Congratulations Sydney

Although this year has seen crowd levels drop off from their stellar highs of the previous years I must say I cannot remember a more exciting race for the Premier Plate in the A-leagues short history.

Congratulations must be extended to Sydney for taking out what became a three horse race late in the year when Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney all showed that they are a class above the rest of the competition. Sunday’s match was a fitting conclusion to a wonderful season and we could do worse than have such a close race for the premiership every year.

Although Melbourne were without three of their key players in Kevin Muscat, Matthew Kemp and Archie Thompson I found it fascinating to watch how this game of the season played out. It was no surprise that Ernie Merrick sent a very attacking team out onto the park as Melbourne’s defence has been suspect all season and Victory were not about to change their “just score more than the opposition” approach.

The match itself didn’t quite live up to the hype but what was interesting was how Vitezslav Lavicka tackled the match. I thought he out coached Merrick by closing the space down in the midfield, effectively strangling the service into the Victory strikers. Neither Kruse nor Mrdja seemed to have the foot speed to make an impact in the space behind the high line that Sydney played and in the end this is where Melbourne lost the match.

Lavicka does have the Sydney team playing a brand of football that causes Melbourne issues and I must admit I was surprised to see Ernie Merrick receiving the coach of the year award ahead of him. They do not allow Carlos Hernandez and Marvin Angulo the space and time to showcase their wonderful passing skills and as a result Melbourne appears a little toothless.

This is not to say that Melbourne did not have their chances. I do find it amusing that the media today seem to have written off the Melbourne after the lost but they seem to have forgotten that Victory opened up Sydney on several occasions and Mrdja hit the post in the second half. If only one of those chances had of fallen Melbourne’s way we may have seen a very different result.

I am looking forward to the next two matches that these two teams will play out over the finals campaign. With Kevin Muscat back but Kruse out, I suspect Ernie Merrick will stack the midfield and play Mrdja one out up front. With Sydney full of confidence however it will be a big ask for Melbourne to turn around the current sky blue dominance.