Melbourne Victory head coach Marco Kurz was pleased to welcome back Robbie Kruse against Sydney FC on Sunday.
Kruse, 31, made his first appearance of the Hyundai A-League season, coming off the bench in the 2-1 loss at Jubilee Stadium.
The attacker’s return from a hamstring injury was a boost for Victory, which was without a host of players due to injury and international duty.
Speaking at his post-match news conference, Kurz discussed Kruse’s return and his side’s performance as Victory fell short despite Ola Toivonen’s opener.
on playing with a depleted team…
“It was a challenge. Everybody knew it before the game that we missed a couple of players, but my focus was for the players that were available. I think we were a really strong side today, we played a really good first half, we were winning 1-0, we had a chance for a second goal in the first half. I’m a little bit disappointed and angry about the equaliser because the defending was not strong enough and at the end when Sydney was winning 2-1 then it’s hard to come back. We had a moment, but you must have a brilliant day, but I think the performance from the group was in a good way.”
on results…
“I think a couple of more reasons. Today, we missed seven players. That’s one of the points. We never had a chance to start with our starting XI, or our strongest squad and a couple of things. Look, it’s not good to look in the past, it’s very important to look forward and keep going. It’s a hard challenge for us, also for our fantastic fans, but hard work and belief in the comeback is very helpful at the moment.”
on the performance…
“I think we played a really good 60 minutes. I know that they would have more possession, but that’s normal. We set up a strong line against them and we had chances to create chances and we had a chance in the first half to score the second goal with Ola, he was completely free, but at the end you must have the perfect day and we didn’t. That’s fact because the Sydney side is very strong in the offensive, everybody knows, and you have to defend well.”
on Kruse’s return…
“It’s good to have him back, it’s good that he’s involved in the training sessions, but he needs time for development. He played the last game five months ago and maybe we need a couple of weeks when he’s fully fit for 90 minutes.”
