Wing-back Evan Berger is steeling himself for a difficult challenge in Saturday night’s clash against Brisbane at Etihad Stadium as Melbourne looks to secure its first win of the season.
Wing-back Evan Berger is steeling himself for a difficult challenge in Saturday night’s clash against Brisbane at Etihad Stadium as Melbourne looks to secure its first win of the season.
Berger was one of the better players in the 2-0 loss to Central Coast last week, getting forward regularly to provide an attacking spark for Victory. But given the Roar’s reputation for having strong wide attacking players, Berger, who turns 22 on Sunday, knows he will have to be mindful of his defensive responsibilities against the likes of Robbie Kruse and Michael Zullo.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge obviously Queensland like to play with a target man and two wingers, a bit like the Dutch system and I’m really looking forward to it, no matter who I am coming up against. Hopefully I can get forward as well as hurt their full backs as well,” Berger said.
When the Roar came to Melbourne early last season, the home side was undone by the pace of the visitors’ youngsters with Zullo and Tahj Minniecon (now with Gold Coast) scoring goals late in the game. Berger played the second half of that encounter and saw first hand how dangerous the wingers in Frank Farina’s side can be.
Brisbane, like Melbourne, is coming off an opening round loss, after being humbled 3-1 by new boys Gold Coast. Berger watched the match with interest, and believed the final scoreline was not an accurate indication of how well the Roar played.
“I had a look at it. I thought they played fairly well. They didn’t get the result they were after. They had good parts of the game like we did. They had chances,” he said.
“Gold Coast look a polished unit, but we’re looking forward to playing in front of a massive crowd. Lots to play for, we both need a win and it should be an exciting game.”
Berger said that while Melbourne was unhappy with losing its first game, particularly at home, it was important that the players learn their lessons and move the focus on to this week.
“You like to get off to a good start and we were disappointed with how we played. Hopefully we can raise our standards. We set high standards at this club and hopefully we can turn it around this weekend,” he said.
“It doesn-t help when you conceded soft goals and we did that off a set piece and an unlucky deflection, but we should have closed that ball down earlier. We felt we were up for the game, it was just how it panned out in the end.”
“We’re not looking any further ahead than this weekend. There’s a lot of football left to be played in the season. Internally we set our goals high and we don’t feel there’s any added pressure to perform this weekend. We are just concentrating on the job at hand and hopefully we can get the result.”
