Melbourne Victory head coach Marco Kurz believes his team can meet the challenge of turning its Hyundai A-League season around.
A 10-man Victory held on for a 0-0 draw against the Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Kristijan Dobras was sent off in the second half before Victory held firm, moving onto nine points from 10 games.
Speaking at his post-match news conference, Kurz discussed his side’s performance and form.
on the performance…
“Firstly I understand the fans because the second half was not really good from our side. I think the first half you saw by the boys that they are not really 100 per cent self-confident in the way we want to set up, in the way we want to play. The good thing that we had big chances to score a goal and then I think we need this kind of good moment but we have to work for this. Second half was really hard. We said at half-time we have to invest a little bit more in our pressing, we must be stronger in some situations, then we concede the red card and after the red card it’s really hard to control or to come back in a good way. It’s only the circumstances.
“I’m not happy with the way we played. I think you understand what I meant. Normally, in our situation, in this game, you concede a goal after a red card as well. It’s a hard challenge for us, it’s a hard challenge for the players, for me, for the club, but we have to work hard to find the turnaround to stay positive. Positive means not to be happy with the result, it’s to be very self-critical, to make it step by step better. I think that’s at the moment a really hard challenge for all of us in the Victory family but we still believe that we can find the turnaround.”
on the seven yellow cards…
“I think nobody’s happy with the situation, especially in the second half when you play with 10 against 11 and you come always a little bit too late then you are frustrated of course. It can be made it a little bit better. The opponents were very smart in these situations, made a good job that we concede more yellow cards, but at the end I cannot speak about a good game. I can only speak about the situation. It’s our challenge now to find the way back and the right track.”
on Tim Hoogland’s fitness…
“That [the Derby] is our clear goal. He trained with the team, he was closer and better in the sessions as before the game against Adelaide. That means when next week is going in the right direction he is available.”
on Dobras starting…
“He trained well. He made a good job in the sessions and we signed him to play and not to sit on the bench and he had the chance to perform after a time we set him up with the fitness and I think he made not a bad job, he had a big chance, he worked a lot against the ball and he found the post. And Elvis (Kamsoba) looked in the past a little bit tired also after his trips with the national team, after the trip he looked more tired than before.”
