Postecoglou reveals a grand vision

Postecoglou, who is seen in some quarters as a Socceroos coach in the making, turned under-achieving Brisbane into a championship-winning team after joining the club in 2009.

Roar won two successive titles in 2011 and 2012 with a level of football never before seen in Australia.

Now he wants to do it all over again in his home town for Victory.

"That's why I'm here," Postecoglou said boldly.

"If I did not have the ambition of emulating Roar's achievements I would have stayed in Brisbane.

"The challenge is very similar and I won't be satisfied unless I do the same.

"Even if I had stayed in Brisbane I would have looked to raise the bar further.

"And that is what I will seek to achieve in Melbourne because football forces you to do that."

Postecoglou said he was looking forward to his third full season in the A-League but said he was fully aware of the massive expectations surrounding Victory, the club with the league's largest supporter base but which has not won a championship since 2009.

In a Q&A session, Postecoglou spoke about several issues that are expected to dominate the news in the coming months.

Victory has been in pre-season for three weeks. What's the impression you're getting from the players' approach to the new competition?

"Melbourne have had a couple of disappointing years and when a new coach comes in there's always a bit of uncertainty but I'm happy with the attitude of the players.

"They all understand that Melbourne need to be successful this year and they are working hard.

"Obviously there will be a few changes in personnel from last season so they will have to gell and that's going to take a bit of time."

Bearing in mind the type and quality of your new players, what style of football can the fans expect from Victory in season eight?

"Hopefully I will try to play an attacking game. There are several ways how to do that.

"We want to score goals but we have to be solid defensively. That's always been my style of coaching."

So you are saying that you want your players to adapt to your philosophy, not to come up with a style to suit their characteristics.

"You have to work with what's available a little bit but ultimately I've got my belief on how my team should play."

You've now acquired popular Argentine Marcos Flores. How good is he and how important will he be to Victory?

"Look, he's just another component in the team. He had an outstanding season with Adelaide two years ago and I expect him to provide a bit of excitement to our supporters.

"He is the type of player who can play that magic pass or score goals."

Can Flores do for Victory what German Thomas Broich does for Brisbane Roar?

"They are different types of players. Thomas was allowed to play the game because of the players around him.

"I expect Marcos to have the same impact with the type of players he will have around him."

So does the signing of Flores compensate for the loss of Harry Kewell?

"It is very hard to compare one with the other. What I can say is that after we lost Harry and Carlos Hernandez, it was important that we signed a big name (to please the fans) and after what Marcos did in the A-League in 2011 I think we have done that."

In your days as Brisbane coach what aspects of Victory's game concerned you most?

"You always felt that Victory were a threat in the attacking third, obviously with Archie Thompson, Marco Rojas, Carlos and Harry in the line-up.

"We always feared them a bit particularly when they played in front of a big crowd at home.

"Okay, they might have been a bit fragile defensively but they were always dangerous going forward.

"But the overriding feeling we got was that Melbourne Victory wanted to be the best all the time.

"I'd like to think that this positive mentality is still there."

You obviously would know exactly how to beat Brisbane, whom you face in round two.

"To an extent, yes. But they've got a new coach (Rado Vidosic) now so they could play a bit differently this year.

"From my point of view it's more about getting my players to play how I want them to play."

Victory is short on recognised strikers in its squad. Is this a drawback?

"Not really. We've got Archie and Danny Allsopp but we've also signed young Australian striker Theo Markelis from Vicenza in Italy.

"And don't forget Flores can score goals and so can fellow midfielders Rojas and Isaka Cernak.

"I think we've got plenty of goals this season.

"Spain have shown us during EURO 2012 that you can afford to be less dependant on strikers and still win."