Victory eager to experience finals-like intensity against Wanderers
With Western Sydney Wanderers heading to AAMI Park with their season on the line, Melbourne Victory boss Tony Popovic recognises how valuable Saturday's game could be for his side's finals preparation
For Western Sydney, Saturday’s visit to AAMI Park represents an all-or-nothing moment. Fail to win and their season is done, finals missed for the sixth time in seven seasons. A catastrophe. Conversely, things are a bit more cruisy for opponents Melbourne Victory. Already locked into a home Elimination Final, a fourth- or fifth-placed is much of muchness for Tony Popovic’s side, with results elsewhere to determine if they face Macarthur, Sydney FC, or Melbourne City in the first week of the finals. Thus, they have the luxury of focusing on the process rather than the outcomes this weekend, keying in on producing the type of performance that will place them in good stead when the stakes ramp up.
Able to lock in that home elimination final with a win, Victory was instead forced to stage a ten-man rearguard against a Brisbane Roar outfit that threatened to run rampant last weekend, Ruben Zadkovich’s side doing everything bar score as they laid siege to Paul Izzo’s goal. That missed opportunity, however, ended up hanging over their heads for all of a few hours, with Macarthur’s nine-man win over Sydney FC later that evening ensured they would end the penultimate round of the A-League Men campaign four points clear of the Sky Blues.
Thus, while the Wanderers must defeat Victory and then hope that Western United prevent Melbourne City from picking up three points if they are to sneak into the six, Victory already knows they’ll be back at AAMI Park next week and can plan accordingly.
Nishan Velupillay, Ryan Teague, and Jordi Valadon have all returned after the Olyroos group stage exit from the AFC U23 Championships and are available for selection, jetlag the only physical challenge the trio carried back in Australia. This could potentially put the place in the squad of club champion Leigh Broxham under threat, given that he made just his third appearance of the campaign off the bench against the Roar last week, but while he wouldn’t guarantee anything, Popovic praised his impact and noted how hard the retiring stalwart was pushing to be in the squad.
Bruno Fornaroli will enter the contest with 18 goals on the campaign, trailing Perth Glory’s Adam Taggart in the Golden Boot race by one. Jason Geria’s appeal against a two-match ban, meanwhile, remains ongoing, with his coach saying that the club anticipates an answer in the coming days. Fabian Monge has been carrying a back injury suffered against Wellington and now with extra bodies returning to the squad could be managed.
“The performance, really,” Popovic said on what he’d be focusing on against the Wanderers. “Some players will get some more minutes, maybe, in this game that they haven't had much [of] lately. But it's more [about] the performance.
“Second half, we showed real resilience and character against Brisbane but we can improve.
“We know there's a major game to be played next week. And we're all looking forward to that.
“But this game's here at home, finish off with a top performance. We want to get the win with the performance. And then just go into the semis with the confidence that we have.”
But if Popovic was looking for something of a dry run for the finals, something that could give his side a jolt of confidence with a good performance or be written off as simply meaning more for the opposition should one not arrive (publically, at least), this weekend couldn’t have done much more to provide him with one.
For the Wanderers, Saturday is absolutely a final, a must-win game with their season and potential jobs on the line. Ostensibly, that means they’ll bring the associated intensity; giving Victory’s players a taste of that playoff desperation and pressure with the safety net of the actual finals campaign not starting until next week.
“As a coach, I think it's great,” said Popovic. “You can never tap into every individual's mind. We hope collectively that we have a very similar mindset but individually we have to focus on our goals in preparing for next week and getting a winning performance before that happens.
“Wanderers, they need the results. So it's quite good. I'm sure they'll bring their quality, their passion, their energy, and their intensity, which can help us with our motivation -- which is to win but to be in the best shape possible for next week.
“[Wanderers form] maybe [been] up and down for them though. I'm sure they wouldn't be happy where they are. But you look at their lineup and their squad and there's a lot of quality in that team.
“You can't underestimate them -- nor would we -- we know that they have the individuals that on the day can give you problems. We are aware of that. Yeah, we certainly respect that tomorrow.