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16 December 2008 12:58
By Michael Lynch |
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As the A-League has proven during its short history, more than anything, titles are won by teams that have strength in depth as suspensions, injuries and transfers all take their toll through the season.
And in the A-League is there a club that has a deeper list than Melbourne Victory?
Adelaide have shown, with their ability to wage war on several fronts – brilliantly in the Asian Champions League and competitively in the A-League – that their playing list runs deep.
Sydney, especially early in the season, covered for the loss through injury, international absence and suspension, of several key players by going deep into their playing roster.
But do these two clubs (or the equally resilient Mariners for that matter) possess the all-round quality that Victory have? It’s a moot point. Victory have the highest scoring pair of strikers in the league, Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp. They also employ the most effective leader in the competition in ex-Socceroo Kevin Muscat and have two current Costa Rican internationals in Jose Luis Lopez and Carlos Hernandez.
The experience of players like Steve Pantelidis and Leigh Broxham provides a telling example of Victory’s depth. The duo may not be superstars, but the former was a virtual ever-present in Victory’s title winning side and now should be entering the peak of his career.
Yet Pantelidis is one of a number of experienced Victory players who can’t get a look in. Such is the strength of coach Ernie Merrick’s defensive and midfield options that the former Young Socceroo did not feature for a single minute in the first team squad during the initial seven rounds of this season.
Broxham is a hard working midfielder who went to Beijing as an Olyroo stand-by player and has even represented Australia at senior level, winning a cap against Singapore earlier this year.
This season he missed a lot of the pre-season because of Olympic duty, but even since his return to full fitness, the 20-year-old has struggled to break through, playing a total of 54 minutes through the first seven rounds of the new campaign.
Time is on his side, and, with injuries and suspensions he may well get a chance to show what he can do later in the campaign. And that is the strength of Melbourne overall. Even a player like Nick Ward, an Olyroo, the competition’s inaugural under-21 player of the season and Victory’s junior marquee player is no guarantee to start in this side.
Admittedly Ward has been plagued by injury all season and has barely been available. But most clubs would miss his powerful box-to-box running and ability to chime in with goals from midfield.
Not Melbourne, who have been able to draft in the likes of Tommy Pondeljak and Billy Celeski. Both players joined Victory at the end of the 2007/08 A-League campaign and have fitted in seamlessly.
Michael Thwaite is a player who, until recently, was very much on the national team radar. The 25-year-old has come back to Australia to relaunch his career and has looked one of the most assured defenders in the league. At the one third mark of the season Melbourne had conceded just six goals and had kept clean sheets on four occasions.
Victory have been quick to safeguard their assets against poaching by a new Victorian franchise and the other expansion sides, signing promising young goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak and wing back Evan Berger, along with experienced centre back Rody Vargas, to new deals.
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating early next year, but Melbourne’s strength in depth should surely make them a very serious contender for A-League honours when the season comes to its business end in late February. |
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26 November 2008 11:32
By Michael Lynch |
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Remember when, at the launch for the first ever A-League campaign at a Sydney press conference in August 2005, FFA chairman Frank Lowy implored fans of 'old soccer' to give the new game a chance?
Since then we have seen the sort of changes that would have hardly been imaginable.
The Socceroos made the last 16 in the World Cup and now routinely pull big crowds – irrespective of whether Kewell and Viduka are in the team. The A-League has drawn the crowds too – Melbourne Victory have twice pulled over 50,000 fans. Players like Dwight Yorke and Juninho have had spells in the A-League and Adelaide have become the first Australian side to reach the last eight of the ACL.
What, then, might we expect in the next three years? Will the pace of change be as rapid? Possibly. All we can say with certainty is that the future is uncertain, but here’s an informed (and sometimes tongue-in-cheek) peek at the crystal ball.
It’s October 2011 and the 12-team A-League is nine rounds into its 33 game season, with perennial powerhouses Melbourne and Sydney upstaged at the top of the table by big spending new boys Gold Coast, now under the full time control of Paul Okon, who took charge in the club’s second season when spin-meister Miron Bleiberg moved upstairs to combine the roles of Technical Director and Public Relations Chief.
Okon has been able to lure several internationals to Surfers Paradise, and the likes of Harry Kewell, Brett Emerton and Mile Sterjovski bring both quality and experience to the side.
Crowds all around the league – even in difficult markets like Perth, Sydney and Wellington – are now averaging 20,000.
The Socceroos, coached by the canny Pim Verbeek, went one better than in Germany and made the last eight in South Africa 2010, where they went out in a penalty shootout to African champions Ivory Coast.
