Merrick is Spoilt For Choice

Hi guys this is the first of my posts on the Victory so i thought i should just introduce myself, my name is Jake and any feedback or whatever is appreciated.

I was reading, as i usualy do every day the footy news and i came across an interesting article from our coach Ernie Merrick telling us how spoilt for choice he is with his current squad, this got me thinking about the truth behind this and in as many ways as you can look at it besides maybe the goalkeeping position we are covered really well and alot of last seasons regulars will have to fight hard this time round to retain their spots, although to be honest a few of last seasons regulars didnt really put in the quality week in week out performances expected by us. So lets look at our transfers since the end of last seasons A League and see what we have.
Billy Celeski from Perth is a future star and performed well in an underperforming Ollyroo squad during Beijing and he had a few moments last season most notably a hattrick against our bitter rivals Sydney F.C (I bet alot of fans will be hoping for something of the same in round 9, myself amongst them) and Billy will be a great addition to our squad this year, he offers a little bit of pace and flair and his set piece isnt to bad either.
Tom Pondeljak was a great performer for Central Coast and the veteran is a quality plyer, he will definately bring alot of experience to our squad but has mostly been treated with mixed reactions so far. So Tommy will have his work cut out to prove him self.
Nathan Elasi is a promising young forward and although i have only seen glimpses of his talent i really like the kid and think he will do well for us and maybe in the future the Socceroos but as it stands regular game time will be hard to get.
Ney Fabiano is in my opnion our best signing as we all saw how good he was during the ACL. Fabiano has quickly built a partnership with Danny Allsopp but mixed with a fit Archie and all the teams will fear our forward line.
Michael Thwaite comes in as a seasoned European veteran on the fringes of the national team, and what an addition this is as our defence last season was at best average.
Jose Luiz Lopez impressed our scouts and then even the big man himself Ernie Merrick but when you take into account the fact that he has played with Carlos and that the two are close is even better. Lopez is a much needed shield in our midfield and while only still adapting is looking very good so much so I even chucked him in my dream team.
Looking at this its easy to see that we made the best movement in the transfer market of any of our A League rivals although Adelaide and Sydeny were both impressive. It is easy to see how Merrick is spoilt for choice especialy in the midefield with the likes of Nick Ward, Carlos Hernandez, Jose Luis Lopez, Grant Brebner, Leigh Broxham, Billy Celeski, Tom Pondeljak and even the youngster Evan Berger who is looking great so far we easily have one of if not the strongest midfields in the League, most of these players would walk into the starting line ups of our rival tems easily.
So even though we lost Caceras who was probably bar The our best player last season (when he made it onto the pitch) and then the loss of the youngster Kaz Patafta to rivals the Newcastle Jets we have more then made up for it with our new signings. Last season our forward line was a little shaky as Archie was no where near his best and with Dany Allsopp wasting as many opportunities as he got Ney Fabiano is definately a key signing because he offers quality finishing and more importantly diversity to a new look Victory squad for 08/09.
We are looking

Category: Melbourne Victory Team News

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