Melbourne Victory defender Evan Berger has vowed the team will not change its usual attacking approach in Sunday’s Hyundai A-League Premiership decider against Sydney FC even though the Victory only needs a draw to ensure it finishes the home-and-away season in top spot.
Melbourne Victory defender Evan Berger has vowed the team will not change its usual attacking approach in Sunday’s Hyundai A-League Premiership decider against Sydney FC even though the Victory only needs a draw to ensure it finishes the home-and-away season in top spot.
The Victory – which is aiming to become the first club to win three Hyundai A-League Championships this season – has already secured a top-two finish and the opportunity of hosting this year’s Hyundai A-League Grand Final despite batting a horror run of injury and suspensions to its best players.
But while Melbourne is guaranteed to be playing in the Major Semi-Final – played over two legs between the top two sides – only by finishing on top is the club guaranteed a place in the 2011 Asian Champions League, which according to Berger is a massive motivation for this week’s game.
However while just a draw will be good enough for Melbourne, Berger says the team will be going all out to win on Sunday even though it will travel to Sydney minus key injured pair Archie Thompson and Matthew Kemp and suspended captain Kevin Muscat.
“You take the same attacking approach into every game,” Berger said after Melbourne’s training session at Monash University on Tuesday.
“We want to win every game, we don’t go out there to play for draws so we will be going out there to play an attacking brand of football and to try and get the three points.”
Berger, whose return off the bench last week from a hamstring injury could not have been more timely for the Victory, says he is ready to take on more defensive responsibility now that Kemp has been ruled out for the rest of the season and the upcoming 2010 Asian Champions League campaign with a knee injury.
“If called upon I am ready to play and I am champing at the bit to play,” said Berger, who has played just nine matches this season due to groin and hamstring problems.
“It was a bad loss for us losing Kempy but we have got great depth in the squad now and anyone can step in and do a job.”
Berger said such was the depth in the squad that the team’s confidence remains high ahead of Sunday’s tough trip to Sydney – which unlike Melbourne needs to win on Sunday to be assured of a top-two finish – even though the team will be without three of its best players in Thompson, Kemp and Muscat.
“We showed at the weekend (a 2-0 win over North Queensland) that we can cover the loss of certain players,” he said.
“It hasn’t surprised us (that Melbourne has continued to perform so well despite the absence of key players) because when you come to this club, there are massive expectations.”
“We are a very successful club and whoever steps in (to the team) has to do a job and we are all confident in our own ability and the structures we have in place for the team.”
