Fresh off their 2-0 defeat of Bentleigh Greens in the FFA Cup, Melbourne Victory boss Kevin Muscat has admitted his team can still improve ahead of the imminent A-League season.
After something of a scrappy opening, Victory eventually outclassed state league Bentleigh at Kingston Heath on Wednesday thanks to goals from Marco Rojas and James Troisi.
While Victory appeared comfortable for much of the 90 minutes, Greens were able to create half-chances of their own without breaching Lawrence Thomas’ goal.
Muscat believes the end product could be different come 7 October against Brisbane Roar.
“(We’re) reasonable happy (with where things are at), but we’ve still got work to do,” Muscat said.
“It (Brisbane Roar in round one) will be a totally different game to tonight … we’re reasonably happy, but we’ve still some work we can do in the next eight days, nine days, to prepare us for that game.
“We did defend reasonably well. There were a couple of time in the first half when, in transition … when you give the ball away poorly when you’re going forward, naturally, you’re at your most vulnerable because you’re disorganised in terms of a defensive shape.
“They (Bentleigh) showed they could threaten a bit.
“If that occurs on October 7, the outcome might be a little bit different, so there’s still one or two things we need to brush up on.”
Victory were handed a Melbourne Derby semi-final against Melbourne City in the semi-final stage, while Sydney FC will face ACT side Canberra Olympic.
Details of those matches are expected to be confirmed later this week.
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