Coming off a dismal 2020-21 campaign, when the Melbourne Victory claimed their first ever wooden spoon, the Victory got their season off to the perfect start by claiming a win in Geelong last week over Western United.
They backed up that performance with an impressive 3-0 win over Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park to start the season impressively with two straight wins.
Now the Victory have another massive home game ahead of them at AAMI Park, and realistically could be aiming for a 3-0 start.
Next Sunday they face the Perth Glory. It is another very winnable game for Tony Popovic’s men.
If the Melbourne Victory are successful in winning this game, it would be an incredible turnaround of form coming off last year.
If they are 3-0, they really will be set up beautifully for this campaign and without doubt they will be one of the teams to compete with in 2021-22.
At 3-0 they could realistically could be aspiring for a top-six finish.
(Photo by Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images)
They made the most of their off-season, gaining back Jason Geria and Stephan Nigro.
They also recruited players like Matthew Spiranovic, Brendan Hamill and of course Roderick Miranda, who scored the decisive goal off his head in Geelong last week.
In their win over the Brisbane Roar, Nicholas D’Agostino and Gbenga Tai Folami were ultra impressive with two decisive goals.
There are certainly exciting times ahead for the Victory and they have rebuilt really well.
Therefore, they should absolutely make the most of their next home game and really be aiming for that 3-0 start, as it will set them up perfectly for a tilt at the finals and set their rebuild up very well.
It will also reflect really well on Tony Popovic.
Without doubt it has been an impressive turnaround from last year to begin with and we expect to see the Victory continue their impressive form.
And they could have a very successful first year under Popovic and be ultra competitive and dream of the finals if they can just keep this form consistent.
They should back themselves in and be optimistic going forward in 2021-22.
Tigertown
Guest
The Victory supporters singing Stand By Me was tremendously awesome! It was beautifully done. In other news, I do reluctantly agree with other people that Victory are possibly over the salary cap. Yes, & the same with Macarthur.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
theres ways to get around the cap. giving players cars, jobs for their parter/family members, housing/accomodation etc victory, wanderers and macarthur all look like potential red flags for me this season with the cap. if FFP was more stricter in australia, macarthur would be in trouble - they are losing way more money then theyre bringing in
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Good question! Quality like Spira yet to play, Kruse coming off the bench, a few good players recruited over the off season, decent squad. You're right that Broxham and Kruse would be getting a loyalty bonus for the club. You'd have to say that they managed to get Hamill at a reasonable price, maybe the same goes for Spira? There must be a few players there who could probably earn more at another club. Maybe that's the natural advantage of a strong, stable club, in a big city, that it's easier to attract a player of high quality at or even below market price.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
you're right of course, the score is all that matters so why do you tell us that Victory had their reserve cb playing. Roar had their captain and centre back out, and two of their strikers easing back from injury with limited game time only. Roar scored your first goal for you and passed the assist on your second goal. Then missed on an open goal while your keeper was playing outfielder. And let's not forget that Roar travelled from Brisbane on game day for that flight, after spending two of the days in the week before in quarantine. But yes, you are right, only the score matters.
Brendan
Guest
Lol are too serious? Victory won 3-0, and that’s all that matters. Brisbane had no meaningful shots on target, victory controlled the play and the tempo of the game. Being behind for the most part of the game, Brisbane should have more possession. Victory were by far the better team. Don’t forget that victory had their reserves CB playing and no ikon.
josh
Guest
The active support was one of the best in the A league in about 5 years. Was quite amusing seeing the small contingent of Brisbane fans in the corner looking on in awe at something they'll never have.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
jamie: humor me for a few minutes :happy: maybe you can help me make some sense out of your clubs salary cap for this season: brilliante, nigro, ikonimidies, dagostino & hamill are all on multi year deals (2-3 years) – lets low ball there yearly wage to say $200k each (brilliante and ikonimidies i know are on way more than that, about several hundred thousand) geria, davidson, spiranovic are all on one year deals – (davidson in particular would be on mid 6 figures, again lets average it out and say $200K each per season visa signings in marchan, kelava & margiotta have got a 1 year deal, miranda is 2 years – again lets low ball and say $200k each season (miranda & margiotta are definitely on at least double that amount) rojas has still got 18 months left to run on his mid 6 figure a year contract brooks, velupillay, anderson, kirdar and bello are still on scholarship contracts victory have used up the australian marquee signing spot and both designated new spots for this season of players able to earn more than $500k a season. theyve also given contract extensions to folami, broxham, kruse, bozinovski and brimmer in the off season. (kruse and broxham would fall under home club, and loyalty contract) then there’s the severance pay of the ‘uk crew’ from last season – brebner, butterfield, gestede, mcmanaman? its one of the oldest squads in the league, and there’s not much youth in it (to offset the cost) so , do you believe that victory are under the actual cap for this season?
jbinnie
Guest
Waz - you are indulging in game analysis in this comment and that is a bit unfair to the wrier of the original who only sees the game through dark blue shades. The closely fought game was won by a fairly ordianry corner/come header when their opponent refused to "attack" the ball and thus lost the game 1-0. The Roar game again showed an opponent with huge defensive problems and this resulted in at least 2 of the 3 counters being described correctly as "gift goals" What the writer touched on but did not strongly analyse was the turnover in players (and coach) at Victory, since last season. Somebody recognised what had to be done and there is no doubt the on field performance has picked up ,but this could be due to how the opponent is faring in their season "build up", something that can never be overlooked in game analysis. Cheers jb.
Waz
Roar Rookie
3-0 is all that matters in an individual game, but the hyperbole over Victory is becoming “gold standard” lol. In a home game they: - had less possession. - lad less shots at goal - had less shots on target - made fewer passes than their opponents - had a lesser passing accuracy than their opponents. …. but yes, scored three goals to zip but all from avoidable defensive errors that had they not occurred they would have been lucky to walk away 0-0.