No doubt about it – the pressure is on Marco Kurz and Melbourne Victory.
Victory’s torrid start to the season is the result of poor recruitment, incoherent style and a lack of depth, compounded by poor execution on the park and slightly exaggerated by injury concerns.
Ola Toivonen is the clear stand-out – and it is affecting the Swede’s ability to be the game-winning star he needs to be.
Kurz is getting nowhere near what he would have expected from his midfield recruits, particularly the exceptionally disappointing Jakob Poulsen.
Migjen Basha was unlucky to score an own-goal against Adelaide United on the weekend, and has fared better than his Danish teammate, but has hardly inspired with his performances.
Not replacing the creative abilities of James Troisi in the middle of the park has looked a fatal mistake, which was a point driven home by the exiled Socceroo’s fantastic performance against his old club on Saturday night.
With such a void between midfield and attack, Toivonen finds himself moving deeper and deeper to both find the ball and play in other teammates.
(Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
It’s no surprise that the one time he found himself on the end of a quality ball – supplied by the returning Robbie Kruse – instead of playing it, he managed to get on the scoresheet.
Kruse’s presence will hopefully allow Toivonen to spend more time finishing than creating for others, but it certainly will not solve all the team’s problems.
The ineffective midfield, in both defence and attack, is a symptom of an overall lack of coherent style or structure.
My Roar colleague Mike Tuckerman fairly pondered how much of the blame A-League coaches should take for the mistakes of individual players or referees, but in Victory’s case, the problems are so widespread it seems hard to point the finger anywhere else.
Perhaps a period of transition was to be expected with the departure of Kevin Muscat, a man who has shaped the culture, identity and style of the club since its inception – but that can only account for so much.
Western United didn’t exist last season, but Mark Rudan has already implemented a definable strategy and style.
Victory’s opponents on Saturday night are led by new coach Gertjan Verbeek, but have played a lovely, attacking brand of football since his appointment.
Even when results weren’t going Adelaide’s way, you could see that Verbeek’s team was progressing each week and while there were individual mistakes which cost them points, the style of play was such that once the kinks were ironed out, the team would start winning more games than it loses.
And of course there is Melbourne City, who top the table under their new boss, Erick Mombaerts.
Melbourne City coach Erick Mombaerts. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
The difficulty with Victory is it’s hard to discern what Kurz is trying to achieve.
They don’t look to dominate possession. They don’t have any clearly defined patterns of attacking play. They don’t structure particularly well in defence.
It’s hard to pick out much that they do exceptionally well or individuals – other than Toivonen – who you think are capable of doing exceptional things every week.
And for a club of Melbourne Victory’s size, resources and stature, this simply isn’t good enough.
Nemesis
Guest
"Kosta is a regular 10-15 goals a season." Fake news. ALT-Fact Kosta has scored 10-15 goals in 3 seasons out of the past 10 seasons as a professional. Does 30% equal "regular" - not by the literal, mathematical, nor metaphoric definitions. Kosta has awful 1st touch & cannot hold the ball when he has his back to goal. Facing goal & running into empty space he's dangerous. I'm sure I've watched Kosta playing more matches - in the stadium & on TV - than anyone who doesn't follow Melbourne Victory.
Adelaide Andy
Guest
that front 3 is devastating on paper (nabbout,ola, kruse) possibly on its day the finest in the competition. However victorys midfield/defence (centrally) is very weak. Kurz is a great coach, he was working on a shoestring budget with us and had great success. Hes finding it difficult though at a 'big club' i think victory will eventually click, but by then it could be too late
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
I reckon Elvis has earned his place this season. He's been good so far. Yes, he hasn't scored yet, but if he keeps playing like he is, he will score and i reckon he'll get 6-8 goals for the season.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Kosta is a regular 10-15 goals a season. Elvis has never scored. Feel free to cut of your nose to spite your face
Punter
Roar Rookie
Yes complete opposite, Kosta scores goals & Elvis doesn’t. You keep Elvis & we keep Kosta, SFC will continue to dominate MV as the main aim of game is to score goals as an attacking player.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The real mystery is why is Bozza in tears over MV failing , Archie could not care less, even Simon Hill is a much bigger MV fan than Archie. Who cares if MV fail, they have hired a lot of rubbish, Muscat was in trouble two seasons ago though not with the quality of the squad but Troisi , Milligan and Berisha looking hung over and underperforming. That was fixed by bringing in Antonis and sobering up at the end of the season.
