Heading into Melbourne’s biggest away match of the season against Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium, Kevin Muscat is not at all concerned that the Victory has lost its past four games on the road.
Heading into Melbourne’s biggest away match of the season against Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium, Kevin Muscat is not at all concerned that the Victory has lost its past four games on the road.
Melbourne charged into the finals on the back of five wins in six games, claiming the Premiers’ Plate along the way. But all of those wins have come at home, and a look back at Melbourne’s recent away for sees losses against Perth (twice), Wellington and Newcastle in its past four road trips.
Muscat insists it’s all a matter of perception and Victory’s recent form is a much better guide to how they will perform in the first-leg of the Major Semi-Final against Adelaide.
“Stats are great. We can turn around and say we won five out our last six. It just depends if you look at the glass half-empty or half full. All I will say is that we are very confident. We are going over there to play attacking football and try and get three points,” he said.
Fuelling that confidence is the memories of an away win against Adelaide earlier in the season, where Victory came from behind to win 3-2. Muscat thinks there may still be some unpleasant memories there for the Adelaide players.
“Hopefully a few of them are still scarred from that game, but we’ve done quite well. We’ve identified how we will go about things and where we can get some joy and hopefully that can happen on the weekend,” he said.
And he has backed Melbourne’s experience to shine over the two-legged tie with seven of the squad of 19 having played for Victory in the 2006-07 Grand Final winning side.
“I think what we’ve learned is that you can’t go through the motions like any other match, it’s certainly not. Your preparations have to be as normal as possible, but once you step out over that white line it’s certainly different,” he said.
“Mental strength is certainly an aspect that we think you can get a lot of joy from. We like to think that we are a lot mentally stronger than we were two years ago.”
Meanwhile, the Melbourne skipper has earned the praise of Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar, who said the 35-year-old’s experience on and off the ball will play a big part in the match.
“He’s just too smart, he’s too clever. He doesn’t just talk to the opposition players, he talks to his own, he talks to the referee, talks to the linesmen. Probably even talks to the fourth official and the people in the stands as well. He’s been around too long, in a good way, and he’s just on the ball with a lot of things,” Vidmar said.
