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After a couple of seasons memorable for rapid rebuilding, devastating attacking play, naïve defending, goals galore, euphoric ups and eventual downs, only a trophy will qualify as a pass mark for Melbourne Victory this season.
If 2011/12 was Melbourne Victory’s nadir, and 2006-2009 was the zenith, the previous two years have been somewhere in the middle.
Finishes of third and fourth showed development and promise, with just that little bit of class and maturity between the navy blues and Australia’s top sides.
Kevin Muscat and his staff have set about rectifying those weaknesses in the off-season. All five signings – Besart Berisha, Carl Valeri, Mathieu Delpierre, Daniel Georgievski and Fahid Ben Khalfallah – are aged 26 or above, have represented their country, and, in some cases, boast UEFA Champions League experience. Muscat’s first off-season as a manager has been impressive.
While all five signings are promising and fill the gaps of last season, it is Berisha who has caught the eye.
A three-time A-League champion, the Albanian has a record of 48 goals in 76 competition appearances. A player who can be relied upon to score at least once every two games is a mouth-watering inclusion in an attacking troupe which has tended to shirk the responsibility of scoring goals.
Berisha is a winner, a fighter, and a manager on the pitch. He will lead from the front and bring others along with him.
Indeed, his arrival has meant a switch from the 4-2-2-2 experiment, first introduced by Ange Postecoglou and carried forward by his replacement Muscat last season, to a more orthodox 4-2-3-1 system which, in my memory, has never been used at Victory before. The possession-centric style of play will remain.
Berisha is at the pointy end of the line-up, supported by the dazzling Gui Finkler, with two of Khalfallah, Connor Pain, Kosta Barbarousss and the legendary Archie Thompson on the wings.
The midfield of Socceroos Mark Milligan and Valeri, who complement each other well and have struck up a solid understanding during the drawn-out pre-season, is on paper the best in the competition.
The key to improving finals pain of 2013 and 2014 is shoring up the defence, which has been ranked in the league’s bottom three for the past three seasons. Delpierre is key to that, as is the fitness and form or the promising Nick Ansell and his fellow youngsters Jason Geria, Scott Galloway and Dylan Murnane, who are all improving and will be better for the Asian Champions League experience they gained during the autumn.
The accomplished Georgievski and Adrian Leijer round out the contingent, who will stand in front of the inconsistent Nathan Coe in goals. The last line of defence may prove to be the side’s ultimate weakness.
The losses of Adama Traore – by far Melbourne’s best defender in his two years at the club – and James Troisi will hurt, but this is now Muscat’s team and he’ll mould it his way. Encouragingly, only a couple of goals were leaked in three months of pre-season action.
The decisiveness of the countless wins during the elongated pre-season (an adventure of its own, which has taken in suburban backwaters, interstate venues, games behind closed doors, and Cup matches against plucky state teams) has given immense hope, as teams such as Ballarat and Tuggeranong United had 10 and 6 put past them.
More to the point, Perth Glory were beaten 3-0, and Adelaide United, set to be a contender this season, were beaten 1-0 away. The only glitch was a 1-1 draw with Graham Arnold’s Sydney FC in Hobart.
It is cliché to have ‘the best pre-season ever’ every year, but in Melbourne Victory’s case in 2014, it is hard to argue. At last count the goal tally was something like 49-2.
What matters is this Friday, though. Victory fans haven’t seen their team manage a Round 1 win since 2006, and they will be desperate to hit the ground running.
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