Local teams struggle through opening rounds

By Robert Bremner

Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory have both started off their 2012/2013 A League seasons in an unconvincing fashion.

After seven rounds neither Melbourne team was placed in the top half of the ladder, with Victory sitting in sixth place with three wins, three losses and a draw. Heart, meanwhile, was languishing in ninth place with two wins, four losses and a draw.

The season began on October 5 with a classic Melbourne derby played at Etihad Stadium.  Heart proved the better side and surprised the Victory with a 2-1 upset. However this good start to the season by Heart was short lived as they suffered over the course of the next few rounds. Heart have struggled to score this season due to being unable to capitalise up forward without a decent striker.

Victory on the other hand have shown a great deal more than last year even without Harry Kewell and are playing with great attacking flair, which has seen them play in some very entertaining games. However, the great emphasis on attack has left much to be desired on the defensive end as the Victory has suffered some huge defeats such as the 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Brisbane Roar.  

Only the top six teams make the finals so both teams have a lot of work ahead of them. For Victory, they need to tighten up their up defence. However they have shown enough promise in the last couple of weeks to suggest they are on the up and should make the finals. The players are still becoming accustomed to their new coaches’ game style. Expect a finish in the lower half of the top six at the end of the season.

Heart also have a relatively new coach at the helm. Heart is struggling to gel together as a team. This is likely due to a number of players leaving last season and so the new players have not played together as a group. With former Socceroos star John Aloisi as their coach, Heart will be challenging for the title in the near future. However I do not expect them to make the finals this season.

In round two Melbourne Heart took on Wellington and came away with a 1-1 draw after leading at half time.

The following week Victory came from a goal down to knock off Adelaide 2-1. Victory is currently the only side to have knocked off Adelaide. Heart were outplayed by the Perth Glory 2-0.

Round four was a bleak weekend for the Melbourne sides, which saw Newcastle down the Victory 2-1 and Melbourne Heart go down 1-0 to the Central Coast Mariners at home.

Round five saw Western Sydney continue Heart’s losing streak with a 2-1 win. Victory got their name back on the winners list, holding off a fast finishing Wellington which came back from 3-0 down to lose 3-2.

The next round saw Melbourne Heart put in their best performance of the season so far to crush Brisbane roar 4-1, including scoring the first four goals of the game. Victory snatched a win from the jaws of defeat coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in the dying minutes. In one of their greatest ever comebacks Victory didn’t score their first goal till the 78th minute and completely stunned and silenced the Sydney crowd.

The following week saw Melbourne Heart travel to South Australia to take on the ladder-leading United side, with the Adelaide team coming up trumps 1-0. Victory put in one of their better performances of the season and showed that they are gradually getting their season back on track coming away with a two all draw against the highly fancied Central Coast Mariners. The first half was one of the best halves of the season and was raining goals.