Valeri wasn't injured though, he was ill.
If he and Milligan stay fit all season, what do we do then? Will this guy be happy to sit on the bench and just play as a squadie? Seems like a weird avenue to go down.

Maybe we're struggling to identify a Rojas replacement under the cap. 

well even if this Sanchez guy signs on, don't we have 2 more visa spots still available? Nothing wrong with having extra depth in the midfield I would have thought.  

Valeri turns 33 this season
Milligan is 32 

There is just as much chance of either 1 getting injuries or slowing down as there is of them playing all season unhindered. And who knows, what if Muscat is planning on playiong millsy at the back?
The only concern I see with strengthening such an importnat position is the further stunting of Nigro's development 

Which one? There's quiet a few Mathias sanchez's😂

assuming it's this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat%C3%ADas_S%C3%A1nchez :)

Can't see how this will be bad. We need to beef up options around the park and we're always crying for depth.

Millsy can be used literally anywhere on the park, except probably in goals or up front. You're only left with Valeri, Troisi and Brox as your natural midfielders. Brox is used everywhere also. All are aging too..

Which one of you blokes updated his Wiki hahaha

They did a shit job of it, whoever it was.

A step.in the right direction, but we still need a quality centre half, another right back and 2 left backs, scoring goals isn't our problem,  it's conceding them. 
We don't win anything with signing a top notch foreign central defender, Delpierre was top class, Baro wasn't, but was solid & was our stand out defender last season. 
I don't think the 3 Australian central defenders we have are good enough to win the league and less said about our right & left back options the better.

Where are your signings at?

From memory it's unheard of for a squad to only have 15 contracted senior players at this late stage of preseason.

There is still literally 2 months until the start of the season lol chill bro

I reckon, this is coming from the bloke who supports a team that have been beaten twice now in the FFA Cup by low level clubs. Should worry about his own signings :)

we have had a history of bringing in visa players late. Contreras, FBK and Beister come to mind off the top of my head. But geez, its still 2 months from from the start of the season. and I think our squad is good enough to beat Brisbane tonight.   

Hopefully! But I do worry how we match up with Sydney. We were a step behind them last year and with their squad basically settled and getting a good pre-season in together I worry we are still a step (or two) behind them.
Speaking of tonight though, I wonder who's going to be playing LB, Mr Fix-It aka Brox? A NYL player perhaps?

I'd imagine Broxham at LB. 

Thomas
Geria-Donachie-Williams-Broxham
Millsy (Hopefully)- Valeri
Kosta-Troisi-Austin
Bes

Talk is Millsy isn't yet registered so perhaps Broxy will play DM and Nigro LB. they could also swap roles if necessary. 

Looking foward to seeing a competitive match again, it's been way too long.
I'm pretty confident in a result, our starting XI is quality and the boys will want to prove themselves.
I kind of just want to win so we get another possible match in Vic before the ALeague proper haha

ABC News Radio said they'd both start tonight

-PB

Valeri not playing tonight also 'With captain Carl Valeri not travelling as he is nursed into his pre-season' from an article posted in the FFA Cup thread.

Wouldn't be averse to having Williams move up the park and Deng in at CB. Looks like we'll need to rely on an inexperienced player somewhere, so would rather the less-inexperienced Deng.

Not surprising considering he wasn't involved in either of our preseason friendlies against Port Melbourne and Bentleigh Greens.

I fear that he's on his last legs.

Would add more credence to the Argie DM rumour (regardless of the necessity of a visa DM). Speaking of, would love to know where TheRealFootballSupporter pulled that one from...

Milligan and Troisi starting as reported.

-PB

There's an Argentinian HAL fan page on twitter.. I saw it there.. may have some substance, could have been in the local press there.

Very good win by the lads, albeit against a under strength Roar side. I felt as though we dominated the game, and apart from perhaps the Austin penalty (our third goal), all our goals were very well worked - tossing up between Troisi's goal and Berisha's lob over the keeper for best goal of the night. Thought the newbies did well, especially Rhys Williams - slotted in seamlessly and his anticipation to cut out lots of attacking thrusts was excellent overall.

Disappointed to draw Adelaide - would've loved any NPL side, especially a Victorian one. Oh well, we'll just have to go on ad win the whole thing now.

pretty stiff to draw A-League opposition away for the second game in a row. But in saying that, I'm not massively disappointed drawing Adelaide.

thought we looked fairly sharp last night. We've developed a very good habit of dominating in the pre-season. I can't remember the last time we lost a game before round 1. we've been undefeated in at least the last 2 years.  

Well said, we were silky last night but made it look very easy. It was very much likr a training match.
I'm confident we'll beat Adelaide, would have liked to play in Victoria but thats the way it goes.
I thought Bes did well as captain, he is a good leader and really looked up to it.

Williams was fantastic, has settled in well already. A couple of passages where he stepped out, played an incisive ball to Millsy who then fed Troisi made the mouth water. 

Victory have won every single preseason game including pre A-League FFA Cup fixtures since October 2013 (this includes wins against Atletico Madrid and Juventus) with the sole exception being a 1-1 friendly draw with Sydney at North Hobart Oval in September 2014.

I guess we get the boys in form early at Victory, speaking to good systems in place at the club.

Could have sworn Roar beat Victory in a pre-season game in Ipswich, if I remember correctly Yeboah scored the winner in the dying minutes. That could have been before October 2013 though, not too sure. 

That was September 2013. :)

Our run starts after a 1-2 loss at AAMI Park behind closed doors to Adelaide in October 2013, one of those FFA mandated friendlies.