Melbourne Victory head coach Marco Kurz was left disappointed after a 3-2 loss to Western United in the Hyundai A-League.
Ola Toivonen and Kristijan Dobras put Victory in control at Marvel Stadium on Saturday before Western United fought back.
Scott McDonald scored a second-half winner after an Alessandro Diamanti strike and James Donachie own goal.
Speaking at a post-match news conference, Kurz discussed the encounter and provided an update on injuries to Toivonen and Dobras.
on the game…
“Disappointed and also a little bit surprised because we started really well, you cannot start better in a derby. We were winning 2-0 and after we conceded the first goal, we dropped a little bit too much back, gave them too much time to set up their game and we must speak about what happened between minute 20 to half-time. Also, the defending for the three goals weren’t good and at the end we had three big chances to score the equaliser after free-kicks. I think the biggest point was what was happening after the first goal from Diamanti, that we lost a little bit the confidence, we lost our behaviour to press them at the right moment and that’s the point out of my opinion.”
on losing confidence during the game…
“That’s part of our analysis with the team, to find out what the reason is. I’m on your page. The start was well, but after was not. Before half-time was not good enough on our side.”
on injuries…
“Every injury is not helpful and also we’ve got three very high-quality players (Tim Hoogland, Robbie Kruse and Andrew Nabbout) with injuries, but the season is not done. The season is long. For us at the moment it’s not easy, but for sure we keep going, we come back in a good way for sure. The season in Australia is very long and the start isn’t what we expected, but we are positive and hard working for the return.”
updates on Toivonen and Dobras…
“I think Kristijan got a knock and Ola landed on the foot from an opponent and ankle a little bit, but he finished the game. We must have a look now at the medical stuff and then we can give an answer.”
