When Harry Kewell stepped out of football obscurity for his first official press conference at Melbourne Heart headquarters last week, it was a telling moment.
Moreover, it exposed the club’s city rivals and Kewell’s former employers Melbourne Victory.
John Aloisi’s side have gone from strength-to-strength during the off-season with the captures of talented duo Iain Ramsay from Adelaide United and experienced Brisbane midfielder Massimo Murdocca.
Whilst the relative minnows were glowing with their marquee signature, Victory staff and players were casting an envious eye across the AAMI Park corridors.
With a seemingly superior squad Victory, have bigger internal problems to worry about. Fifth, eighth and third in the past three seasons is a mixed bag.
To be blunt, it’s not good enough for a club who carry a great deal of expectation and promise every campaign: the most lucrative sponsorship deals, largest match attendances, a talented squad and premier coach, yet Victory have failed to assert themselves in recent years.
They have been bestowed with the unwanted tag of ‘the sleeping giant’ or for others simply ‘the underachievers’ of the A-League.
One could argue the sentiment is incredibly harsh on a side that has two championships in the trophy cabinet.
The first success coming in 2007 and the second in 2009; but that’s part of the reason why people have chosen to berate the Melbourne giants.
Patience is a quality which wears thin nowadays, and quickly too, making this upcoming season for Ange Postecoglou and his team such a crucial one.
As the competition enters its ninth season, what adjustments need to be made to bridge the gap on the division’s two leading teams?
Even with the return of arguably the league’s best left-back Adama Traore and dynamic midfielder Guilherme Finkler from injury, reinforcements are needed.
Last campaign Victory were the league’s equal highest scorers with Central Coast, registering a total of 48 goals.
However, defensive frailties saw the side concede 45 goals during the campaign – the largest ever tally in the club’s history.
Their revered coach also endured the ignominy of seeing his side concede six goals in a match to eventual champions Central Coast – again one for the side’s history books.
Whilst Postecoglou has done a fine job in attack with his new employers, he’s struggled to replicate the same defensive solidity he showed at Brisbane.
His final and championship-winning season at the Roar saw the team let in just 28 goals. That’s a grand total of 20 goals less than what the Victory conceded last season.
Clearly an imposing defender is needed to bolster the centre of defence and aid the competition between captain Adrian Leijer and Nick Ansell.
Switching focus to attack, and the 47-year-old has a real cause for concern.
Last season’s Johnny Warren Medal winner Marco Rojas departs for VFB Stugart, and after leading the way with 15 goals in 27 appearances creates a sizable void.
Replacing his output will be a difficult task but one Postecoglou will have appropriately deemed his number one priority.
The signature of attacking midfielder Mitch Nicols could help ease his woes, after he excelled under the guidance of Postecoglou with the Roar.
However, the striking department is imbalanced and appears to lack a degree of firepower.
Veteran striker Archie Thompson turns 35 early in the season, and although the second-highest A-League goalscorer will be determined to find his best form and retain a spot at Rio next year, he cannot be expected to carry the bulk of the workload anymore.
It means promising youngsters Connor Pain and Andrew Nabbout may have to provide the inspiration in Rojas’ absence.
Whether they are capable of matching the New Zealand starlet’s contribution is highly questionable.
Victory could have the answer in renowned Italian Fabrizio Miccoli, who has been heavily linked for the available international marquee player spot.
The 34-year-old is the sixth-highest scorer of all-time in the Serie A and has enjoyed stints with Juventus, Fiorentina and Portuguese giants Benfica.
Eight goals and nine assists in 29 Serie A appearances last season is an impressive return, and there’s no doubting he could shine in the A-League.
A centre-back and a proven striker would go a long way to resolving Postecoglou’s issues and put Victory back into championship contention.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
http://www.gazzetta.it/Calciomercato/14-07-2013/seconda-vita-miccoli-ripartira-lecce-lega-pro-palermo-20775773747.shtml 2 hours ago as of 11:18 PM 14/07/2013 Just use google translate.
Damiano
Guest
Reports out of Italy suggest it's not a done deal, with Lecce in the lead to sign him. As far as i can tell Victory haven't made any official announcement, so its still a rumour at this point.
