Melbourne Heart manager John van ‘t Schip is confident his young defence can thwart Melbourne Victory’s strong attacking options in Friday’s derby.
Melbourne Heart manager John van ‘t Schip is confident his young defence can thwart Melbourne Victory’s strong attacking options in Friday’s derby.
Any manager could be forgiven for sweating over the impact the in-form Carlos Hernandez, Archie Thompson and Harry Kewell could have for the opposition.
But as the build-up to the AAMI Park clash continues, van ‘t Schip spoke of the faith he has in young defenders Brendan Hamill, Aziz Behich and Michael Marrone.
“I am confident (in their ability),” van ‘t Schip said..
“The players have done well the last games. I don’t think tomorrow will be different.
“Of course, they are playing against very experienced attackers and also an experienced number 10. It’s a great challenge again for them. They are in a big learning process and in that learning process they will mistakes – that’s for sure – but you also see experienced players making mistakes all over the league.
“I prefer to have a younger player that maybe once in a while will make a mistake. You have to give players a chance and they are doing very well. I have all the confidence that whoever is going to play tomorrow will do a good job.”
Curtis Good could also feature in the Heart’s defence, with the 18-year-old making a string of impressive performances throughout the season.
Van ‘t Schip revealed that cult-figure Jonatan Germano would not take part in the match, with the Argentine midfielder failing to recover from a hamstring injury in time.
“Germano is not going to play,” he said.
“He is out. He tried to be in training yesterday, he was in the training actually, it was more like a test for him, but it didn’t feel well (for him) so we have to see if he is available for next week.”
Despite being without the influential Germano, van ‘t Schip insisted once again that he would not change his side’s playing style despite the nature of the match.
“If you change for every game the way you want to play… I think that is not the way you build a team.
“I don’t think like that. I already said the second game (of the season) that we played against Perth we didn’t play well, we didn’t play with confidence, we played with fear. After that game the boys picked it up and they said ‘well yeah playing like that is not going to help us.'”
With the Heart having scored in each of their last 21 matches – bar a goalless stalemate in October in the last Melbourne derby – the Dutchman feels his side can score in every match they play.
Tall forward Eli Babalj has been a terrific addition to the Heart’s attacking third this season, scoring twice and playing a part in several others, something which has impressed his manager.
“I am very pleased (with Eli). That’s why he is playing. He is still young, 19 years, but (has) a lot of potential (and) can only get better. He has to get fitter still. He is still not able to play I think a full game, maybe tomorrow he will be near but that’s what we know.
“He can play an hour on a very high level. He’s doing very good. He’s a very talented player. He can score but he can also hold up and get other players into positions so we are happy with him.”
The fifth Melbourne derby is officially a sell-out, with both sides looking to claim their second ever win in football’s newest rivalry.
