Fragile confidence is the next focal point for Melbourne Victory as they look to see where it all went wrong in their 3-2 loss against Western United.
After securing their first win last week against Brisbane Roar for the 2019/20 A-league season, Victory looked to have all the class to make it two-in-a-row in their first derby against United on Saturday night.
In the first ten minutes of the clash, Ola Toivonen and Kristijan Dobras took advantage of opportunities, taking the lead 2-0.
From here, history would say Victory could not have possibly lost the match from here, as the side had not lost a game from being 2-0 up in an A-League game until tonight.
Where did Victory allow it to go wrong this time, for such a turnaround in the score line?
The lack of defensive structure and injuries were all to blame for previous losses, but this week Victory coach Marco Kurz said it was a lack of confidence and a decrease in commitment to the game that potentially caused the loss.
Western’s captain Alessandro Diamanti scored his first goal in the A-League and from there it was the visitors’ game to control; the tampering moment to Victory’s confidence.
“I think the biggest point was what was happening after the first goal from Diamanti, that we lost a little bit (of) confidence, we lost our behaviour to press them at the right moment,” Kurz said.
Kurz said it was from this moment of play and onwards where he and his team would look into to see where all the confidence he saw from his side in the opening stages of the match went.
“That’s part of our analysis with the team, to find out what the reason is. I’m on your page. The start was well, but after was not. Before half-time was not good enough on our side,” he said.
The loss caused frustration within the side after the win last week looked to have been the confidence booster Victory needed to kickstart their season, which Kurz also noted.
Kurz sustained a positive attitude throughout the press conference giving the impression that to regain confidence on the field will require a positive attitude after a loss.
“We must restart, keep the heads up, keep going and work hard and that’s all we can do,” he said.
Victory are now sitting 1-1-2 on the table as they prepare to take on Wellington Phoenix next week who are currently 0-0-3.
A win is required, a win seems to be a given with Phoenix’s start to the season but will a win to the bottom of the ladder team be the confidence Victory are after.
Or will it be through Kurz’s analysis with his side to determine how to remain strong and play consistent football throughout a whole 90-minutes, regardless of what their opposition throws at them.
Feature Image Credit: Ngau Kai Yan
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