Brebner keeps eye on attacking depth

Elvis Kamsoba

Grant Brebner has faith in Melbourne Victory’s squad depth to replace the injured pair of Rudy Gestede and Callum McManaman.

The attacking duo will spend the next couple of weeks recovering from injuries sustained in Victory’s 1-0 defeat in Adelaide.

Brebner will be relying on the recently returned Robbie Kruse and Marco Rojas to deliver the goods against Perth Glory, in the Australia Day U-NITE match at AAMI Park.

Depth

“Rudy is a presence in the box, we know that. You saw the first cross into the box – he gets his head on it,” said Brebner.

“How we replace him, we have a fair bit of depth up there. We have Marco, we have Kruse, we’ve still got Elvis Kamsoba and a few young lads that are eager to play.

“It is not great that we don’t have those two players because they are big players for us and they will win us games.

“We look forward and we’re still positive that the players at this football club will score goals,” Brebner said.

Kruse

Victory winger Robbie Kruse made his long-awaited return on Saturday night, replacing McManaman early into the second half.

Brebner is encouraged by Kruse’s recovery and is relying on the 32-year-old’s attacking experience.

“He has worked very hard in the off-season and we saw on the weekend that he had limited preparation coming into this game in terms of match fitness,” Brebner said.

“I think he played 35 minutes on the weekend and it was a really good performance from him. We need a fit Robbie Kruse in our team and it gives us another look.”

Perth Glory

Victory’s Australia Day opponents Perth Glory has provided a flurry of goals from its opening two games – scoring nine and conceding eight.

While Brebner intends to exploit Perth’s defensive record, the Head Coach has one eye on its attacking threat.

“They’ve had a free-flowing, goalscoring couple of games. It is our job to stop them scoring, no matter who we are against.

“We have a defensive side of our game which isn’t too bad. We have players that are coming together and understanding each other.

“We didn’t get opened up, we didn’t get played around and we made mistakes that look bad. Collectively and defensively we are a strong team.”


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