Arzani being rewarded for work under Popovic with career revival.
Melbourne Victory and Daniel Arzani gambled on each other before the season and 12 undefeated rounds into the 2023-24 A-League Men season, the punt appears to be working for both.
When Daniel Arzani departed Macarthur FC during the last A-League Men offseason, he knew he stood at a potentially career-defining crossroads.
24 years old (he celebrated his 25th birthday earlier this month), he wasn’t a young player anymore, but instead one entering what is ostensibly prime footballing years. He’d been to and played at a World Cup while still a teenager, only for injuries, form woes, and ill-fated club selection to almost derail his career in the years that followed. There had been promising signs at the Bulls but not enough, and his season had come to a premature end with an ankle injury. He needed to find an environment where he could not only grow but where he would be challenged to do so every day.
Enter Melbourne Victory. And enter its coach Tony Popovic. Across a preseason conversation with Arzani, the former Socceroo defender made it very clear that while he would do everything in his power to make him a better footballer, ultimately, nobody else could take that next step for him. Popovic would push him, he would demand excellence in training, and he would reward his endeavour with football but he didn’t owe him anything. If he didn’t meet his end of the bargain, the coach would have no qualms about playing someone else.
"I needed someone to push me,” Arzani told AAP in pre-season. “To try and get the most out of me and I want to push to try and be back in the national team.”
Three months into the 2023-24 A-League Men season, it’s important to note that it’s far from mission accomplished for either party – the Asian Cup just kicked off without Arzani in the Socceroos squad and Victory have won nothing yet – but things are certainly looking like they're on the right track. The winger has started eleven of Victory’s twelve games thus far, with the team sitting top of the table with six wins and six draws – the only undefeated side remaining in the competition.
If he averages 70 minutes across his next three games, he will reach a point wherein he has logged more league minutes in 2023-24 than in any of his previous seven professional seasons. And that’s with another twelve fixtures, plus finals, remaining to bump up that figure. Amongst players that regularly start for their sides, he’s ranked, per FotMob, second in the league for successful dribbles per 90 and sixth in chances created.
“Daniel gets credit for that,” Popovic said on Saturday. “Daniel wanted a challenge. Daniel came to Melbourne Victory because he wanted to be the best player he could be, with something maybe something personal to prove to himself.
“He's playing regular football. He's a pleasure to coach every day because if you saw our training he's right right at it, every single day. He's not a player that goes and just ticks a box at training. So the performances are getting better due to him.
“When was the last time he [started] eleven games out of twelve? I don't think he ever has. When he was 17, 18 and going into the national team he was a player coming on. Never been a starter. So this is new for him.
“He's growing and we want to help him keep growing and doing well and helping Melbourne Victory.”
On Saturday afternoon, Arzani scored his second goal of the season as Victory were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Central Coast Mariners in stifling Unite Round conditions in Sydney; named the game’s man-of-the-match by the broadcaster and his club.
Popovic, likewise, paid credit to his performance. But he did so in a manner that also speaks to the excellence he’s been demanding of his winger, of the expectations that, to this point, seem to be bringing the best out of Arzani.
“He was very good and very disciplined,” said Popovic. “He's improving that part of his game. He really should have, I believe, scored to make it 2-0. That's an area that he needs to be more decisive in, in front of goal.
“But you can see his games improving with and without the ball. He's a very intelligent young man, tactically getting better.”
“His body, he's got to get stronger. He cramped again today, but it's part of the process.
If there is to be a next step for Arzani – or perhaps a next, next step, given that adding a more consistent production line of goals and assists to his name – is probably the most pressing priority, it’s getting him to a place wherein he can run out 90 minutes.
He’s yet to accomplish this with Victory, his longest appearance was 83 minutes in a 3-0 win over Sydney FC, and only did so twice last season with the Bulls. While it needs to be noted that a great many players were struggling in the oppressive humidity, he was forced from the field with severe cramping after 69 minutes on Saturday.
“The more he plays, he'll get stronger,” said Popovic. “He doesn't miss any training and he doesn't cramp in training. And we train with intensity.
“I believe it's more than just the body. He'll get better the more he plays. The anxiety of playing, it's maybe wanting and putting stress on yourself to make everything perfect.
“Once he plays more regularly, he maybe will relax a bit more. And with the training and the mental side, I think we can get him to play longer.”
Joey Lynch has travelled to Sydney for Unite Round as a guest of the Australian Professional Leagues.