The job security of Melbourne Heart manager John Aloisi is once again under the spotlight with his side’s latest defeat; a limp 3-1 loss at the hands of cross-town rivals Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
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The stats for Heart don’t look pretty at all. Their horrid string of losses and draws has now ticked over to 16 games as they find themselves 12 points behind Central Coast Mariners in the last finals position of sixth.
Even more alarming is that they have scored the equal-fewest goals this year with nine and have shipped in a league-leading 21 goals as they cement their place down the bottom of the Hyundai A-League table.
Despite watching his side go down for the seventh time this year, a visibly irritated Aloisi was adamant he is the right man for the job.
“If we were getting killed and I thought I was not good enough for the job I would put my hand up, but, we’ve got a team that can beat anyone in this league.”
“If the board don’t think I am good enough to take this club forward than they will decide. At the moment, I think that I’m the man for the job. I will try my hardest to bring this club to where I think it should be.”
This is not the first time Aloisi’s coaching credentials have been put under the spotlight. In only his second year as a first team manager, the former Socceroo now has the unenviable task of lifting a team that is down on spirit and form to drag them off the foot of the table.
Not only did the Twitter hashtag ‘#AloisiOut’ gain even more legs last night, cries of “You’re Getting Sacked In The Morning” bellowed out from the Victory support end as they looked to take joy in the worsening situation Heart and their manager find themselves in.
If Aloisi was looking at this match to turn his season around that hope all but ended in the 20th minute as defender Patrick Kisnorbo was given his marching orders for a studs up tackle on Connor Pain just inches form the penalty box.
Heart had enjoyed a prosperous start to the match prior to the red card as they controlled much of the early possession.
But it all counted for nothing as Victory took advantage of being a player up at the 38 minute mark as a mis-cued Andrew Redmayne clearance made its way to Mitch Nichols who opened the scoring in the 11th installment of the Melbourne Derby.
Victory keeper Nathan Coe came out to gather a Heart free-kick but managed to make a mess of it as his clearance went straight to Kalmar’s face and in for a goal he knew very little about.
For Aloisi the time for talking is over. Time and time again this season he has bemoaned his sides luck in games as Heart have found creative and new ways to throw away games of football.
Every time Aloisi is asked if if he is the right man for the Heart job or if he will stand down from his post he seems bemused as to why the question was asked in the first place.
It has been a horror start to the season for the red and white. They have had a disastrous injury list to contend with as well as being shy in front of goal and susceptible to concede goals in defence.
As head coach, Aloisi is the man who is in charge to lead the Heart revival to turn their season around, and he needs to do so fast.
Heart face fellow cellar dwellers Wellington Phoenix in Melbourne on Friday night in a match that could make or break Aloisi as a manager.
A win will put his side back on track and give them something to build on as they look to resurrect the year. Another loss then it could well mean curtains for Aloisi and his tenure as coach of Melbourne Heart.
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