Melbourne Victory boss Kevin Muscat has stressed the importance of a return to winning ways following his sides 2-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers, the last game before the Asian Cup break.
While far from the convincing performance the coach would’ve liked to have seen, they did earn three points in tough conditions, something that can’t be said from their spirited performance in a 2-1 loss to Perth last week.
“We wanted to end the first half of the season before this mini break on a positive and we’ve come to one of the hardest places to get points and I’m very pleased with the performance,” the head coach said.
“It’s certainly not an easy place to come and Western Sydney have – in all the games that I’ve watched – been in the game. We knew it was going to be tough tonight but for the away side to come here and play in the matter we did in the first half [was impressive].
“I thought we controlled the first half, started the second reasonably well and then we had to defend, and defend well. We scored two excellent goals, and to score those away from home it’s pleasing to go back home with the three points.”
The Victory head coach wasn’t done with the praise of the strong finishing on show at Pirtek Stadium, but was more pleased with the football on offer from both sides.
“We’ve scored a lot of goals this season and it doesn’t come down to just individuals. Tonight we took a couple of those chances, we created a lot in and around their box, and it was pleasing,” Muscat said.
“I thought it was a very good game of football as well. Both teams were holding nothing back and trying to win a game of football. It was end-to-end, plenty of chances at both ends and a lot of action, so just pleased to get the three points.”
For all the pleasing aspects of the performance in the win, the Wanderers did threaten along the right flank all night, with Dylan Murnane left exposed by the sheer explosive pace of Socceroo Nikita Rukavytsya.
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“Dylan Murnane came up against a very good player [in Rukavytsya] and he learned a lot from tonight, but he’ll bounce back, I have no problems at all,” Muscat said.
“[Murnane’s] fine, he’ll be fine because I’ll make sure he understands we have every confidence in his development. Unfortunately tonight, he came up against a good player, an experienced player and he found it difficult at times. But instead of being disappointed, he’ll use it as a learning experience.”
Looking towards the extended break – which has the Victory back in action on the 25th of January – Muscat has admitted the cessation of the league gives his players the perfect opportunity to both recover and come back stronger.
“We’ve got a lot of sore bodies and I supposed the fact that there is a break this season, there’s been a lot of games in a short amount of time,” he said.
“From that perspective, there’s a lot of guys that have worked hard and they were running on fumes tonight. What they gave their teammates was nothing short of excellent.
“So [the break] will give us an opportunity to freshen them up, not for too long because we have a lot of work to do. We’ve still got improvement in us and we’ll use this opportunity, we’ll use this time to get better.”