Melbourne Victory head coach Kevin Muscat lauded Ola Toivonen’s classy finish and performance in a win over the Wellington Phoenix.
Toivonen scored the sealer and set up Kosta Barbarouses after Georg Niedermeier’s opener in Victory’s 3-1 Elimination Final win at AAMI Park on Friday.
Wellington, which had pulled a goal back through Roy Krishna, finished the clash with 10 men after Michal Kopczynski’s red card.
Victory’s win saw it move into a Semi Final against Sydney FC at Jubilee Stadium on Sunday, May 12.
Speaking at a post-match news conference, Muscat discussed the win, Toivonen’s display and starting Elvis Kamsoba.
on the game…
“I thought from our perspective we created quite a few opportunities and earnt quite a few opportunities and scored some very good goals also. It was a contest where there wasn’t much love lost out there, there was a battle – as finals are – and from us, I think we also kept our discipline and kept our heads in key moments and from there we exposed some areas that we wanted to try and break them down and scored some good goals as I said. From our perspective, it was a really strong performance, a performance that we got better tonight.”
on Toivonen’s performance…
“His finish was outstanding. You could see actually he was waiting for Elvis, he was waiting to square that ball, he took a touch, he took a touch, waiting for Elvis to come, didn’t realise maybe how quick he actually is to get onto that ball and then his finish was remarkable, it was an excellent finish and Ola’s been getting better and better and tonight was a really strong performance from him.”
on changes in midfield…
“Based on everything that we’d analysed and we’d seen of ourselves over a period of time, we felt it was right for tonight’s opponent, for the way we wanted to play, to have Elvis in the team. He’s performed at a level that has brought him to the forefront in selection so based on how we wanted to play and analysing both ourselves and the opposition I felt it was the right game for him, right moment for him.”
on the win…
“Of course I’m pleased. I think that our focus was clear, our focus was very driven and very disciplined. It started to spill over a little bit and from my perspective, it’s a final, teams and everybody’s going to go that step further if you like, I haven’t got a problem with it, but what I’m pleased about is the way we conducted and handled ourselves.”
on AFC Champions League clash against Daegu…
“Naturally, we’ll assess everybody tomorrow (Saturday). I’ve got some thinking to do over tonight, we’re not leaving until Sunday, whether players stay here, staff stay behind, we’ll work our what’s best for preparation and we’ll take it from there.”
