Note: We’ve been a bit half-arsed about our player profiles recently. This one for Adrian Caceres is one of the final few left to do.
When the Melbourne Victory met the Central Coast Mariners at Telstra Dome in Round 4, Ernie Merrick made a rather odd substitution. Adrian Caceres off, Steve Pantelidis on. We were only about 30 minutes in, and Caceres had looked dangerous so far, having come very close to scoring early on.
It’s not the first time that Adrian Caceres has been pulled off rather inexplicably. When he’s on, he generally looks dangerous. What’s more, he adds something that the Victory lacks: width. But Caceres rarely gets a starting berth; Merrick’s favourite use for the Argentinean-born Caceres is to play him as a second-half tactical sub. Melbourne Victory’s Tim Cahill, if you will.
Where Grant Brebner and Kevin Muscat play a passing game, Caceres plays a running game. Like Joe Keenan, he adds width to a Victory side that all too often drives its attack straight down the middle.
When Caceres came over to Melbourne from the Perth Glory, he put a frustrating season behind him. Marred by injury, Caceres never became part of the starting lineup. During his pre-season with Melbourne, Caceres looked impressive and exciting. But throughout the regular reason, it became clear that Caceres’ role at the Victory was not as a starter, but as a fresh pair of legs designed to wreak havoc on tired defences.
Sure, it often works. Caceres was instrumental in the victory over the Queensland Roar and the comeback against the Newcastle Jets the previous week. Both times, he came on in the second half. But notice that the Victory had generally looked uninspired during the preceding halves. Which makes you wonder: Can we really afford to keep Caceres on the bench when the team seems desperately to need his spark?
Read more about Adrian Caceres:
- Adrian Caceres on Wikipedia
- Caceres profile at MelbourneVictory.com.au
3 comments ↓
Caceres is for me the most underrated Victory player.
Even when he’s playing well, he gets subbed off prematurely.
Or when there seems a clear need for a player of his qualities, he doesn’t get subbed on until the end of the match.
Drives me nuts! It was the same most of last year as well, when he was constantly Allessandro’s sub partner.. grrr ..
With the Central Coast substitution Caceres seemed pretty pissed off when he was pulled off, and Pantelidis is solid defensively which makes me think that EM doesn’t like his players to neglect their defensive duties, this seemed to be a problem with Alessandro last year, he was more of a winger, than a wing-back, whereas Joe Keenan not only runs from midfield but also tracks back and fights in defense.
Ok so EM may hay had ‘tactical’ reasons for taking Caceres off the last few games but why was he subbed before an obviously exhausted Hernandez? The most frightening thing is that after proving himself continuously so many clubs who can offer him a permanent start will be chasing his signature. Can the Victory afford to loose such a consistant player who is also an outstanding clubman, especially in these though times?
Leave a Comment