Goals the emphasis as Victory looks to stay on track

Winless in their last three and needing to kick into gear, Victory interim boss Arthur Diles knows that after getting back on the defensive horse against Auckland, goals up the other end are now key.

Defence might win you titles but it’s goals that change and win you games. And still looking for the first win since taking over as Melbourne Victory interim boss, Arthur Diles knows that addressing his side’s increasingly frustrating inability to put the ball in the back of the net is a matter of priority. He isn’t, however, hitting the panic button just yet, confident that the foundations are being laid for the goals to arrive.

Making the trip across the Tasman, Victory played out a 0-0 draw with league-leaders Auckland FC on New Year’s Day, stemming the bleeding after suffering a 3-0 at Sydney FC just days prior. But while the point was enough to ensure they remained in an increasingly crowded battle for third heading into 2025, it also meant that their run of games without a win has stretched to three since Patrick Kisnorbo’s exit, as well as continued a blunt run of form in front of goals that even preceded the former coach’s exit.

Yet to score across the 360 minutes they have logged outside Victoria in 2024-25, Victory’s 13 goals this season are the fewest of any of the sides in the league’s top eight. The last time a recognised attacker netted for the side came almost a month ago when Zinédine Machach scored seven minutes into an eventual 2-0 win over Perth – Roderick Miranda coming up for a corner to provide them with the goal that secured a draw against City their only goal since.

And really, that win over the Glory serves as a prime example of Victory’s attacking ails this season; consistently able to work the ball into areas of the pitch to threaten their opponents but, once getting into these areas, proving unable to finish the process by putting the ball in the back of the net. Per FotMob, Victory trails only Macarthur and Adelaide United when it comes to expected goals (xG) and major chances created across the opening three months of the campaign and is second to the Reds when it comes to touches inside the opponent’s penalty area. Only the Bulls, however, have spurned more big chances than Victory this season and they rank sixth in the competition for shots on target per game.

To this point, this sputtering attack hasn’t served to derail their campaign; there’s a bit more scope to take one’s time finding a groove when you’re building off the foundation of the best defence in the league, after all. And this defensive foundation, 3-0 defeat against Sydney aside, has also helped to mitigate the destabilisation that comes with a coach heading for the exit with a derby and trip across to New Zealand on the horizon. But at some point, the goals need to start to flow, or at least arrive at a greater rate, if a campaign that began with the side being heralded as title contenders is to deliver something approximating this. And that starts, or at least the coach hopes it does, with Western Sydney on Saturday evening.

“Scoring goals is probably the most difficult thing in a match,’ said Diles. “You can get the ball there as many times as you want in the front third; the execution is the hardest thing or the decision you make. That's why the top players in world football are the ones who can do that, put the ball in the back of the net and do it consistently.

“After the Sydney game, we had to shore up that we pride ourselves on being defensively very strong as well. And we addressed that, we addressed the start of matches, wanting to be more aggressive and getting out on the front foot.

“And now, scoring goals is a key. We have to score more goals, we know that.

“I'm not too concerned right now, because we are creating chances. We are getting to the front third quite often. And as long as you're doing that, you're giving yourself the best opportunity to then score goals. I'd rather be in a position where we're missing chances and not scoring enough after creating than not creating enough and thinking how are we going to get the ball into a goal-scoring situation.

“I think it's only a matter of time before we, you know, put it all together and start banging in some more goals.”

As alluded to, though, Diles can take some comfort from there not being much up the other end of the park demanding his immediate attention. Even with their convincing loss to Sydney, Victory’s 0.8 goals conceded per game ranks as the best in the league so far in 2024-25 and 8.8 expected goals conceded (xGA) outpaces any of their rivals. Which really makes the incoming arrival of Mitch Langerak a case of the rich getting richer. Or the defensively stout getting more defensively stout.

The 36-year-old was back at AAMI Park for the first time since rejoining Victory on Friday afternoon, getting a look at the stadium and getting in a light gym session before he hits the training track next week. Joining as a free agent after the end of a record-setting stint with J1 League side Nagoya Grampus, the veteran shotstopper will be eligible to play once the A-League Men’s transfer window opens on January 16, meaning his first game for the club in 5379 days could come in an Original Rivalry showdown with Adelaide United, followed by a Big Blue clash with that beat him in the 2010 A-League Men grand final – his last domestic fixture before he signed with Borussia Dortmund – Sydney FC.

As one might expect, Diles was effusive in his praise of the keeper’s abilities and character on Friday, emphasising, much as Kisnorbo did last month, what Langerak will bring to the club’s culture just as much as what he can bring with his clubs. But like Kisnorbo, he also emphasised that Victory has quite an effective keeper in Jack Duncan between the sticks at the moment – the 31–year–old keeper second in the league in clean sheets and save percentage – and that any change in goals would need to be on that was earned.

“Not only is he a great footballer, but above all, he's also a great human being and that adds value to the group,” said Diles. “We make it well known that [culture] in this group is really important, he fits that and he's also here to strengthen that culture and strengthen that group. It's pleasing for everyone involved with the club.

“Jack's been excellent. Jack was brought here to be number one and he's done that. He's been excellent. His form, not just the other day, but throughout the whole season, has been great. That's Jack's position at the moment. No one's surprised by that. That's why he was brought in, we know his quality. For him, it's like everybody else. It's competition for places and that's a good position to be in as a club.”