49 Days To Go

With under 50 days left to go before A League version 3 begins, we figure it’s high time for us to give you the lowdown on this year’s team, one player at a time. Over the next how-ever-many weeks, we’ll be pushing out player profiles like chickens push out eggs. Frequently and with great clucking.

If you want to keep updated whenever we publish new posts, you can subscribe via RSS feed. First up is the lowdown on our captain: Kevin Muscat.

Well, not yet. We’ll be posting about Kev tomorrow. Today we’re giving you an overview of the squad as a whole.

After the score of signings over the past few months, the Victory squad is nearly complete. 19 players are already on the team, which means Merrick has another 2 additions under his belt, if he chooses to use them – but I’m betting they’ll start the season with less than 21 players. They did that last year, which gave them the extra flexibility to add new players mid-season.

Here is the squad, split up by position:

• Goalkeepers: Michael Theoklitos (1), Eugene Galekovic (20) and Mitchell Langerak (23)
• Defenders: Daniel Piorkowski (3), Adrian Leijer (4), Ljubo Milicevic (5), Steve Pantelidis (6), Matthew Kemp (7), Joe Keenan (11), Rodrigo Vargas (12)
• Midfielders: Kevin Muscat (2), Grant Brebner (8), Kaz Patafta (13), Adrian Caceres (14), Carlos Hernández (16), Leigh Broxham (18), Evan Berger (19)
• Strikers: Daniel Allsopp (9), Archie Thompson (10)

What do you notice?

Out of that list, only 11 were with Melbourne at the start of last season. Players like Ferrante, Lia and a bunch of others have been dropped from the squad; in their place are young talents like Evan Berger, Kaz Patafta and Leigh Broxham, and older, more experienced players like Ljubo Milicevic, Matthew Kemp, Joe Keenan and Carlos Hernández. Mitchell Langerak, who was added last year as a 3rd goalkeeper, has been loaned to South Melbourne FC.

Another thing that is resoundingly obvious is the number of midfielders and defenders. With 7 of each, it’s a crowded playing field, so making it into the starting 11 is going to be very competitive – especially for new players trying to worm their way in. It’s hard to imagine Merrick messing with the Brebner-Muscat combo that filled out the centre of the park last year, and it was interesting to note that Vargas and Leijer formed the central back pair in the friendly against China.

Meanwhile, the forward line is a different story: Archie Thompson and Daniel Allsopp are our only 2 strikers. For midfielders with an attacking bent, like Hernandez and Caceres, this is good news, with Merrick leaning on his midfielders to provide extra attacking depth.

Given his excellent form last season, you’d expect Michael Theoklitos to keep his spot in between the goal posts, with Eugene Galekovic dropping in for the rare game. That is, of course, if Theo can keep up the good work. When it comes to underperforming players, Merrick is merciless.