The Jim Magilton era is underway at Melbourne Victory and the players say they are already on the road to recovery.
The Jim Magilton era is underway at Melbourne Victory and the players say they are already on the road to recovery.
The Northern Irishman took his first official Victory training session on Tuesday at Gosch’s Paddock ahead of their important clash with Adelaide United on Friday night.
Midfielder Grant Brebner said while it was too early to perfect the former Queens Park Rangers manager’s game plan he had noticed a switch in training routines.
“In the early stages of the way Magilton wants to coach – it’s certainly all about passing, getting the ball down,” Brebner told reporters.
“It was certainly a short, sharp session this morning. The ball was getting pinged about.”
Thirty four-year-old Brebner said Magilton possessed an authority which would leave the players in no doubt as to who was boss but also knew when to relax.
“When we got down here (on Tuesday) it was very serious but light-hearted when it needed to be.”
“It’s the British mentality that we all like to have a little bit of a laugh a joke during training.”
Brebner said the change of coach had also brightened the squad’s outlook on season 2011/12.
“Everybody at the club is going to start afresh,” he said.
“There will be players with reputation and there will be young players breaking through but we will all be on the same page and who knows what he will decide on Friday night.”
“In my experience teams always seem to do well when a new manager comes in.”
“You look at Sunderland (in the EPL) at the moment. They couldn’t win a game and now they are on an unbeaten run,” Brebner said.
Top of Magilton’s to do list is restoring structure to Victory’s disorganised defence which hasn’t registered a clean sheet for 10 weeks.
“It is obviously not great that we haven’t kept a clean sheet,” Brebner said.
“The other night we probably should have under the circumstances.”
“It is something that is not good enough for us and we will certainly try and rectify it,” he said.
Captain Adrian Leijer could return from injury for the match at AAMI Park but midfielder Billy Celeski is still troubled by a groin injury.
