Victory seek to seal the start to the Kisnorbo era in silverware
As one would expect from a side coached by Patrick Kisnorbo, the focus for Melbourne Victory in the Australia Cup final will be their process. But silverware certainly helps keep one focused on that.
The arrival of any new coaching staff means the embedding of not just a new on-field approach for a team but also a set of expectations and dynamics off the pitch, as well. When combined with the long, long nature of the A-League Men’s preseason it can be a grind. For Melbourne Victory, however, Sunday evening’s Australia Cup final against Macarthur offers the chance to mark the early days of the Patrick Kisnorbo project with one of the best omens one can get: silverware.
After Jordi Valadon’s first goal for the club helped them defeat Adelaide in the semifinals last week, Victory will have the chance to join their bitter rivals as three-time champions of the Cup at AAMI Park on Sunday evening, the A-League Men heavyweights currently tied with Sydney FC and Sydney Hakoah as two-time winners.
Should they triumph, they will also secure a return to Asian football through the 2025 iteration of the Asian Champions League 2 and lift the Cup in the first year of a new coach for the second time in as many managerial changes, with Tony Popovic winning the competition in his first year at AAMI Park in 2021.
Victory would go on to finish second and make the semifinals of the A-League Men in the subsequent 2021-22 A-League Men season and with Kisnorbo expected to deliver similar highs in his first season after taking over a unit that fell in last year’s grand final, defender Jason Geria believes an early trophy will only help his efforts.
“I think winning games, but especially winning trophies, that always helps,” Jason Geria told JDL Media. “It'll give us more confidence here with this new style of playing, it is different to what we're doing under Tony, there's a lot of elements to it, a lot of parts to it.
“Getting that the cohesion has taken a little bit of time but I think we are starting to gel, and we are starting to get that fluidity and rhythm. If we can get the get the win, it definitely helps in having confidence in your style of play.”
Geria was on the scoresheet for Victory in their grand final defeat to the Mariners last season – he also had a couple of chances to score against the Reds last week – and the memories of that game are also providing something of a boost to Victory heading into Sunday.
“It's obviously an opportunity for us to win some silverware,” Daniel Arzani told JDL Media. “We were really disappointed with the way last season finished. Coming out with something at the beginning of this season will be a big morale booster for the boys, and it's hopefully the boys, and it's hopefully momentum we can take into the rest of the season.”
The main line out of everyone out of the Victory camp heading into the final, however, is one of processes and continuing to improve heading into the new season. You wouldn’t expect anything else from a side led by Kisnorbo, who has made such vocabulary a hallmark of his coaching career.
Though pleased to get the win against Adelaide, the new gaffer was far from content with his side’s performance against the Reds (the first time they played A-League Men opposition in their Cup run), describing it as a performance to help ‘clean out the pipes’.
And heading into a Cup final against a Macarthur outfit expected to be without a host of key contributors – skipper Valère Germain suspended after picking up a red card in the semifinal win over South Melbourne last week – he’s anticipating further growth at AAMI Park.
“I'd like to think we'd have a reaction [from the Adelaide game],” Kisnorbo said. “ Last week was last week. All we can do is concentrate on this week, train harder and fix the things that we need to fix. I think the team did that this week.
“For us, it's [about] focusing on our processes and doing the right by things that we need to do [coming] into the game, regardless of if it's a final or a normal game. We'll continue to do the things that we need to, focus on the things that we need to do, and improve the things we need to do. Even though it's a Cup final we just need to focus on doing the things that we need to do properly. And follow our processes to get those things right.”
Beyond the chance at silverware, Sunday evening’s game will also serve as the last opportunity for Socceroos hopefuls to impress Popovic, newly installed as Australia’s coach, before he names his squad for qualifiers against China and Japan later this week.
The side struggling to create clear goalscoring opportunities in a 1-0 loss to Bahrain and 0-0 draw with Indonesia during the last window – the last games before Graham Arnold tendered his resignation – Arzani, who returned to the squad in June but was absent during the last window, is an obvious candidate.
Given the state of flux the right-back position for the Socceroos has experienced in recent times, however – converted centreback Alessandro Circati was deployed there last month but he is now to miss an extended period due to an ACL injury suffered in training with Parma – Geria is also a figure that could put themselves forward on Sunday.
“I've been surprised, since the day I arrived here, that Jason never got a call to the national team,” Victory skipper Roderick Miranda said. “I was really surprised by that.
“With Tony, he's a familiar face, but I think Tony will not look at him just because he knows Jason. He will see if he's performing. And Jason is a player that performs week on and week on, he's always performing. I think he's a good man.
“I don't want to put pressure on Jason or on Tony — it's up to [Popovic]. But it's a name that deserves more credit than he gets. I know Jason has worked hard to get this chance as well, [so let’s see if he will have the chance.
“I also want to wish the best of luck to Tony. I think he's a brilliant coach, and he can do a really good job and get the Socceroos to the next level.”
Header Image Credit: Football Australia