Nick Yallop blogs on the Melbourne Victory for BPL.

Last October, when Victory and Sydney met in round 10 more than 30,000 people flocked to Etihad Stadium. There were only 17,000 people there on Saturday night which is disappointing and would have A-League administrators concerned. If Melbourne, a team that has consistently attracted the most fans, can't muster a big crowd then what hope is there for the rest of the competition?

However, even Melbourne soccer fans can be fickle and Victory's stuttering start to the season has failed to inspire much interest. And that is fair enough. Melbourne has struggled without a hitman up front and has recently had three goalless draws on the trot, followed by defeat to cross-town rivals Melbourne Heart. That's hardly attention-grabbing form, at least not for good reasons.

So it came with much relief when Victory delivered a fluid performance and put away three much-needed goals against arch-rival Sydney FC. While Victory has won only three times in 11 games, which is horrendous by our standards, we are far from out of the race for the premiership. There is a lot of quality in the team and I fully expect us to be there at the pointy end.

Carlos Hernandez has had a woeful season but against Sydney he was in fine form. He set up Roddy Vargas' deft header in the first half and then scored one of his own at the start of the second-half (his first of the season). He has looked lazy this year, but his passing radar was more precise and he linked particularly well with recent signing Ricardinho.

With Archie Thompson still out, Hernandez is Victory's barometer. If he's on form, we are hard to beat. If he goes missing - which has been far too often this year - we don't have enough spark in the midfield to create goal-scoring opportunities.

Ernie Merrick is very fond of his veteran midfielders Grant Brebner and Tom Pondeljak, and they have served him well. However, I can't help but think Merrick should give Costa Rican Marvin Angulo a crack. On a number of occasions he has come off the bench in the final minutes and showed some quality and he would give the team a lot more creativity in the centre of the park.

Angulo would also take some pressure off his countryman Hernandez, who has been targeted by opposing teams and laboured as the lone playmaker. Why did Merrick extend the young midfielder's loan deal if he had no plans to use him?

Nevertheless, Melbourne has now notched three more wins than the reigning premier, Sydney, which is stuck on zero victories from 10 matches. The sky blues are in a world of trouble at the foot of the ladder and don't look like getting out of there anytime soon.

On Saturday night they shaded Victory on possession, but didn't know what to do with it. Other than a handful of fast-breaks, Sydney couldn't buy a path to goal. The only positive was Nicky Carle's return from injury. He looked a class above when he came on in the second half. If Sydney is to get out of this considerable hole, he is going to have to lead them out.

In Clint Bolton and Simon Colisimo - both of whom defected to Heart - Sydney lost two reliable, skilful and experienced players, but that should not be used as an excuse. The team that played on Etihad Stadium on Saturday night was missing only four players from the side that thrillingly won last season's grand final on the same pitch, so personnel is not the problem.

There is something deeper going wrong in Sin City and they'll need to fix it up quick smart if they're going to turn it around. One thing's for sure, Vitezslav Lavicka better start looking over his shoulder as Sydney FC has never been slow to axe the coach when the rot sets in.