It looks like Jim down South, sounds like Jim and according to those in the know it will be
Jim.
And while Australia Coaching stocks are at an all time high the Victory are unable to set a new
course or claim to be an innovative club if they take on honest, but still unproven Jim.
He dropped Broxham and Brebner from the midfield and that for me gives him a huge tick, a huge
insight.
Ahead of the match against Gold Coast United today Melbourne Victory have announced that captain
Adrian Leijer has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with an injury to his hip. A
statement from the Club read: "Over the past three weeks, Adrian began to experience severe
discomfort in the pelvic region, leaving
Melbourne Victory's first half performance was the best they've ever played this season according
to Coach Mehmet Durakovic.
Blimey!
I know the standard has been poor this season but best they've ever played takes the biscuit.
A flukey penalty gave them a 1-0 lead after 40 seconds and then after the usual huff and bluff died
down at Aami Stadium the Gold Coast started to turn the screw.
It started with Ernie - Mehmet inherited and added to the mess and now look where we are.
The Victory midfield has been a debacle since Fred left. His fast running midfield added much to
Archie Thompson and a younger Danny Allsopp's firepower but how many years ago was that.
And was the style sustainable in Asia - or even the A-League.
Three Melbourne Victory players in Adrian Leijer, Archie Thompson and Jimmy Jeggo have been named
in a 31-player Australia squad for a training camp in Sydney next week. Socceroos coach Holger
Osiek is staying true to his word on giving A-League based players a chance to impress and will use
the two day camp to
A good afternoon to you all. I'm sure your all in a buoyant mood today after the Victory's
brilliant win last night over Adelaide United. To clarify, United were undefeated this season going
into this game however they had lost to Melbourne in nine previous meetings. The Victory became the
first team to beat Adelaide this season and extended their winning streak against the ‘Inbreds'
to TEN consecutive games.
It has been a long time coming for Rodrigo "Roddy" Vargas but he now finds himself on the
cusp of a national cap. 29 years old Vargas has been selected in Pim's twenty-three man squad to
take on Ghana on Friday 23rd of May in Sydney and it looks like he may get a start.
Vargas has been a standout performer for Victory in its recent AFC Champions League campaign.
News from the Herald Sun today suggests that Adrian Leijer may be on his way over to England.
London side Fulham has offered the Melbourne Victory a deal for the defender. The money would be
good, according to the HS: "It could be lucrative for Victory, which will receive a tidy transfer
fee for a player [...]
Although last night's Sydney v. Melbourne encounter was hardly a classic, only coming to life after
the hour, it certainly had a rousing finish. And the reasons for the sudden turn of events were
interesting to consider.
Momentum and initiative are such important features in a football game, and a crucial part of a
coach's skill is to discern just when the tide is turning against his team, and react accordingly.
After a poor start to the season, we can breathe easy again. Two wins on the trot has put
Melbourne a point from first place, though the A-League is so tight this season that we're still
only in sixth place. But it's good to see the team hit some form at last.
With a third of the season almost done, I thought I'd pop in to share my thoughts on how the
mighty Victory are faring this year.
Rocky Visconte was the man of this match. Not because he was the best player, but because he played
so much better than he has before. Ange starting him over Issy added new Broich like movement to
the Roar on attack. For the first time in 5 games, Brisbane had a midfield that was always
searching forward, looking to beat the first defender and so drawing the second across and creating
space elsewhere.
Adrian Leijer has put Henrique out for up to 8 weeks. That is the headline. And he was sitting on a
yellow and he went on to score the winner.
But the byline is again the poor refing. The choice seems to be between refs that blow the whistle
for everything. And Strebre Delovski who again looked to lost control of a match.
Strikers Mark Bridge, Nikita Rukavytsya, Archie Thompson Midfield David Carney, Billy Celeski,
Stuart Musialik, Neil Kilkenny, Kristian Sarkies, James Troisi Defence Adrian Leijer, Trent
McClenahan, Mark Milligan, Matthew Spiranovic, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jade North, Ruben Zadkovich
Goalkeeper Adam Federici, Tando Velaphi The Offsiders Everyone is talking about the exclusion of
Burns and Djite.
After the hammering Bruce Djite got for his move to Turkey, Harry Kewell has followed by signing
with Galatasaray for 3 years. This must mean that the various Italian and Spansih talent scouts
gave him a big thumbs down.
It is a very curious move and it will be interesting to see what the financial inducement was.
Nathan Burns has signed for AEK Athens. Thank god it wasn't Norwegian side Brann Bergen and of course his mate Bruce Djite has aready gone to Turkey.
Good moves for our best young talent. They stayed in Australia, impresssed in the A-League, shone at times in the Asian Champions League and played a key role in getting the Olyroos to the Olympics.
Adrian Leijer recently gave up some time for an interview with Adidas Onside. In the two-part
"Access All Areas" interview Adrian gives us a good insight into what its like to be a professional
footballer in Australia as he talks about his motivations, experiences and challenges. All credit
goes to Adidas Onside on YouTube.
American Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman did a two-part, tongue-in-cheek "100 Worst NFL Players" on
Deadspin yesterday. And considering how much I love caustic humor I think we should make a list of
the Worst Fulham Players.
Pearlman uses the following criteria that we should probably adhere to:
The base criteria is simple: You had to have been a very bad NFL player.
Some of the players who will be on Olympic duty.
* Arsenal: Alexandre Song (Cameroon)
* Aston Villa: Brad Guzan (USA)
* Blackburn: Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand)
* Chelsea: Saloman Kalou (Ivory Coast)
* Everton: Victor Anichebe (Nigeria)
* Fulham: Adrian Leijer (Australia)
* Liverpool: Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Ryan Babel (Holland)
* Manchester City: Jo (Brazil)
* Manchester United: Anderson (Brazil)
* Portsmouth: Franck Songo'o (Cameroon)
* West Brom: Gianni Zuiverloon (Holland)
FIFA is having yet another meeting to review all that has already been reviewed so that the London
2012 games may be spared of a similar club vs country messi - ness.
