With three straight wins and five of the next seven games at home, the only way is up for Western Sydney Wanderers, according to coach Tony Popovic.
The Wanderers again head home with three points after cruising past Melbourne City 3-0 on Friday – less than a week after they won away to Newcastle Jets – and Popovic’s men have surged into third in the A-League with a trio of victories.
It is a far cry from the start of the season, where they failed to win in their opening three matches and Popovic reckons there is more improvement to come.
Resurgent Wanderers thrash City in Melbourne
“Three [wins] on the spin, regardless of when you do it, how you do it, is always a very good achievement,” he said at his post-match media conference.
“So we have to acknowledge that it’s two consecutive away wins too, it’s not easy to do and I envisage us getting better and hopefully improved performances can maintain the results.”
Popovic described the win at AAMI Park as his side’s most complete performance of the fledgling campaign.
“I think our intent was very good from the outset,” the coach said.
“We were very positive, we controlled the game and then we got our rewards for that in the second half… so that was pleasing to see that we could put away those chances.”
Mitch Nichols opened the scoring for the Wanderers just after half-time, while marquee striker Federico Piovaccari ended a five-game goalless run with a controversial second on the hour mark before Mark Bridge completed the win in the closing stages.
Popovic insisted he never lost faith in Piovaccari, despite the Italian’s stuttering start in Australia.
“‘Pio’ is like our club, our team. We’ve got faith in him as we had [in the entire club] after three games when we didn’t win,” Popovic said.
“We know what direction we’re heading. We didn’t get too despondent after the first three games. We won’t get carried away now either.”
Nichols – another one of Popovic’s signings since last season – has started far better, with the attacking midfielder notching his third goal in six matches on Friday.
But in a warning to the Wanderers’ A-League rivals, Popovic also expects improvement from the former Perth Glory, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar man.
“I think he’s just touched the surface,” Popovic said.
“You know, he’s maturing more now as a player, he’s 26 years of age. He’s starting to understand the game a lot better, read the game better and I think there’s a lot more to come from him.”
