“We are where we are because we deserve to be there”. That is the reality, according to Tony Popovic after Melbourne Victory’s latest defeat.
Already bottom of the Isuzu UTE A-League table, Victory’s season went from bad to worse on Saturday night following a 3-1 loss away to Perth Glory.
Victory – without Nick D’Agostino following his transfer to Norway and Nani after his season-ending knee injury – conceded two goals in the final 10 minutes to crash to their seven defeat in 13 matches this term.
“We are where we are because we deserve to be there. That’s the reality,” Popovic told reporters.
“We have to keep working and keep fighting. It’s not going to just happen.”
Victory boast reigning Johnny Warren Medallist Jake Brimmer, Ben Folami and Chris Ikonomidis, while Manchester United great Nani and D’Agostino had also been in the line-up earlier this term.
They were also semi-finalists last season, having claimed the 2021 Australia Cup in Popovic’s first season at AAMI Park.
But Victory are in the midst of a five-match winless streak after Adam Taggart’s late double downed the visitors at Macedonia Park, where Victory attacker Ikonomidis and and Perth’s Jack Clisby saw red in the second half.
“There’s a lot of things. We’ve lost a lot of points. We’re finding it hard recently to score first, so we’re constantly chasing the game,” Popovic said.
“You can see we fought back in Adelaide and fought back again [against Perth]. The spirit is there. We’re just lacking those moments of quality to put an opponent away when we’re on top.
“We have to keep working and find that.
“The players are there. Yeah we missed a lot of players that are back in Melbourne but we really should’ve done better to get a result [against Perth].”
