Melbourne Victory Head Coach Tony Popovic was satisfied with his side’s 3-1 win over Western United in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Quick-fire goals from Jason Geria and Josh Brillante put Victory in charge at AAMI Park on Boxing Day.
Aleksandar Prijovic pulled a goal back for Western before Nick D’Agostino’s sealer saw Victory move top of the table.
Speaking at his post-match news conference, Popovic discussed the game and Jake Brimmer, who produced a strong display and had a hand in the first two goals.
on the result…
“It’s a good win against a team that won four consecutive games 1-0, it’s a very confident team. I thought the first half was very good, I thought we played some great stuff first half and second half maybe shows how far we’ve got to go so first half was very good, second half could’ve been a lot better, but I think it’s expected in many respects in terms of where the team is at. It’s a new team, we’re constantly having to chop and change players, but I thought the first half there was some great football played and then second half we had to dig deep against a team that kept coming and that’s an area we’ve got to get better at, but I thought we scored a really good goal on the break, third goal.”
on the game…
“They tried to stop us playing in the first half and we did well to find Jakey with the ball. We tried to play out and at times okay, we gave the ball away, but when we broke the line it was great to watch and then we created opportunities from that. Like I said, there were some really good moments in the first half, we scored three goals at home which is a positive and second half for me just shows how much more we can improve and how much work we’ve got to do.”
on Brimmer…
“He had a very good pre-season, fantastic pre-season Jakey and as a young player that you can see is growing with every match, I think his good moments are getting longer, he’s extending the periods of his good play and he’s very influential for us in the front third so we’re delighted with his progress and long may that continue.”
on Chris Ikonomidis and Nishan Velupillay…
“I think he’s got a little bit of tightness again so we’re having that with every game unfortunately, but the kid came on and he’s a young boy that’s still got a lot to do, but these experiences can only help him to keep getting better. He had a chance to score and some areas of his game that obviously he has to improve and certainly he has to improve a lot physically and that doesn’t happen overnight but each appearance can help him in that regard.”
