Victory coach Kevin Muscat comes to grips with his side's second consecutive 5-0 defeat on Sunday. Muscat's team is copping plenty of criticism from fans. Picture: George Salpigitidis Source: News Limited
THE post-mortem from Melbourne Victory's worst home loss in A-League history has delivered a brutal verdict. Victory players have been compared to training cones while fans flooded the club's social media sites to register their disgust, including an unfavourable comparison between the team and an energetic streaker.
Despite Sydney FC beginning the match outside the top six, it had no trouble putting Victory to the sword in a 5-0 rout made all the more stunning by its unexpectedness.
Victory succumbed to the same scoreline a week earlier in Wellington but could bury the result as a one-off, a collision of Phoenix's good form and unavailable players. But if one loss was misfortune, the second went far beyond carelessness as Sydney made the most of a vacant Victory midfield and bumbling errors in defence.
Commentator Mark Bosnich said Sydney's task was "like playing through cones at training".
The brilliant Alessandro Del Piero was able to dictate the pace of the Australia Day match, slowing the pace to such a level that he could complete 90 minutes in decent heat at 39 years of age. But Victory's two 5-0 results were all the more confusing by the result that preceded it: a 3-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers without several first-team players that could be considered Kevin Muscat's best win as coach.
His tenure is now under the most scrutiny in his fledgling managerial career, with Bosnich scathing in his assessment.
"The amount of time and space the Sydney FC midfielders had in the first half was ridiculous," Bosnich told Fox Sports.
"I'm begging you from the bottom of my heart, change it around or you're going to lose your job."
Muscat promised a bruising week on the training track as he sought to discover which players "actually wanted to play" for the club.
That will start today as Victory's players were given yesterday off after completing their recovery after the match.
As the beaten Victory players went through their warm-downs, Del Piero was spotted across town taking in Stan Wawrinka's win at the Australian Open - a fitting celebration after the Italian's star turn at Etihad Stadium.
Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick is keen to have Costa Rican duo Carlos Hernandez and Kenny Cunningham back in his starting line-up for Saturday's encounter with Adelaide in Auckland.
The pair missed the 2-1 loss to Brisbane Roar at the weekend after being called up for Costa Rica's World Cup warm-up matches against Chile and South Korea.
Hernandez has been struggling with a calf problem and played 60 minutes in the 4-0 loss to Chile, but took no part in the 1-0 defeat to South Korea.
Cunningham played the full match against Chile and had 20 minutes off the bench against South Korea.
The pair arrive from Los Angeles this afternoon and will travel to Auckland with the Phoenix tomorrow morning, but Merrick will not rush them back unless they are 100 per cent fit.
"We've got plenty of time to help them recover. The thinking is that they will go straight back into the team," Merrick said. "But it will depend on how they are feeling and their health and wellbeing."
AAP
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