Forged in fire; Diles and Victory prepare for punishing month

Making back-up plans for back-up plans is on the agenda for newly installed Arthur Diles as the interim prepares to lead Melbourne Victory into a tough month of rivalry games and short turnarounds.

For Melbourne Victory, a 1-1 draw with Melbourne City last week kickstarted a month that should provide a panoptic insight into where they stand in the A-League Men’s balance of power; new interim boss Arthur Diles tasked not just with ensuring Patrick Kisnorbo’s abrupt departure doesn’t derail the side’s ambitions, but doing so while navigating a run of highly-placed and bitter opponents amid a congested fixture. Talk about a baptism of fire.

After his side rallied back to secure a point in last week’s Christmas Derby, Diles will face off with another of Victory’s fiercest foes in his second game as interim this Saturday, when they head to the Sydney Football Stadium to take on Sydney FC in the latest iteration of the Big Blue. No rest for the weary, they will then immediately jump on a flight and head to New Zealand for a New Year’s Day clash with table-toppers Auckland FC, before returning home for their third game in seven days when they take on Western Sydney – the latter fixture also marking the first in the Red and Black Bloc’s two-game ‘Tour of Duty’ for the 2024-25 season.

Mercifully, six- and seven-day breaks will await for the rest of January. But these will need to be used to prepare for an encounter with local adversary Western United, a trip to South Australia to lock horns with Original Rivalry foes Adelaide United, and a return fixture with Sydney at AAMI Park on January 24.

Each of the fixtures in this run is a game one would be loath to look beyond but, such is the nature of the slate confronting them, Diles and his staff have little choice but to plan how they’ll manage the side to ensure they’ll have the best fit XI possible for each game. This is a challenge compounded by Victory having yet to appoint an external candidate to fill the assistant role that Diles vacated when he ascended to the interim position following Kisnorbo’s exit.

"We have to have a plan B and a Plan C,” Diles said. “Because you just don't know how people are going to pull up with this congestion and travel. We can't be naive just to think that the same 11 bodies can come back up and play every game with travel. It's a difficult period. It's not one that we're normally used to here in Australia. So we'll manage it as best as we can and make sure that we don't do anything that jeopardizes the quality of the team that we put out there.

“Everyone [on the coaching staff has] just got to chip in a little bit more each day, and together, we'll get by, and we'll get through this period.”

As something of a small mercy for the coach, Diles reported on Thursday afternoon that his side had recovered well from the draw with City, ”There's a lot of bodies there, so that's a good position to be in.”

This includes attacker Nishan Velupillay, who marked his return from an ankle injury off the bench against City. Alongside fellow substitute Bruno Fornaroli, the 23-year-old helped instil a new level of energy in Victory’s attack upon his entrance into the Yuletide clash but Diles cautioned that he would need to be carefully managed in the busy stretch ahead, declaring “We can't be selfish and just rush him in [to a] detriment to his health.”

Of course, being in a position wherein one can replace the likes of Nikos Vergos, Daniel Arzani, and Reno Piscopo with two recent Socceroos in Velupillay and Fornaroli, as well as Brazilian winger Santos, off the bench is a headache most A-League Men coaches would welcome. And while he is quick to add context, Diles acknowledges that strength, too.

"We are fortunate that we do have good depth,” said the interim. “But in saying that it's not very deep in terms of numbers, it's deep in terms of quality. When we're talking about experience depth there, we're only talking about a few players.

“But an opportunity could arise for a young player as well during this period to step in to make a name for themselves as well and show that they're ready. There's always that as well. There are youngsters that are working hard every day, that are chomping at the bit to try and get an opportunity. And they know that there's an opportunity not far away from them if they do the right thing and a few things fall their way.”

Set to fly out on Friday, Victory will head to New South Wales sitting third on the A-League Men table, able to vault into first if they’re able to down the Sky Blues in concert with Auckland dropping points away to Central Coast and Adelaide failing to beat Western Sydney at home.

Preseason predictions had pegged their opponents to be in a similar position at the start of the season but across the campaign’s opening months Sydney struggled to kick into gear: scoring plenty of goals but also conceding a fair few – only Brisbane and Perth have shipped more – and winning just one of their last five games.

Nonetheless, the Big Blue is the type of fixture where the form guide doesn’t always serve as the reliable indicator of future performance and, in Diles’ eyes, Ufuk Talay’s unit, which fought back to secure a 3-3 draw against Adelaide last week, presents a significant challenge.

“They're a very good team,” he explained. “We know that; I think everyone knows that. They've got a very experienced team this year, high quality.

“But like any team, on the day, any team can be vulnerable. If you don't turn up and be your best, all it takes is for the opponent to have one good game; they turn up and you're slowly off, then anything can happen.

“So, although they're a very good side and we respect them a lot, we're also a very good side and we want to go there and keep growing our game and keep developing our performance and then give it a good crack.”

Header Image: Melbourne Victory