“Why not us?” Victory hold out ALM hope but know they must lift
Melbourne Victory boss Arthur Diles admits that his side will need to prove far more decisive in the final third after a 1-0 loss to Auckland in the first leg of their A-League Men semifinal.
Down but not yet out, Melbourne Victory boss Arthur Diles admits his side will need to prove far more decisive in the final third if they’re to overturn the 1-0 deficit they find themselves in after the first leg of their A-League Men semifinal with Auckland.
A day on from Melbourne City putting one foot in the grand final with a 3-0 win over Western United, a 64th-minute effort from Logan Rogerson propelled the premiers to a hard-fought but deserved win at a sodden AAMI Park on Saturday evening, putting them in a strong position heading into next Saturday’s second leg at Mt Smart Stadium.
Despite jumping on the visitors early, Victory couldn’t convert this on-field pressure into that of the scoreboard variety and were soon ground down by a disciplined and highly organised Auckland outfit.
The hosts ultimately failed to get a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, with their nine cumulative efforts producing an expected goals (xG) figure of just 0.27 – Rogerson’s winner was worth 0.34 xG all on its own. Additionally, while they had 60% of the possession and 200 passes in Auckland territory, compared to 40% and 100 going in the opposite direction, they were able to record just 22 touches in their opponent’s penalty area, compared to the 27 logged by Steve Corica’s side.
Time and time again, Victory would work the ball into areas of the pitch where they should, based on the impressive individual ability stockpiled in their attack, have been able to fashion some decent threats on goal but prove unable to do so. In trying conditions, there was a sense that those in navy blue weren’t going to press the issue unless the stars sufficiently aligned and, amid the intensity of a semifinal and against a side that is best in the league at closing down space, clogging passing lanes, and sending multiple defenders towards the ball, this was never going to happen.
“It was a real tight contest out there,” reflected Diles. “We wanted to go at them. We had a lot of the ball but didn't create enough. When we got to their box, we weren't clinical enough, we weren't decisive enough. We got there quite often but didn't make anything of it.
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“That's a credit to them as well; they're very strong defensively, and you've got to give them the respect that they deserve. But we need to be better. We had a lot of the ball and in the end, we've got to create more and be a little bit more ruthless in front of the goal.
“Even taking more shots – not enough shots for me in the performance. And little details in terms of execution or decision making in and around the box. I thought we were positive with the ball. We tried to dictate the game as best as we could and were up against a really good opponent tonight that didn't give us anything.”
For the Victory boss, finding a way to manifest this improvement in the second leg didn’t just resolve around being willing to be more willing to let loose – shoot farken, in the Australian football parlance. Just as important was an ability to move the ball with more speed, as well as find players making runs in behind.
“There are opportunities there where you can shoot earlier,” he said. “But there are also opportunities there where you can play in behind earlier as well.
“There's many things we will look at. We'll review the match and we'll see where we can be a lot better than we were tonight in terms of the front third. But we've got to make sure that we were able to keep the ball again. Even though we're going there, it's important that we want to grab the ball off them and keep the ball, because the longer we have the ball, the more power we have.
“There's a lot of things, not just the shots there. There's little moments where we could have played wider quicker, or played in behind earlier, which doesn't let them set up in their defensive block. So there's a lot of things we can look back at and try to improve.”
Not helping Victory is that these improvements will need to be found across the Tasman, in front of a sold out Mt Smart Stadium that has rapidly become a black and blue fortress
In their first year in the A-League Men, Auckland boasted the best home record in the competition, winning eight of their 13 games and losing just once – 4-0 to Western United last December. Victory, meanwhile, was only the eighth-best road side, winning just five of their 13 fixtures alongside five defeats, with a negative goal differential of -2.
Nonetheless, Victory is Victory. They’re a club that almost thrives on being the villain, the one that takes the feel-good narrative and dashes it for their own purposes.
It was only last year that they went to New Zealand and ruined the fairytale season of the Wellington Phoenix and just last week that they ended Western Sydney’s 12-game unbeaten run and denied them a first finals win in nearly a decade. And then there’s that whole Heist in the Hunter thing…
“Yeah, well, someone's got to end it,” said Ryan Teague, who only a few months ago was close to best on in his Socceroo debut in front of 60,000 hostile Chinese fans. “I mean, I think Wanderers were unbeaten and we put that to an end. So hopefully now we can go into next weekend. Obviously, Auckland have had a good season, they're a good team, but someone's going to end it - so why not us?
“It's what you play for, isn't it? There's nothing better than playing in front of 20,000-plus people. I think it's finals football you want to play, and you want the pressure. I love playing in games like this. And now we have to come back from 1-0 down, but we've got the belief inside the club that we can.”
Indeed, himself no stranger to huge games against Victory, the Auckland boss was under no illusions about what was to come.
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“I think they'll thrive there,” Corica said of the hostile crowd awaiting Victory. “They already came to us once this season, it was a 0-0, but they played well in that game as well. They'll look forward to it. It's an opportunity for them. But also a fantastic opportunity for us to move forward and to get into the [grand final].”
In a major blow to Victory, however, they’ll also almost certainly be without the services of Brendan Hamill for next week after the defender went down in severe pain just past the hour mark, with immediate fears that the 32-year-old may have suffered a ligament injury.
A cloud also hangs over skipper Roderick Miranda after he was woke up with severe pain in his hip on Saturday morning that ruled him out of the contest, while Mitch Langerak will be in a race against time to recover from a foot injury – albeit, at this stage Jack Duncan has probably done enough to retain the number one role even if Langerak is available.
Additionally, Kasey Bos was seen leaving AAMI Park on Saturday evening on crutches.
“It doesn't look good at the moment,” Diles said of Hamill. “There's no clarity just yet but he was in a bit of discomfort.
“I'm not sure about the ACL but he's in a lot of pain. Hopefully, it's nothing serious, but we'll find out tomorrow.”