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 Victory 0-0 Perth Glory - Official A-League report

Another disappointing draw for Melbourne tonight in front of 31, 545 at Telstra Dome. Let's not forget what an amazing crowd that is, it seems that little bit less special because Melbourne drew so many fantastic crowds at the 53-odd-thousand capacity dome last season but it's still sensational.

What's disappointing is what I'm reading on the Victory fans forum about fans dividing between the first and third level and chanting against each other. Politics about chanting, sitting and not contributing are becoming a week-to-week issue with many diehard chanters infuriated by people sitting on level one and not contributing. There is no easy answer, this is Australia, you can't have chant police demanding people chant. By the same token the last thing anyone wants is the passionate fanbase being dissipated by apathetic infiltrators.

 On the pitch I'll confess I didn't see the game, too busy with a soccer awards night of my own - but from the sound of things Perth played a more adventurous game than what they bought to the dome last season when the Victory snared a 1-0 win in the last minute.

Unfortunately it sounds as though Daniel Piorkowski who is back in competitive action after a season ending injury last year is horribly off the pace. New signings Carlos Hernandez, Joe Keenan and Kaz Patafta are all cameo players for now rather than part of a cohesive unit. One thing is for sure, this team will either kick-start its season or get a wake up call against Adelaide United next weekend when we travel to Hindmarsh.

That is, if it's not a third straight draw.