Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic has praised the performances of his defenders in the 0-0 draw with Melbourne Heart on Saturday.
Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic has praised the performances of his defenders in the 0-0 draw with Melbourne Heart on Saturday.
While Victory’s goal-less start to the season continued, it was the performances of goalkeeper Ante Covic and young pair Matthew Foschini and Petar Franjic pleased the coach.
Covic was Victory’s Man of the Match for the second home game in a row, producing a string of quality saves which preserved the stalemate.
“He’s been very good. Ante, I can’t praise him enough. It’s another clean sheet from him which shows he’s a true professional,” Durakovic said.
The coach also thought Franjic’s efforts in the absence of skipper Adrian Leijer were noteworthy in what was the youngster’s first start of the season.
“He was really, really good, I was really happy with his performance, same with Matthew Foschini.”
While there is a perception that Victory are struggling up forward, Durakovic has urged patience with his new attacking structure, and in particular Harry Kewell.
“I’ve got be quite honest, Harry is not 100 percent fit. He’s still not match fit,” he said.
“He just wants to win. He’s a true professional. He’s been a winner all his life and he hasn’t come to Melbourne and one of the best clubs in Australia for a picnic. He’s come here to do quite well. He’ll do that, he just needs a few more games.”
“This structure is going to take a bit of time and we have to find the right guys to play in the position.
“As soon as we put the ball in the back of the net, we’ll be okay.”
Foschini said the entire playing squad needed to look at themselves after the start to the season.
“I don’t think you can pinpoint a certain area where it’s gone wrong. We are just not gelling. We are not working hard enough for each other,” he said.
“Nothing has gone right and we’ve got no-one to blame but ourselves. There’s no good pointing fingers at anyone else, everyone of us need to look at each other in the eye and say it’s not good enough.”
“The sooner we do that, the better it is, or else we are just going to continue on a downward spiral.”