Good morning. Unbelievably, its week six of the A-League already. Moving fast isn’t it? Although its been a slow start for the Victory, after last weeks spirited performance things are looking up. Given the strong showing against the reining Champions and a good result the previous week in Wellington, a little bit of the pressure has been lifted off of Mehmet Durakovic’s shoulders. Facing Brisbane was said to be his biggest challenge yet this season but tomorrow’s game, away to the Mariners will be a test in itself.

Up until this point Durakovic has had a full squad to pick from, but a number of key absentees this week will make things difficult. Foschini and Covic are suspended, plus Kewell and Hernandez are on International duty. Tando Velaphi is still out injured of course, as is Grant Brebner. Also on the injury list is Isaka Cernak. He was suffering from groin soreness during the week and won’t be risked.

So the squad is as follows (with one to be omitted):

Fabio, Petar Franjic, Leigh Broxham, Matthew Kemp, Solorzano, Archie Thompson, Marco Rojas, Rodrigo Vargas, Diogo Ferreira, Billy Celeski, Tom Pondeljak, Jimmy Jeggo, Danny Allsopp, Lawrence Thomas, Adrian Leijer, Zaim Zeneli.

Straight away you’ll notice the unfamiliar name in there. Zaim Zeneli. The South Melbourne goalkeeper has been brought in as a back up, due to both Covic and Velaphi being unavailable. I must admit I know nothing about him but I thought it interesting that Youth goalkeeper Rani Dowisha wasn’t promoted instead. Lawrence Thomas will pick up where he left off last week though and start in goals. Lets hope he can carry that same type of performance into this match.

Matthew Kemp and Jimmy Jeggo are the other notable inclusions. Both are still yet to play this season. Ferreira gets another chance after impressing against the Roar and Petar Franjic and Solorzano come back into the squad.

In terms of how we’ll line up I can only guess, but this is by no means my preferred option:

Thomas – Leijer – Franjic – Vargas – Fabio – Broxham – Ferreira – Pondeljak – Rojas – Thompson – Solorzano

With Kewell and Hernandez missing we’ll no doubt lack some creativity in midfield but hopefully Archie’s scoring form can continue to play a big part and help get us over the line. The Right Back position is also important and I’m interested to see just who Mehm decides to play there. It could be Leijer, who has played there before, with Franjic moving in at Centre Back, or vice versa. But there’s every chance that Broxham could slot in there too. Matthew Kemp does seem like the most logical choice but his lack of match fitness may rob him of a place in the starting XI. This is just pure speculation though. No doubt Durakovic will surprise us when the line ups are confirmed tomorrow.

Thats all for today but for more Melbourne Victory goodness, check out Victorycast #12 – recorded on Tuesday. This week Paul Williams and I reviewed the Wellington and Brisbane games, discussed the Matthew Foschini red card and previewed the Central Coast game. Remember, as well as downloading the show directly you can also subscribe via RSS and iTunes. Enjoy!

Kick off tomorrow is 7:45pm.