Heart coach John Aloisi ponders another loss, following his side's 2-0 defeat to Sydney FC at AAMI Park. Source: Robert Prezioso / Getty Images
THE boos were initially aimed at Richard Garcia, a former red and white star, but by half time they were firmly directed at current Heart players and the coach.
Melbourne Heart fans left AAMI Park exactly a week earlier frustrated but seemingly sharing the optimism possessed by John Aloisi.
Their side had lost to Western Sydney, but were impressive enough in general play and had created plenty of chances against a team regarded as the most defensively sound in the competition.
That goodwill had firmly dissipated by the time Joel Chianese tapped in one of the easiest goals of his life a minute before half-time to put Sydney FC 2-0 ahead.
It was only two weeks ago that the Sky Blues _ and their coach Frank Farina _ were under the pump.
For much of Friday night's game that same side comprehensively outplayed the home team.
A chorus of boos greeted referee Alan Milliner's half-time whistle and for much of the second period the crowd went relatively quiet, shell-shocked, much like the majority of the Heart players.
They urged their team on for the last 15 minutes as it peppered a Sydney team that retreated to defend its lead.
But they were soon rousing again to voice their displeasure after the game.
A chant of "Aloisi out" could be clearly heard at one end, a banner displaying the same words could be clearly seen at the other.
Even Aloisi was accepting of the supporters' angst.
"I can understand their frustration," Aloisi said.
"It's understandable because they don't want to see their team down the bottom and of course, with a performance like that, they've got every right to show their frustration and show their anger.
Sydney's Chris Naumoff heads the ball out during his side's win over Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park. Source: Getty Images
"I know what I'm like as a person and my players, they won't give up, they'll show that they've got fight in them, so do I.
"I've played in front of crowds that have done that before and been able to get over that."
Last week's crowd of 8070 was, according to chief executive Scott Munn, down about three thousand on initial estimates.
The terrible weather last Friday was a fair enough excuse for that.
Friday night's crowd of 8941 was, again, well below the predicted crowd of 11,000.
It might have rained all week in Melbourne but conditions were perfect.
The club requested to Football Federation Australia this off season that it be given bigger games, that too many Saturday and Sunday afternoon fixtures had counted against its pulling power.
Playing the Wanderers and the Sky Blues on back-to-back Friday nights are as big as it's going to get outside of derbies against Melbourne Victory.
On one hand, those crowds are two of the biggest the club has pulled outside of derby games in its three-and-a-bit seasons.
On the other, 13,752 turned up to watch this same fixture in February _ the first time Alessandro Del Piero had come to Melbourne to play Heart.
It is now abundantly clear that, regardless of the Del Piero factor, the capacity to grow the fan base further is hampered by a team that is not winning.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Boos sound for hapless Heart
Dengan url
http://sportifoclube.blogspot.com/2013/11/boos-sound-for-hapless-heart.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Boos sound for hapless Heart
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar