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.
Josh
Guest
They didn't 'happen to stumble across each other', the Victory fans went looking for trouble.
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Didn't happen anywhere near the football, a few hours before the game too. Two rival fan groups just happened to stumble across each other in a Melbourne street, bored and killing time in a bar, looking for trouble maybe. Who's jurisdiction is it anyway, even though some were wearing WSW and MV shirts? Although it brings shame on the game, the clubs and the A-League, are football clubs responsible for their fans' behaviour all of the time, even when they are not anywhere near a game? .
Bondy
Guest
I'd hope the younger kids in particular the attacking types at Mlb Victory would be given more time with the seniors throughout the season. How to make a pro ? play them with Pro's .. A decent fixture for a season start Mlb or draw ,no win for Western Sydney ......
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Those CCV TV cameras take good clear pictures. No doubt some people were punished for that. Thankfully no-one was seriously injured. Lets hope the police and security guards are better prepared this time and the fans are better behaved.
josh
Guest
The proof is in the pudding Fuss, I was there the night in 2009 when your lot had to be shoo'ed away in Adelaide by Police on horseback. Some things never change.
clayts
Guest
It's funny. Before last year, alll you would hear from victory supporters was '...most successful team in history' Now we're not allowed to bring up what's happened over the last few years.. It's either that or, '...most supporters/members.' When that one comes up, you know you've won the argument
clayts
Guest
I actually agree with Fuss and langou about Perth being top 6 potential, but... HAHAHAHA The ole 'Perth were unlucky against the Roar in that GF.' If unlucky is failing to register a shot on target for the whole game, and only having two shots in total, then yep Perf were extremely unlucky. 38% possession too. Unlucky. And they had a player sent off anyway. If the penalty wasn't given, and the game went to extra time, Brisbane would have been $1.00 to win it. But yeah, Perth were unlucky
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
A kid who started watching ALeague 24 months ago, has all the answers.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I think 3 or 4 WSW fans were investigated and possibly arrested. Hopefully a one off.
Josh
Guest
It seems to be why Victory fans go to the football though, they fight with WSW fans, they fight with ESFC fans and they definitely fight with AUFC fans.
Kasey
Guest
Disgraceful. How many arrests from this? This isn't why I go to the football.
Kasey
Guest
You should be happy. For 9 years the Mariners have been constantly under-rated and year after year you manage to be there or there abouts. I can't see why this year would be any different?
Isaac Nowroozi
Roar Guru
I agree, clubs who are content with mid table finishes are the ones who stay there. With this expectation on Victory they have so much to play for. We should be bound to see an impressive and entertaining season from them.
Punter
Guest
Sometimes when we touch the honesty is too much!!!!
Garcia
Guest
Can't wait to see more scenes like this on Friday ;) Modern football is back, fight for your franchises you plastics
Punter
Guest
Very impressed with 21K members & very jealous, but Sydney does not have a membership culture like Melbourne, unless you have a situation like WSW where they have a limited stadium capacity. For example, last year MV had a 20K membership & a average crowd of 21K, SFC had a 10K membership & an average crowd of 18K. BTW Sydney FC has not had glorious recent success, for such a big club, we have not won a trophy in 4 years, that is poor.
AZ_RBB
Guest
By all reports, WSW were also on a pretty tight budget in our first two seasons. With the new owners, it's apparently a very different story.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Fair enough, Punter. MVFC just hit 21.1k membership & we haven't won a trophy for 5 seasons. Imagine our potential Membership figures if we ever can attain the glorious recent success of Brisbane, WSW, CCM or SydFc.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Their run has indeed been amazing; though do they have the smallest operating budget? I know the 'Nix and Adelaide are run on the smell of oily rags. The Jets must be on a pretty tight budget as well.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I've seen the footage and was disgusted that our supposed fans were involved in such an incident. It's funny, we always complain about heavy police presence and the one time they're not around, this happens. Anyways, I get annoyed with the speculation because it seems like people think that just because it happened once or twice that it will happen every time. I've noticed they still haven't told us where everyone is meeting up on the day. The NT picked their spot earlier today.