Melbourne Victory have a golden opportunity this weekend to break into the top of the A-League table should they defeat Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday.
Many supporters of the Blue and White would be breathing a sigh of relief after their form slump in December appears to have ended, with the actual make up of the squad also being boosted with players returning from injury and Olyroos duty.
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Fans would be forgiven for thinking Saturday’s game would be an easy task for Melbourne, after their stirring 4-0 win over Brisbane last week. Perth were winless since the start of December, then an unexpected 6-1 smashing of Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium occurred last week.
It was an ugly 1-0 win for Melbourne Victory on Tuesday night against Sydney FC; an own goal by Matt Jurman in a game that won’t be played on football flashbacks with Sydney’s counterattacking display.
The Victory boss typically acknowledged Perth’s triumph over Newcastle last week and believes the style of play will be a complete turnaround compared to Tuesday night.
“The reality is, it’s a totally different prospect going across to Perth. They’re buoyed by their result last week, they scored some very good goals,” Muscat said.
“I’m looking forward to a very good game of football, albeit that we’ve got to find some different solutions from the problems that are caused.
“What I will say though, it’s easy to analyse statistics, but what I always do – and that’s why I stand by what I said the other night – you’ve got to analyse the actual football. That’s what matters most.”
With the highly scrutinised Andy Keogh now returning to the Glory after dominating in the 2014-15 season, the Irish striker will look to replicate that form.
Diego Castro scored two goals last week and looked dangerous against a fragile Jets defence and Muscat was well aware of the havoc Perth can create when given the opportunity.
“They’ve got some depth now, if you look last week (Andy) Keogh was on the bench, they’ve got some players who are playing well,” he said.
“In transition they’ve got some pace now. They’ve got a genuine goal scorer [in Keogh] who didn’t even play last week and they scored six goals. They’ve got some craft in midfield as well.
“Without doubt, if you allow [Diego Castro] the space and time he was afforded last week he can hurt you.”
Muscat now has more options in choosing his squad with the return of the players involved with the Olyroos, as well as Nick Ansell’s return from injury may help create more of a steady back line to relieve Danny Vukovic.
An unchanging back four of Jason Geria, Nick Ansell, Matthieu Delpierre and Daniel Georgievski would be ideal. It could potentially see Scott Galloway and Stefan Nigro working harder to earn a place in defence. The Victory boss said that players’ time will come, however, there is still full fitness to be regained.
“Everyone is in reasonable shape in terms of health, physically they need a little bit of work. They have missed some football. In a tournament you don’t get the same opportunity to train as if they were here,” he said.
“By the time they arrived it was four or five days since they trained, so physically they had a little bit of work to do, but they are up for that challenge.
“Their pride has taken a little bit of a dent and maybe the confidence has too. Its good to have them back in the environment, in the surroundings that they are used to. All of them have a part to play.
“We probably won’t have consistency [in the back four] from now until the end of the season but a sheer volume of games suggests that everyone will get an opportunity everyone will get a chance to play.”
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