#MHTvSYD

Last Week

Melbourne Heart face Sydney FC at AAMI park on Friday night in what surely will be a do or die clash for Heart coach John Aloisi’s career. The Heart failed to find the back of the net last Friday night against Sydney FC’s crosstown rivals the Western Sydney Wanderers, but will be hoping to be able to show some on Friday when they take on the SkyBlues. The Sky blues on the other hand will be hoping that last week’s result against Melbourne Heart’s rival Melbourne Victory, means a bounce back from such a horrible start to the season, but in order to bounce back they will need to beat Heart first. Currently Sydney are sitting in 7^th position of the A-league ladder and Melbourne Heart are last.

Both Frank Farina and John Aloisi had very similar predicaments coming into Round 4 of the A-league for season 9, but only one of them had the outcome that they desperately needed.

I was lucky (well unlucky in the case of MH vs WSW) enough to watch both of their games last weekend and I have to say Melbourne Heart were very unlucky to get nothing out of the game considering the amount of chances and possession they had in the game (58% vs 42% to WSW and 19 goal attempts vs 13 goal attempts to WSW). At the end of the day, however, it’s taking the chances and scoring with them that counts, and Western Sydney defender Cole took his chance with aplomb and scored the only goal of the match, Western Sydney won the game 1-0 in what was a very wet and windy evening.

Sydney FC on the other hand, played Melbourne Victory in what’s known as the Big Blue – the A-league’s version of the El Classico, and this game was like no other game I have seen before. In contrast to the Heart vs Wanderers game, this game was very open and end-to-end, at least for the first half anyway. In the first half there were, wait for it, 5 goals, 1 red card, 1 penalty, 1 deflected free kick, lots of good attacking play as well as horrible defending, all in the space of about 40 minutes. Both Tiago Calvano and Marc Warren unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) will be missing against the Heart as Marc Warren got a 1 match ban for the red card and Tiago got a 2 week suspension on an assault charge against Archie Thompson, he might also be out for a longer period after manhandling the referee.

Head – to – head

Played: 9 – Wins: Heart 3, Sydney 1, Draws: 5

Form:
Past five matches:
Heart: LLLDD
Sydney: WLLLW

Melbourne Heart

John Aloisi will be hoping that his boys in red and white can finally get their first win of the season as their season couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start with 3 losses and 2 draws. A goal surely must come from the heart on Friday as they have been kept scoreless in almost all their games so far this season either than the 2-2 draw against the Mariners in round 2 and what better way to find the back of the net than to play against a team that has never won at AAMI park. An early goal will settle their nerves and Melbourne must take advantage of Sydney’s makeshift defense after Warren and Tiago’s suspension. Melbourne also have the upper hand because of home advantage

Injury Report

Harry KEWELL (Ankle – 2 weeks)

Dylan MACALLISTER (Hamstring – 3-5 weeks)

Jonotan GERMANO (Hamstring - 3 weeks)

Jason HOFFMAN (Groin – 2 weeks)

Orlando ENGELAAR (Fractured Tibia – Long term)

Patrick KISNORBO (Knee – 1-2 weeks)

Suspension list

Nil

Melbourne Heart’s possible starting XI: 4-5-1

Andrew REDMAYNE

Jeremy WALKER   Rob WIELAERT   Patrick GERHARDT NYEMA   Aziz BEHICH

Massimo MURDOCCA  Paulo RETRE  Golgol MEBRAHTU

David WILLIAMS   Iain RAMSEY

Michael MISFUD

Sydney FC

A much improved performance from the already improved performance against Perth Glory (which they lost 1-0) two weeks ago, Sydney played very well on Saturday night considering they were down to 10 men for around 60-70 minutes. Sydney will be hoping another 3 points in Melbourne will re-assure fans that they care about the club and Frank Farina will be able to keep his job after his position was being scrutinised for a few weeks prior. The Sky Blues will be without Tiago and Marc Warren as mentioned above, alongside Rhyan Grant, Peter Triantis, Terry Antonis who are all long term and Corey Gamerio who should be available next week. Expect to see Pedj Bojic and Mat Jurman come into the side to replace the suspended players.

Injury Report

Rhyan GRANT (knee – long term)

Peter TRIANTIS (groin – long term)

Terry ANTONIS (thigh – long term)

Corey GAMEIRO (knee – 2-4 weeks)

Suspension list

Tiago CALVANO (2 weeks + more)

Marc WARREN (1 week)

Sydney FC’s possible starting XI: 4-3-3

Vedran JANJETOVIC

 Predraig BOJIC  Matthew JURMAN    Nikola PETKOVIC   Sebastian RYALL

Nick CARLE

Brett EMERTON Terry MCFLYNN

Richard GARCIA   Alessandro DEL PIERO Yairo YAU

Key Players

Melbourne Heart: Michael Misfud

“Maltese Messi” as he’s affectionately known by the Heart faithful is yet to break his goal duck in the A-league so far this season, but there’s no better team to break a goal duck than against Sydney FC, and with his experience and skill he is one to watch out for.

The 32 year old will lick his lips at the Sydney FC defence who have conceded 9 goals in the last 4 games. Attacking midfielders Ramsey and Williams are also excellent on the ball and will provide him with many opportunities and it will be up to him to capitalise.

Sydney FC: Richie Garcia

After claiming player of the year honours Garcia was unable to negotiate a contract that suited both him and the Heart.  Last season Garcia was a standout player but his form this season has Frank Farina wondering about another veteran signing.  Fortunately for Sydney fans and Garcia he managed to find the back of the net pouncing on an early Nathan Coe error and setting up the much needed win for Sydney.

It will be interesting to see the reaction Garcia receives after a standout year upon his return to Australia that saw him back in the Socceroos picture.  The Heart faithful can be unforgiving and Garcia should expect a hostile return.  This shouldn’t phase Garcia who had become a Wanderers target after a wild tackle and some interaction on twitter only a few weeks previous.  One thing we won’t see is the ‘Garcia’ chant which was a Yarraside favourite last season.

Fun Facts

• Believe it or not Matt Thompson has actually represented the Socceroos before, earning 4 caps for his country.
• Michael “The Mosquito” Misfud  is famous for scoring a double for Coventry City to knock-out football heavy-weights Manchester United
• Sydney FC have brought in 2 ex-Melbourne Heart players during the off-season, Matt Thompson and  the above mentioned Richard Garcia, should be interesting to see if there is any animosity towards them shown by the Heart faithful on Friday.
• On the other hand, even though Iain Ramsey never started a game at Sydney FC, he grew up and developed in Sydney as a youth player, only able to make 1 cameo appearance off the bench in the 09/10 season in the 1^st Semi-final leg against Melbourne Victory. However he found it difficult to break into the first team and left for Adelaide united the season after.
• Sydney FC have never won at AAMI park (but remember records are always there to be broken).

Final Verdict

I think this will be a close contest between 2 inconsistent teams desperate for points, with under-fire coaches managing them. Should be interesting to see how John Aloisi responds after last week’s loss against the Wanderers as I thought he was hard-done by. Both teams would love a goal early in the match to settle the nerves and ease the pressure so expect both to come out firing in the first half, especially as both teams are vulnerable at the back. Melbourne Heart will have home advantage on their side whilst Sydney will have last week’s win on their side.

Score Prediction

Melbourne Heart 1 – 1 Sydney FC

P.S I will be going down to Melbourne to actually watch the game at AAMI park so keep an eye out for me in the active away bay on tele! Let me know if you spot me!

The above images is thanks to @mrjimwebster