Official Melbourne Victory Thread II [R]

That's a huge loss to Melbourne, IMO.

They say they did everything to keep him but i doubt that ment giving him more game time, and thats what he deserves. I'm sure if he would have been assured of getting more full games then he would have stayed, but for some reason Ernie doesn't like him as a starter. Good luck to him. Hopefully the MV don't hold it against him.

 

And we signed Billy Celeski from Perth today.

 

Pondeljak is with Central Coast atm? :s

Too bad Perth couldn't/didn't bring Caceras back home. Obviously hsi status has risen alot in the A-League, thanks to his move to Melbourne.

 

Victory linked with Musialik by tony Cockrill and the world game boys.

Love to be dropped, Moore to replace him (after acl)
Ward to sign with a euro grt out clause
Kaz to go back to Portugul


If we get Musilaik as is predicted then I will be over the moon.
means Kev will be a full time defender (better for us )

 

I'm ok with Musi signing as long of Rodrigo Vargas is fine with it.

 

Caceres is a massive massive loss for the Victory. I'm shattered, he's a match winner and provides us with the one thing we really lack width.

Musialik would be huge if we snared him. He's just absolute quality. But whats this all mean for Brebner and Broxham??

Celeski is pretty handy addition to the squad as well.

Just thinking of our recruitment its great to see that we've brought in Elasi and are looking for another striker but where is our width?? After Caceres leaves we only have Berger who naturally plays out wide. Now I know Merrick does'nt use alot of width but surely would should have some wide players so we have the option to use them.

Heres a break down of the Victory team from the Victory website:

Right Back Centre Back Left Back
Pantelidis Vargas Milicevic Piorkowski
Kemp Pace Ryall Keenan

Central Midfielders
Brebner Muscat Broxham
Right Midfield Left Midfield
Caceres Berger
Attacking Midfielders
Vasilevski Celeski Hernandez
Patafta Ward

Strikers
Allsopp Thompson Love Elasi

Looking at how successful some teams - especially Queensland - have been using wide players it staggers me that we just don't have any width at all. I think we really lacked that this year and it was one of the reasons we were so predictable.

Is it just me or is this a big hole in the Victory side???

 

I'd say the main problem was playing 8 defensive minded plays usually and just the 3 attacking types for the first 16 or so games in the season.


It would usually be.

---------GK----------
RB---CB-----CB----LB
-----DM-CM*-DM-----
---------AM----------
-----S------CF-------

Often with the striker (archie) recieving the ball in the middle of the park, how is he supposed to score goals from there?

* = While player is playing as CM he doesn't really have any attacking qualities.



That's why we weren't doing anything. In the last 5 rounds of the season, Ernie finally listened to the fans calls to ATTACK and this is the type of formation that he set out after that

---------GK----------
RB-----CB---CB----LB
---------CM---------
RM------AM-------LM
------S------CF------

Right after that we were playing much more fluently, had more run (both off and on the ball) tons more width and just a cutting edge that we lacked in the games before that.

 

Well Brebner can be released as far as I'm concerned.. I don't like his game one bit.. Broxham... well if Musialik comes he can be on the bench.

 

Yeah true, good post. My question is who is going to play the right and left midfield positions in the formation you provided. I guess Vasilevski can play right but i'd prefer him at right back. Maybe Hernandez on the right?? Berger can play left but is more of a squad player than first 11. Who is gonna play left when Caceres leaves?? Atleast we've got him for the ACL!!

 

Celeski, Keenan can play on the left.

Maybe we might try to get Patafta in the 11 aswell (if he stays), he could play on the left with Carlos remaining in the #10 position.


Edit: And Berger has actually been very good in our last 2 friendlys. Apparently he shined against the national team, and a couple of weeks ago I went to watch the friendly match at Epping stadium where he also did well. Patafta also started, and played like a machine.

 

Yeah I didn't realise that Celeski could play left, i've only ever seen or read of him playing centrally. Is Celeski left footed??

Its good to hear that Berger is doing well. I don't like the idea of Keenan playing the left attacking midfield position. I don't really rate Keenan tho!! I reckon we can do better for one of our few o/s playing spots on the roster!!

I'd be really happy if we managed to exend Patafta's loan deal, but i can't see it happening. We'd have to start doing the right thing by Patafta and give him the starting spot he deserves, starting with the ACL games. I'd hate to see him sitting on the pine again coz he's a better player than that.

It'll be interesting to see how Merrick fits Hernandez, Patafta (If he stays), Ward, Celeski, Caceres (for the ACL) into the same team!!!

I think you're being a bit harsh on Breebner but i'd still take Musialik over him. He'd be excellent depth on the bench if we end up getting Musialik.

 

Just say we kept Patafta, Ward, etc.. And got Musialik this is what I'd like to see.

------------Theoklitos-------------
Kemp-----Vargas--Ryall-----Muscat
-------------Musialik--------------
---Ward----------------Patafta---
------------Hernandez------------
--------Archie------Allsopp-------

Bench:

Langerak
Brebner
Pace
Celeski
Moore (if he joins)

Players like Berger, Elasi, Broxham and co, will still be getting games because of the new youth league that's starting when the new A-League season starts.

Hopefully they finally increase the bench size to 5 players! It's ridiculous that they have it at 4.

I think that could do some real damage in the A-League. 4 magnificently technically gifted players in midfield. With some good depth to boot. I think next season we will regain our crown.

