Archie Thompson is predicting two things for the opening match of Melbourne Victory’s Hyundai A-League campaign against Sydney at Etihad Stadium on Saturday – three points to the home side and a whole new style of Victory football.
Archie Thompson is predicting two things for the opening match of Melbourne Victory’s Hyundai A-League campaign against Sydney at Etihad Stadium on Saturday – three points to the home side and a whole new style of Victory football.
One of the competition’s greatest rivalries resumes in Round 1 when Victory face the Sky Blues in their traditional season-opener.
Thompson said it’s the ideal way to kick of the season and there is a real sense of anticipation among the players to get things underway.
“When you think of Sydney and Melbourne, we’ve had some awesome clashes in the past and we’re looking forward to this one. Obviously it is the start of the season, it’s been a long off season,” he said.
“When you throw in Harry (Kewell) and Emo (Brett Emerton) too, that makes it a bit special as well. Our supporters and Melbourne in general has been looking forward to the start of the season and what a way to do it.”
“We’ll get 40-odd thousand, what other way would you want to start the season, than in front of crowd like that?”
Thompson is bullish about what he thinks the outcome of the match will be, saying nothing short of a Victory success will be tolerated.
“We can’t start a season at home without a win. Especially against Sydney. We’d love to win, and I feel like we’ve got the team and quality to do that. I honestly believe and think we can do that for this one,” he said.
But while the confidence may seem the same, Thompson said that style will be quite different thanks to the influence of new coach Mehmet Durakovic.
The striker said the success of Brisbane Roar last year, a team who he rates as the main threat again this year, had forced everyone to rethink their approach.
“Ange has got them playing some really nice football. We played them pre-season, we won, but they were trialling some things you usually wouldn’t do in a game, but the way they play football with ball interchange, it’s what we want to do and I think we’ve done that ion the past couple of months,” he said.
“I think that’s what you’ll see against Sydney as well, a high tempo, moving the ball around type of game.”
