It’s not often that you see Melbourne Victory fans welcome a former Melbourne City legend with open arms.
It might be a sign of the times as an off-season highlighted by the signing of marquee Nani promised so much but has since failed to deliver. There has been no carrot at the end of Victory’s Round 1 dangle which saw them carve open a rampant Sydney FC side with three well-crafted goals.
Since that clash in the biblical rain of Allianz Stadium, Victory’s star-studded attack has been thwarted by the resolute and compact defending of Western Sydney Wanderers, Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar as they have failed to score in three consecutive matches.
As cliché would dictate, Victory’s signing of former Golden Boot winner and proven A-League marksman Bruno Fornaroli comes at the perfect time. In a similar vein to childhood friend Luis Suárez, Fornaroli is the type of player that you adore if he’s on your side, and despise if he’s on the other side.
Now that he dons the navy blue of Victory, his allegiances with their crosstown rivals will be quickly forgotten if he rescues Tony Popović’s side from their scoring rut.
Known affectionately as El Tuna, the 35-year-old joins the club six months after making his international debut for the Socceroos and scored eight goals last season for a Perth Glory side that managed only 20 goals in the league.
Fornaroli’s tenure out west was mutually cut short after the club refused to include him in matchday squads due to a clause in his lucrative contract that would grant him an automatic renewal at season’s end if he added seven goals to the eight he scored in the A-League last season.
At Victory, the Uruguayan-born centre-forward will challenge Nick D’Agostino for a spot in the starting XI. The conundrum that now arises of whether to start D’Agostino or Fornaroli is the type of problem that coaches love to have. Each of them possess unique straits that make them fantastic strikers, but Fornaroli’s rounded profile makes him particularly valuable for Popović’s side.
“Bruno is a player who will complement our squad and supply another dimension to our final third,” said Popović, who recruited Fornaroli to Perth after his side lost the Grand Final in 2019.
“His qualities speak for themselves and having worked with him in the past, we believe the environment at Melbourne Victory will bring the best out of Bruno.”
It makes sense that Popović would mention Fornaroli giving Victory another dimension.
Since Victory were stunningly bundled out of the A-League Finals last season after an error-strewn 4-1 defeat at the hands of eventual Champions Western United, it became abundantly clear that Popović’s side needed to become more comfortable with the ball.
Often, Victory looked most dangerous when the opposition had the ball as the attacking triumvirate of Ben Folami, Nick D’Agostino and Marco Rojas was always ready to pounce and hit the opponent with a sucker punch in transition if they suddenly surrendered possession.
Ranked 10th in the league last season for ball possession, Victory often sat deep inviting opposition pressure in the hope that they could score from a counter attack. This was key to their success and so was Popović’s smart manoeuvre of tasking Rojas and Folami to stay wide and isolate the opposition full-backs so that they could dribble towards them at pace.
Western United found the blueprint to stifle Melbourne Victory as they limited their opportunities in transition and remained disciplined in defence. On that day it was Western United, and not Victory, who played the role of stealthy assassin as Popović’s side had 54% of the ball, almost 8% more than their average throughout the season.
As Victory beared down on a set defensive unit, they struggled to carve out opportunities and resorted to crossing the ball 23 times, almost double their season average of 13.46. Only 26.09% of these crosses met their target which was lower than their season average of 34.2%. A previously swashbuckling attacking unit became predictable and lethargic.
Come the off-season, Popović sensed it was time for change. A chance for his squad to continue their evolution and bridge the gap between his side and crosstown rivals Melbourne City who finished one point ahead in the league and were the Runners Up in the Grand Final.
That gap had been swiftly reduced from a chasm after City defeated Victory 7-0 and 6-0 under Grant Brebner in the previous season as the navy blue Melbourne-side were rooted to the foot of the A-League table.
Popović recognised that the final step to overcome City would come in the form of ensuring that Victory could become more comfortable in possession.
Naturally, the club signed Nani – a technical menace who thrives on incorporative play with his teammates and off-ball movement to open space for others. At 35 years of age, Nani lacks the same level of acceleration as the player he replaced in Rojas. This was the first sign that Popović would look to adjust his team’s playing style.
Then, fellow marquee Chris Ikonomidis started to see more minutes in pre-season as Victory transitioned from a tight 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 into a more attacking 4-3-3 shape with Rai Marchán as the sole midfield pivot. A 17-time Socceroo, Ikonomidis is less explosive than Folami on the left-hand side but is smarter in his movement and more comfortable in tight spaces.
All the cards seemed to be falling into place especially after performing well against Sydney in Round 1. However, since that game Victory have looked poor in attack as their players seem to lack a mutual understanding when the opposition sits back and invites pressure.
Victory have only mustered 1.75 counter-attacks per game this season which is almost 37% less transition opportunities per game than the 2.75 that they managed last season. Most concerningly, only 14.3% of Victory’s counter-attacks this season have resulted in a shot compared to 33.8% last season.
This paints a stark picture of the troubles that plague Victory’s attack especially when juxtaposed against the almost telepathic connection shared by Rojas, Folami and D’Agostino last season.
Victory’s struggles were typified by the weekend’s drab stalemate against Brisbane where only two of Victory’s 28 shots were on target as the side had over 62% of the ball as Warren Moon’s side were content with absorbing pressure. In a similar vein to last season’s semi-final loss, Victory were predictable with the ball and failed to pull Brisbane’s defenders out of their shape as they aimlessly crossed the ball on 31 occasions.
Victory clearly needed one more asset to complete their evolution and become less predictable in possession.
Bruno Fornaroli is that answer.
Never blessed with immense speed, Fornaroli thrives on being in the right place at the right time. However, the 35-year-old’s best attribute is his ability to affect games across the pitch by dropping deep, drawing defenders and supporting build-up. He draws fouls and he works hard off the ball. He can easily produce a 9/10 performance without scoring a goal which is what makes him unique.
These sentiments were echoed by Socceroos boss Graham Arnold when he selected Fornaroli in the squad to play against Japan and Saudi Arabia in March.
“He’s a player that can score in any situation and I know that his energy will be great for the rest of the group,” he noted.
Former Glory manager Richard Garcia also added that Fornaroli has “a great ability to hold up the ball and bring other players into the game”.
El Tuna will be hoping that his Victory career does not start and end as abruptly as his Socceroos career did. If Fornaroli’s reunion with Popović helps to steer Melbourne Victory back towards a Championship tilt, then he may just end his career as an unlikely legend on the navy blue side of the city.
Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images