Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick was thrilled to see his team bounce back from last week’s disappointment by beating Perth Glory 4-0 on Saturday evening.
Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick was thrilled to see his team bounce back from last week’s disappointment by beating Perth Glory 4-0 on Saturday evening.
Merrick said it was good to see his team play their own game and dispose of Perth to keep their spot on top of the table.
“It was our brand of football, it was very attacking. We were building up from the back, playing through the middle, there were quality runs and interpasses up front and great finishes,” said Merrick.
“We didn’t have a bad player on the park. It was just high quality football all round.”
“We’ve played seven games and for one half last week we didn’t play our normal fluid game, but it was straight back into it this week. You can’t play 90 minutes of football week in week out.”
Merrick believed it was Melbourne’s sublime play rather than Perth’s errors which won the game.
“They’re a hard team to play against Perth. I know they’re going through a rough patch at the moment but I think they’ve got good quality players,” Merrick said.
“When you beat a team 4-0 it looks easy, but it was one of those days where we did well at the office.”
“We had our four millionth supporter through the gates; we play a brand of football that they obviously enjoy.”
He also singled out young keeper Mitch Langerak for his performance, but said he would have to make way for Michael Theoklitos next week.
“(He) pulled off two outstanding saves and looked super safe. It’s going to be a tough choice but Theoklitos will be back in next week,” Merrick said.
The match was another big step in the comeback of Grant Brebner, who played nearly the whole game and scored his second goal in four weeks.
Brebner said he was enjoying his football again.
“I think it’s a reality check when you’ve been out for ten months, you realise what you’ve got when you’ve been out for so long,” Brebner said.
“I was bursting to get back to it this week. I’ll probably have to go and see Ernie on Monday morning because I wasn’t too happy with coming off with four minutes to go.”
Brebner said the Victory were only concentrating on their own performance and weren’t too worried about the positions of other teams on the table.
“We only worry about ourselves. If we have a bad day at the office we’ll lose games but if we’re on song we’ll beat teams whoever it is, we’ve showed that,” he said.
Victory memberships for the Hyundai A-League 2008/09 season are currently available from the Victory Shop, 236 Swan Street, Richmond, by calling 1300 GO MVFC or online by clicking here.i
