Melbourne Heart’s Matt Thompson says he’s moved on from the disappointment of being overlooked for the club captaincy.
Melbourne Heart’s Matt Thompson says he’s moved on from the disappointment of being overlooked for the club captaincy.
Thomson fancied his chances of being promoted from the vice-captaincy when Simon Colosimo was stripped of the captain’s armband on the eve of the new season.
Instead, new recruit Fred – a star of Melbourne Victory’s championship-winning campaign in 2006-7 – was anointed by coach John van ‘t Schip.
“I spoke to ‘Tezza’ (assistant coach Ante Milicic) and ‘JVS’ about it and their reasons are their reasons,” said Thompson after training at AAMI Park.
“That’s the way it is.”
“Fred’s a fantastic player and he’s been around a long time.”
“To have him as captain, I’m more than happy to be vice under him.”
Thompson said missing out on the captaincy forced him to reflect on his strengths and weaknesses as a player and as a leader.
“There’s certain qualities that a captain needs and I probably don’t have them, in all honesty,” he said.
“I’m not someone that’s boisterous on the pitch as Simon is and very demanding and all that sort of thing.”
“He had his ways last year and Fred will have his.”
“Nothing much changes.”
“All it means is that Fred wears an armband instead of Simon, that’s the only difference.”
“We have a few leaders out there.”
“Simon’s worrying about himself at the moment, getting fit and ready to play.”
“When he’s fit he’ll play and play the same role he did last year, just without the armband.”
After being overlooked for the Heart’s opening-round 3-2 loss to Newcastle, Colosimo has been named in the squad for Sunday’s first home game of the season against Perth Glory.
The 32-year-old trained strongly on Friday morning despite heavy strapping on his left calf.
Thompson said he expects the Glory to come to Melbourne full of confidence after their 1-0 first-up win over Adelaide United.
Asked whether the club’s new recruits including Fred, former North Queensland forward David Williams and ex-Victory striker Mate Dugandzic, needed time to settle in, Thompson said: “To take time to gel, that’s no excuse.”
“That was last year’s excuse and this year we’re not copping it, we have to perform straight away.”
“It’s important for us to get off the mark and it would be nice to do it at home.”