Australia had earlier in the year justified their status as short priced favourites and won the Asian Cup. They will defend the title at home in 2015, having won the hosting rights in 2009.
While Gold Coast and the second Melbourne team (added in 2010-11) have immediately proved themselves competitive, Fury have taken time to get to grips with the demands of the A-League.
Formidable at home, the Queenslanders don’t travel too well – particularly in the early season games down south where they struggle in single digit temperatures. New coach Claudio “Tinkerman’’ Ranieri now admits he will only achieve success if he is prepared to settle on a line up and not change it every game.
John Kosmina is still in charge at Sydney, while the Vidmar brothers, Aurelio and Tony, are the first coaching partnership in the competition at Adelaide, where the Aloisi brothers are assistants.
Melbourne’s Mr Football, Kevin Muscat, has replaced Ernie Merrick at Victory and is imbuing the club with the sort of ruthlessness he so often displayed in his decorated playing career.
The FFA isn’t satisfied with the success though. More A-League expansion is planned for 2014 when there will be two new clubs – one in Canberra and the other in Tasmania.
When the FFA announced an expansion franchise would split its games between Hobart and Launceston, the Tassie government and entire corporate sector embraced the initiative, and football has now replaced Aussie Rules as the timetabled game in Tasmanian schools.
Meanwhile, the West Sydney Hucksters continue to languish at the foot of the AFL ladder requiring financial support and concessional draft choices.
Free ticket giveaways rarely lift their average gates above 9,000, made up of mainly expatriate Victorians travelling out from Sydney’s beachside suburbs.
This column first appeared in the November edition of Australian FourFourTwo |
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26 November 2008 11:32
By Michael Lynch |
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Remember when, at the launch for the first ever A-League campaign at a Sydney press conference in August 2005, FFA chairman Frank Lowy implored fans of 'old soccer' to give the new game a chance?
Since then we have seen the sort of changes that would have hardly been imaginable.
The Socceroos made the last 16 in the World Cup and now routinely pull big crowds – irrespective of whether Kewell and Viduka are in the team. The A-League has drawn the crowds too – Melbourne Victory have twice pulled over 50,000 fans. Players like Dwight Yorke and Juninho have had spells in the A-League and Adelaide have become the first Australian side to reach the last eight of the ACL.
What, then, might we expect in the next three years? Will the pace of change be as rapid? Possibly. All we can say with certainty is that the future is uncertain, but here’s an informed (and sometimes tongue-in-cheek) peek at the crystal ball.
It’s October 2011 and the 12-team A-League is nine rounds into its 33 game season, with perennial powerhouses Melbourne and Sydney upstaged at the top of the table by big spending new boys Gold Coast, now under the full time control of Paul Okon, who took charge in the club’s second season when spin-meister Miron Bleiberg moved upstairs to combine the roles of Technical Director and Public Relations Chief.
Okon has been able to lure several internationals to Surfers Paradise, and the likes of Harry Kewell, Brett Emerton and Mile Sterjovski bring both quality and experience to the side.
Crowds all around the league – even in difficult markets like Perth, Sydney and Wellington – are now averaging 20,000.
The Socceroos, coached by the canny Pim Verbeek, went one better than in Germany and made the last eight in South Africa 2010, where they went out in a penalty shootout to African champions Ivory Coast.
Australia had earlier in the year justified their status as short priced favourites and won the Asian Cup. They will defend the title at home in 2015, having won the hosting rights in 2009.
While Gold Coast and the second Melbourne team (added in 2010-11) have immediately proved themselves competitive, Fury have taken time to get to grips with the demands of the A-League.
Formidable at home, the Queenslanders don’t travel too well – particularly in the early season games down south where they struggle in single digit temperatures. New coach Claudio “Tinkerman’’ Ranieri now admits he will only achieve success if he is prepared to settle on a line up and not change it every game.
John Kosmina is still in charge at Sydney, while the Vidmar brothers, Aurelio and Tony, are the first coaching partnership in the competition at Adelaide, where the Aloisi brothers are assistants.
Melbourne’s Mr Football, Kevin Muscat, has replaced Ernie Merrick at Victory and is imbuing the club with the sort of ruthlessness he so often displayed in his decorated playing career.
The FFA isn’t satisfied with the success though. More A-League expansion is planned for 2014 when there will be two new clubs – one in Canberra and the other in Tasmania.
When the FFA announced an expansion franchise would split its games between Hobart and Launceston, the Tassie government and entire corporate sector embraced the initiative, and football has now replaced Aussie Rules as the timetabled game in Tasmanian schools.
