Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has labelled his team’s performance as “ordinary” and “lifeless” in their 1-0 loss to Adelaide United at home on Friday night.

It was a game that will only be remembered for its late drama, a 90th minute winner salvaging the majority of a drab and slow game.

Victory had a big week addressing the media due to fans antisocial behaviour, however coach Kevin Muscat felt his team was in good shape in the build-up and the poor performance came as a huge shock.

“I didn’t see it coming, generally the lead up to these things, you tend to see it,” Muscat said.

“Yes, there’s been some distractions during the week naturally, but if you treat your job seriously you can’t be looking that as an excuse.”

“Take the result out of the equation, I think it was just an ordinary day at the office.”

Melbourne Victory looked in the mood in the first 20 minutes of the game however that came to an end very quickly.

The blue and white still had chances to score throughout the game, notably with two shouts for a penalty in the second half which weren’t paid.

“Ben Williams (referee) doesn’t see Bruce handle the ball in the box, having said that it wouldn’t have made a difference in my opinion of our performance,” he said.

“Preparations this week were very good. I just thought from start to finish, apart from the first five minutes, it was a pretty lifeless performance.

“It was nowhere near our normal style or intensity, in the end one or two decisions don’t go your way.

“We can analyse the results, we lost, did we deserve to get beat?

Probably not. In terms of the performance it was nowhere near good enough.”

It will only get busier for Melbourne, with their AFC Champions League campaign commencing next Wednesday night against Shanghai SIPG.

The Victory boss rubbished the idea his team is under the pump due to the schedule.

“To play on Wednesday night you have to perform tonight,” he said.

“I’m not going to swallow excuses.”