Jeff Hopkins says that his Melbourne VIctory side need to show more hunger after their opening round draw with Adelaide United.
Victory and Adelaide played out a goalless 0-0 stalemate on Sunday, and the Victory stalwart called for his charges to be braver.
“We need to play with our hearts on our sleeves a little bit more,” he said.
“We talked about the way we want to play, but sometimes we have to roll our sleeves up and have a good go as well. I don’t think we quite got that right today.”
He added that his side did not look sharp enough, despite a “good performance” against Melbourne City in an off-season friendly, and a “real good week” in training.
Victory looked the more commanding team throughout large periods of their season opener at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon. Although they had a whopping 21 shots against Adelaide’s 12, Victory’s finishing was left to be desired.
Full-time at @AAMIPark and we were unable to make the most of our chances #MVCvADL 0-0 #WLeague pic.twitter.com/wOWXR4upBw
— Victory W-League (@victorywleague) October 28, 2018
Melina Ayres, Christine Nairn and Natasha Dowie spurned chances of all sorts throughout the 90 minutes, leaving an equally wasteful Adelaide the more grateful of sides to claim the point.
“My feeling was we were on top without hurting them.… we just need one finish,” Hopkins continued.
“Later on the game, they came into it and got a few chances, so there’s a couple of things we need to work on, with our transition in defence as well.”
SO CLOSE! Melina Ayres sent a fierce header the wrong side of the post after a brilliant cross from @EGielnik. #WLeague #MVCvADL
🎥 @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/VIkN4cwX52
— Westfield W-League (@WLeague) October 28, 2018
But Hopkins was however, quick to offer positives from the performance, singling out American midfielder Dani Weatherholt and captain Casey Dumont in particular.
“I was very happy with the way Dani (Weatherholt) played today, it was good to see Casey Dumont keep a clean sheet as well,” Hopkins said.
Melbourne Victory Women welcome Newcastle Jets Women next at Lakeside Stadium in round two, on November 1st, at 7.30PM.
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