Meanwhile, the West Sydney Hucksters continue to languish at the foot of the AFL ladder requiring financial support and concessional draft choices.
Free ticket giveaways rarely lift their average gates above 9,000, made up of mainly expatriate Victorians travelling out from Sydney’s beachside suburbs. |
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01 October 2008 01:16
By Michael Lynch |
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Rarely during the A-League off-season have we seen screaming headlines speculating on the return to Australia of big name Socceroo stars reaching the end of their time in Europe.
Nor have we seen too many stories suggesting that former top level players are potential transfer targets.
No, the picture has been much more subdued.
Instead of players like Dwight Yorke – whose impact came as much in getting the A-League important first season publicity off the pitch as well as through what he did on it – and World Cup winner Juninho, men like former Scottish international Charlie Miller, Costa Rican Olympic team captain Jose Lopez and veteran former Brazilian international Amaral have arrived to ply their trade in this country.
But if the hype has died down a bit that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It may well just mean that there is a growing maturity in the Australian marketplace.
Certainly, administrators at the eight A-League clubs appear to have learnt some lessons in the competition’s first three years. Namely that a big name does not necessarily mean big performances, and unless the player delivers on the pitch the negatives from his under-achievement can outweigh the short-term boost in membership and media interest his signing generates.
Juninho may well have been the highest quality player ever to have performed in an Australian domestic league, but his frequent absences through injury counterbalanced the positive impacts he brought Sydney. And who can forget the farce that was Romario’s short-term contract with Adelaide as the Brazilian doggedly sought matches anywhere and everywhere in pursuit of his 1000th goal.
No, better to do due diligence on the right type of player with the right technical and tactical skills and sign him than some well known ‘star’ who is more likely to wane than wax.
Melbourne Victory has been the club that has typified that approach more than any other in the A-League’s first three seasons.
While there have been some recruits who did not work out (Brazilian Claudinho, Englishman Joe Keenan and former Soccero Ljubo Milicevic) coach Ernie Merrick has enjoyed some spectacular successes too.
His second season signings, Scotsman Grant Brebner and Brazilian Fred, bolstered a midfield that struggled in the first campaign and helped turn Victory into record-breaking champions.
Merrick looks to have made two more shrewd signings in the shape of sometime Socceroo defender Michael Thwaite and the Costa Rican holding midfielder Lopez.
Neither of them are names likely to get the front page headline writers excited but if they succeed in helping Victory make the finals after their disappointing failure to defend their title in 2007-08, then they will have been successful signings – as an increasingly mature local fan base would surely attest.
David Mitchell, the Perth Glory coach, will be hoping that his vastly experienced Brazilian holding midfielder Amaral can help transform the Glory from competition strugglers into a unit pushing for a top four spot even though his squad contains few big names.
Across the ditch in New Zealand, Ricki Herbert has taken a similar approach. While the two best-known All Whites Ryan Nelsen and Chris Killen are not yet ready to play back home, the Kiwi boss has resisted the temptation to try and bring in big name glamour by making former Socceroo defender Jon McKain and former Central Coast Mariners midfielder/striker Adam Kwasnik his two key signings of the off-season.
If they make the difference between being also rans and top four contenders that will also prove to have been a decent bit of business.
This column appeared in the September edition of Australian FourFourTwo |
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12 August 2008 11:34
By Michael Lynch |
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The world game, by its very nature, offers a global smorgasbord for Australian coaches and club chairmen as they look to replenish their playing lists, replace key players who have quit for Europe or ... more
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11 July 2007 08:47
By Michael Lynch |
How do you top a season for the ages, one capped off with a Grand Final triumph that is likely to stand in the record books for perhaps decades to come?
If you are Melbourne Victory you pla... more
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04 June 2007 11:51
By Michael Lynch |
You know that it’s really different when you walk into a local restaurant and everyone in the place starts smirking and giggling.
Admittedly, I am not the world’s most beautiful person, but in no... more
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07 May 2007 02:29
By Michael Lynch |
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There are no such things as good injuries. Anything which affects a player’s health and well being and could, no matter how minor, impact on his future playing style and effectiveness cannot be benefi... more
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12 April 2007 01:00
By Michael Lynch |
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Melbourne Victory’s 6-0 destruction of Adelaide United in the Grand Final in which Archie Thompson carved out a place for himself as one of Australia’s sporting immortals only serves to hammer home th... more
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27 February 2007 03:55
By Michael Lynch |
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It seems that wherever you look around the A-League you will find players who have been recruited from the Victorian Premier League. But does this make it the best competition outside the A-League in ... more
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