Entries Tagged 'Kevin Muscat' ↓

After a poor start to the season, we can breathe easy again. Two wins on the trot has put Melbourne a point from first place, though the A-League is so tight this season that we’re still only in sixth place. But it’s good to see the team hit some form at last.

With a third of the season almost done, I thought I’d pop in to share my thoughts on how the mighty Victory are faring this year.

The Equilibrium Shattered: Danny Allsopp leaves, Billy Celeski injured

Melbourne came into this season with a stable squad, with just one new face. For a side that normally signs at least 3 or 4 a season, this was quite remarkable. Keeping a stable lineup has its advantages of course, but it can also make a team predictable. Whether that was part of the reason for Melbourne’s sluggish start to the season, I’m not sure. What’s clear is that Kevin Muscat’s injury earlier this season, Danny Allsopp’s departure and the season-ending injury to Billy Celeski has shattered that stability and forced the club to turn to the players market.

So far, the signings have paid off. Bringing back Adrian Leijer was a brilliant and timely coup. The purchase of Robbie Kruse had me buzzing for days, though last weekend was the most we’ve seen of the youngster so far — and even then he seemed to be struggling with the dust quite a bit. Mate Dugandzic impressed against the Gold Coast with a remarkably self-assured performance. With Costa Rican international Marvin Angulo set to join the club this week, and Thai international Sutee Suksomkit also due to arrive soon, Ernie Merrick looks to have plenty of talent at his disposal. Finding a structure that works cohesively will be his biggest challenge in the coming weeks.

The Return of Kevin Muscat

It has surprised me how much Kevin Muscat’s return has impacted the team. I for one thought Muscat had a poor season last year and expected him to hang up the boots, but it was painfully clear in his absence how leaderless and frail Melbourne looked. Granted, we’d also just lost Allsopp and Celeski, so everything was a bit topsy-turvy anyway, but Muscat’s return played no small part in our wins against Adelaide and Gold Coast. How we cope when he does decide to retire is going to be a very big challenge.

Carlos Hernández: Our greatest import ever?

Do you think he’s the best player we’ve ever had? If it came down to it, who would you rather field: Carlos Hernández or Fred?

With the way Hernández is playing right now, I think he’s the best player we’ve ever seen in Victory colours. Four goals in eight matches, every one of them a beauty. If he gets through this season un-injured, I have no doubt that we’ll finish in the top 3.

Pim Verbeek held his second training camp yesterday, this time calling in 29 players from the A-League. Eight of the players at the last training camp were left out this time, including the Melbourne Victory’s Leigh Broxham and Nick Ward.

Kevin Muscat, Archie Thompson and Rodrigo Vargas have all been picked again though.

Archie has already said he doesn’t like his chances of getting picked. Will the fact that Alex Brosque, John Aloisi and Joel Griffiths are all playing in the A-League finals help them to score a spot ahead of Thompson?

Muscat and Vargas will be up against similar challenges, of course. All up, the 20 of the 29 men selected for Pim’s second training camp are playing in the finals. Making the squad is going to be a stiff challenge for the Melbourne boys.

Which Melbourne Victory player is most likely to feature in the Socceroos squad against Qatar?

Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.

Pim Verbeek announced his 22-man selection for a Socceroos training camp next week. Among them are Melbourne Victory’s Archie Thompson, Kevin Muscat and Rodrigo Vargas.

Only A-League players were picked for the training camp, though Verbeek insists there’s no guarantee that he’ll pick exclusively A-League players for the opening World Cup qualifier against Qatar on February 6.

On his perception of the A-League, Verbeek said:

“I enjoyed every game I’ve seen, the stadiums are fantastic, the crowds are unbelievable.”

“I saw great goals, but I saw also unbelievable mistakes.”

“It’s up to me to find out if the players make that same mistake too many times because then I cannot use them.” (The World Game) Continue reading →

Apparently Lynch was missing, so the two Victory stars decided to interview each other. Topics include the Phoenix match, the upcoming match against Perth, Muscat’s send-off and the Socceroos World Cup qualification draw.

Check it out.

