"Hurt" Victory looking to rebound as Chidiac commits to an extended stay and Gielnik draws nearer
As Alex Chidiac commits to a three-year stay and Emily Gielnik continues her injury rehabilitation, Melbourne Victory boss Jeff Hopkins is demanding a strong reaction from last week's Derby defeat.
Melbourne Victory’s push for an A-League Women’s title has received a major boost in the form of Alex Chidiac’s return, with boss Jeff Hopkins tipping his side to return to form after a ‘hurtful’ Christmas Derby defeat against Melbourne City.
Chidsmas finally arrived for Victory fans on Saturday morning when the club confirmed that the reigning Julie Dolan Medalist had committed to the club until the end of the 2025/26 A-League Women season and that she would be available for this weekend’s clash with Western Sydney.
“Victory has become like a second home to me,” said Chidiac. “Working with Jeff and the team brings out the best in me as a footballer and I’m looking forward to helping the team win more silverware over my time here.”
A member of the Matildas’ squad at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the 24-year-old midfielder spent much of the past season on loan at Mexican side Tigres UANL from Racing Louisville in the NWSL.
Regular football, however, proved difficult to lock down on either side of the Rio Grande, seeing her initially miss out on Tony Gustavsson’s squad for Australia’s recent series against Canada — brought in as an injury replacement for Holly McNamara — and making a strong campaign in Melbourne a must if she is to keep alive faint hopes of a place in the 18-player squad for the Paris Olympics.
Her return on a two-and-a-half-year deal, nonetheless, is a massive boost for Victory, who are looking to rebound after a tough Christmas Derby. In what was a battle of second against third, Victory fell to a 1-0 defeat against their crosstown foes at AAMI Park last Saturday; in-form Emina Ekic’s 10th-minute effort sending her side to the top of the A-League Women and Victory down to fourth.
Hopkins’ side had entered that fixture on a six-game unbeaten run but by the end of the round found themselves just three points clear of seventh-placed Central Coast and six points behind City – a gap which has since grown to nine following Dario Vidošić’s unit’s helter-skelter 5-3 win over Brisbane Roar on Thursday.
It’s a series of events that have ratcheted the stakes of Victory’s trip to face Western Sydney on Saturday evening up a level, especially with Wellington’s loss to Sydney FC on Friday evening meaning they will move back into the top three, at least, by the end of the round with a win.
“It hurt us a fair bit, the performance and the defeat,” Hopkins said. “But the main thing is that everyone's everyone's pulled up well.
“I'm definitely looking for a reaction to a performance from last week. And a really positive reaction as well. I think the girls have been in pretty good spirits. [They were] very quiet early on in the week, which I think is natural and it showed that it did hurt and it did affect us.
“I've no doubt that we're going to bring a much better performance this week, and get back to how we were, how we were doing things, how we were playing, up to the up to the City game.”
Probably not helping Victory’s mood was that it could be said that the one-goal margin of defeat somewhat flattered them.
Whereas neither side was what one would call clinical in front of goal – Victory squandered a handful of chances that could have levelled the contest – City was wasteful with far more control of the game and a greater number of quality chances.
The side in sky blue outshot those in navy 27 to 15 over the 90 minutes, with the on-target ratio coming in at ten to three. The more advanced stats tell a similar tale, with City registering 3.4 expected goals compared to Victory’s 1.0.
“We didn't, we didn't perform in the first half,” said Hopkins. “City was good, they were very good. They caused us some problems in certain areas of the field but I also felt that we weren't right, either, the intensity of our play.
“For me, there were some questions that I asked about why it happened because this is the most important thing. There were a number of things, which I'll kind of keep to myself, but there's stuff that we've all got to do better.
“I hold my hand up and say I thought I could have acted a little bit sooner in the game, put a few things in place a little bit sooner. So I take a fair bit of responsibility there. But also, that's not taking away from the responsibility of the players in the field, to work and to roll their sleeves up, which is part of our DNA, and which I didn't see much in the first half.
“That's something for me that is a very rare occurrence. It wasn't that it happened, it's why it happened. Because once it gets to the crux of why it happened, I think we've found a few reasons why we weren't quite on our game. And then collectively, we've all taken a bit of responsibility for that.”
Alongside Chidiac, Hopkins will have an almost full squad to choose from for his trip to Western Sydney, with Emily Gielnik the only player still absent with injury.
Hopkins described the attacker’s ankle injury as "just about healed" and said the Matildas attacker would resume full-time training with the rest of the squad next week, with an eye on gauging her body's reaction to the increased load.
A return to the bench for next week's clash with Western United is one possibility, with a Unite Round meeting with Perth Glory described as a 'definite' by the coach if that wasn't the case -- no doubt music to the ears of league promoters looking for an extra-Matildas-shaped boost to their marketing efforts of the event.
Header Image Credit: Melbourne Victory