Victory seeks to carry 2025's form into the new year
Winning three straight to end 2026, Victory boss Arthur Diles knows the importance of building on this form in 2026, starting in a clash of two hattrick heroes in Nikos Vergos and Perth's Tom Lawrence
It’s not really what we’d consider a resolution, but after ending 2025 with three straight wins, Melbourne Victory boss Arthur Diles knows the importance of bringing that energy into 2026. And with his side set to face Perth on Friday night, he also knows that keeping Nikos Vergos firing, while quieting the Glory’s own hat-trick hero in Tom Lawrence, will play a big part in the pursuit of this.
Running riot as they recorded a 5-1 win over Wellington on Monday, Victory ensured they would end 2025 amongst the playoff places with the three points, completing a December turnaround that began with them sinking to the foot of the A-League Men table and ending it as one of the league’s most in-form sides.
Preceded by wins over bitter rivals Adelaide United and Melbourne City, it was a run that quietened conjecture surrounding the tenure of Diles and brought a level of optimism to supporters at just the right time: Victory set to play three of their next four games, including big fixtures against Western Sydney and Sydney FC at home and their one away game a trip to Adelaide – a fixture in which fans have traditionally travelled in big numbers for.
Before they can worry about those fixtures, however, they’ll first need to deal with a Glory side coming off the back of a comfortable and well–earned 3-1 win over City. And while Diles feels the past few weeks have given a clearer insight into what this Victory side can be and wants to be, he’s not putting any kind of horse before the cart.
“It’s important we [build on the momentum],” he said. “That we continue to work hard, continue to stick to our processes, and continue to bring our identity to life. That’s been the clear and consistent message, and that’s what we want to continue to do.
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“[The identity is] getting clearer, that’s for sure. [It’s coming with] time; there was a lot of turnover of players between last year and this year. It doesn’t just click; it doesn’t just fall into play straight away. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of effort, a lot of buying and a consistent message.
“That’s daily on the training paddock. As time goes on, the belief gets stronger, and the football improves. And currently we’re in a good place, but we’re definitely not where we want to be, and we’ve got to continue to work hard.”
Beyond the easing of pressure that Victory’s back-to-back-to-back wins have brought to Diles’ tenure, they’ve also gone some ways towards lessening the rancour that has surrounded Vergos amongst the club’s supporters.
Netting a brace against Adelaide before backing that up with a first career hat-trick against the Phoenix, the suddenly red-hot Greek striker has moved into equal top of the Golden Boot standings with these hauls. Behind him, led by Spanish superstar Juan Mata turning back the clock, his teammates have become better at playing to his strengths and finding him in the right areas of the park – Vergos using his head to score three of his five goals across the past month.
Does this mean that the pressure is off for good? Of course not. Victory possessing probably the proudest history with number nines across the 21 years of the A-League, the noise from the fans will return, potentially at an even greater volume, should the goals dry up once more. And having the then-outright leader in the Golden Boot standings in Harrison Sawyer didn’t stop Macarthur from going out and adding Socceroo striker Mitch Duke on a deal until the end of the season.
But Vergos is a striker who is now scoring goals. And after responding to being publicly challenged to perform by Diles and even being briefly benched in November, there’s a level of confidence that he’s taken from the past few weeks, even if it’s couched in perspective.
“It’s very good,” said Vergos. “It’s better when you work hard, and you don’t stop doing what you are used to doing. And finally, you see the results come. Because I didn’t do something special, I continued to do the same things. And finally, the result comes, and that’s why I’m very happy.
“And I have to continue like this, because in the end, we are just ten games in, we are in the middle of the table, and we haven’t achieved anything. It’s not the time to celebrate something. We have to be happy with what we did in the past three weeks. But on the other hand, we didn’t achieve anything yet, so we have to continue like this.”
And as in-form as Vergos is at the moment, one could make the case that Glory attacker Lawrence might be in just as good, if not a better, patch of form right now. Because after taking some time to find his feet after his late arrival in the preseason, the Welsh international was a cut above in Perth’s win over City on Sunday, which followed on from strong performances in 1-0 defeats against Adelaide and Sydney.
“Try and eliminate how many touches he gets on the ball,” Diles said of slowing down Lawrence. “And anything around the box, making sure you’re close enough to affect his decision or his execution.
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“Because he’s a quality player who, in the front third, can create and score goals, He’s definitely a threat and a good player, and we want to make sure we’re on our toes to make sure we stop him as best as we can.”
Despite a short turnaround, Diles said that Victory wouldn’t deal with any injury-enforced absences for the Glory visit, and is expecting to welcome further reinforcement the following week as defender Franco Lino and attacker Reno Piscopo target the Wanderers visit for their return. Defender BJ Hamill, meanwhile, has resumed full training with Victory’s senior side as he continues his recovery from an ACL rupture and will be considered for selection when he gets through a month’s worth of work on the track.
Their selection in Tony Vidmar’s side for the AFC U23 Championship, however, will mean that midfielder Jordi Valadon and Josh Rawlins are set for an extended absence – Victory opting not to block their call-ups, as other A-League clubs have done with their players, for the tournament taking place outside a dedicated window.
“There’s a selection headache there at the back. We’ve got different full-backs who are available. We’ve got [Josh] Inserra, we’ve got Kayne Razmovski, and we’ve got Lachy Jackson as well. There’s a headache over the next 24 hours, that’s for sure.
“In midfield, Denis Genreau is an obvious one to come back in. And we look forward to having Deny back in. But it also opens up an opportunity for Oli Dragicevic to come back into the side as well.
“We’re looking forward to giving an opportunity to those players. We’re not happy that we’re missing two very quality footballers who, especially in the last fortnight, have played some of their best football this year. They take that good form with them to the Olyroos, and in the meantime, we fill the gaps here with the players that are ready to go.”