Aloisi’s Heart
Melbourne Heart have seemingly gone to great lengths in order to ensure stability within the dressing room. An interrupted pre-season this time last year saw their A-League finals hopes hampered in an uncompromising fashion. This time around however, Aloisi has a settled squad in the palm of his hands, and this season promises to be one bathed in good fortune.
Last season, John Aloisi made no secret of his intentions in building his team around defensive stability through the deployment of an imposing defensive midfielder who had the ability in controlling the game. And it seems that Patrick Gerhardt, one the club’s shrewdest signing to date, may hold the key to unlocking Aloisi’s tactical ambitions.
However, following the departure of three talented players (Eli Babalj, Curtis Good and Brendan Hamill) on the eve of the 2012-13 season, Aloisi had little choice but to make wholesale changes to his squad.
In January 2013, Melbourne Heart’s playing stocks were further decimated following the mid-season departures of Michael Marrone and Aziz Behich, the club’s inaugural full-backs. In short, Aloisi was left without his entire back-four and little option but to move his prized defensive midfielder to the heart of defence.
The club’s misfortune was compounded when it opted to take a chance on an experienced, but injury-prone Vince Grella. Accepting that he wasn’t match ready, the club expected that he’d play a midfield leadership role in the second half of the season, but Grella was forced to retire due to injury after only one appearance as a substitute.
By seasons’ end, Aloisi’s pre-season vision of a versatile 4-2-3-1 line-up was no realised. And although results in the second half of the season were disappointing, Aloisi was able develop Andrew Redmayne, Jeremy Walker, David Vrankovic, Nick Kalmar and Golgol Mebrahtu into exciting prospects for the upcoming season.
The off-season has seen Melbourne Heart make some difficult yet necessary changes to its squad; Simon Colosimo, Fred, Josip Tadic and Matt Thompson were all released, whilst Clint Bolton retired. Moreover, Aloisi re-iterated that it was his intention to build his team around an influential defensive midfielder.
To date, the club has added Harry Kewell, Orlando Engelaar, Rob Wielaert, Massimo Murdocca, Iain Ramsay and Tando Velaphi to the squad. Aziz Behich has also returned to the club following a season long loan to Bursaspor, where he only managed to make one appearance for the Turkish club
Despite possessing balanced squad at his disposal, Melbourne Heart’s pre-season saw Orlando Engelaar, the club’s defensive midfielder and marquee signing, succumb to an injury- a broken leg- and is expected to miss a large portion of the upcoming season.
And although Melbourne Heart’s squad appears to have the right ingredients to be competitive this season, there are still a number of key issues that need addressing, including the club’s poor away form. Of the 14 away games played last term, the club only managed to win one of those 14 matches (a 2-1 Derby win on match day one), losing 12 and drawing one match.
On a positive note, the squad appears to have improved and based on the second half of last season, the club’s goalkeeping stocks are in safe hands. It is expected that Andrew Redmayne will retain his position as custodian and Tando Velaphi will be used as an experience back-up.
Defensively, Melbourne Heart’s structure will primarily depend on Wielaert’s leadership and ability to remain injury-free. The back-four will likely consist of Walker on the right, Behich on the left and Vrankovic/Wielaert partnership in the centre. Given Engelaar’s injury, it is likely that Gerhardt will alternate between defence and midfield. During pre-season friendlies, Jason Hoffman and Sam Mitchinson both featured prominently at right and left back respectively, creating ideal defensive options.
In midfield, Gerhardt is likely to assume the defensive midfield role alongside box-to-box midfielder Massimo Murdocca. Other central options include the versatile Jonathan Germano and the technically gifted Nick Kalmar, who will likely play in an advanced position. Melbourne Heart’s new captain Harry Kewell is expected to assume an attacking midfield/centre forward role.
Furthermore, Melbourne Heart is blessed with an abundance of young talented wingers that boast blistering pace, including David Williams, Mate Dugandzic, Iain Ramsay, Ben Garuccio and the versatile Golgol Mebrahtu who can take on attacking roles. It is expected that a healthy competition between Williams, Dugandzic and Ramsay will develop as the trio fight for the right and left winger positions. Also, with the absence of a recognised striker, Mebrahtu may assume the role of striker, with Dylan Macallister as back-up.
In summary, a John Aloisi led Melbourne Heart can beat any A-League team on any given day but there is still a lot of work to do before the club can be considered a force to be reckoned with.
Follow Dominic on twitter @dominicstephen
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