A-League: Melbourne Victory’s Kristian Dobras sent off in draw with Phoenix
Melbourne Victory had a man sent off as they struggled to a scoreless draw with Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park, playing like a team under siege.
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Melbourne Victory enters Saturday’s pre-Christmas derby under increasing pressure, after dropping points at home to Wellington Phoenix.
In the end Victory coach Marco Kurz would have taken a point, after playing over 30 minutes a man down, but the German will feel he can’t take a trick in his debut season.
Fielding his preferred front four for the first time this season and arguably his strongest XI, Kurz lost returning attacker Kristijan Dobras for a needless red card.
The scoreless draw leaves Victory with two wins and nine points from 10 games, but the third draw of the season at least keeps it off the bottom and in touch with the top six.
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PRESSURE INTENSIFIES
Victory played like a team under siege, sitting deep and soaking up pressure at an AAMI Park ground, and against a team it is used to dominating.
Victory showed signs of potential and remained resolute, with keeper Lawrence Thomas’ 77th minute save from Liberato Cacace’s header the pick of his saves.
The game lost all momentum in the second half, as referee Stephen Lucas, who let a lot go in the opening stanza, seemed rattled and it led to player frustration, with Victory picking up an astonishing seven bookings.
In the end, Victory had just 36 per cent possession and completed 276 less passes than visiting Phoenix.
Victory finished the game with nine players in the defensive penalty area at stages, and often broke with few attacking options.
Kurz admitted the Victory players were bereft of confidence.
“I understand the fans, the second half wasn’t good from our side. The first half you saw that they’re not 100 per cent self confident in the way we want to setup and play. I’m not happy with the way we played,” Kurz said.
“It’s a hard challenge for us, for players, for me, for the club. But we have to work hard to turn it around and stay positive.
“We can’t be happy with the result, we have to be self-critical and we have to take it step by step to make it better. We still believe that we can find the turnaround.”
DOBRAS’ GOOD AND BAD
Dobras’ game epitomised Victory’s stop-start season.
His style compliments Victory’s gun front three – Ola Toivonen, Robbie Kruse and Andrew Nabbout - perfectly.
The pint-sized Croatian-born Austrian is dynamic, versatile, works hard defensively and adds bite to a Victory team that’s looked pedestrian too often this season.
On Saturday, he added too much bite, earning a booking just after half time, before earning a straight red.
For the hour he was on, Dobras added a nice dimension to a fluid front four that caused Phoenix issues, with he and Kruse’s interchanging proving fruitful.
The highlight was bang on 45 minutes, when a superb passage - Kruse’s superb layoff then Dobras’ strike from outside the area - struck the upright.
While a heavy reliance on the front four, with little overlap from full backs or one of the holding midfielders breaking, there’s enough quality between them to cause havoc.
While it could be argued that he should escape a booking as he got the ball first, it was a brain snap from Dobras considering he was on a yellow card – perhaps down to a lack of game sharpness or desperation in wanting to prove himself.
ANOTHER AUSSIE AIDING NZ
On a day that former Socceroos assistant and Joeys coach Peter Cklamovski was appointed coach of J1 League club Shimizu S-Pulse, Ufuk Talay – another who coached Australia’s youth teams – has confirmed himself as one of our rising coaching stars.
Talay had a slow start to his rookie season, filling the big boots of another Aussie Mark Rudan, who revived the club last season.
But by Round 10, he has got Phoenix humming and looking like a fluent, watchable team.
A settled XI helps and he’s found some gems, with the talented but injury-prone Socceroos-capped defender Luke DeVere relishing his new opportunity and forging a strong partnership with former Newcastle United stopper Steven Taylor.
Then there’s the kids. Melbourne-born and bred Olyroo Reno Piscopo improving with every game, and feisty midfielder Cameron Devlin, who he brought with him from Sydney FC, gave as good as he got in a feisty clash.
MELBOURNE VICTORY 0 WELLINGTON PHOENIX 0 at AAMI Park
Crowd: 12,023
Victory (4-2-3-1): Thomas; Lesiotis, Donachie, Broxham, Traore; Basha (Barnett 75), Poulsen; Nabbout (Kamsoba 86), Dobras, Kruse (Roux 90+3); Toivonen.
Wellington (4-2-3-1): Marinovic; Payne, Taylor, DeVere, Cacace; Devlin, Steinmann (Waine 86); Sotirio (McCowatt 80), Davilla, Piscopo (Hooper 69); Ball.
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Red cards: Dobras 60.
DAVUTOVIC’S MAN OF THE MATCH
ROBBIE KRUSE (VICTORY)
While Phoenix outplayed Victory, Kruse was Victory’s explosive best and looked threatening picking up the ball running at Phoenix. He was too deep to do damage for the most part.
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