Victory on the ropes as Sydney dominates

The Melbourne Victory found themselves on the wrong end of an embarrassing result for the second time in as many weeks as Sydney FC claimed a dominant 5-0 win at Etihad Stadium.

The Victory were never at the races in the match as the visitors coasted to a second win of the year against their southern rivals.

First half goals to Ranko Despotovic, Alessandro Del Piero and Seb Ryall sent the Sky Blues on their merry way as they recorded their biggest win over the Victory.

Tom Rogic picked the worst game to make his debut in as the on-loan Celtic man could do little as he watched on from the bench while his teammates were picked apart in the first half

After the demoralising 5-0 defeat at the hands of Wellington Phoenix last weekend, many expected the home side to come out all guns blazing and make amends for the mishap at Kiwi capital last weekend.

That wasn’t the case at all as a fired up Sydney FC showed their intent from the opening whistle and didn’t let up for the entire 90 minutes.

Sydney took the lead in only the 10th minute of the game as Despotovic got on the end of an inch-perfect Terry McFlynn through ball to fire off a low shot past Nathan Coe in goal.

A Del Piero penalty and a fantastic solo effort by Ryall had the fixture all but wrapped up by half time for Sydney with a flawless first 45.

The visitors didn’t take the foot off the pedal in the second half at all as Del Piero and Nicky Carle rubbed further salt in the wounds of the Victory.

Both second half goals came about mainly by some questionable defending by the home side, something that would have made manager Kevin Muscat even more livid at his charges.

Not for the first time this season, serious questions marks have been raised over the defensive line of the Victory.

It seemed as though every time Sydney FC charged forward they looked likely to score as the Victory back four had a torrid time trying to contain the likes of Del Peiro and Despotovic.

Missing regular starters Pablo Contreras and Adama Traore, the Victory were always going to struggle down back. Throw in the injury to Adrian Leijer in the 31st minute which threw the Victory into even bigger defensive headache.

The result left both managers perplexed after the game with neither man predicting such a heavy scoreline.

Victory boss Muscat predicted a heavy week on the training field this week to turn around their sinking season.

“Certainly no excuses. We simply just didn’t turn up. Each and every one of us need to have a serious look at ourselves. To say that was unacceptable is an understatement.

“It was bordering on embarrassing in front of our own fans.

“From here on in we need to get back to AAMI Park and Gosch's Paddock (Victory's training bases) and find out who really wants to play, and who wants to represent this football club.”

It was all smiles from Frank Farina after the game as he got a pleasant surprise out of the result.

“The overall performance was pleasing. The performance collectively was the most pleasing thing, I don’t think we had a bad player.

“I thought we controlled the game from the first minute until the end. I thought the result was a fair indication of the game.

“I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting five at all. I saw a performance coming.”

10 goals shipped in two games without netting one yourself is not a good look for a side that prides itself as a league powerhouse and considered as a threat for the championship.

It was arguably one the club's worst home performances, even further compounded by the fact it was against one of the club's biggest rivals and on a special occasion such as Australia Day.

The Victory are a club not used to mediocrity and insipid performances. Sadly this has been the case for the past two weeks.

Some serious changes need to occur in order to turn their stuttering season around.



Melbourne Victory: 1. Nathan COE (GK), 4. Nick ANSEL, 6. Leigh BROXHAM (C), 9. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10. Archie THOMPSON, 13. Andrew NABBOUT, 14. James TROISI, 16. Rashid MAHAZI, 23. Adrian LEIJER, 24. Scott GALLOWAY, 31. Dylan MURNANE

Bench: 20. Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 7. Gui FINKLER, 11. Connor PAIN, 21. Tom ROGIC, 25. Jason GERIA


Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC (GK), 2.  Seb RYALL, 4, Ranko DESPOTOVIC, 5. Matt JURMAN, 6. Nikola PETKOVIC, 9. Corey GAMEIRO, 10. Alessendro DEL PIERO, 15. Terry McFLYNN, 21. Milos DIMITRIJEVIC, 22. Ali ABBAS, 24. Hagi GLIGOR

Bench: 1. Ivan NECEVSKI (GK), 19, Nicky CARLE, 25. Daniel PETKOVSKI, 28. MATT THOMPSON, 29. Alex UROSEVSKI