Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer is confident that his side have turned the corner after a difficult start to the A-League season.
Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer is confident that his side have turned the corner after a difficult start to the A-League season.
The Victory opened their campaign with a 2-1 loss to cross-town rivals Melbourne Heart before being thrashed 5-0 by coach Ange Postecoglou’s old side Brisbane Roar and looked a far cry from the successful Victory teams of old.
However, since those results they have bounced back with heartening wins over the Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC in the past two weeks, and Leijer believes these results are a sign of things to come.
“The first two rounds didn’t really indicate where we were at, I don’t think. We always had a belief and those two results affected us pretty hard,” he said after an intense training session at Gosch’s Paddock on Tuesday.
“The best thing for us is how we’ve bounced back in the last two games, (and against Sydney) being behind and coming back to win. So we’ve proven the character’s there and we’ve proven the hard work is starting to pay off.”
The win 3-2 win over Sydney last week was particularly encouraging after the Victory found themselves 2-0 down at Allianz Stadium before coming back to win at the death.
Leijer believes the result has rejuvenated the squad and provides further evidence the side is growing under the tutelage of Postecoglou as they prepare to take on league-leaders the Central Coast Mariners at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
“It was a great win and we can’t take anything away from that. But we know there is a long way to go,” he said.
“We take confidence out of it and we keep building and we keep trying to get better and like you saw today (at training) we are pushing each other hard and that’s what it’s about and hopefully we can continue to build in the right way.”
Youngster Andrew Nabbout was the hero in Sydney, scoring two late goals to seal a remarkable comeback win but Leijer insists the 19-year-old, who finished his end-of-year university exams just 48 hours before the match, isn’t allowing his performance to go to his head.
“He’s a very good kid and he trains hard. He comes in and just does his work and gets on with it,” he said.
“He said to me yesterday that he is over it already and wants to focus on Saturday. That’s the sign of the kid and it’s fantastic for him. It’s a great occasion for him, it’s his third game and he’s already a cult hero at the club.”
Despite the good run of form, Victory have still conceded four goals in their past two games and Leijer was quick to admit their leaky defence is an issue they will need to address ahead of the clash with the Mariners.
“We weren’t happy to go behind and we have conceded quite a few goals so far. It’s something we do need to tighten up,” he said.
