They say you need to make your home ground a fortress in football. Teams should come to your stadium and expect an almost impossible task. In the A-League of late, that is exactly what the Melbourne Victory have done at Etihad Stadium.
Their 1-0 win over Sydney FC on Australia Day extended their run of unbeaten matches at the venue to 11. Coincidentally, the last time Melbourne lost at Etihad was in that very same fixture in 2014, where the Sky Blues put five goals past them.
In those 11 games, beginning with their 2-1 elimination final win against Sydney FC in 2014, Victory have won 10, drawn once and scored 30 goals – an average of just under three goals a game. They have also only conceded 10 goals, keeping five clean sheets in the process.
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The quality of the opposition should be taken into consideration with Kevin Muscat’s men playing Sydney FC three times in this period, Melbourne City four times as well as Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar, Western Sydney Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix. On top of that, two of these fixtures were finals, the elimination final of 2014 and the semi-final of 2015.
Not only were these wins against high quality opposition, and frequently with more than just the three points on the line, they were impressive, dominant performances.
As stated above, Victory score an average of just under three goals a game at Etihad – in fact they went on a run which saw them score exactly three goals in five consecutive games at the venue. In this run of games Victory have only been kept to one goal on two occasions; interestingly both of those came from own goals.
Victory’s dominance at Etihad is not just restricted to this recent period of time. From the beginning of season 2012-13 to Tuesday’s match Victory have played 22 games at the stadium and lost only twice with three draws. In fact, their overall stats at the venue make for impressive reading.
Of the 81 games they have played at Etihad, they have won 47, drawn 20 and lost only 14 times; Victory have won 58.02% of the matches played there, the best wins percentage of any team at their home ground.
N.B MVC A refers to games at AAMI Park where Melbourne Victory were the home team.
Melbourne love to score at Etihad, finding the back of the net 153 times and conceding 83, meaning they have a goal difference of +70 at the ground.
Being in the unique position of having two regularly used home stadiums means that runs like this which specifically occur at either Etihad or AAMI Park count for little.
Furthermore, when compared with other undefeated streaks in the league, this run of games seems about average.
It is nowhere near the incredible run of 36 games the Brisbane Roar achieved between September 2010 and November 2011, which included 23 games undefeated at Suncorp Stadium.
In two weeks’ time Victory will have the opportunity to go through the entire season without losing a regular season game at Etihad when they take on the Western Sydney Wanderers, stretching this streak to 12 games undefeated.
But before that they must contend with a trip to Perth after a relatively short turnaround – a taste of things to come with Melbourne’s Asian Champions League campaign about a month away from beginning.
Muscat will have a full squad to select from, barring captain Carl Valeri who is out indefinitely, as well as playing group who have a renewed sense of confidence thanks to their last two results.
Their opponents on Saturday night have been the busiest in the January transfer window and a few new faces are sure to find themselves in Kenny Lowe’s starting XI with some familiar ones missing.
The club has released the likes of Sidnei Sciola, Antony Golec and former captain Michael Thwaite but have made some impressive signings to cover these losses.
While Adam Taggart cannot play for the Glory until next season under FIFA rules, the likes of Shane Lowry, Kosta Petratos and Andy Keogh – who has been at the club for a few weeks now following his return – will all feature in the second half of Perth’s season.
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