Week 2 – Dissapointment

7000 disheartened (may I say) supporters witnessed one of Melbourne Heart’s worst games to date.

Yes, the score line might not reflect that, but boy oh boy what a demoralizing sight it was.

It’s fair to say last week we deserved some credit, the movement was much more fluid and the build-up in the midfield actually flowed (at least a bit). Our first home game, was not much to be happy about – practically taking every bad aspect in last weeks game and transforming that in to a dismal effort in front of a home crowd.

What do I mean by “bad aspects in last weeks game”? WELLLLLL…

• Too many square balls in defense – leading to turnovers in possession
• So many back-passes which all ended with a helpless Roganovic hoof or turnovers, using Perth’s second goal as a major example.
• High, long and aimless balls to a very small compact forward line.
• Maycon – really has had no impact so far in the competition. Though in the Perth game the team gave him no chance. We’re not highlighting his abilities reverting to long balls. He can be a very good player when played right, and that was evident in small samples – he is clearly a lot better at moving the ball on the ground and showed that with some good distribution. I’m praying for him… And his credibility – come derby day.

With such a fast team, where was the pace? Our build-up in defense was way too slow and passing to midfield was almost always overdue. The passing at the back gave the opposition too much time to man-mark and position themselves, taking advantage of any mistake or miss-pass.

I think playing Thompson at center-back is a mistake, and especially when playing with an inexperienced player, namely Good. Good’s man of the match performance highlighted just how much potential he has.

Does anyone else think Marrone was made for a right midfield position? I guess we have too much cover in that position already, so just ignore that. Marrone again showed why he almost signed a contract with a team in one of the best leagues in the world, the Italian Serie A. Easily one of our most consistent players, Marrone made long strides down the wing and was one of our only revenue’s in attack – losing our creative midfielder Fred early in the first half. Although Marrone did lose some flair to the end of the game, and gave away the ball to easily.

Let’s not get carried away with everything bad about the day – in fact it was quite a nice day!

First of all, our moments of brilliance in the game showed loads of potential and it’s only a matter of time when we can extract that and put it to good use. Williams’ goal sent the crowd in to raptures, and it was awesome to experience that atmosphere again. The attendance was commendable – a strong  and loud crowd of just over 7200 made their way down to AAMI Park on a lovely day.  Yarraside were awesome, as always, and the fanzine “Schip Happens!” showed how great our supporters are.

Let’s move on now and hope JVS has something up his sleeve for the much anticipated derby!

P.S. Get better soon Hoffy, we missed you!

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