Arthur Diles was displeased with the performance of his Melbourne Victory team on Sunday afternoon.
Wellington Phoenix pounced late at AAMI Park, taking all three points courtesy of Sander Kartum’s volley in the 89th minute of a tight Isuzu UTE A-League encounter.
Victory, hunting a third win of the 2025/26 season over the visitors, and a hat-trick of consecutive triumphs, lacked their typical cutting edge in Round 23.
Much of their play took place outside of the penalty box, as the visitors presented a miserly defensive showing in comparison to the campaign’s two previous meetings, when the Boys in Blue amassed eight goals.
Speaking during his post-match press conference, Diles gave an honest review of the defeat.
“Not good enough. I didn’t see that one coming, and definitely not the result we wanted, but definitely not the performance we expect and what we work towards. So that’s something we have to address during the week.”
He added: “There was no indications leading into this match that we’d start the match like that, or play the match like that. Definitely in the first half, we didn’t start well. We were stretched at times defensively, we weren’t good enough with the ball, we had cheap turnovers. It just wasn’t us.”
Victory were dealt a blow in the first half action when Sebastian Esposito was withdrawn with a concussion, having suffered a head knock inside the opening 10 minutes.
They also had Spaniard Juan Mata playing the second period, sporting heavy strapping on his arm, after falling on his elbow earlier in the match, and Diles provided an initial update.
“He slipped in the first half, and I think he’s maybe hyperextended the elbow, so he felt something there. Maybe his elbow has popped out and back in. So he was in quite a bit of pain. And we taped him up to keep going, and he found it difficult.
“In the next 24 hours, we’ll get him scanned and see what it actually is first, and then go from there.”
Watch Diles’ full press conference below.
