Victory to shuffle deck as they eye bouneback against Brisbane

Adama Traoré will return and Roly Bonevacia is a chance to make his debut as Melbourne Victory seeks to bounce back on the road against what coach Tony Popovic expects to be a spirited Brisbane Roar.

Melbourne Victory will welcome back Adama Traoré for its trip to face Brisbane Roar on Sunday afternoon, with Roly Bonevacia also a chance to make his debut for the club as it looks to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat to stay in sight of the race for the Premiers’ Plate. 

An unfortunate own goal from Ryan Teague saw Victory fall to a second defeat of the season last Sunday against Central Coast, a result that also saw Roderick Miranda and Jordi Valadon sent off and – despite an appeal regarding Valadon’s dismissal – suspended for this coming week. 

With just a single win from their last eight games, Tony Popovic’s third-placed side now sits eight points back of top-of-the-table Wellington with eight rounds of the season remaining, with two fewer wins and a two-point cushion on fourth-placed Macarthur. 

With the Roar game thus looming large over Victory’s season, Connor Chapman shapes as the most likely replacement for Miranda in the centre of the defence, allowing Jason Geria to shift over to his natural right-back position as the left-sided Traoré returns. 

Youngsters Matt Bozinovski and Josh Inserra were also mentioned as possibilities by the coach. 

Persistent hamstring issues have restricted the flanker to just 126 minutes across two appearances over the length of February, while Bonevacia has been slowly building up his fitness after joining from Kuwaiti side Al Tadhamon in early February.

“Adama, he's more advanced than Roly, that's for sure,” said Popovic. “In terms of where Roly's come from, the lack of minutes he's had. 

“But Roly's getting better all the time and we'll see how he goes the next couple of days, whether he travels to Brisbane, and what contribution he could make. 

“But we expect Adama to be fully available, whether as an impact player or to start the game.”

Regardless of whether his debut comes against the Roar or in subsequent fixtures, Popovic said that Bonevacia, brought in to replace the departed Rai Marchán, was envisioned as playing as a ten or an eight, acknowledging that he’s also played as an inverted winger at A-League Men level.

The 32-year-old should ostensibly boost a Victory attack whose 1.6 goals per game ranks as the equal second-most profligate in the competition – somewhat squandering the defence’s second-best 1.1 goals conceded per game. 

Against the Mariners, Victory was able to reliably move the ball into their opponent's half with their majority of possession but was nonetheless only able to muster a single shot on target, blunted by their opponent's back-five in the moments that mattered most. 

“The back-five, we've had that with Wellington as well, they sat in a deep block and defended and if you look at the game, in the end, they won 1-0 so you could argue that it worked for them,” said Popovic. 

“For us, we thought we did well in controlling the game in the first half without scoring a goal. Against a deep block you always have to have patience and control and we had a lot of that in the first half.

“Unfortunately, we conceded early in the second half and we lost our way for about 10 minutes there. We looked a bit vulnerable, in all honesty, but after that we re-gathered. But we couldn't get the decisive goal to come back as we did against Western United.”

Roar will enter Sunday off the back of a last-gasp 2-2 draw with Western United in which Jonas Markovski was able to salvage a point with a 91st-minute equaliser – Thomas Waddingham also on the scoresheet that day with a fourth goal in his last three matches. 

Statistically, Victory has been at their most vulnerable in the dying stages of games, conceding six times in the 88th minute or later this season – goals that turned what would have been nine points against Newcastle, Wellington, and the Mariners into three draws.

“There are always different challenges from different opponents,” said Popovic. 

“Brisbane offers a challenge. Playing in Brisbane, the conditions. We've seen them recently have some very good results, obviously against Melbourne City they had a breakout in terms of the goals they scored. They came back against Western United, so there is a lot of fight and a lot of spirit in the team. 

“We know there are no easy games in this league, as it's showing. We're sitting in a good position on the table. We want to get better. We want to get more points. It will be a tough game but we feel we're ready for the challenge.” 

Pressed on reports that Jake Brimmer had signed a contract with Auckland, Popovic said that he was unaware of any deals but that it needed to be expected and understood that players coming off contract will be the subject of speculation on their future.

He also confirmed that Victory's director of football John Didulica was also in the process of retaining and signing new talent for next season.