Nothing less than three points will satisfy coach John van ‘t Schip in Melbourne Heart’s first home game for the season against Perth Glory at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
Van ‘t Schip declared a win is a must coming off last Saturday’s injury-time 3-2 loss to the Jets in Newcastle to kick off the new A-League season.
“We know that it’s important to get a result and that’s the only thing that we are going out for on Sunday,” he said.
“Having a good start … helps you to get into the season in a more relaxed way that you can keep on working on the things that you have in mind.”
“If you run behind again, the pressure is different.”
Van ‘t Schip said he took plenty of positives from last Saturday, not the least of which was the incorporation of seven new players to the line-up.
“Having more depth with David Williams, with Mate Duganzic and Maycon … they showed good stuff in attack,” he said.
“We made it very difficult for Newcastle.”
“It was a game that could have gone both ways, it was a very open game, so we took that with us.”
Van ‘t Schip said he was impressed by the Glory’s first-up win over Adelaide United at nib Stadium and expects the visitors’ confidence to be bubbling over on Sunday.
New signings Shane Smeltz, goalscorer Billy Mehmet, Travis Dodd, Danny Vukovic and exciting Brazilian midfielder Andrezinho all played important roles in the 1-0 result.
“In the first half they played very good pressing and Adelaide didn’t really get out of their half,” van ‘t Schip said.
“It should have been maybe two or three-nil in the first half but they didn’t take their chances.”
“In the second half they dropped because they spent a lot of energy in the first half but, I think at the end it was more than a deserved win.”
“They looked very good with Smeltz and Mehmet up front, two big, strong, physically good strikers.”
“And in the midfield with (Jacob) Burns and (Liam) Miller they looked balanced.”
“They looked sharp and strong and we know that it’s going to be a tough game but we’re up for the challenge.”
