Sean Welsh blogs on the Melbourne Victory for BackPageLead. Click here if you want to join our A-League blog network.

In an off-season of unprecedented change in the A-League, Victory are hoping to buck the trend. The signing of Jason Petkovic, to replace the precociously talented Langerak, is the sum total of our recruiting to date.

Although Ernie Merrick does continue to hint that he has a quality striker on the hook. This lack of activity, where other teams in the league seem to be playing pass the parcel, has the pessimists amongst the Victory support up in arms. Just to hear the murmurings of the forums you'd be forgiven for thinking the Victory finished dead last in 09/10. I continue to have faith in the workings of the Victory Football Department. They have so far been the best in the league at bringing in players and making them part of the team, not just one headline wonders. I still believe we're a finals side, this will depend on the answers to the following questions:

Can we score while waiting for Archie?

Carlos will score, if only from free kicks. The problem will be whether he can be relied on to score consistently enough given that I would expect all our opponents to go into our games with the mantra "Don't get beaten by Carlos". So someone else is going to have to step up. Kruse did a decent job of leading the line when forced to but his goalscoring record wasn't great. Angulo and Dugandzic both showed flashes of inspiration but both need to move past cameos. Both have the talent and I believe that Angulo at least will begin to justify the flight across the Pacific. The best bet is that any potential signing takes enough of the opposition attention to let Carlos and his creativity off the leash, allowing the team to score the goals needed. I don't expect us to be topping the goal charts without a significant addition up front.

Has Muscat gone one season too many?

Probably a yes. The thing that worries me most about the Victory is how much our belief in ourselves relies on Muscat's combative presence. These insecurities are the most likely ingredient in a poor season. Muscat was exposed in a few games last year and will be exposed in more games this. He's a smart player and will have to rely on these smarts along with a greater contribution from Vargas and Foschini to emerge from this season reputation unscathed.

Will our returning injured have an impact?

Experience in the AFL suggests it's unlikely more than one of the three big knee's will return to anything near their best this season. If I was to pick the most likely, I'll go for Celeski. He has the short wheelbase (a la Rodan, Liberatore) that seem to recover from these injuries more quickly. Thompson and Kemp both rely on their pace (and for Archie agility) a little too much, an attribute that is likely to be diminished at least in the short term.

Can one of the young players make the step up?

They're ready to be bit part players but not to carry a load. I think Foschini and Ferreira have shown enough to be able to fill in for Kemp and an inevitably injured Muscat. Dugandzic is another season away from being more than a good substitute. This will prove to be a make or break season for Berger, can he cut it as a left back/wing back. He was exposed defensively during the ACL and will have to improve that area of his game. The Victory do however look much more potent with a Kemp bombing on from deep and Berger is the only other defender on the roster that can fulfill this role.