Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic took plenty of positives out of Saturday night’s 0-2 Melbourne Derby loss.
On the performance…
“We’re disappointed. It was a strange match, last week I sat here very frustrated with our performance but today it’s more disappointment for the players because I think today they were excellent. They played really well with 10 players and our first 20 minutes were outstanding but you find yourself 2-0 down.”
“We gave away a soft penalty and a soft goal off a corner. That’s our doing. We had a couple of wonderful chances. Josh (Brillante) had a great chance at 0-0 and then we conceded two goals close to each other.”
“I thought they showed a lot of resilience and a lot of belief to believe they could still get back into the game…I thought with 10 men we were excellent.”
“I thought we were the better team from the start until the end. The scoreline doesn’t reflect that.”
On Josh Brillante’s yellow cards…
“I wasn’t sure about the first one but I thought the second one was a bit late. It is what it is.”
On Paul Izzo’s strong performance…
“I thought today was his best game. He made some crucial saves at vital times in the game and he’ll just get better. He’s got a lot of potential and growth left in him.”
“It was a big game for him and we’re pleased to have him here.”
On the focus heading into Brisbane away…
“A week is always a long time in football. We’ve got to back up that performance and take out those little mistakes that are costing us.”
“We conceded a soft goal last week and two soft goals today, albeit our performance was much better.”
