Melbourne Victory’s 3-0 loss to Brisbane Roar on Saturday night was a real eye-opener for the home side, who were quite simply taught a footballing lesson by the league leaders.
Goals to Liam Miller, Matt McKay and Dimi Petratos ensured the Roar left Melbourne with three points and a lot of questions to answer.
Adrian Leijer sent off again
This was supposed to be the season in which Leijer rediscovered his best form, having been relieved of the captaincy duties. As we near the halfway mark of the season however, Leijer finds himself at a crucial juncture in his career.
His sending off for two bookable offences was the second such incident so far this season, highlighting his clear discipline issues in recent years. He has in the past been prone to a rash challenge from time to time but they are happening more frequently this campaign and as such, is leading the league’s card tally with six yellows and two reds.
With Pablo Contreras proving to be a bit unpredictable, and Nick Ansell away on international duty, Leijer has left a big hole to fill in the back line.
It’s not the way Leijer would’ve pictured his 2013/14 season, and he needs to sort out his form quickly. Victory need him at his best, but there’s doubts as to whether we’ll ever see the sort of form that saw English Premier League side Fulham sign him.
Outplayed, Outlast
For the Victory supporters, every minute after Liam Miller scored that wonderful team goal was agony. What they were watching was their own team being completely outplayed in almost every facet of the game.
Brisbane’s transitions were spot on, and in conjunction with moving the ball around quickly, Victory couldn’t organise their structure fast enough to keep up their own pressing tactics. The Roar had players constantly moving off the ball as if in sync, and that in turn made Victory (and Sydney FC the week prior) look slow and static.
Of course, Victory’s line-up is not slow, but players like Mark Milligan and Leigh Broxham were being overwhelmed by Brisbane’s wealth of passing options.
All three goals from Brisbane were scored through passing moves, and the fluent movement that went along with it. The Victory players couldn’t keep up and became prone to committing basic errors such as letting men go or missing tackles, which allowed Brisbane to create the openings to score.
That sort of domination is what Kevin Muscat’s men have achieved against other opposition already this season. Brisbane however seem to be on another planet at the moment and have set a benchmark for the league with this performance.
There was one positive
Amongst everything that has happened this season, seeing Gui Finkler start a football match and play well was probably the most positive sight for Victory fans.
The club have been easing him into action, playing an hour per game in the youth team and a few minutes here and there off the bench for the seniors. Victory have done the right thing in being patient, despite frustrating many supporters in doing so.
While he only lasted a little more than an hour on Saturday night, his contributions especially in the first half were effective, creating the best chances for Victory on the night.
With Mitch Nichols currently hunted by Cerezo Osaka, Finkler’s return to the starting line-up is a huge boost to the team, and should fill the void if Nichols does indeed leave. If nothing happens on the transfer front however, it’s scary to think what sort of havoc he and Nichols could cause, especially with Troisi in the side to support them.