Melbourne Victory head coach Kevin Muscat has blasted his side’s level of performance against Brisbane Roar, admitting that they “crumbled” after going behind in the first half.
The home side certainly looked promising at the beginning of the match, and had plenty of chances to take the lead.
But following Liam Miller’s opening goal, Victory were no match for Brisbane and Muscat was not too pleased with the player’s reactions to going behind.
“Regardless what was at stake that’s simply not good enough,” Muscat said.
“Even trying to analyse the game very quickly we started pretty well, we created a good chance, and something we haven’t seen in a very long time we concede a goal and just seem to crumble.
“It’s not good enough and I’m not happy with the performance at all.”
The biggest talking point that came out of the match was Muscat’s decision to substitute Mitch Nichols at half time.
Nichols had been subjected to a transfer bid from J-League 1 side Cerezo Osaka, but Muscat said that had no bearing on the decision to take off his star midfielder.
“He came off at half time not because he’s injured, so therefore it’s tactical,” he said.
“Yeah he’s got a lot on his mind so I’ve changed the tactics, I’ve changed the player – he wasn’t injured no.
“At this current point in time he’s a contracted player.
“So I don’t understand why we want to keep chasing it around in circles.
“Until this football club accepts an offer for Mitch, he’s a contracted player.”
The saga is just one of many problems facing Victory in the next week, as they face Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers in the space of 5 days without their Young Socceroos.
Former captain Adrian Leijer worsened Muscat’s selection headache ahead of those two fixtures with a red card against Brisbane.
Muscat was disappointed in Leijer’s conduct, but saw it as an opportunity to see what other players can do should they be given the chance to step up.
“It’s an opportunity for someone else and Adrian gets sent off for the second time this season as well.
“From his perspective it’s a poor decision obviously to get his two yellow cards.
“Pablo [Contreras] should be fine [next week], and them we got one or two that can step in there.
“We got four away with the Australian team so that makes next week a difficult proposition.”
With the gap between Victory and Brisbane now at 11 points, it looks highly unlikely Muscat’s side will be challenging for the Premiers Plate.
Muscat was not prepared to give up the fight however, rather focussing on trying to lift his team for the clash against Newcastle.
“All of us are going to have a good look in the mirror, and take responsibility for ourselves and analyse our performances individually,” he said.
“It is it’s going to be a difficult task – it was going to be a difficult task before tonight.
“It’s just a disappointing night on every front – but we’ll work hard on the training pitch and we’ll bounce back from this performance tonight.”