Fresh off his A-League player of the month nod, Melbourne Victory forward Kostas Barbarouses says he’s seen a change in the team’s mentality.

Coming in under new coach Kevin Muscat last year, the New Zealand national says the team is hopeful their stellar results will lead them to the silverware after getting so close last year.

“We’re playing slightly differently, we’ve brought in a few different personnel, we’ve brought in a lot of winners, with a winning mentality and that’s helped us,” he said this week.

With the freedom to pick and choose his team, Kevin Muscat has created a impenetrable defence and a crafty midfield to bring more goal opportunities for the strikers.

While he hasn’t scored a goal for the Victory this season, Barbarouses has provided six assists for the Victory’s 12 goals in October and assisted one of the three goals the team scored against the Central Coast Mariners last week.

The former Panathinaikos player says it’s down to Muscat’s trust in the players and the way the team works as a unit.

“Muscat has given us a licence to just express ourselves in the final third,” he says.

“We’ve got the players in the midfielder to find us in that situation and myself and whoever’s on the other side have been pretty effective. Hopefully we can continue with that.”

Tonight, Victory host rivals Sydney FC, hoping to finally earn a win to keep fans happy.

Last time these two teams met in round six, neither could score.

But, as the season progresses, Melbourne Victory has proved it’s the better team as it still hasn’t conceded a game.

In all fairness, Sydney FC isn’t far behind, sitting just two spots away with only one loss to their name.

Victory is the only team Sydney FC hasn’t been able to score against, but come into this match with a full squad.

Greek Australians Terry Antonis and Peter Triantis will be on hand, while Marc Janko is back in the squad to lead the line ahead of a combination of Bernie Ibini, Alex Brosque and Shane Smeltz.

Also playing tonight is a much improved Wellington Phoenix, which takes on Central Coast Mariners in Auckland.

The Phoenix has netted an average of two goals per game, second behind top goal scorers Melbourne Victory.

The Mariners, on the other hand, have only scored five goals in the past nine matches, abysmal considering the team’s heroics of the past couple of years.