Melbourne Victory’s clash with Adelaide United on Saturday is an opportunity to make a statement.
When Tony Popovic’s side heads to Coopers Stadium to take on the Reds, they will be kicking off a series of five matches within two weeks.
But the squad cannot afford to look too far ahead at this point, as they have an opportunity to leapfrog Adelaide into third position with a win this Saturday.
With Nick D’Agostino and Ben Folami a “tight call” to play according to Popovic, as they return from international duties on Thursday, the squad will be preparing for the match with a degree of uncertainty.
However, they also come into this encounter having won three of their previous four encounters against Carl Veart’s side, including a 2-1 victory in the FFA Cup quarter-finals earlier this year.
In addition, Popovic will use the sides recent run of draws to motivate them to turn this performance into a win.
But this match is bigger than just the 90 minutes on the pitch, and the three points up for grabs.
Melbourne Victory is fighting to reclaim their position as one of the premier clubs in the A-League Men’s competition. And while grinding out a competitive draw against the top two teams in the league is nice, it’s hardly anything to write home about.
What Victory needs is a statement game. A game in which dominance in general play translates to dominance on the scoreboard. To this point they have only recorded one game with three or more goals so far for the season, in spite of some exceptional performances on the pitch.
Popovic acknowledged as much in the aftermath of the Western Sydney match, saying that their difficult run with the VAR could have been overcome by being more efficient in putting teams away.
“We’re not shying away from taking responsibility for the results,” was his main message after the disappointment of having to share the points with an embattled Wanderers outfit.
With Adelaide allowing the equal-third most goals of any club to this point in the season, now is a perfect opportunity for Victory to act on their coach’s demands and produce a dominant performance on the scoresheet as well as on the pitch.
Prediction
Given the implications this match has for both teams in the context of the season, expect an intense showing from all involved. After so many draws in a row I think Victory just get themselves over the line on this occasion, 2-1 to Popovic’s men.
Feature Image Credit: Ngau Kai Yan
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