Archie Thompson has insisted it’s business as usual for Melbourne Victory ahead of their clash with Wellington Phoenix, assuring fans that the appointment of Kevin Muscat as head coach has not disrupted the squad in any way.
Thompson was happy to see Muscat get the nod for the next two years, and has revealed nothing has changed at the club, with everything continuing from where Ange Postecoglou left off.
“After 18 months of where the club was and where it is now, it’s a big difference. So why would you want to change that? We obviously want to keep evolving,” Thompson said.
“Ange has given Muscat templates to succeed and we’re starting to reap the benefits from the last three weeks that we’ve played. Each week we get better and better.
“It was a huge loss for our club to lose Ange. But it’s a gain for Australian football, for the national team.
“He’s moulded Musky over the last 18 months and Musky knows all the ins and outs of how we play and we’re looking forward to Monday and it’s just business as usual.”
With the club having not won the title since 2009, Thompson admitted the squad was hungry to start winning trophies again, and that belief has not wavered with what has transpired in the last couple of weeks.
“Our goals are still the same from day one when Ange was here,” he said.
“We want to bring silverware to this club because it’s the biggest club in Australia, and it’s been a long drought and we obviously want to win some silverware.
“Ange has set the foundation, Musky’s building the house.”
The next obstacle in their way is Wellington Phoenix, coached by Ernie Merrick who remains the only coach to have tasted success at the club.
Thompson was happy to see Merrick get the job in Wellington, but warned his old boss not to expect a complacent Victory.
“Ernie has got them playing a decent brand of football this year, and they’re well structured. We can’t turn up tomorrow and think they’re going to be easy beats, because they’re not,” he said.
“They’re a good side, they’re very solid and they’re going to bring it to us, because every team that comes to Melbourne and plays in front of a full house seems to lift them up a gear.
“We just have to turn up and know that we’re confident we can get three points.”
Thompson will also be itching to get his name on the scoresheet, having failed to trouble the statisticians this season.
He admitted being frustrated by the lack of goals and constant offsides but was adamant a change in fortunes is just around the corner.
“People don’t understand that the way we play there’s a high fine line of offside,” he said.
Two or three times this year I wasn’t offside so you just got to keep walking that fine line as frustrating as it is for myself, frustrating as it is for the supporters, the goals will come.
“I’ve been in seasons where I’ve been in droughts for seven, eight matches but then bang, when it comes, it comes. I’ll keep walking that fine line because once you spring the trap it’s goal bound.”