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Mar 14, 2011   |  8:41PM AET

Durakovic gets fresh

Durakovic gets fresh

New Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic has promised a fresh approach in Tuesday night’s AFC Champions League showdown against Jeju United at Etihad Stadium.

New Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic has promised a fresh approach in Tuesday night’s AFC Champions League showdown against Jeju United at Etihad Stadium.

Durakovic, handed the reins after the departure of foundation coach Ernie Merrick on Saturday, wants to stamp his mark on the Victory in what he sees as a perfect audition for the full-time role.

“There will be changes, some new faces come into the side and some structural changes, I’ve got my own brand of the way we want to play,” Durakovic said on Monday.

“It’s exciting to be given such a great role, coaching one of the best clubs, not just in Australia, but in Asia.”

“I would love to (coach full-time), my expectation is to be a full-time coach, I’ve got five games to go and I’m in the mix like everyone else. All I can do is my job and get the best out of the players.”

Certainly Durakovic, whose 20-year playing career was highlighted by 64 caps for the Qantas Socceroos, took a leaf out of coaching textbook 101 when quizzed on exactly what the changes he’ll make were.

“You guys will see on match day to be fair – the only question mark is Robbie Kruse, he didn’t train today or yesterday with a hamstring complaint, apart from that everyone’s fit and fighting for positions,” Durakovic said.

That means influential Scottish midfielder Grant Brebner should come back in to Durakovic’s first starting line-up where, using his time as Victory’s National Youth League coach as a guide, Melbourne will probably adopt a 4-4-2 formation.

Having opened the ACL campaign with that 5-1 loss to Gamba Osaka, Victory needs to get a least one point, if not all three from the clash against the highly-rated Koreans coached by former international Park Kyung-Hoon.

“You’ve got to move on, you can’t dwell on the past, what happened (in Japan) has happened and it’s a brand new ball game,” Durakovic said.

“I think they will come and attack, they need a win (here) because they lost at home (1-0 to Tianjin Teda). If they do come and attack it will be fantastic for us.”

Victory captain Adrian Leijer admitted the last few days had made an impact on the playing group, but stressed the need to move on.

“Now’s the time to let the football do the talking, what’s happened the past week has been a distraction, but that’s football,” Leijer said.

“We’re players, our job is to go out there and play, show Mehm respect, respect what he does and put on a good show.”

“He’s been very good, we haven’t had a lot of time, only two sessions, but he’s changing a few things and it gives us a bit of freshness leading into the next five games.”