Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick says he hopes plucky Perth Glory takes an attacking approach into Saturday night’s top-versus-bottom Hyundai A-League clash at Members Equity Stadium.
Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick says he hopes plucky Perth Glory takes an attacking approach into Saturday night’s top-versus-bottom Hyundai A-League clash at Members Equity Stadium.
The Glory, who were unlucky not to beat Central Coast in Perth last week when only an injury-time equaliser allowed the Mariners to escape with a 2-2 draw, have lost just once at home all season and only sits in last place because of its poor form on the road (it is yet to pick up a point in six away matches).
So while the ladder positions might suggest Perth would be content to sit back and hopefully pick up a draw against the league leaders, Merrick believes the Glory will go on the attack which he says will suit the Victory perfectly.
“They (Perth) are a lot more confident about going forward but sometimes that suits us because teams that play forward have to leave themselves open at the back and we have got an awful lot of pace up front and coming through from midfield,” Merrick said on Thursday ahead of the team’s trip west.
“So with Perth playing with more confidence and attacking teams we are hoping they will come out and attack us because that will suit our brand of football as well.”
Melbourne recorded a 4-0 win over Perth in its only previous meeting this season but that match was at Telstra Dome and Merrick admits the Glory will be a much tougher nut to crack at home where they have compiled an impressive record of three wins, three draws and just one loss from seven matches this season and where they are also unbeaten in their past five matches.
“Last week none of the teams in the top four won – they were all drawn matches apart from ours (a 2-1 loss in Wellington) and it just shows anyone is capable of getting a win,” Merrick said.
“I think Perth in front of their home crowd, and they have been invigorated by some changes that have been made, are playing some good football and they were probably unlucky not get the win (last week against the Mariners) so we are expecting a tough game over there.”
Merrick is determined to see his side bounce back from last week’s shock loss, which luckily did not affect the Victory’s position on top of the table, but given the club’s gruelling travel schedule at present (this is the fourth away game in the past five matches) says he can understand why there was a slight drop-off in performance last week.
“It’s about results at this stage of the season but I am keen for us to pick up our performance but to be fair to the boys the last three games (before Wellington) had been outstanding – on the road to Queensland and Adelaide and then the home game against the Mariners – so we have had a great year and our standards are high but we want to get our level of performance back up again.”
