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Melbourne Victory will claim their third A-League Premiers Plate on the coming weekend, excluding a major catastrophe.
The Victory can be seen as deserved winners in a season which will forever be splattered with controversy due to the Perth Glory salary cap scandal. Melbourne Victory have done what they had to do – out score opponents and gain the most points.
As result of this they now claim a piece of silverware, qualify for the Asian Champions League, receive a bye for the first week of the finals and as a result of the first position are now seeded first for the upcoming finals series.
How has the championship been won? Well, this has been done in a multitude of ways, but most importantly it has been won through the recruitment of new players and the performances of all the playing staff.
Firstly, the management of the team got the recruitment exactly spot on, the addition of seasoned A-League goal machine Besart Berisha as marquee was a no brainer that any fantasy A-League coach would understand. Then there were the not so well known players that came and made a massive impact.
Matthieu Delpierre was the rock at the back for Victory and has impressed with his expert timing for tackles and his impeccable attributes for heading the ball. Delpierre has won Victory games by himself and kept them in games. The Victory who have only lost one game in which he has started – against Newcastle in Round 25. The injury he sustained early on in the season could have been fatal to Melbourne’s chances, but as the competition became more congested Delpierre returned to bring solidity to the Victory’s defence.
Fahid Ben Khalfallah has become firmly a fan favourite in the league. While rumours have been churning around about his future, this season he has been a revelation on the left wing for the Victory. With five goals and nine assists for the season so far Khalfallah has been good, especially in a team where the goals are shared around. His general link-up play has been solid, as so have been his runs from wide left which allows him to cut in onto his more favoured right foot and create havoc.
The return of experienced nomad Australian players also helped in the form of Carl Valeri and Daniel Georgievski. Valeri – who has spent most of his career making his way through Italy’s Serie B and Serie A – has shown why he made a career in Europe for so long and why he has 52 Socceroos caps.
His expertise in running the midfield, breaking up the oppositions transitions and distributing the ball has been a key success for the Victory. Georgievski, Australian by birth but plays for FYR Macedonia, found himself in and out of the team during the middle of the season but has played himself into a starting berth at left back. His goal against Perth in Round 20 to gain his team a draw was one memorable highlight.
Secondly the management has gotten the best out the existing players who were already on the Victory playing list. The evergreen Archie Thompson continues to contribute with a total of nine goals this season in both starting and cameo roles. Kosta Barbarouses has played his part in the goal scoring with four goals and seven assists. Mark Milligan, Leigh Broxham and Nathan Coe have all played their parts with their experience in big games making a telling difference.
However the one existing player who has knitted this all together has been Gui Finkler the number seven for Victory. Finkler leads the league in assists with eleven and has also scored vital goals in the season at seven. Finkler is second in the league for balls into the box with 152. He also is third in the league for crosses with 144.
His two superb goals to win the game 2-1 against Central Coast in Round 23 were a standout, so was his double assist contribution in Round 21 against Adelaide United which ended 2-2. All these results ended up being vital to Melbourne’s assault on first place.
So Melbourne Victory enter the finals series looking for their third championship and with the squad that has been assembled the chances of them winning are real. The forward line of Berisha, Ben Khalfallah, Barbarouses/Thompson and Finkler, will strike fear into the hearts of opposition defenders. Coupled with the solid pair of Milligan and Valeri in the middle. With the powerful experience of Delpierre in defence, Melbourne Victory should be on song for the grand final.
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