retired_suzannechua

He was considered the new Christian Vieri. Bahahah :p

retired_jgirl87

KUTGW mate. :thup:

Watch out for any advice from that RedmanJB - he's from the West and he'll have it in for the east coast teams.

I used to live in melbourne, but now I live in Sydney and they are the Victory's derby rivals.

retired_milla0225

oooh, I don't even live there and I have two 'enemies' already ! Seriosuly guys, your input is aprpeciated. I'm only trying to write a story about a game but nevertheless I'd like it to be as accurate as I can make it.

retired_milla0225

Wednesday 29th June and a better friendly ?

The game was the one we set up against Essendon Royals. But instead of a taxing game we were met with more of the same. One way traffic and an easy win. Vieri got two on his mini debut and the others came from Leijer and Danze. An easy 4-0 win. I’ll tell you more about these games when they are bit more memorable than one way traffic!

Final Score Melbourne Victory 4-0 Essendon Royals
Good to be home, but still not much in the way of a challenge

retired_milla0225

b]Sunday 3rd July another friendly and some selection headaches forming[/b]

On the Sunday we visited Fawkner, which is the side young Carl Recchia started with. I made some changes to the starting line up, with some of the ‘understudies’ getting a go, and as I made the changes I realised I still didn’t know who was going to start the first game proper in several of the positions. Here I tried Theokiltos in goal, though I am tending towards Galekovic as the ‘normal’ number one. And I went with Diaco and Aleksidze up front, though it’s likely to be Vieri and A.N.Other come matchday one. But it’s on the right wing that I have the biggest headache. I can’t decide between Lia and Kitzbichler, who got the nod this afternoon. On paper the Austrian would win out every time but so far Lia has shone when given the chance. Otherwise I am fairly happy with ‘who goes where’.

As for the game Fawkner provided a stiffer test, but one our defence and midfield coped with well, limiting the non-leaguers to only 3 off-target shots despite having more of the possession over the entire game. We only got two goals, but that was thanks to a good display from the opposing keeper. Diaco and Aleksidze getting one each in the first period. Kitzbichler did well on the right and was unlucky not to be awarded the man of the match title, that went to our young centre back Keegan Woolfenden who was to a large extent responsible for keeping the opponents at bay. All in all a much more satisfying experience, but the trouble is I had to put out a weakened side to get anything like a challenge.

Final Score: Fawkner 0-2 Melbourne Victory
As the song says: There are more questions than answers

retired_suzannechua

Everyone knows the best Aussie club ever is from the West. Only been around 10 years and we had been in 3 grand finals. Talented we are.

Although this season left a lot to be desired.

retired_milla0225

Wednesday 6th July – Saturday 9th July two more meaningless friendlies ?

On Wednesday we went to visit Heidelberg United and had another field day. I changed the entire side, all 11 players after an hour when we were 7-0 up. Two more goals and a 9-0 romp was achieved. Didn’t teach me a single thing. Other than Archie Thompson is probably the man for the spot up front. He scored 4. ’Mass’ Vieri got a hatrick and after the change Diaco and Aleksidze got one each. Heidelberg only managed one off target shot in the entire game. A complete waste of time, well nearly so anyway.

Final Score: Heidelberg United 0-9 Melbourne Victory
I’m beginning to get the feeling I’ll be totally unprepared when the season proper starts

The second game was at home to New Zealand’s Auckland City and this was much more of a game. Vlahos and Ferrante both had to come off injured, with Vlahos’s injury looking quite bad. And Glory Be! a goal against ! Auckland managed one shot on target and scored from it after a mistake by left back Leijer. At that time the New Zealander’s were two goals down, a strike each from Vieri and Thompson. In the second half another came from the sub Tadrosse and the final score was 3-1. A much closer game, but one in which our defence still wasn’t really tested.

Final Score Melbourne Victory 3-1 Auckland City
We found this one harder, but still managed to win it with ease

The bad news was that Vlahos’s injury was just as bad as we first feared. A broken leg and between 4 and 7 months on the sidelines. He was carted off to see a specialist straight away but it was going to be a long road back to fitness for the left midfielder.

retired_milla0225

Monday 11th July: Transfer dealings turn sour

Monday 11th July turned out to be a bad day. We had tried to sign a Malaysian left back by the name of Jalil. In order to make room for him in the squad we had got rid of Storey, out on a free. Well today was the day Jalil was due to sign but all we got instead was a visit from the Compliance Unit of the Football Association of Australia. We were being investigated for offering a bung !

I knew nothing about this, of course, but when I cornered him Geoff Lord, the chairman, looked a bit sheepish. ‘Now we’re in real trouble’ I thought,

retired_milla0225

Tuesday 12th July: Contract renewals

Mandy, my personal assistant, is a lovely lady. She’s aged about 55 (wouldn’t like me to tell you her actual age) and she has two daughters and five grandchildren. She also has a fairly encyclopaedic knowledge of what goes on within the walls of Olympic Park and it was she who told me this morning that two of my squad were into the last year of their contracts. I like the two lads in question, Daniel Piorkowski and Carl Recchia so I offered the pair contract extensions straight away. Neither of the lads wanted the earth so there was no problem in offering them what they wanted even if, in both cases, it was a little more than Aaron Healy, my assistant, suggested that we should.

retired_milla0225

Wednesday 13th July: a day trip to Tahiti

Indeed a day trip to Tahiti, and a game at their biggest club AS Venus. With the injury to Vlahos we are now very short on the left Tadrosse was going to have to play in the spot without much in the way of cover. In fact, if he got injured too we were going to have to rethink the way we played.

I rested some of the other players for this one Vieri for one, who doesn’t have to prove anything to me about his suitability to start once the season proper gets under way. Allsopp who is now struggling for a place, gets the nod in his space.

In the game itself two goals early on from Danze and Allsopp (his goal a side foot home after being laid in by Archie Thompson who drew the keeper) led to a bit of complacency in the Melbourne Victory ranks as the Tahitians offside trap frustrated our attacks. And the stalemate continued late into the game where a spectacular 60 yard drive saw Danze get his second and our third after he spotted their keeper out of position (a la David Beckham against Wimbledon, if you remember that far back). Thompson got a fourth deep into stoppage time to give the win a gloss we perhaps didn’t deserve.

Final Score: AS Venus 0-4 Melbourne Victory
Not as easy as the scoreline makes it look