 

Well it was only a matter of time before this happened:

We may just have found the room in our salary cap to snare Musialik

 

Yeah that would work well. I'd have it more like this tho:

--------------Theoklitos-------------
--Ryall----Vargas--Muscat--Piorkowski--
---------------Musialik--------------
-----Ward----------------Patafta---
--------------Hernandez------------
----------Archie------Allsopp-------

Bench: Langerak Celeski Vasilevski Brebner Elasi

I'd maybe have Vasilevski at right back tho. I don't rate Kemp at all!! A real journeyman struggler!! Vasilevski has been good for us this year and should atleast make our bench.

It'll be interesting to see who we get in as our reserve striker!!! I heard that we were going to trial a few more before we made up our mind..... Love is dead in the water.

 

I seen love play 90 minutes the other week against VPL opposition, and he was absolutely useless.

Moore was class though, very big, very fast, and scored 2 goals. I know it's only against Whittlesea, but he did way better than Leandro.

 

leandro love is useless imo.

 

Got your ACL tickets yet pasqy?

 

Here you go Red Stripe....

Gone:
Milicevic
Caceres

Possibly Gone:
Patafta
Love (Dead meat)

Picked Up:
Celeski
Elasi

Possible inclusions:
Moore
Musialik

Unlikely:
Pondeljak

 

Well I guess this partly answers my question about our width....

Quote from Celeski:

For the full article:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23260512-2883,00.html

 

Musialik is resigning with the Jets accoring to reports today

 

Does Patafta's loan contract include the ACL? And if some of you are thinking Patafta may be playing for Victory next A-League season, I HIGHLY DOUBT it.

Though another loan move, this time to a club in the Portuguese 2nd Divison may happen.

The Patafta A-League experiment was tried and failed. Yeah, Melbourne may not have been the best team for him, in hindsight, but he came, and barely played, started like a couple games and had trouble when it came to more physical play? Maybe another team where he got alot more first team football may've been better, but that chance may've been lost now. And given that he physically may not be quite able to cope, with rougher marking or what have you, then the A-League may not be for him, for now?

Maybe he'll tear it up in the Portuguese 2nd Divison, then slip in a few sub appearances for the Benfica first team, without ever looking like cracking into the first team proper? Then by then he may move clubs, once his contract it out. But by then, his marketability may've gone up and some other decent division clubs may be interested in him.

Unfourtunately he gets to the age, turning 20 this year, where potential alone does not cut it anymore. He needs to impress in first team football. Victory was a step, but not a step far enough for him. Hopefully for his and Australia's sake, he can strike a good loan deal in Portugal or Europe somewhere, where he get's more opportunity for regular first team.

It's still a great shame, sad even, that essentially Australia's brightest young prospect, from the Olyroo age bracket, based in Australia's success story the A-League, cannot even be considered for the Olyroos squad, let alone get into it, because his A-League club did not give him enough first team. We now know, that because of this, this talent will not be in Beijing, so may miss out on something quite special, with Australia's next Golden Generation of Olyroos.

He may not come into the National Team reckoning till his mid 20s atleast, at this rate. And by then a number of those Olyroos may be well cemented in the Socceroos team/squad. Years lost for Patafta?

Sorry I sound quite negative, I guess I paint a worst case scenario. I just hope he breaks through in Europe soon, through a great loan deal, and then finds a Dutch Eredivise club or something, where he can play regular first team, like how Wilkshire and Holman are, there. He's still only 20, and as we've seen with the likes of Spiranovic and Troisi, alot can happen in 18 months for a young player.

 

We got him until June. And he is on record saying that he would like to stay longer.

 

Hey Glory, heres a good article on Pataftas situation at Melbourne. It might change your perspective a bit.

http://sportal.com.au/football-news-display/kaz-eyes-champions-chance-43552

He says in the article that at the start of the season that he pretty much wasn't playing well enough to make the team. I don't know if he was just being diplomatic or what tho. Theres still a chance if he gets some good games on the ACL that he'll stay on next season, and the way he's been playing in our practice matches theres a strong chance of that.

I'm not so sure that this is as big a problem as its sometimes made out to be. Even with his short playing time at Victory he's shown that he can still be very effective despite some physical play. And I remember that at Benfica towards the end of his stay there he worked his way into some good form with the reserves even though he'd initially had some trouble with physical play. With Kaz I think it's more of an issue of game time and allowing him to get the time to adjust. I'm confident he'll do well if he's just given the opportunity and hopefully the backing and confidence of Merrick.

 

Hmm thanks for that.

Good to see here's here for the ACL, still a chance for him to impress with some game time.

It's good to see he's still keen to stay, despite lack of decent time.

I'm just wondering, on Benfica's side, how they feel? Sorry about my overlong rant before, but I guess half of it related to that in a way. Patafta may look at it one way, but Benfica may look at it another way, especially as some had preferred for him to go on loan to a 2nd Divison Portuguese club, rather than here. It's something the club could well look at, for his 2nd loan deal. But then, the player does have a say too, and if he's really keen, then Benfica may agree.

I think the odds point to him leaving Benfica anyway, once his contract expires. He won't get any decent First Team there. PSV were in the running for him, thanks in part to Hiddink's influence, before he chose Benfica. Maybe not soo much PSV, but I have the feeling the Dutch Eredivisie (Premier Division) will be a dam good match for him, especially as many other Aussies have had success there.

BTW I think a sustained stay in the A-League, would = essentially a backward move for him. Another loan might be fine, for the next season. But then that means he's been in the A-League like 2 seasons, so almost longer than his time with Benfica. Question marks will come up about whether it's worth keeping him and it's possible in one scenario, he could join an A-League club proper, if things don't work out at Benfica? But I'm sure he's determined to stick it out in Europe and has ambition to push his way through into first team football, in a decent European League/s, though.