of Victoria, our lone ‘away’ win was against cross town rivals in his Melbourne Derby coaching debut.  The rot has well and truly set in, and an away trip to league leader Brisbane Roar will only contribute to the stats I found when looking at their appalling record.  I might be okay with these results if we were unlucky here, or hit the crossbar and luck just wasn’t on our side, but it’s the style of play Aloisi continues to maintain whilst out of our fine state.  On the weekend Perth had a scary 68% of possession in the first half, and we average just 0.38 goals per game on the road.  Any football fan looking at these two factors would agree that Heart need to rethink their approach when playing away matches.

Here is the Heart form under Aloisi when playing at home and out of Victoria. Matches have not been included for any of the four clashes against Melbourne Victory.

                            Home                                    Away

Wins                      7                                              0

Draws                   3                                              1

Losses                   3                                              13

Points                   24                                           1

Possible               39 (62%)                               42 (2.4%)

Goals for              24 (1.85)                               5 (0.36)

Goals against     18 (1.38)                               24 (1.71)

 

So what is the solution? It certainly isn’t the negative brand of football Aloisi continues to play away from home, but we must find a mix that is both responsible to the goals for the season and about what is best for the club.  No team can consider a finals campaign with this away record, and even if Heart managed to squeeze into the finals through an excellent home record it would only see themselves peril on the road come finals time.

I have pinpointed the month of November (and one day in December) as vital for the club, which included three home clashes and a winnable trip to the struggling Newcastle Jets.  I have already discounted the Brisbane game given the club will be up against the in-form club of the competition and without Kisnorbo and Kewell.

What should Aloisi do to break his away hoodoo?  Should he keep match preparation as ‘normal’ as possible? Or should he throw caution to the wind and throw his current interstate plans out the window? Surely even he can see they are not working.

We all know the current financial plight of the Heart and we know Scott Munn and his board aren’t flushed with funds, but why not change up the thinking a little and try something new.  The club has a nine day break between fixtures and the Hunter Valley would be a great place to setup camp a little earlier than normal, maybe acclimatise to conditions a little better and feel more relaxed going into what I see as a very winnable match.  Whilst I’m unfamiliar with the planning and preparation that go into an away trip I’m sure some things could be tweaked accordingly, especially considering I see season four as the most important in Heart’s short history.

If the away game trend continues, back to back Sydney trips could start to throw up a few different coaching scenarios at Latrobe University.

The club must succeed on the road this season and cannot afford to fail, either on the pitch or financially.  A strong start to the season and away hoodoo broken could just be the answer required for both John Aloisi and the Melbourne Heart.

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