Melbourne Victory’s 4-0 win against Newcastle Jets on Sunday proved that the forward line is more than capable of producing a match winning performance without key striker Ola Toivonen.
Toivonen was made to sit on the sidelines of the round 13 game after receiving his fifth yellow card against Melbourne City.
With the majority of Victory’s goals coming from Toivonen this season, it was questioned what would have happened if the Swede decides to go back home; the performance of the forward line this week answered that.
Victory’s four goals came from Robbie Kruse, Andrew Nabbout and Migjen Basha with Elvis Kamsoba being unlucky to have contributed to the score board.
At the post-match press conference, coach Marco Kurz said he was very happy with the number of goal scorers consisting in his side.
“It’s always important that you have a lot of numbers in your squad or in your team that can score goals,” he said.
“That’s important because when the only one who can score goals stops scoring goals then you have problems.
“I know I have a good offence.”
The forward line showed signs early on that without Toivonen, they could play a much faster game of football.
Less time was spent slowing down the play to find Toivonen or to allow him to set up to receive the ball.
And instead, the ball was moved (most of the time) down the wing quickly and crossed into the attacking front without hesitation.
Someone, whether it was Nabbout, Kruse or Kamsoba, was ready to receive the ball and attempt to score.
There may have been 52 minutes between the first and second goal but in between were a number of created chances
Combined, the side had 19 shot for goal, with seven being on target.
Kruse and Nabbout shared 11 of the shots and five of the shots on target between them proving their ability to step up when they need to.
Swift, yet rushed movements of play to get the ball into the attacking front resulted in some wasted opportunities that could have seen Victory steal the win with a greater margin than four.
Nabbout will be replaying in his head tonight the header he sent across the face of the net rather than in the goal that was right in front of him.
The question is now – was this just a one-off performance against the bottom of the ladder side, or is this an indication of a changing Victory side looking to make finals in 2019/20?
Feature Image Credit Ngau Kai Yan
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