R7 vs Melbourne Victory | Tues 17th Jan | 7:45pm | RoF

Wasn't at the game but on TV he seemed quite calm compared to his usual demeanour. Almost like he knew his team were well beaten.

In regards to the sexist stuff, yeah just take the high road as much as you can. Good on the people who told those making comments off, unfortunately you can't police everyone.

A couple of people in that game thread appear to have changed their minds. :) Seriously, for me as a stereotype, MVFC fans are like Collingwood fans in the AFL. They're brutally one-eyed, as opposed to the cheerfully one-eyed RBB.

I agree, we live in the 21st century, lets show more class and set a good example.  We are better than this.

It bothers me, some people resort to petty remarks like this. 

scoring from crossing and shooting from outside the box. Who would have thought? See ya Ernie

Hmm, not sure that's really right.

I think the changes have been subtle but significant under Green-buck.

Focus on defensive shape, we sit a bit deeper and take less chances at the back.  We are also prepared to defend a 1-0 lead.

We are actually playing wide attackers meaning that our full backs aren't the only source of width and play a bit deeper.

We attack from out wide rather than just through the centre.

No more of this false nine business, we have signed a proper centre forward after Watson had his chance.  I think it's really telling that Merrick never signed a true centre forward in almost his entire time at the club.

Parkhouse is not a fullback.

Only one of Bonevacia and Finkler plays at a time (i think those who were dubious about the Finkler signing may well have a point).

Those are tactical shifts and really changes quite significantly the Merrick model.  I agree with the original comment that this doesn't reflect that well on Merrick and he is unlikely to get another A-League gig although he didn't have the run of the green with injuries this season. 

In the plus column Tratt and Rossi are fantastic signings and a big part of our revival.

That sounded like a lot more than the less than 6k there.  Outstanding crowd noise.

That was awesome. Great performance and a brilliant win. Was getting worried when the 2nd just wouldn't go in and thought for sure they'd equalise. Didn't expect 6 points from 6 so far this week.

Well we have made one important signing in SMeltz.  I think we look a completely different team with Smeltz/Watson up top (although Watson is pretty limited so much better with Smeltz).  Lia is having a good season and I think that playing Kosta wider where he looks much more comfortable and dropping/playing without Finkler has actually restored a bit of that balance.

I still don't doubt what Ernie did for the club, and he built us an amazing team.

I am curious if Smeltz was a last Ernie signing too, because if so he built us the club for Greenie and Dez to lead to thump Melbourne last night.

Not trying to get ahead of myself as there is plenty of season to go, but last night was just an exceptional night.  The score, the team we beat, the goals, and the zone.  

Even if we turn to shark for the rest of the season, last night was a night to remember.

I thought it was reported that Smeltz was signed by Merrick or at least chased by him?

What. A. Game.

Felt like Nix of old last night - under lights, sliding goal celebration in front of the zone to seal the win, it was magical. 

The chants were excellent lads, loud and clear through the tv, all day.

So many good performances out there, where to start...

Has to be Tratt. Contender for signing of the season? Finally solved our eternal right back problem. I hope Ernie had a grin on, watching from his armchair, that is all him. 

Rodriguez, starting to realise potential, finally. Keep him in the lineup please Des/Greenie. If he can perform regularly like he has the last two games then he'll be a world beater. 

Bonevacia, a revelation since taking over from Finkler in the no.10 role. All credit to the coaches, I don't think Ernie would have made that switch, and it's made so much difference. 

Smeltz, so much work that went unnoticed, loving what he has bought to the side.

Krishna being Krishna (I'm still dining out on the fact that I said he would be great a couple of years ago, when he was being written off by all and sundry). 

Kosta still looked quite poor up until his goal, however he was involved in a lot of the play, so much went through him, and that goal might bring the confidence. I expect to see his form improve drastically from here. 

Rossi was excellent. What a defender he is. Berisha had nothing.

And lastly you gotta give it to that lino, that smile she gave Berisha for the offside call was so great. 

Credit to those in the Zone last night - sounded great from across the other side where some were on the bludge. Though it was interesting to view the match from up high.

As Greenie pointed out - we're now sitting deeper with a solid back four; a wide 5 man midfield and a striker up top. Threatening across the park and not as easy to defend when moving forward... not as deep as we were with a previous manager, but the change since Ernie is pretty clear to see.

The best thing that last night will do is build confidence in the squad and build competition - nobody's spot is safe, we have a bit if depth when everyone is fit and available. Who'd have thought!

All we needed was Normo, Feverish, Marius and Van Hattum in the Zone and that could have been 2009. Good times. 

Even if that is the case and must admit I had not heard that, he is the one who got us into this mess in the first place by not signing a striker in the off-season.  You look back, he inherited Brockie and Huysegems and both were allowed to leave and he replaced them over time with Watson, Burns, Sarpong, Blake Powell, Joel Griffiths, Appiah, Barbarouses...and maybe you count Finkler?

It looked like that perfect combination of cold but sweaty in there last night...

To be fair when I saw the photo I thought it was a "masty to a lino smiling as they give Berisha offside" joke as opposed to anything sexist, could be totally wrong though.

I liked that too. It was impossible for him to argue the point after such smile.

I am sure Berisha knew he was well offside, but took the shot instinctively anyway.  Some of the match reports say his "goal" was "disallowed".  This does not really tell the story accurately.

