Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip says it is time for his players to “wake up” to the reality that an A-League playoff spot is not guaranteed for his side.
Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip says it is time for his players to “wake up” to the reality that an A-League playoff spot is not guaranteed for his side.
Heart’s 3-1 loss to Wellington Phoenix on Sunday afternoon extended their run of games without a win to six and only four points now separates them from seventh-placed Newcastle Jets.
“The last six games and only two points it’s something we should wake up to,” said the unhappy Heart coach.
“It’s time to wake up because having had that big lead, it’s not there anymore, if we’re going into the playoffs.
“It’s going to a fight now every game to get there. I don’t know if a lot of the players are aware of that. Maybe that’s the message for the week, to have a good talk about that.”
Van ‘t Schip was disappointed by his players’ lack of intensity and commitment against Wellington.
They conceded an early goal to Paul Ifill before Alex Terra equalised to leave the teams locked at 1-1 at half-time.
But Chris Greenacre struck less than 10 minutes into the second half before Ifill landed the killer blow in the 64th minute to seal the win for the home side.
“It’s disappointing that we lost in the way that we lost. You can lose a game but I think we just didn’t play well enough,” the Dutchman said.
“Credit to Wellington because they were far more aggressive. They had more will to really want to win the game. That showed on the pitch.
“When you go out on to the pitch and you want to have a win it should look totally different to what we showed today.”
The derby with Melbourne Victory looms next Saturday and with Mate Dugandzic, Aziz Behich and Jason Hoffman all involved in the Australia Under-23 Olympic qualification campaign there will be changes to the starting line-up.
But van ‘t Schip warned no player was safe.
“We’ll see who is sharp this week, who really wants to win,” he said.
“There are three boys leaving for the Olympic team but there are a few boys coming back – Wayne Srhoj and Paul Read. Maybe even some players from the youth team.
“I’ll have a look because one thing is sure I want players on the pitch who are awake and going out there for a 100 percent win.”
