Melbourne Victory will not lift the A-League title this season. The Victory suffered a disastrous 3-1 loss to Perth Glory tonight and without some first-half heroics from Michael Theoklitos it could easily have been more.

To the untrained eye the team is six points adrift of a finals berth with six games to go and a crack at every remaining top four team in the run home.

However, the team's form is telling everyone that Melbourne is not even close to the team it once was and astoundingly in a season where the standard has dropped in this competition Melbourne has been the worst offender.

It's hard not to have seen this coming. The bottom line is most fans - myself included - simply assumed Carlos Hernandez would replace Fred and our strikers would remain prolific. Manager Ernie Merrick was largely forgiven for our loose tactics and team selections not supported by fans because the team was winning. However now it's just a complete mess with the fans eating their own and the club in constant damage control.

The solution? To avoid humiliation in the Asian Champions League the Victory must appoint a new manager. Will this happen? Of course not (or at least I am 99% sure it won't)  because sticking with Merrick through the hard times has rewarded the club once before. Another problem is there is no obvious successor for Merrick. Throughout season one it was Frank Farina who was dubbed as the man-in-waiting. Now names like Graham Arnold - the failed Australia Asian Cup manager - and "old football" Ange Postecoglu are the best fans can offer.

However our Asian preparations will be severely compromised by missing the A-League finals and an additional month of no competitive football.

The fans are understandably furious with just about everything. Team selections are the biggest area of concern. What of the "injured" Ljubo Milicevic? Will Kaz "the next Harry Kewell" Patafta ever get decent game time? How on earth is Matthew Kemp getting a game given he is at fault for goals or near-misses week-in week-out?

Until next time, try to enjoy your football.

Melbourne crashed to a 4-1 defeat in Adelaide tonight despite having a period of dominance at only 2-1 down early in the second half.

Adelaide proved far too strong in the end however, you can read the full match report here.

Travis Dodd, no stranger to scoring against Melbourne was the tormentor-in-chief with a double.

Melbourne fans will be far more focused on their own team, frustratingly bad through the midfield with Carlos Hernandez particularly lacklustre.

Ernie Merrick rang the changes from the bench but Adrian Caceres and Daniel Vasilevski proved ineffective while Kaz Patafta's small stature is proving a serious hurdle to him having an impact in this league.

Sound negative? It's just a product of the high standards Melbourne fans seem to be setting. After a frustrating opening five games of the year (all draws) it looked as though Melbourne had turned the corner with two straight wins.

Now the team must re-focus on consolidating its spot in the top four after this wake-up call defeat.

If it's any consolation Archie Thompson did take his one chance for the match well with a neat finish, but Melbourne just couldn't produce attacking chances.

After a reasonable game last week Matthew Kemp put in the proverbial 'mare against his former club, his night getting off to a bad start with a nasty challenge and then second foul earning a yellow card within three minutes.

Victory is likely to take a hit from this defeat and a home fixture against Perth next week is a double-edged sword.

On one hand, Victory will be facing the least talented and cohesive unit in the A-League.

But that will only raise expectations of a win - and Perth are notorious for closing Melbourne down regardless of the defenders at its disposal.

Until next time, come on Melbourne.