Ahead of his first game in charge tomorrow night against Wellington Phoenix, new Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat insisted it was business as usual at the club.
“It has been [a smooth transition into coaching],” Muscat told reporters Sunday morning.
“To be honest I don’t want to reiterate or go over old ground but there was a certain structure that was in place here that made it easy for that transition.
“Preparations started straight after the Brisbane game and it’s been a good week.”
Muscat signed on as a player in Victory’s inaugural A-League season, joining the club’s coaching staff in 2011 as an assistant shortly before calling time on his career.
This won’t be the 40-year-old’s first game in charge of the team despite his recent appointment, as he filled in as interim manager after the sacking of former boss Mehmet Durakovic – a 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets, but the coach seemed genuinely excited to be handed the reins once again against Wellington tomorrow night.
“[It’s] not so much nervous energy,” he said.
“I’ve been that busy I haven’t had time to get nervous [but I’m] looking forward to it and very optimistic.
“It’s a nice occasion for us and as a team I think we have prepared well.
“That’s the most important thing, and everything else is secondary from here on in so just looking forward to a good performance.”
Notorious for his short temper and aggressive playing style as Victory’s hard man in defence, the former centre back is refusing to dwell on the past and is instead focused on a new chapter in his career.
“You can draw parallels to my playing days if you want but I’ve said I want to be judged on merit from what happens on here on,” he said.
“This is another journey for me but I suppose after the game tomorrow you’ll be able to assess how we play and what our intentions are but I certainly we hope we get our performance right for tomorrow night.”
Ironically, Muscat’s opposite number tomorrow night will be his former Melbourne Victory mentor and two-time Championship winning coach Ernie Merrick.
“I haven’t spoken to Ernie for quite a while; he’s obviously busy with his own team as well,” Muscat said.
“It’ll be nice to see him back as he’s had a lot of success at this football club and he’ll be treated like that as well because we enjoyed some good times together but it’s about what we do tomorrow night and concentrating on our performance is paramount.”
Melbourne and Wellington have engaged in some entertaining contests in the past, usually resulting in plenty of goals and Muscat, despite the opposition sitting in last place, is aware of the threat they poise.
“Hopefully we get all the goals. There’s no doubt they have got some attacking threats in their side and we are going to have to respect that,” he said.
“From our perspective it’s about what we do but obviously when they do have possession of the ball we are going to have to respect that they have some attacking players that can hurt you.”
The new coach also revealed that at least one change was to occur ahead of tomorrow night’s fixture.
“Pablo [Contreras] will come in for Nick [Ansell],” he said.
“Apart from that we have a healthy list to choose from.
“There won’t be too many changes in terms of the line-up but as I said it’s more about the performance and the result will look after itself.”