Date: Friday 19 October, 2012
Kick-off: 7.30pm AEDT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Head-to-head
Played: 31 Wins: Melbourne Victory 14, Adelaide 10 Draws: 7
Previous encounter
Melbourne Victory 1, Adelaide 1, 13 January 2012
Form:
Past five matches:
Melbourne Victory: LLLWL
Adelaide: WWDLD
The Game
Ange Postecoglou's start as Melbourne Victory head coach has been a painful one. A 2-1 derby loss to Melbourne Heart, followed by last week's embarrassing 5-0 thrashing by Postecoglou's former side Brisbane Roar has left Victory bottom of the Hyundai A-League with zero points and -6 goal difference.
Victory will welcome league-leaders Adelaide United to Etihad Stadium on Friday night, a team that looks well set-up to inflict further damage on Postecoglou's team. While Adelaide will probably allow Victory the majority of possession, head coach John Kosmina has put together a dangerous counter-attacking outfit with imports Jeronimo Neumann and Fabio Ferreira adding some extra class for the Reds. The home team's struggling back four could be in trouble.
Postecoglou will be keen to bring Archie Thompson, Mark Milligan and Marco Rojas straight back into his starting line-up after the trio were on international duty last weekend. While Kosmina may have to replace central defender Nigel Boogaard, who injured his ankle in training this week but otherwise should have a full squad with Dario Vidosic, Sergio van Dijk and Zenon Caravella having recovered from injury.
The big issue
MV - Postecoglou would probably do just about anything for a positive result on Friday night. But one thing he will not do is abandon his football philosophy of playing the ball out of defence. The verdict is still out on whether Victory's goalkeeper, defenders and defensive midfielders can adapt to Postecoglou's tactics fast enough to avoid a completely disastrous start to the season and the fans in navy blue will be keen to see some improvement against Adelaide.
AU - Since Kosmina took over at Adelaide midway through last season, the former Socceroos striker has generally preferred Bruce Djite up front to Dutch marksman Sergio van Dijk. While the latter is unlikely to start in Melbourne having just recovered from a corked calf, Djite has not scored in seven games for Adelaide since an AFC Champions League match in April. Kosmina clearly rates the bustling 25-year-old but as the centre forward in the Reds' line-up, the question is how long he can persist with Djite while his scoring drought continues?
Gamebreaker
Iain Ramsay has scored three goals in the past four games for Adelaide and could be a real threat to Victory at Etihad Stadium. Victory's Matthew Foschini has been one Melbourne's players who has most struggled with Postecoglou's edict to keep the ball on the ground and Ramsay's constant pressure could force some mistakes from the home team's right full-back. Ramsay set-up Adelaide's winner last week against the Wanderers and his ability to create and score goals could mean another triumph for the Reds.
Prediction: Melbourne Victory 1-2 Adelaide United
Having dominated this fixture for so long, Victory must wish they could go back to the period when they won nine games in a row against Adelaide. Since then, however, the Reds have won three on the trot, followed by two draws and should go into this game with plenty of confidence.
While it is hard to imagine that the home team will fail to score for a second game in
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