Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has demanded his players “take responsibility” for their actions after copping a 5-0 thumping away to Brisbane Roar on Saturday night.
The visitors began brightly at Suncorp Stadium but struggled to cope from the moment Jamie Maclaren opened the scoring in the 18th minute.
Despite claiming a penalty area challenge on Besart Berisha prior to Roar’s second would have been a foul elsewhere on the pitch, Muscat conceded his side wasn’t good enough to compete for the remainder of the match.
Five-star Roar crush Victory at Suncorp
“It was a huge away contingent and coming off that ground if it doesn’t hurt, if you’re not slightly embarrassed, we’ve got bigger issues,” Muscat said.
“We’ll see in the next couple of days who it hurts most because we’ve got to pick a team good enough to win midweek.”
Though their hopes of qualifying for the Finals Series hang precariously, Muscat has greater concerns than sewing up a top six spot.
“I wouldn’t even look that far if I’m honest,” Muscat said.
“What it’s about is individually we’ve got to take a big deep breath and take a good look at ourselves and ask ourselves if we gave our best tonight.
“I think what we’ve got to focus on is not worry about where we’re going to finish in the six.
“What we’ve got to focus on is individually making sure we’re prepared to play at our best because I don’t think we can say that tonight.”
