Victory searching for the will to kill in A-League Men's final stretch.
After his side threw away a 2-0 lead in the last game before the international break, Victory ALM boss Arthur Diles accedes they need to find a way to kill opponents off when they have the chance.
There have been plenty of A-League Men games this season in which Melbourne Victory has put themselves in a position to win but hasn’t, their latest 4-2 defeat against Western Sydney the latest example. It’s something coach Arthur Diles acknowledges has let the team down and that their ability to kill, to pounce on opponents when they’re in the dirt and ensure they stay there, needs to improve.
Taking a 2-0 lead into the final five minutes of the opening half thanks to goals from Nishan Velupillay and Reno Piscopo, Victory looked like they had their clash with the Wanderers, their last game before the international break, well in hand. But then Bozhidar Kraev was allowed to meet a Jack Cliby corner on his own and volley beyond Mitch Langerak to halve the deficit. Then Brandon Borrello was allowed to drift into open space to head home an Alex Gersbach and make it 2-2 in the 76th minute. Then Nicholas Milanovic found a yard of space to fire home from the top of the box in the 87th minute and take the lead. And then Milanovic found Marcus Antonsson on the break to make it 4-2 and complete the turnaround.
In an hour of football, Victory had gone from the precipice of back-to-back wins and second-place on the table to defeat and would end the round in fifth position – at risk of falling out of the playoff places entirely should Sydney defeat Melbourne City tomorrow afternoon and the Vuck subsequently fall to Adelaide United in the annual Pride Cup.
“Every day, there's always a lesson with something,” said skipper Roderick Miranda. “From that game, I think every game is 90 minutes. It's not 45 or 30 minutes.
“We had a good lead. We were dominating the game for a large period. And after, we fell short in some moments of the game.
“We need to make sure that for 90 minutes, we are switched on.”
Of course, this wasn’t the first time that Victory had moved into an early lead, only to stumble and fall to defeat. Ryan Teague gave them an early lead in their January meeting with the Reds only for Carl Veart’s side to come back and win 3-2, a week on from Western United storming back from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to claim a season-defining 4-3 win at AAMI Park.
And while their overall defensive record of 27 goals conceded – just 1.3 per match – is good for the third most miserly in the league, the Wanderers defeat was the sixth time this season they’ve conceded three or more goals in a game.
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“There's a lot of things there that were extremely positive in that match,” Diles said. “We got off to a great start, we played some really good football, created some great chances and scored good goals. It was disappointing to concede a set piece just before halftime; that gave them oxygen. We overcame that a half time, we came out in the second half strong again and had multiple chances to put that game 3-1 but we didn't.
“That's been something that across the year has led us down, truth to be told. There have been moments there where we call kill teams and we haven't. And in the end, it costs us. It's something that, each week, we've got to be better at. Because two weeks ago, three weeks ago [a 3-0 win against Central Coast], we were able to put someone to bed. It showed the capabilities of this team.
“That is small moments, the little moments can have big influences on matches and we've got to be better in those moments.”
“Defensively, we've kept a lot of clean sheets this year but there's also been too many times we've considered more than two goals. And that's not good enough for us, that's for sure.
“We've got to find that balance; you can't keep a clean sheet every week but you don't want to be in a position where you're conceding three or four goals, either.
“That's a collective, you can look at that as you know, small moments in games from individuals. But, for me, it's all a collective
“Part of that is structurally, mentally, physically, you got to be ready. Sometimes the downfall of not killing teams: if you drop your head and stop and get frustrated that you haven't killed them, they can come back and kill you, and that's the part we have to improve.”
As a result of Victory's slip-up against the Wa, Saturday's contest with Adelaide represents something of a near-make-or-break game for both.
Their strong form earlier in the season is now little more than a memory, the Reds will enter Saturday evening’s contest on a five-game losing run and, like Victory, at risk of falling out of the top six should they fail to pick up a point. Serendipitously, this represents an almost complete mirror-image of the first meeting between these two sides back in January, where Victory entered on a five-game losing run. Back then, of course, Adelaide took the points at Hindmarsh Stadium, extending their hated rivals' skid to six and bouncing them from the playoffs.
And while Miranda and Diles may have avoided providing Carl Veart and company with any kind of bulletin board material in their Friday press conferences, there’s undoubtedly a vast number of the Victory faithful that would relish the chance to earn a level of painful revenge on Saturday.
“We're just as desperate,” said Diles. “It's just as big for us, if not bigger, because now we're at home. It's a massive game for both.
“They can look at it whichever they want to look at it. We can only control what we do and we know it's a huge game. Not a long way to go [in the season] now and every game is so important. We start with tomorrow night and we need to make sure we put in the top performance and come out with a positive result.
While Brazilian attacker Santos has been ruled out of the game already, Diles will have to wait until Saturday morning to find out if he’ll be joined on the sidelines by Victory’s international cohort.
Nishan Velupillay and Teague both landed back in Australia from World Cup qualifying duty with the Socceroos on Thursday morning, while Olyroo trio Josh Rawlins, Jordi Valadon, and Jing Reec all returned from the Doha International U23 Cup later that evening. And unlike those called up for the senior national team, those on junior international duty turn right when they get on the flight back home.
“There are still some question marks, still,” Diles said of his international contingent. “They haven't completed a full training session with the team yet.
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“We'll give them up till tomorrow morning to be clear and make sure they're fit and healthy and ready to go. The medical staff will go through that this afternoon and tomorrow morning and tomorrow morning, we should have an answer on who's fit to go from the start, who might have to come off the bench, or if anyone needs to miss out.”
In the absence of five first-team players, Diles’ squad was infused with a greater injection of young players at training across the international break, coinciding with Victory’s NPLM Victoria side claiming back-to-back wins over Port Melbourne and Melbourne Knights and dragging them out of the relegation zone and into eighth on the table.
Jordi Valadon and Kasey Bos the most notable recent additions to the senior squad from the academy ranks, the likes of Luka Kolic, Jesse Hoey, and Tommaso Minutoli have long been seen as also possessing the ability to grow into difference makers at the next level for the Vuck, and Diles also made note of the presence of Jack Mihalidis, Patrick Wall, and Luka Didulica at senior training.
“Every week, there's an opportunity for someone to do really well in their environment,” said the coach. “And not just in their [NPL] environment, they have to come here and do well in our environment too. Because it's two different environments.
“We've had some positive results in that space. But we're not just looking at results. We're looking at how they progress every day -- that's the most important thing.
"We're constantly looking at that team as next in line, ready to take an opportunity when it comes. Whether that's this week, next week or the week after, I'd love nothing more than to see a young player from our youth team come and debut in the first team.”
Header Image: Melbourne Victory