After back-to-back wins, Diles sees tide starting to shift for Victory
After back-to-back wins and clean sheets, Arthur Diles is starting to see signs that the wheel may be starting to turn for Melbourne Victory. Now the task is to keep it going against the Jets.
It’s remarkable how quickly things can begin to turn around. A few weeks ago, Arthur Diles and Melbourne Victory had fallen out of the A-League Men’s playoff places and were staring down the barrel of a six-game winless run, their season teetering on the precipice and doubts, and anger, continuing to swirl around the then-interim. Now, though, they’ve won two on the bounce, the coach has had his interim tag removed and a win over the Newcastle Jets this Saturday will give them a chance to vault from third-place to second on the ladder.
Following on from their drought-breaking, 2-0 win over Sydney the week prior, Victory made it two wins on the bounce over the weekend, making the trek across the Nullarbor and securing another 2-0 win over Perth Glory – giving Diles his first win as a permanent coach through second-half goals from Nishan Velupillay and Santos and moving them back into third position on the table. In practice, their position in the playoff place remains somewhat precarious – the gap between Victory and seventh-placed Melbourne City is just a single point – but from a narrative perspective, and from a moral one, it was a desperately needed three points and associated climb up the table.
A failure to beat the struggling Western Australian outfit would likely have rapidly seen all the goodwill earned in their Big Blue win quickly evaporate, the anger that had simmered across their winless run brought back to the boil, with the added dimension of Diles being installed as full-time coach. Instead, that was avoided. Additionally, not only was it the fifth straight game in which Victory had netted multiple goals but it also represented the first time all season that they had kept successive clean sheets – a much-needed change from the 13 goals they had given up in the first six games following Patrick Kisnorbo’s shock move to quit the club.
“A little bit [but] there's still a lot of work to do, that's for sure,” Diles said when asking if he felt the tide was starting to turn. “We're not where we need to be but we're improving and that's the most important thing right now. We just keep looking at it one game at a time. We know it's a really difficult match this week in Newcastle. I don't think the ladder is kind enough to [eleventh-placed] Newcastle, compared to where they probably could be. They've got a lot of good players. So it's a tricky one this week, and we're ready for that.
[Back-to-back clean sheets are] very important. When you're in a position where you can have clean sheets and you know you only need one or two goals to win a game, that's the old ideal position to be in. It's not easy to do, because if it was easy then everyone would be able to keep clean sheets. And it's something we're continuing to work on because we know that we do have goals in us. It's something we had to iron out and quickly address. It's a work in progress but two back-to-back clean sheets are definitely a positive outcome.”
Looking to make it three wins on the bounce in the Hunter, Victory is in the midst of what, based on the form guide, is a golden opportunity to surge up the table; playing a run of fixtures in which, following City’s slide to seventh, they will exclusively play sides currently ranked seventh through 13th on the live league table. At the same time, however, fall to defeat against the Novocastrians and, well, we’ve already seen how quickly the narrative can shift.
One of the key questions facing their coach – who previously worked at the Jets as an assistant to Arthur Papas – is if he will ride with the same starting XI that has delivered him his vital back-to-back wins. But with a full squad to choose from bar Lachlan Jackson, who continues to build his match fitness after signing last week, he at least has the luxury of picking from a position of plenty, rather than trying to find makeshift solutions.
“You want to reward XIs, absolutely,” said Diles. “But at the same time, each week you're faced with a different opponent and sometimes you're looking at changing something for the opponent that you're playing for an individual match.
“We don't look that far ahead. We're looking week to week, that's for sure, and making sure that we've got everyone fit and healthy to be up for selection. Because when you have that, then you can pick and choose how you want to see something unfold. At the moment, it's been [the same] starting XIs back to back, which has been great, but they can all change this week.”
Scoring his first goal since returning from a long-term ankle injury suffered in November in the win over the Glory, Velupillay has been a part of those XIs. And with the Socceroos squad for March World Cup qualifiers likely to be settled upon by Tony Popovic and his staff in coming weeks, the winger not only faces a crucial stretch of games from a Victory perspective, but also if he is to earn a place in green and gold over the likes of Noah Botić, Jed Drew, Nicholas Milanovic, Archie Goodwin, or Adrian Segecic.
However, with his rise to the national team and the associated boost in reputation – and expectations – that comes with it, Diles also wants to see an associated elevation of his Victory form.
”Nish is doing really well at the moment,” said the coach. “Probably took a little bit longer [for him to recover] than we were hoping for and what we would have liked. But in the end, we got there and the most important thing is that he now stays fit and healthy. Because a fit and healthy Nish makes Melbourne Victory stronger.
“He should have that responsibility on his shoulders. But he also should be thinking 'I'm looking over my shoulder, and there's some talented players that are, you know, waiting in the wings to take my spot as well within our club.' So that's really good from a competition for places point of view.
“That's what challenges our players every day to be better and to make the most of their opportunities. He's doing well at the moment, and the others are chomping at the bit, wanting to play as well.”