Will this be the formation that takes the Victory to another title?
It was just before the 2007-08 A-League season that I put forward my suggestion for what would be my ideal Melbourne Victory formation for that upcoming season. With the loss of Adrian Leijer weeks before kick-off, it was relatively straight forward picking a 3-5-2 formation for Melbourne’s first game against Wellington.
History shows that I got it spot on with one exception, Broxham starting in the place of Kemp in the unlikely position of Wing-Back. History also shows that Milicevic was injured by a clumsy tackle barely two minutes into the game, and the gradual deterioration the Victory was to experience during that 90 minutes (blowing a 2-0 lead and finishing with and extremely lucky 2-2 draw) was to pretty much typify Melbourne’s season. Only a strong finish in its final 4 games saved it from complete embarrassment (at one point, Melbourne was in a serious battle for the wooden spoon with Perth and Wellington).
One year on and the good news is that I am finding it extremely difficult to pick the likely Melbourne Victory line-up, such is the improved strength across every line. Questions abound. Back 4 or back 3, and will Muscat be amongst it? Is Lopez good enough to move immediately into the holding midfielder role? Is Ernie bold enough to go with just the one defensive midfielder? Covering a back 3 to boot? And what combination up front where the options are now many? I don’t really know the answer to any of these questions, so I’ll stick with 3-5-2 formation, and provide the following guess:
And there we have it - my proposed Melbourne Victory formation for the start of the 2008-09 season.
Notes:
1. Ryall provides good cover for the back, either as a replacement or to revert to a back 4 if need be. Pantaledis can also play as a full back on either side in a conventional back 4.
2. Broxham as a wing back is a big call, but if Lopez is as good as his pedigree suggests, I like the idea of using Broxham in a wide role where there is still plenty of scope to mix defensive and attacking duties. Berger and Vasilevski can provide cover for either wide role.
3. Lopez - Ward - Hernandez makes for a pretty handy spine down the middle of the ground. Once again, good cover exists for all three roles in the form of Brebner, Celeski and Pondjelak.
4. Ernie will now have a massive amount of choice upfront with Fabiano providing both Allsopp and Thompson with a real challenge to hold their starting spots - and that’s just what the doctor ordered. There’s no doubting that if Fabiano doesn’t get a start, he will make it onto the bench guaranteed.
The ability to mix and match any two of the three to suit the opponent of the day is a luxury that Ernie didn’t have last season.
Prior to the loss of Leijer and Milicevic last season, the Victory was shaping up as a team more than capable of defending its crown. So we all know how quickly things can change (and that applies to every team in the A-League, so thin is the margin between success and failure). If lightening doesn’t strike twice, the Victory certainly looks to have the goods to challenge for some silverware in the upcoming season.
Pippinu d’Angelo is author of Li pila di pippinu, a blog about the wonderful combination of football and linguistics. He was also one of the founders of the Sicilian version of Wikipedia. Pippu has followed the Socceroos closely since they first appeared in the 1974 World Cup. More recently, he jumped on the Melbourne Victory bandwagon and despite being born and raised in Melbourne, but he has not lived there for 20 years.
This article was originally published on Li pila di pippinu as The Big V for 2008-09.
I’d line up like this; 3 4 3 ………..
theoklitos
thwaites muscat vargas
lopez
celevski ward
hernandez
thompson allsopp fabiano
Andy,
That’s a very attacking formation that you are putting out there. My only concern is that whilst Melbourne would be banging in heaps of goals they would be expecting a lot from their back three, especially when all three of them like to get forward and score goals.
3-4-3…bold!
Is that the same Ernie Merrick were talking about?!
that’s my formation at home …………… we should be banging in goals…………away from home I’d play 4 4 2.