Melbourne Victory defender Matthew Foschini is viewing this weekend’s clash against Wellington Phoenix as the perfect opportunity to put their frustrating start to the season behind them.
Melbourne Victory defender Matthew Foschini is viewing this weekend’s clash against Wellington Phoenix as the perfect opportunity to put their frustrating start to the season behind them.
The star-studded Victory have disappointed this season with just two wins from their opening 10 matches.
One of those victories came in Wellington in week 4 with the other an unconvincing 3-2 win at home to the bottom-placed Gold Coast.
Foschini said it’s time to put the poor start behind them with Victory’s season effectively starting on Sunday against the Phoenix.
“They’re always a tough opposition and we’re looking to start our season this week and get the three points and not look back,” Foschini said after training on Wednesday.
“It’s always good to know that you’ve beaten the opposition already this year. In saying that, they’ll be even more fired up and want to come and get us even more so we’ve just got to be on our toes and just play our natural game and hopefully we can get the three points.”
“I watched a bit of them at the weekend and they’ve got some class players, (Paul) Ifill and the like.”
“They’re always dangerous, especially up front they’ve got some big boys and they’re always like to throw their weight around so we just got to be on our toes especially at the back.”
Victory are coming off a 1-1 draw against Adelaide, a result which probably flattered the Reds given they were outplayed for the majority of the night.
Luck deserted the Melbourne side on that occasion and Foschini is hoping for a change of fortune this week.
“Obviously we’re not where we want to be at this stage of the season, but we’ve got the players and the belief that we can go on and do special things in this competition,” he said.
“We were unlucky not to get the win at the weekend. We had a few chances even after they scored and we could have easily won 3 or 4-1 and it would have been a different story.”
“The boys have got a lot of confidence. We’re not scared to make mistakes and if we do we just move on with it and everyone’s behind each other 100 per cent.”
“I just think little things haven’t fallen our way and it’s not an excuse but sometime you do need a bit of luck and we haven’t had those lucky breaks in any of our games this season.”
Marquee man Harry Kewell sat out training on Wednesday, but is in no danger of missing the Phoenix clash, leaving Victory with virtually a full squad to choose from.
Goalkeeper Tando Velaphi is the only player unavailable through injury, although Matthew Kemp will probably be rested as he continues to battle a slight calf complaint.