Ralph Nadeer
Roar Rookie
Where's your source Kane? According to SMH he has already agreed to join Victory and may play against Liverpool in a couple of weeks. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/victory-to-bring-in-their-own-italian-star-20130713-2pwpu.html
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
Aparrently Miccoli has just turned them down too. Uncharacteristicly poor management there.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"A nice team on paper and a great development side" Yes, indeed ... after Aston Villa (with Bozza in goals) had smashed ManUtd 3-1 at Villa Park on the opening day of the 1995/96 season, Liverpool champion central defender, Alan Hansen sagely noted on Match of The Day: "You can't win anything with kids". United went on to win the title that year. :-) If you want experience in defence, let's put Millsy back there. Rojas didn't score a goal in his 1st season at MVFC. In fact, he was even dragged from the pitch in NYL games, when playing in front of 100 people. I reckon this side looks even better than my 1st starting XI. —————Coe————– Geria—Milligan—Ansell—-Galloway ——Celeski——-Traore——— ————-Finkler—————– —————Nichols————– Pain—————————Archie
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I wouldn't be surprised if Milligan finds himself at CB at different points in the season.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
A nice team on paper and a great development side. Will it win the Premiership/Championship this year - I doubt it. Back line ages are 18, 20, 19 and 23. Galloway/Geria/Ansell combined have 23 games A-league experience. Can it hold under pressure and perform consistently through the full season without a hardened CD - again, I doubt it. Great mid-field. Creative. Good passers of the ball. No problem here. Front line, Archie will score his usual 10 for the season. Milligan will get 6-8 goals including penalty kicks. Where are the other goals coming from? Pain/Nichols combined have 136 matches experience and 21 goals between them. Not a great strike rate and Nichols not a proven front man. Celeski/Finkler attacking from midfield have a combined 135 matches and 6 goals. Everyone will be looking to lay off to someone else to do the scoring. Just my opinion. All will be revealed in due course but I still think we are two experienced players short of a Championship winning team.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Phil Disagree completely, although I wouldn't mind an more experienced Central Defender. My MVFC team - we need no new signings: ---------------Coe-------------- Galloway---Geria---Ansell----Traore ------Milligan-------Celeski--------- -------------Finkler----------------- ---------------Nichols-------------- Pain---------------------------Archie Outfield Subs: Broxham, Leijer, Nabbout, Stella, Jeggo J, Bru, Makarounas, Christlado, O'Dea
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
Fuss, You are a passionate man when it comes to MV and the NT but your passion sometimes outweighs common sense. There is so way any of the players - Pain, Nabbout, Christaldo, O’Dea, Makarounas – will take Rojas’ spot. For starters, Pain played alongside Rojas in most of his (Pain's) appearances last year so he can’t replace a player he was playing with. O’day is a midfielder with only 2 minor appearances in the middle of last year so let’s also rule him out as a replacement. Christaldo is nominally a midfielder with attacking capabilities who made 3 appearances last year for 63 minutes, Makarounas made 6 appearances last year for 119 minutes. Neither of these showed enough in their time on the park to consider they can step in this year and replace a 15 goal forward. They might make the step up and become regular first team players (probably starting on the bench) but to suggest they have the capability of Rojas’ breakout year is fantasy (noting that Rojas also failed in his first year at MV with zero goals in 24 appearances) Nabbout is the only one with the potential to really step up. He played 21 games last year, though he only started 7, so he should have a good feel for what it is all about. Unfortunately for my money he doesn’t have the engine to keep going for a full 90 minutes. In fact he starts to flag after 20-25 minutes and really doesn’t go looking for the ball much after that. This season will determine if he is going to be a solid first team player or just a squad player. Finkler and Nichols will cover the loss of Flores with no problem but who is going to get on the end of their work? I’m with Adrian. MVFC need another goal scorer. You can hang your hopes on Nabbout but I’d rather cover my bases with the addition of a proven player that allows Pain, Christaldo, Nabbout and Makarounas to continue to develop. Defence is a similar problem. MVFC leaked goals last year, and we leaked goals even when Traore was playing so having him back doesn’t cover the leaks. Your concession that central defence is troublesome is correct. As you said “If Leijer finds form …” it’s a big IF !!!! Leijer hasn’t had form since Muscat retired. I’d be looking for a defensive replacement for him ASAP because he is the weak link and he provides no leadership for what is a very youthful defence in the wide positions that has great potential but needs some steel and experience to guide it. Cheers, Philip
TomC
Roar Guru
I think our squad is looking okay with two months to go. I'm not sure a CB is the key recruiting priority at this stage, although I appear to be in the minority. I reckon Leijer and Ansell is a pretty good starting centre-half combination, even if Leijer had a down season in 2012-13.
Adrian Houghton
Roar Guru
Kellet – all good mate. You mean’t no harm by your question! Thanks for the kind words and I look forward to engaging in some incisive debate during my tenure with The Roar
Cameron
Roar Guru
What are you on about? I was just asking a simple question.
Tom Jones
Guest
Kellett - how did you so quickly elevate yourself to Guru? based on what criteria? not accepting other's opinions? i recall you wrote a few articles and then you 'elevated' yourself. like being in scouts. a bit childish.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Fair enough mate. Was just curious, I just don't see that happen often on here. Maybe its my poor timing? Anyways, welcome to TheRoar Adrian. .
Football United
Roar Pro
leijer has been an absolute donkey in the last two games and most of last season. Ansell and Geria should start as they are actually defensively solid and play out the back comfortably.
fadida
Guest
Agree with you there Adrian. MV are clearly short of quality in defence and while the group of young attackers MV have show great potential they are replacing Rojas who was actually delivering goals. As it was MV still looked at least one attacker/goalscorer short last season, and more than a little directionless if Thompson was absent. My expectation is they'll sign another attacker. How much roster (spoken in an American accent) room do they have Fuss?
Stevo
Guest
Bang! It's Holy Writ that you never ask a question to which you don't know the answer :)
Franko
Guest
I personally liked Kossie, we got results with him and unearthed a few gems like Burns and Ferreira. He’d drive me batty with some of the guys he favored though, such as Ross Aloisi and at times the style of play was a bit dour. I believe he is currently coaching 12 year olds at Christian Brothers College in the city. If we have Elrich, I will be very happy, he’s very underrated. We have lost some good players over the winter, so need a lot from these new guys. Looks like Barbiero (who at one point was capped) is on a free and looking for a club.
Adrian Houghton
Roar Guru
kellet_1992 I have been writing football for years now with various publications and singlehandedly run a small profit football website with over 40 contributors. That's why.
Jukes
Guest
MV are looking very strong. They came 3rd in a rebuilding year which was in itself an amazing effort. Injuries definitely affected MV especially Gui, he is an awesome player. Traore coming back will also help. Not many glaring weaknesses. Need a striker to cover for Marco Rojas and a good centreback and they will be hard to beat.