As Melbourne Victory's impressive run in the 2024 Australia Cup reached the Semi-Final stage under the guidance of new head coach, Patrick Kisnorbo, questions were raised as to how they would fare against A-League Men opposition. In Victory's greatest challenge so far, they secured a win - albeit far from convincing - against an absence-ridden Adelaide United at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Jordi Valadon (right) celebrates scoring Melbourne Victory's winner in their Australia Cup Semi-Final against Adelaide United. (Image: Brock Pearson Photography)
They scored four goals in each of their three previous Australia Cup fixtures while only conceding once; Melbourne Victory have been unanimously considered the team to beat in the competition. While the quality of Victory's squad must be noted, Kisnorbo's start to life at the club must be commended, immediately catapulting his side into contention for silverware.
Straight off the back of a heartbreaking A-League Men Grand Final loss in May and the subsequent departure of their head coach and key players, it would always be interesting to see where Victory would stand heading into the 2024/25 season. Although Kisnorbo's appointment seemed suitable, his recent stint in France with Troyes and his history with Melbourne City made fans sceptical about his fit at Victory.
Despite the rather sour finish, now Socceroos boss Tony Popovic's three-year stint as Melbourne Victory's head coach was overall positive for the club, taking a side that had finished 11th and 12th in the previous two seasons to two top-three finishes in the league, a Grand Final appearance, and most notably Australia Cup glory in 2021. While Popovic had done well in steering Victory back in the right direction after a challenging period for the club, his departure ultimately felt needed. Victory fans seemed tired of the team's style and approach, as evidenced by the 12 league draws the club recorded last season.
Kisnorbo has appeared as a breath of fresh air for the club. He had coached Melbourne City to their first-ever league silverware and, arguably more importantly, led them to finish as the league's top-scoring team by a margin in the two full seasons he was in charge. He has already begun to implement some specific changes to how Victory plays, particularly in the way they look to attack.
While primarily defending in a familiar 4-4-2 shape, Kisnorbo has begun to adopt a shape akin to a 3-4-2-1 in possession. Against Adelaide United in the Cup Semi-Final and more broadly this pre-season, right-back Jason Geria has often tucked in as a third centre-back. Meanwhile, Adama Traore or Kasey Bos will push further forward to provide width on the left wing.
Victory's left back often occupies an advanced role down the left-hand side, which allows the left winger—Daniel Arzani so far—to move inside and operate in the left half-space, getting involved more in central interplay that can maximise his ability in tight spaces.
As Geria is positioned centrally, Nishan Velupillay operates in a wider role as more of an out-an-out winger for Victory. Possessing exceptional speed and the ability to drive at his opposing full-back, Velupillay has been extraordinary under Kisnorbo so far. While he will often start wide on the right, he has also shown the ability to cut inside and offer a goal-scoring threat; he is currently the top-scorer of the Australia Cup Final Rounds with five goals.
While Kisnorbo did not take credit for Velupillay's apparent improvements on his left foot, he did speak after the Adelaide game about where he has worked with the 23-year-old, "letting him understand positionally; if he's in this position, you can do this, or you can do that, and we are fortunate enough that he can go both ways."
Although the likes of Velupillay had electric starts to Victory's Australia Cup campaign, the winger and the squad as a whole were ultimately disappointing in the club's first home game of the season at AAMI Park. Coming up against an Adelaide United side without any natural centre-backs or strikers, many expected Victory to beat the Reds in a potentially comfortable fashion.
Nonetheless, the home side ensured that they still achieved the result they desired in a game that Kisnorbo described as "cleaning the pipes." They managed to hang in the game until 21-year-old midfielder Jordi Valadon scored his first goal in Victory colours in spectacular circumstances with an 88th-minute outside-the-box winner in front of the North Terrace.
A fascinating storyline to follow with Victory heading into this weekend's Australia Cup Final and the league season will be their striking situation. While criticism of the Vuck's squad last season was a lack of a backup at striker for Bruno Fornaroli, they have since signed both Jing Reec and Nikos Vergos in the off-season.
These arrivals have seen Fornaroli seemingly become Kisnorbo's third-choice striker. Since his arrival, Kisnorbo has opted to start Vergos and substituted Reec onto the field ahead of the Socceroo in Victory's last two games. While Fornaroli is ultimately ageing (recently turning 37), a player who bagged 18 league goals last season and represented Australia at the AFC Asian Cup earlier this year now finding himself as an unused substitute is undoubtedly quite surprising.
"While I'm here, there's always going to be competition because I think it's really important, and it pushes everyone; it pushes the players, it pushes the squad, it pushes us coaches...we're fortunate to be in that situation, but still all three strikers have worked incredibly hard in the pre-season," Kisnorbo said, noting this striking depth as a positive.
Victory's final test in the Australia Cup will once again be at AAMI Park. In the Final, they will face off against Macarthur FC after the Bulls came away as 1-0 victors in a tense Semi-Final against South Melbourne. Macarthur's captain and matchwinner, Valère Germain, will not play after picking up a second yellow card at Lakeside Stadium in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
On the other hand, while there will be palpable disappointment in losing to their rivals in a game that could have gone either way, the performance from Adelaide United's makeshift side and the fight shown deserves credit when considering some of the context.
Starting with a centre-back pairing of a 37-year-old midfielder and 38-year-old full-back, along with a 20-year-old midfielder making his starting debut for the first team as a striker, head coach Carl Veart did not have an ideal squad to choose from coming into the game.
Veart credited the Reds' overall performance, which ultimately lacked "the finishing touches." Similar to how Kisnorbo has started to set up his side, Veart has begun to alter how United plays in possession. On Saturday, he moved to a 3-4-2-1 shape with left-back Ryan Kitto often tucking in to form a back three and Adelaide's right-back, expected to be either Dylan Pierias or Panashe Madanha, bombing forward down the right wing.
"We'll be a little bit more flexible this year with the way that we play, and we have to try and work out what's best with the playing group that we've got," Veart stated when asked about this tactical adjustment post-game.
"We have to be mindful of the profiles of the players that we have, and at the moment, that suits the profiles of Dylan (Pierias) and Panashe (Madanha) with their speed down that right side and playing with Zach (Clough) in between the lines...We've got a few players that need to come back in, and we have to be a little bit more adaptive with our style of play this year than what we have previously been."
The absentees included not only Luka Jovanovic, Jonny Yull, and Panagiotis Kikianis - who are away in Saudi Arabia with the Young Socceroos - but also new signings Bart Vriends and Archie Goodwin, who Veart hopes will be available for the start of the A-League Men season.
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The Reds boss also highlighted Ryan White's "outstanding" performance against Victory, having operated in an unfamiliar advanced role.
"He played as a nine when he's normally a six. He's a great athlete. He's someone that's worked extremely hard in our youth team to get this opportunity, and I think he's had a great Cup this year for us," Veart said.
"He's had involvement in all the games, and tonight, we couldn't have asked more from him; I thought he was outstanding. I'm very happy with him. It's good to see that it's another young boy we're bringing through that's stepping up."
Now that they are out of the Cup, Adelaide United will focus on preparing for the upcoming league season. Veart stated post-game that the club would subsequently try to organise two or three games against A-League Men opposition in what remains of pre-season before his side's season kicks off against the reigning treble-winners, the Central Coast Mariners, on the 26th of October.
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