A-Leagues Championship winner and Network 10 pundit Erik Paartalu believes Melbourne Victory are on the right path under new head coach Giovanni Savarese, despite their opening round loss.
Victory kicked off their 2026/27 A-League Men account with a 2-1 defeat away to Wellington Phoenix on Sunday, with Nix forward Riley Bidois scoring the winner just seconds after coming off the bench.
The game in Wellington was Victory’s third in the space of eight days having contested both the 2026 Australia Cup final and then a midweek clash against K League 1 side FC Seoul in the AFC Champions League Two.
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Whilst Victory suffered a gut-wrenching defeat to South Melbourne FC on penalties in the cup final they bounced back to defeat FC Seoul 3-0 in midweek thanks to goals from Guillermo May, Clerismario Santos and Jordi Valadon.
Speaking on the A-Leagues’ brand new podcast offering, On the Whistle with James Dodd and Kosta Barbarouses, Paartalu believes fans should look to the performance against FC Seoul as a sign of things to come, rather than the weekend’s loss to Wellington.
“I’ll put my hand up, I’m a big Giovanni Savarese fan, 100%,” Paartalu said.
“I love what he’s doing. The only thing that’s holding him back is that he doesn’t know or understand the competition, and you only get that from experience.
“So today’s game against Wellington, you know, leading, having a draw at some stage, people that go across the ditch to play against Wellington might actually think maybe I’ve got to put a sub there, I’m not expecting [Corban] Piper to do that etc…
“So you can watch all the video you want and talk about it in front of your team, but until you actually know and smell and breathe the A-League, you don’t actually know it.
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“So he’s going to have to find out ways to get ahead of this, and now it’s Matchweek 1, he’ll now see other coaches going to Wellington and think, did they do that?
He continued: “At Newcastle who’s putting this player on? Or at 1-1 maybe I have to lock-up in Perth because it’s too too far to travel. Right?
“It’s 100% a hangover from the Asian football, it’s too much for them in a short space of time.
“What I loved about their response to losing the cup final and playing against FC Seoul in the Champions League was that when Guillermo May scored that goal, he went to all the players and was high-fiving them. You know, trying to be positive.
“I’d love to play for a coach that wants to be positive all the all the time.
“You know, behind closed doors, who knows? But Victory kind of needed that pep in their step. Diles was a different type of character and had his own success as being there.
“I think Giovanni Savarese has a lot to learn individually to help the team, and you know he’s the type of guy that will get it right. I’m sure about that.”
Next up for Victory is a mouthwatering Melbourne Derby against fierce rivals Melbourne City on Saturday night at AAMI Park.
The A-Leagues’ brand new podcast, On the Whistle, is released every Sunday night via your favourite podcasting platforms and is also available to watch via the A-Leagues’ YouTube channel.
CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE 2026/27 A-LEAGUE MEN SEASON