Tbf, as a lady person myself I wouldn't be offended by a cheeky suggestion that someone would be having a masty while thinking about me. As long as they didn't go into details.

I think that's fair. Any occasion that a goal against us is disallowed is positively orgasmic anyway.

I think the other big factor is moving to 2 holding midfield, which coincided with A-rod's return to full fitness. Lia’s not the most mobile player, so I think it gives us far more protection, and a hold of midfield with two players in there. But playing with 2 in there meant that the front 5 needed a slightly different formation and has pushed two normally starting players to the bench. Not that is a bad thing. Depth is good. And gives us a few options if injuries/suspensions happen.

I’d be interested to see how Finkler would have gone with the protection on two holding midfielder behind him, and a match fit Smeltz playing as a number (9)9. He might have to wait a while though given Roly’s resurgent form. 

Roly also defended well up there last night, especially late on he seemed to initiate two or three good turnovers - not sure you get that from Finkler.  Being able to bring McGLinchey and FInkler off the bench is a great sign for us

We did line up 4-2-3-1 v Jest 

Roly was not very good at DM which clearly impacts on how Gui can play at #10

I wonder if Smeltz has the legs to start on Saturday? Pretty keen for him to play I think he's been great.

I'd be shocked if his future wasn't decided already. He will be gone next season, I have no doubt about that.

I just hope he enjoys the last couple of months with us. I'm going to miss his play - he's far and away our best player. I've thought criticism has been very harsh on him considering the rest of the team were playing like sharke and he was out of position.

I have said from the start that Gui is a poor signing and I stand by that. He's too slow to function in our midfield and to play with Lia or Roly. He's also a shadow of the player he was 3 years ago and the league knows all about him already.

Last night made the trip down from Palmy all worthwhile. So glad I decided to come down. We were all absolutely buzzing at the final whistle and cheered the players off the pitch down by the tunnel. Bring on Saturday and hopefully a bigger crowd jumping on the bandwagon. I'm bringing two others on Saturday. Lets make it three in a row and another clean sheet.

Lets not forget that Roly has played this position before and wasn't great. Too slow at picking out a pass and constantly trying to play his way out of trouble (and consequently losing the ball). I think the difference now is 

a) he hasn't been playing well for a while so isn't marked so heavily by default

b) there is too much quality in front of him for teams to concentrate just on shutting Roly down

He has a lot more freedom to play his own way now, and doesn't seem to be getting shark kicked out of him every time he touches the ball.

Also having the option of McG or Gui off the bench? Best depth in the league.

Did I imagine it, or at some point in the first half, did Lia skin Rojas?

WHat was our last performance as good as that?  Putting 5 past West Sydney away last year was ptretty goodf although that felt more like just one of those days when everything went in rather than last night when we executed a plan perfectly against a very good team

I thought I should add just a few thoughts - the best comments have already been made by others so it may reflect those as well.

1) Benching Finkler was a good idea in hindsight while letting Kosta start did not backfire - I think he played better than against CCM so might be slowly getting into the groove, although is far from 100% I thought.

2) Roly seems to be a natural centre-forward and looks better there than anywhere else on the park - and while he copped his share of tackles none seemed too excessive, unlike last season.

3) I thought Smeltz  did one thing really well last night - he constantly drew away defenders from Kosta and Roly.

4) Victory were dangerous in the final third - luckily our defence was really great and they had a few truly waywards shots - but they seemed slow and somewhat listless overall, which probably contributed to the balance of play. 

5) We played CCM last weekend, they played Brisbane - might have made a difference - surprised Muscat did not rotate his squad.

I think these two, despite being subtle in how we set up, have made a massive difference to how we have played.  We look both stronger at the back, AND more threatening in the final third.

yeh- the drums will beat much louder for us to be kicked out if we start winning the competition than if we are in the bottom 3! 

Please, please someone show this picture to Roly!

Whatever happened to Marius and Cnut, haven't seen either post in a very long time.

https://www.yellowfever.co.nz/about

Well, I believe Ernie signed 3 or 4 strikers depending on how you count Krishna. 

He signed Griff, was important in Watson's development, signed Krishna and was important in his development and signed Smeltz I believe before he left. 

But the charge of tactical inflexibility is one that has stuck. We've played two different formations in our last two wins. I'm not sure how many different formations Ernie played, but the style and message were fairly similar. 

I'm fairly convinced that we would have beaten CCM and Jets with Ernie at the helm and got some momentum through these games with Mikey and Smeltzy coming on board. On the contra, it's unlikely he would have got such a strong return out of Roly and we might have shipped more goals with Parky, Doyle and Tratt playing further up the field. 

Not sure it's a done deal yet. I certainly hope he stays and plays at #10 in a 4-2-3-1

I'll add that there is playing out of position , there is playing like shark and there is also playing like you don't give a fudge which is what I was disappointed in Roly with. Have a look at our first concede vs the Jest. That's bench time for any player at any level.

Regardless Roly at #10 is already clearly a major positive. 

I think the attempt to have competition in the squad failed because of A) McGlinchey's injury B) a late realisation about where Roly can realistically play for us. It'll be interesting to see how the other players perform off the bench. No dishonour in being Ole Gunnar in a champion team. 

So is A-Rod playing more of a holding role than a box to box role?

A grudging hard earned recognition here:

"LOL Phoenix looking like dogshark all season long and then turning it on for one game"

http://www.melbournevictory.net/showthread.php?622...