|
Melbourne Victory's three-game A-League winning run might have ended in Perth on Sunday, but whilst ever there's a reason to earn points, coach Kevin Muscat doesn't doubt his team's desire to play attractive football. Victory went down to the Glory 1-0 but remain two points shy of third-placed Melbourne City. Other than the result, though, Muscat says he was more frustrated with what he felt was a defensive approach from the home team. Once the Glory took the lead shortly before half-time with a goal to Andy Keogh and needing a win to remain in the finals hunt, Muscat reckons the hosts were allowed to get away with too many delaying tactics. And responsibility for that fell to referee Adam Fielding. Muscat takes seriously that A-League teams need to play attractive football as much as win games. "It has become sport in this country to highlight the negatives and not have any solutions but one way to get people back is to play entertaining football," he said. "Everyone has a responsibility and a job to make that happen. "I think we all have to look at ourselves and we certainly will because the game just took forever to get restarted. "It just dragged on forever and slowed the game down. That's the referee who has to speed the game up and make it a spectacle. "It's up to Perth to play and do as they please, but I just thought a little bit more control would have sped the game up and made it more of a spectacle for everyone who turned up and is watching on TV." Having now played one team desperate to keep their season alive, the Victory take on sixth-placed Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday night at AAMI Park. It begins a busy period for the Victory with their last two A-League clashes against Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC along with AFC Champions League fixtures with Ulsan Hyundai and Shanghai SIPG. But with so much to play for, Muscat doesn't doubt his team's desire. "We'll pick ourselves up, get back to Melbourne, recover well and pick a team who has trained well and who gives us the best chance of getting the result," Muscat said. "We've got a reason and things we want to do, so we have a why we want to play well and why we want to pick up points. Once you've got that reason, you can start moving from there. "
|
