Victory Views – Away to Sydney
It was a great weekend in the Hyundai A-League for all those involved with Melbourne Victory. Perth Glory, Adelaide United and Wellington Phoenix all stunningly dropped points sending the Victory to outright 2nd on the table, a single point behind the Glory. It has been a great change in fortune for Melbourne, considering they were sent 8 points behind Perth after their loss to them in Geelong. With 11 games remaining in this vastly competitive season, the Victory is many people’s favorites to take the league by storm and deliver a 3rd championship to their beloved fans.
ONE TEAM IN MELBOURNE
Saturday Night saw the Victory take bragging rights in the city of Melbourne with a convincing 3-0 win over their cross-town rivals, City. Melbourne was painted navy blue as Besart Berisha, Kosta Barbarouses and Fahid Ben Khalfallah helped sink an in-form City in front of 40,000 people at Eithad stadium.
Earlier in the day, Victory’s NYL side managed a remarkable comeback thanks to a late Jesse Makarounas double. With the game finishing in a 2-2 stalemate, Andrew Nabbout continued to stake his claim into first team football – whilst in opposing form Dylan Murnane unfortunately saw red.
EVEN ALOISI KNOWS THAT NOW
Monday morning sparked great news for both the Melbourne Victory and John Aloisi. The Victory were pleased to announce Aloisi as the new Development Coach of both the NYL and NPL sides. Kevin Muscat had much to say on the exciting appointment, “John is a highly respected member of the Australian football community whose experience and pedigree will add real value to our youth football program – his appointment is another step towards the development of our own football academy and we’re delighted to welcome him as part of the Melbourne Victory family.”
This appointment is set to fuel the already heated rivalry between City and Victory, with Aloisi being an ex-manager of the club.
3 GOALS 3 POINTS
The Melbourne Derby lived up to all of the hype as anticipated, well if you were a Victory fan anyway. City never really looked up to the challenge, continually giving up cheap possession in the middle of the park and delivering costly turnovers to the hosts. This left Carl Valeri and Leigh Broxham, who are in brilliant form to command the midfield, and easily set up chances for Victory. Importantly, Victory took the 3 points without playing their best football of the season – and again it was credit to the deadly attacking trio who stole the show. Mark Bosnich, Fox Sports Football Analysis and Ex Socceroo labelled the Victory attack force as “the best in Asia”… and few could argue with this considering how ruthless Berisha, Khalfallah and Barbarouses have been in front of goals this campaign.
ENROUTE TO SYDNEY
With both teams coming off resounding victories on the weekend, this round 17 clash promises to provide plenty as Melbourne and Sydney take part in the 34th installment of the ‘Big Blue’. The two largest clubs in the land, (on both a competitive and fan-based scale) are set to lock horns at Stadium Australia on Saturday evening.
As Sydney gradually begin to overcome their injury woes – both squads are set to feature near-full strength teams. A win for Sydney will lift them back into the top 4, whilst if the Victory manage to capture all three points it will land them on top of the table, at least for a short while.
SLEEPY JANUARY
The Victory remained quite throughout the January transfer window, as they did all their required spending over the winter window.
On the contrary, Sydney were quite busy in the transfer period signing 3 injury replacements for Ali Abbas, Corey Gameiro and Sasa Ognenovski who are all respectively out for the remainder of the season. Graham Arnold as bought in a host of international talent, with 32 year old Defensive Midfielder Mickael Tavares, Senegalese Centre Half Jacques Faty and Australian born Robert Stambolziev who plays out on the wing. Arnold is hopeful that the three highly experienced European based players can help push Sydney into title contention.
MILLIGAN RETURNS
French juggernaut Mattieu Delpierre remains the only Melbourne Victory player unavailable for the trip to Sydney. The defender has missed the majority of the season, however has just began training with the main group once again and is set to reappear in Victory colours within the next 2 weeks.
The Victory will happily welcome back, Captain and now Asian Cup winner Mark Milligan who finally returns from his 3 game suspension. Milligan was in the stands for the 3-0 derby win, and with many strong performances throughout the Asian Cup, is raring to lead the Victory into another finals campaign.
THE MONTH AHEAD
14th February – SYDNEY FC (Away)
20th February – BRISBANE ROAR (Away)
1st March – WELLINGTON PHOENIX (Home)
7th March – PERTH GLORY (Home)
THE TABLE
| 1. | Perth Glory | 16 | 33 | +8 |
| 2. | Melbourne Victory | 16 | 32 | +16 |
| 3. | Adelaide United | 16 | 29 | +14 |
| 4. | Wellington Phoenix | 16 | 28 | +11 |
THIS WEEKS QUESTION
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