“You’ve got to relish these games at a great stadium against a great opponent and take our best game there and go with the confidence to get the result.”
https://players.brightcove.net/5498268486001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6109777035001
That was Tony Popovic’s strong message when he fronted the media ahead of Friday’s clash with Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park (kick off at 4.30pm WST).
Glory will head east seeking to emulate last season’s two away wins over the navy-and-whites and in doing so, maintain their unbeaten record on the road this term.
And the club’s Head Coach feels that his squad is fired up to provide the performance required to do just that.
“It’s quite easy to just look at the results and where we are on the table,” he said, “but we know that the performances deserve better than what we’ve got in return.
“But that’s the reality and we’ve just got to keep getting better and working hard and we’re sure that will turn.
“We are just looking at ourselves and we know that we’re not far off.
“We competed very well with Sydney and we know we’re close.
“Now we have to take the performance, which we know was good, into the Victory game which is another challenge against another big club.
“The players had a fantastic training session yesterday [Tuesday] and you can see that they are really upbeat and ready for the game.
“It’s a big game and a tough game, but the group is ready to put on a performance that we believe will get us a good result away from home.”
Popovic went on to offer his take on Glory’s current ladder position of seventh.
“It’s not that the ladder doesn’t concern us; we want to be at the top,” he said.
“We said last year that we want to be a club that challenges for honours and we did and we want to do the same this year.
“So it’s not a case of us not caring where we are on the table. Yes we do care, of course we care.
“But we also put things in perspective and know that when you’re playing poorly, you’re a fair way away.
“We’re not playing poorly, we’re playing well. Can it be better? Yes it can and we’ve got to keep working towards that.
“We have to improve and that’s the mindset of everyone at the club.”
In terms of early team news, meanwhile, Alex Grant will be available for selection once again after serving his one-match ban, but fellow-defender Osama Malik has not managed to shake off his hamstring injury in time to come into contention for the Round 8 trip.
Glory have lost just one of their last 18 games on the road, while Victory are yet to win at home this term.
Match Details
Friday, 29 November 2019
Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-Off: 7:30pm (Local) (4:30pm (WST))
Referee: Alex King
Assistant Referee 1: Wilson Brown
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Meimarakis
Fourth Official: Adam Bavcar
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7:00pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Radio Broadcast: myfootballnation.com (SEN+ & SEN2 and Super Radio Network).
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #MVCvPER
To purchase tickets visit www.a-league.com.au/tickets
Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Corey BROWN, 4.James DONACHIE, 5.Tim HOOGLAND, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Kenny ATHIU, 8.Jakob POULSEN, 9.Andrew NABBOUT, 10.Robbie KRUSE, 11.Ola TOIVONEN (c), 16.Josh HOPE, 17.Elvis KAMSOBA, 18.Migjen BASHA, 19.Ben CARRIGAN, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Adama TRAORE, 22.Kristijan DOBRAS, 24.Anthony LESIOTIS, 25.Brandon LAUTON, 50.Brendan WHITE (gk)
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 16.Josh HOPE (promoted), 19.Ben CARRIGAN (promoted), 22.Kristijan DOBRAS (promoted)
Outs: 14.Thomas DENG (groin)
Unavailable: 1.Matt ACTON (shoulder)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Jacob TRATT, 4.Gregory WUTHRICH, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.James MEREDITH, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 12.Kim SOO-BEOM, 14.Chris HAROLD, 16.Tomislav MRCELA, 17.Diego CASTRO (c), 19.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 20.Jake BRIMMER, 27.JUANDE, 28.Gabriel POPOVIC, 29.Kristian POPOVIC, 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 88.Neil KILKENNY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 2.Alex GRANT (returns from suspension), 3.Jacob TRATT (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 13.Osama MALIK (hamstring – 1 week)
#OneGlory
