Press Conference after the Melbourne Victory v Adelaide United Match at Aurora Stadium, Launceston, on Sunday, 15 July 2007
What are your general thoughts, Ernie?
Ernie Merrick (Melbourne Victory Coach): I thought we played good possession football and were unable to convert a myriad of chances, but a good opening game for us. Happy to get the draw. We would have preferred a win, but I thought the boys played really well, given that we were a striker and an attacking midfielder down.
You started fairly positively and then they got that goal and it seemed to knock the wind out of your sails.
Merrick: I think Adelaide played a classic counter-attacking game. We dominated possession and they hardly came out of their half for the first 15 or 20 minutes and then Travis [Dodd] caught us out on the break. We didn’t track a runner, it was one on one with the keeper, and we pushed again, but I think Adelaide had more confidence as well. I don’t think it changed our game. I think they came at us more and it was end-to-end stuff. I think it must have been fairly enjoyable for the crowd. But, I was disappointed we didn’t convert our chances. Right at the end there, we could have stolen it from the free-kick. Roddy [Vargas] was right through on the touch and five minutes earlier Daniel Allsopp was right through, if he’d just, he tried to control the ball, I think. The goalkeeper was half out of his goals and he just toe-poked it and he probably would have got the winner.
What did you hope to get out of the game, and did you think you achieved it?
Merrick: All the players are physically fit, but we’ll get fitter. And, they’re technically very good too, so it was really to play together, and I thought, apart from the break, I don’t think we gave much away at all at the back. A good combination with Ljubo Milicevic and Kevin Muscat. Kemp slotted in really well at right-back and Joe Keenan at left-back. Going forward we had a couple of defensive people rather than attacking people. Steve Pantelidis does a good job for us, but he’s not an attacking player, and Adrian Caceras is more of a wide player than a central striker, so as we were going forward we were probably losing possession a little bit quicker than we expected and the quality of through-balls weren’t as good as normal, but when you know you’ve got players to come in, like Hernandez and Thompson, you know you’re pretty happy with that.
Was that one of the negatives, that you gave up possession rather easily?
Merrick: I think we controlled the ball for long patches of the game. It was just getting into the attacking third, there was no quality in the final pass, or the final run wasn’t good. It was always going to come down to Daniel Allsopp scoring a goal, and that’s what he did.
How did you think young Patafta went today?
Merrick: I was very happy with Kaz. He’s light framed and he’s an 18-year-old fantastic talent and he’s getting used to the rigours of senior, you know, rough, tough competitive play, and he’s adjusting with every training session, with every game. He’s got some left foot on him. I think he’s going to be a big star of the future, along with the youngster alongside of me here [Leigh Broxham], who is 19 years old.
What did you think of the venue? Do you like to come down here for games?
Merrick: It was great. I love it and we’re improving every time we come. Last time, we lost 1-0. This time it was 1-1, and next year we’ll win 2-1. We’re definitely coming next year. It’s a long-term plan. I think the Launceston people have done a great job putting this on and the surface is magnificent, the crowd is bigger, 8,000 this time, and that’s fantastic for Launceston five or six weeks out from the league proper. And, our supporters. How good was the chanting from the far side! I can’t believe they kept that chant up for as long as they did. We enjoy coming down here. The Tassie people are terrific and I think we’ve got a lot of supporters in Tasmania.
Leigh [Broxham], you had a role in the goal?
Broxham: I just picked up the ball and looked for Danny and it didn’t come off so I took a gamble and kept going and just played the ball to Joey [Keenan] and Joey played a great ball and it was a great finish by Danny as well.
Merrick (interjecting): He’s a man of few words.
How do you feel now? You’ve had a bout of glandular fever.
Broxham: I’m over the worst of it now. I think it was about six weeks ago, I was pretty out of it, but all of the coaching staff and everybody has made sure of taking care of me and telling me pretty much to take it easy. I’ve always wanted to do more and more and they’ve steadily introduced me back into it, like today. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get there in the next few weeks.
Did Pantelidis pick up a knock?
Merrick: I think he’s got a grade one hamstring tear. Probably two or three weeks. He just over stretched it. Other than that, no injuries. We’ll have Hernandez registered next week. He’ll probably come off the bench next week. Grant Brebner is another couple of weeks away. I think, pre-season, we’re travelling along pretty well.
Do you feel a few of your players shouldn’t be here but should be in Asia instead?
