From wherever you choose to stand, observing Melbourne Victory is enthralling viewing. Some choose to see the club as a basket case, others view it as noble and ambitious or others choose to define it as inept, particularly at the board level.
With Mehmet Durakovic being sacked and the appointment of former Northern Ireland captain Jim Magilton as interim coach, now is a good time to take a holistic look at where Australia’s biggest football club is.
Truth be told, on the pitch is probably the worst place, closely followed by board confidence from fans.
Mehm may have preached a ‘system’ and a preferred way to play but for this fan and many others halfway through the season it is unidentifiable. Midfield cohesion and defensive organization have been the Victory’s infirmity for the whole year.
It beggars belief how a team coached by Durakovic and Muscat, both legendary defenders of Australian football, can be so feeble. Whilst they beat Newcastle the goal they conceded to the 10 man Jets was a perfect example.
Byun managed to thread a low cross into the box, populated solely for the Jets by Ryan Griffiths and made up of four Victory defenders. All were caught ball watching except for Griffiths who cleverly anchored his run allowing him to corral the ball past Covic.
Such an example is easy to find throughout the myriad of similar goals Melbourne have conceded throughout the season. Lack of organization of positioning defensively is an epidemic that must be cured if Melbourne are to improve in the second half of the year.
Furthermore the midfield continues to spit and splutter like a car struggling to start. Particularly the centre, which has seen countless combinations trialled.
Ferriera, Broxham, Brebner and Celeski have all taken turns whether it be anchoring alone or playing a more dynamic role partnering one another. Magilton will make need to make finding a way that works for the centre of midfield his top priority.
This will allow transition from defense to attack to be smoother but more importantly give attacking midfield weapons Kewell and Hernandez a better structure to play in.
Both do not have the fitness to be workhorse players. Hernandez is overweight and lacks hard running grunt whilst Kewell had a short pre season.
Therefore they need two central midfield players whom can cover for them but also win them the ball, distribute it to them thoughtfully and conversely give them an ever existing outlet to play the ball back.
It may seem like a huge task, but Melbourne want to be the best club in Asia. Partaluu and Murdocca play this role to perfection at Brisbane. The Victory must expect nothing less from whoever anchors their midfield.
Chairman Anthony Di Pietro continually stressed during the search for a new coach that a worldwide hunt had been undertaken. With all due respect to Durakovic who gave the role his best, it seems pitiful that he was what the board came up with.
Jim Magilton is relatively unknown to most here but what we do know is impressive. He captained every team he played at including his national team.
In his brief interview with Fox Sports he explained his philosophy to be a passing and moving one. This should give Victory fans a lot of heart.
Board member Ian McLeod, CEO of Coles and former CEO of Scottish giants Celtic can be assumed to be thanked for being able to get a manager life Magilton.
Whilst basically untried other than brief stints at Ipswich Town and QPR he is a young ambitious coach who preaches winning. He explains that he is confident of bringing optimism in the dressing room and to the fans. In fact he regards cultivating that type of positivity a specialty of his.
The pressure on him is immense. The Northern Terrace on Saturday night displayed that they, “want a team of 11 soldiers with a commander and not 12 losers”.
Hopefully Magilton laps up that expectation and mould’s his team into one worthy of being the biggest in the A-League.
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