Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat blamed his side’s sleepy defending for the 2-1 defeat to Adelaide United on Friday night which leaves them precariously placed in sixth.
The hosts gave up two preventable goals in either half as they lost to the Reds at Etihad Stadium for the first time since 2006.
Victory remain winless in home matches this season and are likely to drop back out of the top six by the end of the round.
“I thought there were a number of good things but when you really analyse the main moments, the goals, it’s just a severe lack of concentration,” Muscat told Fox Sports.
“One is a set-piece where people are unmarked in the box.
“Then when we’ve got all the ascendancy … the cross comes in [for Adelaide’s second] so easily and the striker is in the box unmarked.
“It’s a lapse in concentration, it’s got nothing to do with anything else. And that’s obviously killed us.”
Muscat’s men were given a late avenue back into the game when a pair of red cards reduced Adelaide to nine by the 87th minute, but they were unable to find a way through a stubborn rearguard.
“There were moments when they were down to nine men where a little bit more subtlety and a little bit more control would have given us more openings, but it wasn’t the case,” Muscat said.
“It wasn’t from a lack of trying.”
