Melbourne Victory finished second-last on the Isuzu UTE A-League standings after a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic believes his side can take plenty of lessons out of a difficult campaign, that saw his charges drop from second to second-last within the space of 12 months.
With their finals fate already sealed, Victory’s season came to an end on Saturday night after falling to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Brisbane Roar on their home deck.
It capped off a campaign that saw Popovic’s side drop 10 spaces within a year, despite coming into the season as one of the favourites to come home with silverware, off the back of last season that saw them finish in second and a point off Premiers Melbourne City, while also missing the Grand Final in heartbreaking circumstances.
This also the third time in four campaigns that Victory have failed to make the finals, finishing in the bottom two in each of those seasons that they missed out on post-season action.
Popovic spoke about the lessons he learned from this season, saying there were “many” for him to take out of it, which he believes started with their recruitment.
“Firstly, recruiting that hasn’t all worked out for us,” Popovic said post-game.
“Long term injuries, unfortunately you can’t help and when we had the long term injuries obviously they’re out for a long time… Our squad players or players that have been brought in to be squad players and put pressure on the starting players didn’t work out.
“So last year, our squad depth was very, very good. We lost some key personnel and ultimately, it hasn’t been enough and we were playing catch-up from the halfway mark and when something goes wrong it amplifies the issues that we have.
“It’s not for a lack of effort from the players. You can see they’re giving everything, there goes our centreback at the end having a shot there and they gave everything but it’s one of those seasons, we’ve been punished for everything.
“But in the end, ultimately, we haven’t been good enough to be in the playoffs. So that’s disappointing, but 12 months ago, we know what it looks like to win a trophy and be a point off (the) Premiers Plate so we’ve got to get back to that.
“Jordi Valadon came through which is nice for the young kid and we’ve got some younger boys that that are younger than him. Maybe the next 12-24 months can really start coming through so that’s a positive but it’s been overall a season that we’re definitely not happy about but we know we can get this back on track as we did last year.”
Victory’s season was marred by inconsistency, long-term injuries and recruitment not panning out the way they’d hope.
Popovic’s side lost an equal season-high 14 games, despite having the league’s fourth best defence (34 conceded) but conversely the league’s worst attacking record (29 goals).
Key players such as marquee signing Nani, Johnny Warren Medallist Jake Brimmer, Jason Geria, Rai Marchan and Matthew Spiranovic – who ended up retiring in January – missed plenty of games due to injury, meaning they were forced to pivot with their starting group for much of the season.
Socceroo striker Nick D’Agostino also departed half-way through the season to sign with Norwegian club Viking, leaving their attacking stocks even more depleted.
However, Popovic believes his side’s poor start to the season ultimately came back to bite them as well, despite an improved second-half of the campaign that saw them get scalps against Premiers Melbourne City, fellow top-two side Central Coast Mariners and sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix – along with a draw against Adelaide United.
“We have to do a review on everything,” he said.
“I think the first half of the year, we had 11 points from 13 games, so it’s a terrible start. Many things went wrong at the start on and off the field and long term injuries, etc. But, yeah, we were playing catch up from that moment.
“And then, unfortunately, in January, you lose Spira (Spiranovic) to retirement, which is a blow. Nick (D’Agostino) goes overseas which of course we’re happy for him. It’s a transfer that he deserves. Then we lose Jake (Brimmer) and Jason Geria.
“So it’s been tough but the improvement has been clear. The performances have been much better but you can see with all the games even when we’re dominant, Macarthur last week were dominant but we need a last minute goal because we found it hard to score.
“Tonight was the same, they defended well, okay, they came with a plan to play on the break. They got their moment and took it and unfortunately, we didn’t take ours.
“We have to reflect on the season, which we will. Have a break and we’ve got to come back bigger and better and get this club back to the top.”
As a result of their 11th place finish, Victory will face Newcastle Jets in an Australia Cup playoff in the near future.
Meanwhile, Brisbane Roar sealed their place in next season’s Cup by securing a first road win under interim coach Nick Green.
In his nine games in charge, Green has taken the Roar from bottom of the table to only five points outside the top six on the final standings.
The Roar won four games, drew once and lost four since he took over from Warren Moon in late February.
Despite the positive uptick in results, Green said he doubts he will be hired on a permanent basis, but hopes to stick around in the game in some capacity.
“I don’t think ill be at the Roar, to be honest,” he said post-game.
“However, I wold love to stay around in some capacity or potentially move on. I’m not too sure but I don’t really know what’s next to be honest.
“I just wanted to get this game out of the way today and enjoy this weekend, and let’s what comes next.”
