Melbourne Victory Head Coach Grant Brebner is weighing up his defensive options for Wednesday night’s A-League fixture against the Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park.
While Brebner welcomes the prospect of fielding a strong forward line, the squad will be without defenders: Nick Ansell, Adama Traore and Storm Roux – who picked up injuries during Sunday’s defeat.
“We have got a reasonably big squad. It’s not ideal to miss a few players but we’ve got the cover to do it,” Brebner said.
We host Wellington at @AAMIPark tomorrow night. See our extended squad, thanks to @MetriconHomes #MVFC #Since05
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Defence
Central defender, Nick Ansell was substituted 59 minutes into the game against Newcastle, leaving the pitch with a hamstring injury.
“We can bring Dylan Ryan back in. He started the season at centre-back so he will come in for Ansell,” said the Head Coach.
Roux, who was involved in a heavy collision early on against the Jets, will miss his first game of the campaign along with fellow full-back, Traore.
“We will look to bring one of the young lads in from the youth team to play a full-back role and one of our more experienced players will drop into the other role,” Brebner said.
Attack
For the first time this season, Brebner will have his full attacking line-up available but will need to manage the fitness of some players.
“Tomorrow night we get the opportunity to field a team that I’d like to field in that area and it has been a long time coming,” said the Scotsman.
“Marco Rojas has ticked off what he needed to tick off and comes back in.
“Callum McManaman managed to get 60 minutes into his legs on the weekend,” he continued.
“Robbie is getting fitter every game and Rudy has been coming back, so we’ve got all four of our bigger name players available and I want to see if they can come out and produce.”
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Form
Brebner and the squad are determined to rectify the club’s current form and the Head Coach has emphasised the importance of getting a result against the ‘Nix.
“We need to win games sooner rather than later,” he said.
“We can’t look too far ahead. We need to make sure we get three points tomorrow night and build from there,” said Brebner.
Following Wellington, Melbourne will host three matches at Marvel Stadium – starting with Western United this Saturday.