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Thompson has been played out of position in a wide attacking role to allow Danny Allsopp and then Harry Kewell to move into the striker's slot.

But the gamble by coach Mehmet Durakovic has yet to pay dividends with Victory still goalless after two matches, despite the arsenal of attacking options on offer.

When he was substituted last weekend without scoring, he enigmatically tweeted after the game: "Master stroke"

Now Thompson hopes he will be allowed to lead the attack again when Victory line up to face local rivals Melbourne Heart in their blockbuster derby clash this weekend.

“On Saturday you might see me in more of an attacking role. But we’ll just have to wait and see,” Thompson said today.

“I’d like to be closer to the goal. The last five or six years I’ve been playing up front and having success with that.

“We want players in positions who can score goals. I’m not having much luck or getting close to goals playing out wide.

“But Mehm has his position for me and I can’t say ‘I want to play here’ because there are other players in our team.

“I just want to play anywhere because if I say I don’t want to play, there there’s someone that will.”

This season Durakovic has seen first Allsopp then Kewell at the tip with Thompson one of the strikers playing a slightly deeper, wider role.

With no goals as yet for Victory it’s a system – and a team – that are clearly works in progress. Some are agitating for a 4-4-2 system with a narrow diamond and Thompson using his pace to work off the main striker.

It’s one of the many questions coach Durakovic will ponder ahead of Saturday night’s big game.

“When you look at our team, I mean today at training we played an 11 v 11 and you could play both teams in the A-League. It’s that competitive,” added Thompson.

“It’s just a matter of finding the right combination. At the moment we’re just chopping and changing.

“Once the goals start going in it’ll start to flow for us.”

But Thompson also admitted the retirement of Kevin Muscat has hurt Victory as the side struggles to gel and find direction this season.

In a frank admission today, the Victory forward said Muscat – the club’s long-time skipper who retired in the off-season and is now an assistant coach at the club – was able to marshall the side’s transitions from defence into attack.

This is an aspect of Victory’s play this season that the club has struggled to cope with said Thompson.

“I think losing Kevin this year I honestly didn’t think it would affect the team at all. But just what Kevin used to do in changing defence into attack, we haven’t had that,” the Victory striker said.

“Obviously Adrian [Leijer] is working on his game with his passing and being able to penetrate from the back like Kevin did but we’re missing that.

“Personally we’d like to have a bit more depth in there but [Petar] Franjic is going to come in maybe.”

Thompson conceded it’s been a tough fixture draw for Victory so far but said the Melbourne derby was the perfect platform to kick-start their season – especially with Heart’s defensive woes after Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Glory.

“We’re more focused on what we can do though. And when you look at our team on the paper it’s an amazing team. It’s just we haven’t quite put it together on the pitch," he said. 

“We don’t focus on their team, it’s more on what we can do. But more the pressure’s on us. A lot of the teams that come to Melbourne love to play in front of a big crowd and they tend to lift.”


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