Melbourne Victory have become the first A-League team to sign a full complement of twenty players for the forthcoming season, a feat that a few other clubs may not necessarily care to accomplish in order to remain under the salary cap or remain flexible throughout the year. Funnily enough, Melbourne were the only team to journey through last season without a full squad, leaving one vacancy for unforeseen circumstances.
'Alessandro' Viana da Silva (pictured), a left-sided wingback from Brazilian side Internacional, and all-purpose defender Roddy Vargas from local team Green Gully Cavaliers are the new players. Following the logic that three young Brazilians are better than two, Alessandro joins fellow countrymen Fred and Claudinho, who may have glossed over any queries about the weather. Apparently he's fast and can whip in a dangerous cross, qualities Melbourne lacked at times in the previous season. Vargas can play anywhere across the backline, but may find himself deployed on the right side of defence if Kevin Muscat shifts into a central role in midfield -- early pre-season matches have suggested as much.
As ever from the marketing team at Melbourne, the hype surrounding the shape of the squad is just a touch over-zealous:
Alessandro, a 23 year old attacking left back, will link up with fellow Brazilians Fred and Claudinho in the most cosmopolitan squad ever assembled in Australian domestic football history. Victory also boasts former Belgian international, Geoffrey Claeys, Scottish midfielder Grant Brebner and Argentinian-born Adrian Caceras.
With all due respect and tongue firmly in cheek, I've played for university teams that fielded more 'cosmopolitan' line-ups than Victory's sparse tri-continent effort, with players in the squad hailing from Spain, Argentina, Canada, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Scotland, Sweden, Ghana, England, New Zealand, Iraq, Australia and the United States! Football is indeed a global language.
In all fairness, Victory management has every right to feel upbeat about its recruitment during the off-season break. The general consensus is that the squad is a big improvement from last year, when there were some strugglers who were a bit too green for the big show and other experienced players who failed to live up to killer expectations. It might be argued that every team in the A-League has improved their squad from last season, but Adelaide, Newcastle and Perth will have to prove that on the pitch if they are to utterly convince me. In removing the clutter and bringing in six new players, Victory have done enough to suggest a promising season ahead.
3 comments:
Great stuff James...
For someone like me who's been away in Germany following the national team, it's nice to come back and catch up on the local news.
Melbourne seem to have built nicely. I'll be looking forward to seeing how the three Brazilians fare this season. I caught up with one mad Internacional fan while I was over in Germany but 'Alessandro' wasn't among the names he mentioned to keep an eye out for.
Regardless, Melb did need to add some left sided options, so it's great to see them stepping into relatively uncharted territory, at least for Australian footballl.
If the rest of the world is buying from there, Melb are on the right track, so I can't wait to see Fred and Claudinho.
At the end of last season I wrote a review of the Melb Victory season, identifying a couple a key areas, most notably more support and goals from the young midfielders, better shape in the midfield, particualrly in the holding role (too often Pantelidis tended to drop into the defensive line when the opposition was attacking), better supply from the flanks and more consistency/goals from whoever is supporting Archie up front.
It sound like alot, but most of it is fundamental, so I'm looking forward to seeing how Merrick goes in season two.
As for Roddy Vargas, very consistent and underrated in the NSL, so good to see him back.
I agree with all from RBA and Gentleman James Brown. Yes Melbourne's squad looks a major improvement from last year, and yes Melbourne's marketing people are woefully prone to hyperbole.
I particularly liked quotes attributed to Ernie Merrick at the end of last season that they were looking everywhere...in Europe and South America.
Its true that the rest of the world is buying from Brazil. Our league does not yet offer a standard of play or length of season to compete with the rest of the world. That being the case, I would have thought that we could attract relatively better players from less obvious regions such as Africa and Asia, where relatively younger players might come here for the opportunities it might present to them and their families.
That might sound exploitative, not sure, so let me add cynical. I would have liked to see Melbourne pursue a great player from SE Asia. 1) because there is no shortage of classy players in the Asian leagues and 2) to broaden the whitebread appeal that the Victois has seemed desperate to emphasise thus far.
Do you think this is just about having trusted agents and sources only in two continents at present? Steve Panopolous'work in Brazil seems to have been critical to reassuring Victory about their signings...
(speaking of brazil, i note that the letters i have to type in to verify that i am a human are "fvlla", sure one too many Ls but not a bad coincidence)
Whoops, its work time.
I really like your blog JB, and looking forward to the start of the A-league season. Come on the Victois!
I gotta agree with RBA... Roddy Vargas looked very strong against the mariners, pity the rest of the defence crumbled around him...
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