Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip cannot remember a time when his team’s confidence has been higher.
Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip cannot remember a time when his team’s confidence has been higher.
Heart can do no wrong at the moment and have taken three points from five of their past six matches including last weekend’s memorable 3-2 win over arch-rivals Melbourne Victory.
They meet Sydney FC on Thursday with second place up for grabs.
“After this period that we have had it is normal that the players are feeling pretty well,” van ‘t Schip told reporters on Tuesday.
“The total squad is competitive. Everybody is fighting for positions so that is a good sign as well.”
Van ‘t Schip said Heart’s impressive rise – in response to being winless from their first five games – was borne purely of hard work on the training pitch.
But he warned that work ethic must continue.
“We need to be realistic and know that all the games we have played we have had to work very hard for.
“We are not even halfway into the competition yet so there is a long way ahead of us,” Van ‘t Schip said.
He said the match at the SFS was another examination of his side’s consistency.
“Every game is going to be the same,” he said.
“We had (the win over) Brisbane and there was the same story – how are you going to back up?
“Well we backed up well. After Perth it was the same and then we did well against Victory.”
“Of course there’s going to be a game when we’re not going to have a good result … hopefully we can make sure it’s not going to be Thursday.
“There is still a lot of improvement to be done and that’s the good thing about this team. They are a young team and we still have a lot of growth inside,” he said.
Van ‘t Schip said Heart would always aim to use attack as their main weapon but rejected suggestions defence was their weakness.
“We always go out to win a game and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” he said.
“But it’s not in my nature to go somewhere and say let’s try to play a draw.
“Of course if at the end the game means you are happy to concede a draw, okay you are happy to do that, but beforehand we always want to win.
“If we go one-nil up and we’re playing well we’ll go for the second goal.”
Meanwhile Van ‘t Schip reported midfielder Jonatan Germano, who pulled his hamstring against Victory, would miss a further two matches.
Mr Reliable Matt Thompson, who managed a crucial brace in the win over Victory, missed training on Tuesday but has been tipped play against the Sky Blues.
“Matt has a bit of a cold so it’s more of a precaution that we kept him out (of training). I think he will be okay for Thursday,” he said.
