I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel nervous about tomorrow’s game. The prospect of facing Brisbane Roar at a time when they’re absolutely dominating the competition is daunting – especially when you consider our own form. But I’m also feeling excited and somewhat optimistic. As the cliche goes, anything can happen in football and we’ll all be hoping that the Victory can pull off a win tomorrow night, ending Brisbane’s 32 games unbeaten streak.

I’m all for being positive but I think you also need to be realistic. Many are using the fact that Melbourne were the last team to beat Brisbane as inspiration. Fair enough, but we do need to consider the differences between the match ups last season and Saturday’s impending encounter.

When asked about his teams chances, Adrian Leijer said this week:

We pushed them to the limit last year in every game we played. We were the last team to beat them (In the league), we had a draw against them where they scored in the last minute and we beat them in the pre-season.

How much you look into that I don’t know, but we’re confident we can push them to the limit.

Although we did defeat the Roar 3-0 in week 6 and drew 3-3 in week 17 (the match we should have won), at the time they still weren’t playing at their absolute best. This season I think we’re seeing Brisbane at their peak in terms of the quality of their football. We’re definitely facing them at a much more dangerous time. Also consider that our own team has changed significantly. Our current squad might be our best yet but in terms of actually playing as a team, we’ve still got some way to go.

Its too early to know the official lineups but based on reports from training this week it could look something like this:

Covic – Leijer – Vargas – Foschini – Fabio – Broxham – Pondeljak - Kewell – Hernandez – Thompson – Solorzano

So, possibly the same starting XI as last week, which wouldn’t surprise me. The only adjustment I would make would be Tom Pondeljak. Regular readers will know I’m not too keen on him but just going by his performance against Wellington I don’t think he deserves a start. Although you could also make that case for several others, I feel we need our best players on the pitch against a team like Brisbane.

The chances of us taking all three points in this game is not impossible but if we are to win, Brisbane will need to have a pretty bad day at the office (stadium?), and a tremendous performance from the Victory boys will be required. In my opinion the performance is much more important than the result and a positive performance would give us a huge confidence boost and something to build on for the rest of the season.

If we throw everything we’ve got at them and give it our best then I’ll be happy. Honestly, I’d be thrilled with a draw. Yes, even a nil-nil result would be an achievement against this team – although preferably not, for the sake of the neutrals.

On the other hand if we approach this game like we have in previous weeks it could get really messy. If Mehmet Durakovic has any football sense at all, he’ll have some sort of strategy to combat Brisbane. But, will it be enough? Every team so far has tried and failed. If Mehm can pull it off, it would be something!

Kick off is 7:45pm at Etihad Stadium. COME ON MELBOURNE!