Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick has confidently predicted rolling out the A-League’s best matchday squad for a grudge elimination final against the Gold Coast.
For the first time this season, the Victory are at full strength with an entire complement of attacking quality headed by Archie Thompson and Socceroo Robbie Kruse fully fit and in line for selection.
Last time the Victory played Gold Coast, United coach Miron Bleiberg slammed the Melbourne side’s tactics as brutal and intimidatory.
Merrick believes the most intimidating weapon Gold Coast will face at Skilled Park on Sunday will be come from his team selection.
“I think we’ll have the best bench in the league, let alone the best first 11,” Merrick said.
“It’s very tempting to give Archie, Carlos (Hernandez), Marvin Angulo, Robbie Kruse, Danny Allsopp – they’re all very tempting to start.
“We can put out a very attacking line-up, we’ve got a really strong midfield and our defence has been fantastic.”
Merrick can also bring back midfield duo Grant Brebner and Billy Celeski from injury.
But the most interesting conundrum is whether to elevate Thompson, who returned from a hamstring injury as a substitute against Adelaide United last weekend.
The Socceroos striker remains the club’s most potent attacking option, despite the emergence of Kruse and Allsopp’s impressive recent form.
Merrick was reluctant to re-open the slanging match which developed between Bleiberg and his club after Victory’s 2-0 win last month.
“Miron said something about him being intimidated, and I’m sad about that,” Merrick said.
“We’ll just go out, play our standard attacking game, and base our game on how we play.”
Gold Coast are without injured Socceroo Jason Culina, but regain strikers Bruce Djite and Joel Porter and defender Bas van den Brink from injury.
Both teams go into the match coming off defeats, though Gold Coast have won just one of their past five games.
But Djite said the sudden-death nature of Sunday’s finals meant the result was far more unpredictable.
“Form and experience is spoken about too much in finals,” he said.
“It’s all about what happens on the day and who is better.
“You might see a young guy who’s never played in the finals have the game of his life and handle it perfectly.
“You might see a guy who’s played in a few finals struggle a bit because maybe the pressure gets to him. You never know.”
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