When Ljubo Milicevic and Archie Thompson missed breakfast on Saturday morning, who knew their absence would cause the controversy that has developed over the past few days. The incident has escalated into question marks over whether Milicevic still has a place at the Melbourne Victory.

The pair, who are close friends, went out on Friday night after the disappointing 4-1 loss to Adelaide United. Gary Cole, the Melbourne Victory’s operations manager, insisted that they “had not been drinking or acting in a manner that would bring criticism among the wider community.” (The Age) At the time of that writing, all we knew was that Milicevic and Thompson had both been suspended from training with the team. The official reason given by Cole was that it was “curfew stuff.”

An article in the Courier Mail today suggests that there may be even bigger ramifications for the players:

“As tensions at Victory yesterday came to a head, it is believed Thompson’s ‘partner in crime’ Ljubo Milicevic may be on his last chance at the club.

It is understood the coaching staff will front the Melbourne Victory board tomorrow night to demand Milicevic be released from his contract over his latest alleged misdemeanour.”

It’s well known that Milicevic hasn’t exactly had the best time at Melbourne. Besides picking up an injury in the first half against Wellington Phoenix back in round 1, there were also reports of locker-room tension between Milicevic and captain Kevin Muscat during pre-season. And now this.

Could the club really fire him for missing breakfast? Yes and no.

To be honest, I don’t think this is about the breakfast incident; nor is it about the “couple of beers” Archie and Ljubo had on Friday night. This is about Melbourne’s overall unhappiness with Milicevic’s performance, both on and off the pitch. Is it a coincidence that the “coaching staff” demanding Milicevic’s release includes Muscat, who is assistant coach? The club has previously insisted that the issues between Muscat and Milicevic earlier this year have been sorted out. That sounds decidedly false now.

Meanwhile, I’m sure Archie will walk away from this with a slap on the wrist, and no more. The Victory relies far too much on their star striker to be angry at him for very long.

Milicevic, on the other hand, looks, well… expendable.

Despite being diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture, a break he apparently suffered in the match against Wellington, Muscat is still hopeful of playing against Adelaide this weekend. What measures he would have to take to guard his arm remain to be seen, but he certainly doesn’t seem willing to write himself off as a player. Tough man.

Melbourne’s medical team is being kept busy at the moment with both Joseph Keenan and Milicevic out with injuries as well as question marks hanging over the heads of Pantelidis, Theoklitos and now Muscat. Add to that the two players with international commitments; Thompson and Broxham, and the Victory could be 7 players short this weekend. Obviously not an ideal situation. Whatever the outcome, it now appears certain that we will see a very different team line up this weekend in a match that is always bitterly contested. While it does provide the fringe players an excellent opportunity to stake their claims for a 1st team spot, it is greatly concerning that we should be without so many of the big name players.

Perhaps the only silver lining in this whole situation is that none of the injuries appear to be particularly severe. The recovery times quoted for these players are only measured in weeks, not months.

A cursory glance at recent statistics will tell you the Melbourne Victory machine isn’t running as smoothly as it did last year. But when rumours surfaced last week that Ljubo Milicevic, one of this season’s star recruits, had done a runner, matters just seemed a notch worse.

Thankfully, Milicevic, a 24 year old Melbourne boy, isn’t going anywhere. With two weeks to go before the start of the season, that would be very bad news for Merrick and co indeed.
But that is not to say that the rumours are entirely unfounded. There is tension in the Melbourne camp, and it’s between Milicevic and skipper Kevin Muscat.

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Kevin Muscat. It’s hard to imagine the Melbourne Victory without Kevin. He is known for fierce tackles, a fiery temper and a perfect penalty-kick record.

Before moving to Crystal Palace (England) in 1996, Muscat played football for a number of Victorian clubs in the old NSL, including Heidelberg United and South Melbourne F.C. When he moved to the UK, he quickly earned himself a reputation as a hard player. Martin Grainger of Birmingham City even went so far as to call him the “most hated man in football”. Maybe so, but Muscat’s skills as a footballer saw him spend 9 seasons in the UK, playing for Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton, Rangers F.C. and Millwall F.C. He captained Millwall to the FA Cup Final in 2004 – a game he missed due to injury.

Continue reading →