Merrick: No, I wouldn’t say that. My view on the national team is they’re doing a great job. The expectations on them are pretty high. Graham Arnold is doing really well. You know what it’s like. You’re a coach and you lose a game and you cop a heap of criticism. I’m convinced they’ll beat Thailand by more than two goals and move into the next round. These things happen in coaching. A bit of a change with new players coming into the squad. They’re playing at a difficult time. There’s the heat factor. I think Graham Arnold’s done a great job.
Hasn’t there been dissent in the squad?
Merrick: I don’t think that is the case. I think the media pounce on these sorts of things and blow them up. I certainly suffered that in my first year. I know a lot of those boys and they’re certainly really keen to play for Australia and I disagree about that. I know the characters and those are good players out there and they want to play for Australia and they’ll do well. We won’t have Archie [Thompson] back next week because they’ll be playing in the finals.
Should Arnold have publicly criticised his players as he did?
Merrick: Arnold is doing a good job as a coach and he doesn’t need me to tell him what he’s doing right and what he’s doing wrong and he’s had one loss and he’s being pounced on. He’ll come back. They’ll win a game and everyone will be really happy again.
What is your assessment of today’s game, Aurelio?
Aurelio Vidmar (Adelaide United coach): Probably good for our first hit-out. I was quite pleased with the way the team followed the game plan and, just at the end, we probably lost our way a little bit in the last 10 or 15 minutes. We lost our discipline when they scored their goal. Absolutely, most of that was fatigue. We’ve been back in training three-and-a-half or four weeks, so we’re quite off the pace in terms of physical condition.
Were you unlucky, given that you had most of the attacking play?
Vidmar: Probably. But, that’s football, isn’t it. Not that we had a great deal of play in front of goal, but I think we stopped a lot of their attacking play and had quite a bit of the ball in midfield. Probably, at the end, with 10 or 15 minutes to go, I thought it was a good opportunity to get away with a win, but that’s the way it goes. But, I was really pleased with the first hit-out.
What did you think of Cassio?
Vidmar: Very good. I think, once he gets fit, he’s going to really give the fans something to cheer about. He’s got a tremendous free-kick on him, as we saw. He was very unlucky to hit the bar. Very powerful in getting past people quite easily. I think once he gets to the level of fitness that we require, he’s going to be very handy for us.
What do you think of playing in Launceston?
Vidmar: Great! Last year we were here and the hotel we were staying at was fantastic and they were very accommodating. Nothing has changed this time. We’ve had a tremendous time there. We came in yesterday afternoon, had a training session at Churchill Park, which was great. It’s been spot on. Tremendous.
Are Melbourne Victory doing things differently this season?
Vidmar: Melbourne changed a little bit in terms of their tactics and they’ve got a much stronger squad than they had last year. Three at the back and an extra man in midfield gives them an extra option playing out from the back. With just Danny [Allsopp] at the point and with Patafta and Caceras out wide. They also went three up front at times as well. Being the premiers, they’ll be extremely hard to beat.
What did you want out of this game?
Vidmar: We’re a long way off the mark. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Fifty per cent of our squad are new faces, so it’s going to take an extremely long time to gel. But, I think now the players can see when we set up a game plan, it’s there for a reason. Discipline was one of our key points today. To beat Victory, or to beat any team in this competition, you need to keep your discipline, and I think our players did that extremely well.
Travis [Dodd], what did you think of the game?
Dodd: I think it was a great game. It was good to score. I’m pleased to get on the score sheet in any game. The first game of the season is a good game to score in. I probably had a couple of opportunities but my first touch let me down. That’s the way it goes.
You had more chances than Victory?
Dodd: In the first half we did reasonably well. We had a couple of opportunities and, overall, we closed it down pretty well. We stuck to our game plan. We shut them down and frustrated them. In the second half, they opened us up a bit. We were fatigued towards the end and, unfortunately, we couldn’t hold it together for the last few minutes.
Is the team gelling?
Dodd: Very good. New guys have come in. They fit in really well and they get on with the guys and we’ve still got five or six guys to come into the squad from injuries. It’s going to be great to have everyone back on deck. It’s going to make the squad very competitive.
Are you looking forward to playing Melbourne in the league again?
Dodd: I think every team is going to be hard to beat this year. Everyone has recruited well and everyone has strengthened their squad. Melbourne are the premiers at the moment, so I guess everyone is out to beat Melbourne and we’ll see what happens from here on in. I can’t wait for it. I can’t wait to take on everyone. It’s been a tough three weeks of pre-season so we’re looking forward to getting these pre-season games under our belt, get the fitness up and taking on the league in a few weeks’ time.
