Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer is hoping his side can reach their attacking potential in Sunday’s clash against Perth Glory at Etihad Stadium.
Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer is hoping his side can reach their attacking potential in Sunday’s clash against Perth Glory at Etihad Stadium.
Victory possess one of the most feared attacks in the competition, but to date they have managed just four goals in six matches, the lowest of all 10 teams.
It is in stark contrast to their defence, which is currently the equal-best in the league having conceded just four times.
“You just want to win games of football though,” Leijer said.
“At the end of the day if we win 4-3 I’ll be happy. It’s about getting maximum points.”
“Defensively yes we haven’t been conceding a lot of goals, but going forward we haven’t been scoring a lot at all.”
“At the end of day the fans want to see us scoring goals and I want to see us scoring goals.”
Leijer admitted that the team is ‘nowhere near where they can be’ but is buoyed by the fact they have only lost one match so far this season.
“I don’t think we’re playing our best football, we’re not anywhere near where we can be and we all know that and we’re working hard to get it that way,” he said.
“The good thing is we’re picking up points. We had a very good win in Wellington and we’ve been drawing a lot of games.”
“If we can turn those draws into wins then we’d be up close to the top of the table. There’s plenty of positives, although we know there’s a lot to work on.”
Victory are set to regain the services of Carlos Hernandez and Ante Covic from international duty and suspension respectively, while the fitness of Harry Kewell will be monitored throughout the week.
Kewell injured his hamstring during the Qantas Socceroos’ 1-0 loss to Oman on Saturday morning and is considered a 50-50 prospect to face the Glory at this stage.