Head Coach Tony Popovic spoke to the media after Victory’s 3-2 loss to Brisbane Roar.
On the performance…
“Difficult conditions, of course, playing here.”
“We conceded the early goal, and we came back, which was good. But I think today was a poor defensive game for us. We normally don’t give the opposition easy chances and easy goals. And today we gave away three soft goals. And it’s hard to come back away from home when you concede three.”
“It was a soft first goal we gave away, we actually had a chance of scoring and then we got caught in transition, we didn’t defend the action well and got punished. And then it was the same with a third goal.”
“The boys kept going until the end. But you know, when you concede three goals, it’s always hard to get a result.”
On Roly Bonevacia…
“It’s been difficult for him with the lack of football that he’s had. You can see the talent he has, he had two or three really good attempts. And then he scored a wonderful goal.”
“We’re very fortunate to have him. Unfortunately, we got him here in a physical condition that wasn’t great. Not his fault, he just hadn’t played football for a while. But you know, we saw good signs today. And hopefully, he’ll keep building on that.”
On what needs to improve…
“We played a lot of good games early in the year but in the last month, we haven’t probably created as much as we’d like.”
“And then today, we didn’t defend well. We’ve got to get back to making it hard for the opposition, which we had been doing and we certainly have a squad that has the ability.”
“We go into a big rivalry now in Adelaide. Those games are always special, and I don’t believe any motivation will be a problem. But, you know, we’ve got to get back to that aggression and that intensity that we had and bring that next week.”