Victory striker Archie Thompson has had a close-up look at Harry Kewell in the past few weeks and he believes that having found himself a permanent home on the left side of midfield, the marquee man is ready to unleash his best on the Hyundai A-League.
Victory striker Archie Thompson has had a close-up look at Harry Kewell in the past few weeks and he believes that having found himself a permanent home on the left side of midfield, the marquee man is ready to unleash his best on the Hyundai A-League.
Kewell has been in the most consistent form since arriving at the club over the last few weeks, creating plenty of attacking chances, including the one which Thompson bundled home for a goal in the 1-1 draw with Adelaide last week.
Thompson feels the entire club has turned a corner since new coach Jim Magilton arrived at the club earlier in the month and with that momentum behind him, Kewell is ready to shine.
“Over the last couple of weeks he is starting to find some form and we are getting a glimpse of what he can do and it’s pretty magical,” Thompson said of Kewell.
“The last two or three weeks, he’s been phenomenal for us and we want him to keep playing like he is because some of those runs that he is making and opportunities that he is getting.”
“If he puts one of those goals in, you are looking at probably one of the best goals in the A-League.”
“He’s getting closer and he is starting to play really well and if we can get the ball into him and with Danny (Allsopp) and Carlos (Hernandez) doing well, we’ve still got a very potent attack.”
Thompson thinks Kewell, who welcomed a new daughter Dolly this week, is far from at his peak yet.
“He’s still got more improvement to make. In saying that I think a lot of us have still got a lot more to give and you can’t always put the onus on Harry to do everything. We’ve got to step up too. I think we are starting to do that,” he said.
When Kewell, Solorzono and Rojas were added to Hernandez, Thompson and Allsopp on the club’s books at the start of the season, the consensus was that on paper Victory had assembled the best attacking line-up the league had seen.
The thoughts after a less than ideal first half of the season, is now that Victory are the sleeping giant of the competition, which could be awakened by Magilton’s enthusiastic approach to his new job.
But after last week’s draw with Adelaide, Reds coach John Kosmina said he believed that his team was a more talented group than Melbourne’s on paper and out on the park.
It’s a criticism which Thompson says is a spur for the he and his team-mates.
“That’s why we love Kossy because he comes up with outrageous comments like that. They’ve got a great side and they are starting to play some good football, but I think there’s some managers out there who would love to have our firepower,” he said.
Thompson thinks if Melbourne can put together a few wins, starting with Sunday’s trip to Perth, then Victory can make a real charge to the finals.
“We haven’t had the luxury of having a couple of wins on the trot. If we do that we put ourselves in a good finals position. That’s all that the main thing is, is to make finals and anything can happen from there,” he said.
“We don’t want to be giving anymore points away and if we put three four or five wins together you are right up there. It’s so close and it’s a matter of us doing that.”
“But I looked at the statistics and we’ve led in eight or nine games 1-0 and we’ve faded away. If we continue play that well from start to finish than anything is possible.”
