Aloisi a forlorn figure whilst Farina sees the light

Light at the end of the tunnel; a phrase many of us use regularly and a metaphor that was used nearly daily two weeks ago when Frank Farina and his Sydney FC side were under immense pressure.

Fast forward two weeks and in his post match press conference on Friday night Farina was pushed to used the "Light at the end of the tunnel" mantra again, this time in reference to his Melbourne Heart counterpart, former Socceroos student, former Sydney FC star and current friend John Aloisi. 

Farina said he'd felt Heart had been unlucky this season and "aren't a bad side", which might cause many to scoff. After last night rightfully so.

The 2-0 defeat of Melbourne Heart in front of just under 9,000 fans at AAMI Park means things are looking grim for Aloisi. Its not very often a movement like the 'Aloisi out' chant that rang out from large sections of the Heart faithful end up being positive for the subject in question.

The Sydney goals were nothing to write home about, they had as much to do with Heart's lack of desire to defend as the did Sydney's desire to score. Del Piero scored a penalty after Joel Chianese was clumsily brought down inside the area by the experienced Rob Wielaert. The second was on the stroke of halftime when Chianese tapped into an open net, the Heart back four asleep at the wheel with Behich the chief sleeper allowing the ball to drift along the ground presenting Chianese with the easiest goal he'll score this season.

The under fire Aloisi is feeling the pressure and walked into his post match press conference a forlorn figure. It would have been very hard for him to not see or hear the 'Aloisi Out' banners and chants around the ground, especially when the stadium was three quarters empty.

The Heart boss to his credit was forthright, claiming the performance was not acceptable. 

"The performance was not good enough.

"I understand that the buck stops with me and the performance was not acceptable... I understand the frustration of the fans. They don't want to see their team down the bottom. The fans have every right to show their anger and frustration"

The answer that raised eyebrows the most was the statement "My tactics weren't wrong". 

Heart were unimaginative and lacklustre at best. Playing marquee player Mifsud up front alone on paper looks like a decent move if the plan is to get him in behind the line with the ball on the ground, that though didn't happen once and the set up didn't change. Heart alarmingly had three shots on target for the game. This was a side playing at home against a side who, last week aside, have struggled.

Sydney FC on the other hand have just turned the headlights off and put the sunnies on after reaching that point at the end of the tunnel where the brightness takes over. Two wins in consecutive weeks over the two Melbourne sides with games against current bottom four sides Wellington and Newcastle ahead of them puts them right back into the mix as title contenders.


Melbourne Heart - Redmayne (GK), Behich, Wielaert, Gerhardt, Walker (Mauk 77'), Kalmar (Ramsay 46'), Dugandzic (Mebrahtu 63'), Murdocca, Retre, Mifsud, Williams
Unused Subs - Velaphi (GK) Vrankovic

Sydney FC - Janjetovic (GK), Petkovic, Ryall, Bojic (McFlynn), Emerton (Jurman ), Naumoff, Carle, Del Piero, Chianese (Yau), Abbas, Garcia.
Unused Subs - Bouzanis (GK) Urosevski