Greg
Guest
I agree but with one small difference, unfortunately kosta scores goals
Nemesis
Guest
I watch Elvis Kamsoba regularly. I'd certainly have him in my team before Kosta Barbarouses. He has better touch, dribbling, ability to protect the ball & is unselfish. Complete opposite of Kosta.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Elvis is a handy sub, late on and in an open game. His decision making and composure on the last 3rd is terrible though. He should be 17th/18th man in a squad, and not a starter.
Franko
Guest
I think it's almost all down to injuries. Kruse-Toivenen-Nabbout across the front three will probably be the best in the comp if they all get fit together. Then Kambosa takes on his rightful role as 70th minute sub running at fatigued defenders and Corey Brown goes back to doing whatever he was doing before.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Agree totally re quality of the league. It's underrated. Basha was in Serie A 2 seasons ago, and in Greece left season. Is he better than Brattan, O'Neill, D'Ariggo and a host of other Australian A-lreague midfielders?
HR
Roar Rookie
Yep. There were a few kinks to iron out at the beginning of the season, but even when we weren't winning games we looked good (the game against Sydney was competitive), and now the setup is delivering attractive, attacking football (and another FFA Cup win).
Fadida
Roar Rookie
You just can't see where a string of wins will come from, particularly with that midfield
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Victory has four new foreign signings, all either underperforming or injured. Very few foreigners hit the ground running in the A-League, let alone 4 all at once, and in the same team, and with a new coach. It will take time but I reckon Victory will improve a fair bit soonish. On another point, some of the comments on Kamsoba seem a bit harsh - he might struggle to score but he does add speed and vigour to Victory's attack.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
That’s a nice summary thanks. I take it you are happy with the current set up though and your fears have been laid to rest?
r0bsta
Roar Rookie
He took over half a team, which doesn't help in terms of coherence, but which should have (but may not have) given him the opportunity to bring in the sort of players he wanted.
HR
Roar Rookie
As an AUFC fan rather than a particularly studious observer of the game, I would make the following observations regarding Kurz: 1) His contract wasn’t renewed because the new club owners are from the Netherlands, and wanted to employ a Dutch coach. There was a fair bit of consternation among fans here about the appointment, and the choice not to renew Kurz’s contract. 2) I would consider his time at the club a success – the team won an FFA Cup during his tenure, and I think he deserves a fair bit of credit for their performance in the latter half of the 2018-19 season, particularly the never-say-die approach in the semi-final against Perth (so he seemed to be a good coach in knock-out competitions in particular). He might not have played the junior members of the squad that often, but he got a lot out of a group that wasn’t particularly well-regarded. 3) He’s a pretty combative coach – I would think he’s a similar type of coach to Muscat, so if that’s what MVFC were aiming for, he seems like a good choice. Whether they were right in aiming for the same kind of coach is a different question – if you’re trying to replace a favourite son like Muscat, do you aim for continuity of style, or do you choose a completely different type of coach to challenge the players and build their capacity?
Nemesis
Guest
Biggest clubs, with the most revenue, most sponsors, most ticket sales, most season ticket holders don't automatically win the trophy every year. Manchester United is struggling in recent years. Liverpool hasn't won the English title since for nearly 30 years. AC Milan has been struggling for a while. Of course Victory should be challenging every year. Maybe, they will challenge this year. No trophies are handed out after 7 matches in a 26 match season.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Agreed but for some reason due to a perception that MV is the biggest and the best as they have more members than anyone else, all we ever hear is they should be at the top....exactly what we hear about Manchester United and often about Real Madrid.
Nemesis
Guest
Spot on. This is why people who understand football, use the Ladder Position to assess the best team each year. Winning a knockout competition definitely does not measure anything about which teams have put a gap on the rest of the competition. Anyone who thought MVFC had put a gap on the competition because we won a knockout final in 2017/18 clearly didn't watch 2017/18 A-League. Anyone who thought Sydney FC put a gap on the competition because they won a penalty shootout in 2018/19 is delusional. Most season there are 2-3 teams thereabouts in ALeague, then a gap to middle teams. Then a big gap to the bottom 2-3. Some seasons, eg 2017/18 the top team is so far ahead of 2nd there is no contest. This season looks to be very even. If a trophy is awarded after 7 matches without playing every opponent even once then, for sure, City, Sydney & AUFC seem to have a gap on the rest.